Join Us for the Audubon/Sierra Club 2012 Legislative Forum!
Date: Saturday, February 4
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Cost: $12 per person in advance, $15 at the door.
Place: First Plymouth Church, 3501 S. Colorado Boulevard, Denver

The Audubon Society of Greater Denver and the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Sierra Club would like to invite you to attend the 2012 Legislative Forum in Denver. We especially encourage members of other Audubon chapters and local Sierra Club Groups to join us for this always-entertaining and informative event!

Audubon Colorado Lobbyist Jen Boulton and Sierra Club Lobbyist Chuck Malick will go over this session’s environmental bills, we’ll hear from speakers on several of the key issues, and at lunch we’ll talk with several Colorado legislators. A continental breakfast and lasagna lunch are provided.

The hot topics for this year include the merger of the Colorado Division of Wildlife with the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation; oil and gas regulation changes; diversion of GOCO funds, and the proposed transport of water from the Green River to the Colorado Front Range.

To register in advance, call the ASGD office at 303-973-9530 to give your name and contact information.
For more information contact Polly Reetz, 303-333-2164 or reetzfam@juno.com

Great Backyard Bird Count Perfect for New Birders
15th annual count takes place Feb. 17-20, 2012

The annual Great Backyard Bird Count is the perfect opportunity try counting birds for the first time. The event is hosted by Audubon, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Canadian partner Bird Studies Canada. The results provide a snapshot of the whereabouts of more than 600 bird species. Anyone can participate in this free event and no registration is needed. Watch and count birds for at least 15 minutes on any day of the count, February 17-20, 2012. Enter your results at www.birdcount.org , where you can watch as the tallies grow across the continent. The four-day count typically records more than 10 million observations.

"When thousands of people all tell us what they’re seeing, we can detect patterns in how birds are faring from year to year," said Janis Dickinson, director of Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

"The Great Backyard Bird Count is a perfect example of Citizen Science," says Audubon Chief Scientist, Gary Langham. "Like Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count, volunteers help us with data year after year, providing scientific support that is the envy of many institutions. It’s also a lot of fun." 

The 2011 GBBC brought in more than 92,000 bird checklists submitted by participants from across the United States and Canada. Altogether, bird watchers identified 596 species with 11.4 million bird observations.

Results from the 2011 GBBC included:

• Increased reports of Evening Grosbeaks, a species that has been declining;
• A modest seasonal movement of winter finches farther south in their search for food;
• The Eurasian Collared-Dove was reported from Alaska for the first time, more evidence of an introduced species rapidly expanding its range.

Although it’s called the Great “Backyard” Bird Count, the count extends well beyond backyards. Lots of participants choose to head for national parks, nature centers, urban parks, nature trails, or nearby sanctuaries. For more information, including bird-ID tips, instructions, and past results, visit www.birdcount.org . The count also includes a photo contest and a prize drawing for participants who enter their bird checklists online.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is made possible in part by sponsor Wild Birds Unlimited.

The Great Backyard Bird Count 2011: The results are in for the 2011 count. Click here to learn more.

  

From the National Audubon Society:

Bird Kill at Wind Facility Triggers Better Lighting Practices

News of a recent bird kill of Blackpoll Warblers and other species at a wind facility in West Virginia spread quickly through birding lists and caught the attention of the birding community in the region. Audubon staff learned of this unfortunate event and contacted the facility owner, AES Wind Generation, to investigate the causes of the incident and to work toward developing solutions that will help ensure such an incident doesn't happen again. From all indications, a combination of lighting and poor weather conditions were the primary causes of the bird kill. 

AES representatives told Audubon they have taken immediate corrective actions to curtail excessive night lighting, replace equipment with preferable downward-shielded lighting fixtures, and will modify other site specifications. They will increase monitoring and take additional steps to reduce or eliminate lighting the facility during migration seasons to avert future bird kills of this type.

Now, actions need to be taken to minimize the likelihood of similar events in the future at other wind power facilities. Audubon is in discussions with AES and others about sharing the lessons from this event with the broader wind industry and emphasizing the importance of the lighting practices in the forthcoming federal wind guidelines. We hope that, as a result, new facilities will be written to specs that incorporate lighting practices that have been shown to minimize bird mortality during migration. This is a straightforward corrective action that will significantly lessen the negative consequences to birds, while delivering carbon-limited sources of renewable energy. We will be working to help make this a standard practice across the industry. 

Read more about this incident and the actions taken: http://www.audubon.org/documents/audubon-summary-aes-bird-kill-incident. Contact Connie Mahan in Audubon's Policy Office if you have any questions or concerns: cmahan@audubon.org.

Pinello Ranch is Offering Birding Tours!
By David Rudin, Education Coordinator at Venetucci Farm

The Pinello Ranch, covering over 200 acres located just north of Venetucci Farm in Widefield, has long kept local birders’ mouths watering for an opportunity to explore this secret world. Chalk full of over half a dozen ponds, andwith riparian habitat bordering Fountain Creek, this is truly a wildlife oasis.

The ranch is being slowly brought back to life by the Pikes Peak Community Foundation (PPCF), who own and operate Venetucci Farm. Hay meadows are being restored, a historic apple orchard is being replanted and a dozen or so cows are grazing. The ranch also provides the same type of outstanding wildlife habitat as Fountain Creek Regional Park a few miles downstream, which has documented 290 bird species and obtained Important Birding Area (IBA) status from Audubon of Colorado.

The long term goal is to make Pinello Ranch self-sustaining. To do so will mean that both agricultural and wildlife aspects are managed together. The first step in this process will be surveying the bird population, adding a listing to the Colorado Division of Wildlife’s (CDOW) Colorado Birding Trail and applying for IBA status.

Volunteers are being sought for bird surveys, tours and help with the IBA process. If interested please contact David Rudin, drudin@ppcf.org .

Vulture Conservation

Our program last fall on vulture conservation left many of us wondering how we can contribute to the preservation of these essential birds. Here are some ways to help::

• Keeping garbage cleaned up to prevent vultures and other wildlife from eating non-food items
• Removing roadkill or reporting it so authorities can safely remove it. This keeps vultures and other scavengers from being hit by cars.
  
• Avoiding the use of lead shot. Carcasses killed with lead shot pose a lead poisoning hazard to both birds and other animals.
  
• Avoiding the use of poisons to kill wildlife.
  
• Recycle to reduce the need to cut down trees that vultures roost in.

Flicker Solutions

The March/April 2010 Aikorns has an article about Northern Flickers attacking a house. While the story is meant to be humorous, it is based on a real issue—what do we do when the birds we love start causing severe property damage?

Here's one solution that seems to be (mostly) working. Read more...