News

Note from the President

Hello all! I hope this note finds you enjoying the beginning of fall weather and the migration of species through our area. Columbia Audubon has many ways for you to be involved either through birding, counting birds, counting down honeysuckle, learning about the Boone Co. Nature school or helping work with 2nd graders. If you

Edge Wade Birthday Event

A group of birders got together September 9 to celebrate Edge Wade’s 80th birthday.  To all of us Edge has been a mentor, a teacher, a warrior and a friend. To mark the occasion, we all dressed like Edge and tried to imitate her Edginess.  We each proudly wore the Alpha Code of our favorite bird.  As Edge’s favorite bird

Gold Crest Warehouse Sale — Saturday, October 26

Gold Crest hosts their annual Public Warehouse Sale on Saturday, October 26th. Open to all in the Mid-Missouri community, this sale features samples, overstocks and slightly imperfect items at fantastic prices from $2 to $20. It’s a great time to pick up holiday gifts! The sale is held at the warehouse, 1600 Bassford Drive in Mexico,

Uncommon Butterfly Seen Thriving at CANS

Paul MacKenzie is a butterfly, graminoid and bird expert. He often birds at CANS and Wild Haven, submitting robust eBird checklists. He had a happy find this past late summer at CANS:  One of the most noteworthy observations this season was the presence of 8 Gemmed Satyr butterflies. I have observed this species here before

Volunteers needed for Workday at Bonnie View: October 12, 9am-12pm

In the past two years, CAS has had several shared activities with the Missouri Conservation Corps. We held two well-attended bird walks at Kiwanis Park, where MCC has accomplished a remarkable project to remove bush honeysuckle. Stephen Bybee of MCC followed up with a presentation to CAS membership about recruitment of volunteers for this project

Note from the President

Hello friends! We’re off to another season with Columbia Audubon Society (CAS). Whether you’re reading this newsletter for the first time or the hundredth time, we hope that you’ll make your way to joining us either at a field trip, potluck or meeting. There are many exciting things happening in Columbia and Boone County. The

Field trip report

September is the traditional start of the CAS field trip season and your field trip coordinators are excited to be planning a diverse set of birding opportunities over the coming year.  You can review past and future event listings on the CAS website. Here’s a brief report on the past year and what’s coming up.

Save the Date! 11th Annual Band With Nature Event

Volunteers are needed for this year’s Band With Nature 2nd grade field trip for 1200 students.  If volunteering is in your blood then consider volunteering either 9:00-12:00 noon or 12:00 noon -2:30 PM or all day if that strikes your fancy.  Dates are October 14, 15, & 17 (rain dates 16th & 18th).  This is

Alspaugh Park Birding

The Missouri Birding Society(MBS) and Columbia Audubon Society (CAS) are providing bird occurrence information in partnership with the Missouri Department of Conservation and Columbia Parks and Recreation Department at the recently opened Alspaugh Park in Columbia. Stipulations in the gift of the park land to the City of Columbia include proscriptions of many typical park development features (playground, athletic

CAS-supported Range-wide Wood Thrush Motus-tagging Project Starts Strong

  *Author’s note: Hey Columbia Audubon Society! I wanted to share a summary of the 2024 Range-wide Wood Thrush Motus-tagging Project since your chapter and many other Missouri birders helped support this project. The Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) is a medium-sized songbird of eastern deciduous forests that is known for its flute-like, ethereal, ee-oh-lay song

Nature Area Notes

 Nature Area Activities – Summer 2024 At Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary, Area Manager, Bill Mees continued to work on invasive species control. The abundant rains have encouraged Common Mullein and Sericea Lespedeza and increased the need for mowing around the CANS parking lot, areas bordering yards of two neighbors and over 2 miles natural surface

Update on Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area

Summer is ending, and as fall begins with it comes some of the best times of the year for area users of all interests to get out and enjoy the area! We currently have both river pumps operational and have started putting water on the landscape creating flooded habitat in many of the wetland units.

A.L. Gustin Golf Course CAS Field Trip- June 17, 2024

International Pollinator Week (June 17-23) was kicked off by 13 CAS members on a three-hour field trip to the University of Missouri’s  A.L. Gustin Golf Course at the invitation of course superintendent Isaac Breuer. Participants boarded two-person golf carts and paraded through the course with stops to step out and learn about the development and

Protecting Eastern Bluebird Populations

Columbia Audubon Nature Sanctuary (CANS) and Bonnie View (BV) Nature Area provide protection for plants and animals that live there as well as nature viewing for visitors.  Nest boxes provide additional nesting sites as green space shrinks and urban areas expand.  CANS/BV supports 14 nest boxes that are monitored weekly.  The North American Bluebird Society

Free Bird Coloring Pages available online

The world of birds is diverse and colorful. If you’re feeling creative, feel free to visit ColorBird.org, where you can download bird illustrations to color, crosswords to do, and more! These activities were created by Michael Erb, an Arizona birder who wanted to combine the wonder of birds with his love of science and learning.

20th Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative Conference and CAS

CAS was a founding member 21 years ago of the partnership organization, the Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative, a stepdown organization of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative. Denny Donnell was a longtime MoBCI Representative and today Bill Mees has filled the role, serving as Chair for a three year term several years ago.  MoBCI helped

Birding By Bicycle

      It was early Sunday morning with very little traffic and clear skies. Louise Flenner, Lottie Bushmann, and Vickie Park met at Perry Phillips Lake Parking lot to set out on a route that Louise frequently traveled on her ebike. All three CAS members had ebikes which have some advantages over regular bikes for birding.

Thursday, August 22-Friday, August 23, 2024

2024 Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative Conference

5:00pm

The 2024 MoBCI Conference will be held August 22-23 at the Columbia Country Club. Registration is now live at www.mobci.net.

Sunday, September 15, 2024

Fall Picnic and Bird Walk

2:00-6:30pm

Come one, come all! Please join us for the CAS Fall potluck. Bring your favorite dish to share and come ready to share a bird story or two. We love to hear about all the birds you’ve been seeing. We’ll have a bird walk prior to the potluck. Meet at the pavilion at the Bonnie

Save the Date! Fall Picnic September 15

Come one, come all! Please join us for the CAS Fall potluck. Bring your favorite dish to share and come ready to share a bird story or two. We love to hear about all the birds you’ve been seeing. We’ll have a bird walk prior to the potluck. Meet at the pavilion at the Bonnie

May Meeting and Picnic: Great Food, Camaraderie, Beautiful Setting

On Sunday, May 19, Audubon members enjoyed lovely potluck food, incredible weather, a nice nature hike and all of the improvements that have been made to Wild Haven Nature Area in recent months. The May meeting was President Lori Turner’s last meeting as president, and incoming president Lottie Bushmann had some words to share after

Dolores Pearl Clark, 87

Republished from the Columbia Tribune, May 16, 2024 Dolores was one of two daughters born to Carl and Berthenia Denny on a farm A dozen miles southeast of Clinton, Mo. She attended a one-room school and graduated from Clinton High School in 1955. She married Bill Clark on August 11, 1955, and the marriage produced

Note from the President

First and foremost, I’d like to say thank you for entrusting me as your president. It was a joy serving you all and helping where I could. My tenure as President ends on May 31. Here’s a list of accomplishments we’ve made through the year to help achieve our mission: Nature areas Columbia Audubon Nature

May 1: Bird For Brad Jacobs Day

Editor: Brad Jacobs was a longtime Columbia Audubon Society member and incredible person and ornithologist who truly left a legacy for bird conservation not only in Missouri, but worldwide. Former State Ornithologist Sarah Kendrick penned this call to action for all of us as a way to commemorate his unfortunate passing four years ago on

Contact Your State Representative: Invasive Species Plant Sales in Missouri

Contact your MO Representative to support HB 2412, which bans the sale of disruptive and invasive plant species in Missouri. HB 2412, the Invasive Plant Bill, aims to prohibit future sales and intentional distribution in Missouri of five invasive plant Species: Burning bush, Callery pear, Climbing euonymus (also known as wintercreeper), Japanese honeysuckle, and Sericea

Book Review: Making Bird-Friendly Birdhouses: Instructions and Plans for 15 Specific Birds

If you’ve been wanting a book on how to build bird boxes, then Bird Man Mel Toellner’s new book, Making Bird-friendly Birdhouses (2024), is the book for you! I’ve been wanting to build some nest boxes for different species and this book has plans for 15 species of birds and even a few bat houses.

Errata: Photos from Hannah Vonder Haar’s Hog Island Audubon Camp CAS Scholarship

In error, submitted photos from Hannah Vonder Haar’s Hog Island Audubon Camp as part of her 2024 scholarship from CAS were missing from her article in the April Chat. The following photos highlight some of her experiences while at Hog Island Audubon Camp. Vonder Haar spent some  time exploring Hog Island and practiced her photography

Draft April CAS Board Meeting Minutes

Columbia Audubon Society Board of Directors Meeting April 17, 2024 Meeting conducted at Boone Electric Cooperative Present: Lori Turner, Eric Wood, Judy Lincoln, Shelby Thomas, Greg Leonard, Jim Gast, John Besser, Reed Gerdes, Eric Seaman, Louise Flenner, Lottie Bushmann Time called to order: 6:04 p.m. Previous minutes: Judy Lincoln moves to accept the March 2024

Note from the President

Notice of Election   Pursuant to Article IV D section 2 of the bylaws, notice is given of an election for candidates for the board of directors to be held at the general meeting on Wednesday, April 17, 2024.  The meeting starts at 7:00 PM and will be held in the Amp room of the

Meet the CAS Board Candidates!

At the April 17th membership meeting, members will vote on our new slate of candidates. Here’s a little information about the three new officers! President, Lottie Bushmann: “I came to birding later in life. My spark bird was a Cedar Waxwing. A flock flew into my yard and in that moment when I first laid

Spring Birding and Other Events

Spring brings lots of opportunities for birding and other outdoors fun. Check the CAS events listing for details of upcoming field trips; additional trips will likely be added for peak migration season in late April and early May. If you’d like to lead a trip, or if you have an idea for one, let us

2023 Hog Island Scholarship Recipient reflects on her Experience

Hannah Vonder Haar was a 2023 Columbia Audubon Society scholarship winner and attended Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine last summer. She has worked as an educator in different capacities for 15 years. She has served as an art integration specialist, an adjunct professor, a faculty supervisor for pre service teachers, an elementary classroom teacher

Hog Island Audubon Camp Award Winners Announced

The Columbia Audubon Society is happy to announce the recipients of our summer scholarship for educators! The winners will attend a week long summer ecology or ornithology workshop at the National Audubon Society Camp on Hog Island in Maine. Each award covers tuition, room, and board for an intensive multi-day course of field study and

Wild Haven’s New Amenities

Wild Haven Nature Area is 103 acres located at 6900 O’Rear Road.  This impressive property includes a nearly mile long stretch of Perche Creek enjoyed by visitors who hike the Yellow trail.  The four well marked trails branch across the property’s different habitats, each offering different hiking experiences. The work of Columbia Audubon’s volunteers continues

Invitation from Burroughs Audubon Society to join Webinars

Columbia Audubon members were recently invited to tune into Burroughs Audubon Society’s monthly meetings and presentations. These are free webinars that may be of interest! You need to register in advance to get the link to the webinar, which you can do here: General Meetings < Burroughs Audubon Society of Greater Kansas City Prothonotary Warblers:

Draft Meeting Minutes: Board meeting March 20

Columbia Audubon Society Board of Directors Meeting March 20, 2024  Meeting conducted at Boone Electric Cooperative Community Room Present: Lori Turner, John Besser, Judy Lincoln, Eric Seaman, Eric Wood, Shelby Thomas, Reed Gerdes, Greg Leonard, Louise Flenner Time called to order: 6:04 pm. Previous Minutes One Correction was made in the spelling of Dave Neely’s

Sunday, May 19, 2024

May Membership Picnic and Potluck

3:00-7:00 PM

CAS Membership Potluck Picnic Sunday May 19th at Wild Haven  Nature Area from 3-7pm.    Lovely New Outhouse is operational. Nature Walk starts at 3:15. CAS will provide drinks, utensils, napkins, and table cloths. We will introduce our new officers and give a recap of the past year.

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

April Membership Meeting: Hummingbird Banding, HumGroup and Related Projects

7:00pm

Hummingbird Banding , HumGroup, and Related Hummingbird Banding Projects. We will learn about the delicate process of banding Missouri’s smallest birds, how and why Veronica got started; other banding groups, and what we can learn from this scientific activity. This will be presented in a powerpoint, there will not be live bird banding at this

March 20th Membership Meeting: Kiwanis Park Restoration by Stephen Bybee

Join us on Wednesday, March 20th as we welcome Stephen Bybee to talk about his work in Columbia’s Kiwanis Park. Stephen serves as the Project Director for Missouri Conserva&on Corps, a local nonpro’t dedicated to engaging the community on invasive species, na&ve plants, and climate resilience. Since 2021, Missouri Conserva&on Corps has organized more than 45

Note from the President

I would like everyone to know that we have a Nominating Committee that is taking nominations for: President, Vice-president, Secretary, Treasurer and Director. These are the positions that will be expiring on May 31st. Bill Mees and Lisa Schenker comprise the committee and they have a slate of candidates: President (2 yr. term): Lottie Bushmann

Wild Haven Pit Latrine Construction

The new pit latrine at Wild Haven is almost complete! Nature Areas Committee Members David Neely and Bill Mees have been hard at work getting this structure ready for use. We’ll have an update when it is completed, but meanwhile, know that the construction is very solid, and a lot of work has gone into

Draft Meeting Minutes Board of Directors Feb 21 Meeting

Columbia Audubon Society Board of Directors Meeting February 21, 2024  Meeting conducted at Boone Electric Cooperative Present: Eric Wood, Lori Turner, Louise Flenner, Shelby Thomas, Eric Seaman Greg Leonard, Jim Gast, Bill Mees Time called to order: 6:00 pm  Previous minutes: Jim corrected last month’s minutes to reflect that the meeting started at 6:03, not

Note from the President

Our January Membership meeting was on the 17th. We had 15 members attend the presentation put on by local Biologist, Ben West, who works for USGS here in Columbia. His research focuses on the effects of oil spills on migratory birds and he gave a great presentation on which birds were most affected by the

February Meeting with Mark Glenshaw on How to Find an Owl in your Neighborhood

Mark Glenshaw is widely known for his work on owls in Forest Park in St. Louis. He will be speaking at the February membership meeting Feb. 21, 7pm at Boone Electric Cooperative (1413 Rangeline) in the Amp Room. See the full lising in the Events calendar. Do you ever see or hear an owl in

Field Trip News & Notes

Updates from the field trip co-coordinators: Seeking a ride-share coordinator It’s come to our attention that evening field trips and meetings may pose a barrier for those uncomfortable with driving at night. With board approval, we’re looking to set up a way for people in this situation to arrange a ride to field trips or

Missouri River Bird Observatory’s Winter Webinar February Series

The Missouri River Bird Observatory (https://mrbo.org) (MRBO) Winter Learning Series Webinars continue with topics of conservation concern in Missouri. Join MRBO for the webinars every Monday in February at 6:30 p.m. CST. February 5 – Rare Insects of Missouri and Their Conservation with Steve Buback, Missouri Department of Conservation Insects are the most diverse and

Former CAS President Dick Luecke dies at 93

Dick Luecke served as a Board Member on CAS between 1977-1980, and served as President in 1976-1977. He was remembered by longtime CAS members as being “a kind man and a good birder.” The following is the obituary that ran in the Missourian in January.   Richard H. Luecke, age 93 of Columbia, Missouri, passed

Save the Date: 2024 Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative Conference: A 20 Year Retrospective

In 2004, CAS was a founding member of the Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative, an organization dedicated to all wild bird conservation. As a step-down organization from the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, MoBCI plays an important role in habitat improvement in Missouri, as well as larger role working to protect birds throughout their life cycle.

Grasslands Summit 2024: April 9-11 in Jefferson City

CAS is an affiliate organization with the Conservation Federation of Missouri and also with the Missouri Bird Conservation Initiative. CAS pledged a 200$ to MoBCI who offered a challenge grant to other MoBCI affiliates to serve as an official sponsor of the Grasslands Summit. MoBCI, with the help of CAS, will be listed as a

Note from the President

Happy New Year! I hope you are able to get out and do some first of the year birding today. We want to first thank you all for your generous donations to CoMoGives this year! We reached and even exceeded our goal of $10,000, ending the campaign with $10,470.00 all with loving donations from our