Aiken Audubon Society

*WAITLIST ONLY* El Paso County with Denver Field Ornithologists
2025-11-29 07:30 - 15:30 (America/Denver) | El Paso County, United States
El Paso County with DFO: Various locations for an almost-big-day.
Saturday, November 29, 2025, 7:15 AM – 3:00 PM
(NOTE: this is the time frame for Denver-area participants. COS-area, expect a later start/meeting time and an earlier arrival home.)
Leaders: David Suddjian and Jessica Miller
Trip Difficulty: Moderate

This trip will visit a handful of locations in the Colorado Springs and Fountain area to seek known rarities and maybe to find our own. We should find a nice cross-section of wintering and resident birds and perhaps some tardy migrants. Plan for up to three miles of walking among our different locations. Bring lunch, snacks and drink, and dress in layers. Scopes will be helpful at some spots, and the leader will have one to share. Denver-area birders will carpool from the Castle Rock meeting spot, and a rendezvous in the Springs area will be announced for those living to the south.
This trip is limited and registration will open at noon on 11/8/2025. on this webpage: https://dfobirds.org/FieldTrips/Register.aspx?TripID=22238. If you do not already have an account with DFO, visit https://dfobirds.org/, click “LOGIN” then click “Create an account” and follow the prompts.

Aiken Canyon Preserve with Bruce Dunbar
2025-12-06 07:30 - 23:30 | Aiken Canyon, 3350 Turkey Canon Ranch Rd, Colorado Springs, CO, 80926
Join Bruce Dunbar for a walk around Aiken Canyon Preserve, a quiet retreat down Hwy 115. We’ll hike about 4 miles through oak meadows and evergreen woodlands that wind through the rocky outcrops. This is a moderately difficult hike, but we’ll be going at a slow birder’s pace. Along the way we should see and hear a number of winter residents, and hopefully discover some special mountain species that have come down in elevation for the winter.

*WAITLIST ONLY* Birds & Brews: Fox Run Regional Park & Goat Patch Brewing - Northgate
2025-12-14 10:00 - 12:00 | Fox Run Regional Park, 2110 Stella Dr, Colorado Springs, CO, 80921, United States
This intrepid bird outing will have us searching the Palmer Divide for winter birds in the Black Forest. Fox Run Regional Park has only 5 species reported on eBird during December – will this be the worst Birds & Brews? Enjoy the scenery and camaraderie while contributing to winter bird records for the park!
– This hike will be moderate, going up to 3 miles in 2 hours over uneven terrain with some incline.
– Bring binoculars and dress for the Monument, CO forecast.
– Space is limited. Join the waitlist by emailing trip leader Jessica Miller at jessicaisbirding@gmail.com

2025 Colorado Springs Christmas Bird Count
2025-12-20
Please join us for this year’s Colorado Springs Christmas Bird Count on Saturday, December 20, 2025.
Everyone is welcome to participate. Plan to spend at least the entire morning finding birds, though times will vary. Come prepared for cold temperatures and possibly snow and ice. Feeder watchers are also encouraged to sign up and participate.
We will gather for a potluck dinner, species compilation, and sharing of the day’s adventures at Bear Creek Nature Center from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. on count night.
For more information or to sign up for the count, please contact Tyler Stuart at colospringscbc@gmail.com.

Photo: Evan Barrientos/Audubon. Volunteers survey birds for the Boulder Christmas Bird Count at Teller Farm in Boulder, Colorado, on December 18, 2022. The Christmas Bird Count is a long-running, annual community science project.

Birding By Book | "We Should All Be Birds"
2025-12-29 17:30 - 19:00
Aiken Audubon’s Birding by Book is a book club for those who love birds AND books! The club meets to discuss selected book titles and create community among birders in the Pikes Peak area.
Read “We Should All Be Birds” by Brian Buckbee with Carol Ann Fitzgerald at your leisure, then join us on Monday, December 29th for book club discussion.

On a spring evening in Montana, Brian Buckbee encounters an injured baby pigeon. Heartbroken after the loss of the love of his life and increasingly isolated by a mysterious illness that overtook him while trekking through Asia, Brian is unaware that this bird—who he names Two-Step—will change his life. Brian takes in Two-Step, and more injured birds, eventually transforming his home into a madcap bird rehabilitation and rescue center. As Brian and Two-Step grow closer, an unexpected kinship forms. But their paths won’t converge forever: as Two-Step heals and finds love, Brian’s condition worsens, and with his friend’s release back into the world looming closer, Brian must decide where this story leaves him.
We Should All Be Birds follows Brian, unable to read or write due to a never-ending headache, as he dictates the end of his old life—as an adventurer, an iconoclastic university instructor, and endurance athlete—through his relationship with a pigeon that comes to define his present. Limited to dictation, Brian teams up with Carol Ann Fitzgerald, an editor who channels the details of his personal history to the pages. Raw and perceptive, delirious and devastating, We Should All Be Birds is an unflinching exploration of chronic illness, grief, connection, and the spectacular beauty of the natural world—and the humble pigeon. The surprising, heartwarming relationship between man and bird provides insight into what it means to love, to suffer, and to “never forget, even for a second, how big it all is.”

Seating is LIMITED, and a reservation is required.
RSVP by emailing BirdingByBook@gmail.com.
Roadrunner Bookshop is offering new copies of We Should All Be Birds at a 15% discount to book club members. Please email your request to place an order along with your RSVP.
photo credit: tinhouse.com

Pueblo Area with Denver Field Ornithologists
2026-01-01 06:00 - 17:00 | Pueblo Area
Pueblo Area with DFO: Various locations for an almost-big-day to start your New Year off with a birding bang!
Thursday, January 1, 2026, 6:00 AM – 5:00 PM
(NOTE: this is the time frame for Denver-area participants. COS-area, expect a later start/meeting time and an earlier arrival home.)
Leader: David Suddjian
Trip Difficulty: Moderate
Let’s kick start our year lists and even see new birds! Start 2026 with a visit to one of Colorado’s best winter birding areas! Lake Pueblo and the Arkansas corridor downstream can be counted on for a great variety of water birds and land birds, like loons, ducks, grebes, warblers and sparrows, and a good chance for rare wintering species. We will look for regional specialties like Scaled Quail, Curve-billed Thrasher, Canyon Towhee, Bewick’s Wren, and White-winged Dove. This will be a full day with several stops, including viewing around Lake Pueblo SP, along the Arkansas River, and at Pueblo City Park. Bring a scope if you have one (we can share), sturdy footwear, and bring plenty of clothing ranging from cold to pleasant. Plan for up to 1.5 miles of walking, mostly on flat terrain. Bring snacks, lunch and drinks. We will carpool from the Castle Rock meeting spot, and we will have a southern rendezvous point for those living south of Denver area.
This trip is limited and registration will open at noon on 12/11/2025. on this webpage: https://dfobirds.org/FieldTrips/Register.aspx?TripID=22255. If you do not already have an account with DFO, visit https://dfobirds.org/, click “LOGIN” then click “Create an account” and follow the prompts.
