Red Rock Audubon Society

Are you waiting for this summer heat to break so you can get out and get involved in local bird conservation, connect with like-minded people, and deepen your knowledge of the Mojave Desert’s birds and life zones? Then this fall, we have a program for you!

Pathways to Conservation is our new volunteer and education program led by Alex Harper, our Education & Outreach Chair. This program is split into two cohorts: one for adults, and one for high school students interested in careers in biology and conservation. Each cohort will have a mixture of Zoom learning sessions and in-person field trips to provide you with the skills, knowledge, and network needed to make a difference for Southern NV's birdlife!

Get all the details and apply to our program by visiting our website-- link in bio.

Join us tomorrow night: 6:30pm at Khoury's Fine Wine and Spirits - 9915 S Eastern Ave.

The June 1 trip to Corn Creek at Desert National Wildlife Refuge is over and done, but David Zechman will be leading another trip Saturday the 8th at the bird preserve!

Registration is required, birds are guaranteed or your money back. The event is also free ;)

Join us for a free birding event at Corn Creek Desert National Wildlife Refuge this Saturday 6/01/2024.

Birds are singing and raising young, who are out of the nest and curious about the world around them.

Sign-up at the link below: https://www.redrockaudubon.com/event/name/dwnr-corn-creek-field-trip-jun-01-2024?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR34zdUGcECRMcvIPiTfOhQkKs15n0awjcPM0X-3lHNjHlNh_V7VadXVlCc_aem_ASUImVgvzVsPHASZKS3G0Y_PieIRIrs1m4BzOSUZrkSBP_NUybsXnlqHBvkFQd0wi6dihoPk-d6Uuv9UgLVQEYeX

Save this post for when you or someone you know finds a baby bird!

Thank you to the for covering birds and mindfulness through birding!

You can’t click on links from Instagram posts, but the link looks like this:

https://www.reviewjournal.com/livewell/want-to-ease-anxiety-look-to-the-sky-3044588/

Register for ’s Nevada Bird-a-thon today! 🦅 The Bird-a-thon is an opportunity for teams to raise funds for bird conservation for some of our species in direst need. Significant knowledge gaps exist in the life histories of NV’s Desert Thrashers, and with mounting threats such as large scale energy development, GBBO is immediately concerned with filling these gaps. While most teams collect pledges for bird species they see over a 24-hour period, many customize the when, where, and how for their birding adventure.

runs May 3 – May 13. All skill levels are welcome, and teams can participate anywhere in the state.
To learn more, donate, or join visit https://www.gbbo.org/birdathon2024.

That’s a wrap for the campus walks for the 2023-2024 calendar. Many of their officers are graduating, but we will continue to work with the campus chapter while they bring in new leadership.

Highlights from the morning included Black Phoebes and Lesser Goldfinches feeding young, migrating Western Wood-Pewee, Hammond’s Flycatcher, and Wilson’s Warblers, and a Cooper’s Hawk on a nest.

would like you to know about her artwork on display at . You’ll see Joshua Trees, owls, hummingbirds, Cooper’s Hawks, fungi, her unique style, and her desire to draw you into the living world of the desert on display. There’s a bit more, but you’ll have to go for yourself. Check out the native plant gardens around campus while you’re there.

Our "Birding in the Parks" wrap up for the spring after April so that everyone has free reign to plan their May Birdathon plan.

Join us Saturday, April 6 at Cornerstone Park. Sunday at Floyd Lamb is very popular and has a waitlist.

Expect lots of signing and a few new arrivals for the Spring. Listen and look for Yellow-headed Blackbirds at Cornerstone.

You’ll hear Lincoln’s Sparrows far more than you see them. When around marshes or weedy areas with damp soil, I listen for their short, high “bzzt”. It sounds like a short electric shock.

They also make a flat “chip” call that reminds me of the sound we make when we suck our teeth. It’s sharp and abrupt, attention grabbing, but ending as quickly as it begins.

~ Alex

Have been down this section at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve?

It’s spring. Go see and hear some birds!

We are happy to say that our education and outreach chair worked with the Bureau of Land Management that works in Avi Kea Ame to create a birding intro to monument visitors.

Read it here:

www.blm.gov

The Brittlebush are blooming in the Colorado River basin washes and Vegas area. The birds that live year-round here are singing and keeping territories, and herons, swallows, Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Hooded Orioles, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, and Lucy’s Warblers are returning from areas farther south. These birds will be followed and accompanied by shorebirds, raptors, gulls, terns, flycatchers, vireos, poorwills, hummingbirds, Flammulated Owls, cuckoos, warblers, sparrows, grosbeaks, buntings, orioles, chats, tanagers, and more.

Set some time aside to take in the spring goodness happening all around you.

We are active most weekends during most months of the year, and that’s true for the spring! On Saturday the 10th, we have our Cornerstone Park walk early in the morning at Henderson, followed by our presentation from Great Basin Bird Observatory on thrashers.

The timing works out that you could do both!

And on Sunday we will have a training for our trip leaders, led by David Anderson.

Red Rock Audubon Society has the reputation for our organized, relevant, and organized field trips that are led by trip leaders that connect you to the birds and habitats that you are exploring.

We owe that to our leadership, expertise, effort, financial investment, and thoughtfulness. Our trip leaders are volunteers - they are not paid to do this. And we keep our bird walks consistent and free so that anyone can join.

This means that we attract service-minded leaders that do these trips for the right reasons. One of these humans is David Anderson. David goes by . He is an expedition and climbing guide through and a lifelong naturalist. See him at the Java Jaunts that we do monthly with Clark County Wetlands Parks.

David is also teaching a course to our current trip leaders and volunteers in mid-March. We will be learning about leading safe birding events straight from one of the world’s most experts on wilderness medicine and risk motivation.

Think that’s amazing? Drop a 🔥 for our trip leaders.

The first migratory birds are showing up! Turkey Vultures and swallows are among the first birds to return in February and early March. You’re probably noticing a bunch of singing from local birds, too.

Get out with us this weekend to look for signs of spring! We have our trip to Cornerstone Park on Saturday. This is a great one for beginners that want to know more and the everyday resident birds and some common water birds.

Sunday is for Floyd Lamb Park in NW Las Vegas. Floyd Lamb is one the birdiest gems in the city and always very popular. The park manager is an arborist and understands the connection between natural habitat, plant diversity, leaf litter, and birds.

Sign up by going to the calendar on our website. It is a little slow to process pages - we are aware and we are working on it! Give it a few more seconds than you’d normally wait, register, and come bird with us. It’s worth it!

It’s sounding like spring with all of the bird song around the campus. hosted their monthly bird walk this morning, with Brandie Frias leading the walk.

Along with singing Verdin, mockingbird, and House Finches were birds collecting nest material and constructing nests.

Their next walk will be the last Wednesday in March.

Morrigan birthday 🚨 and appreciation post!

Two years ago, Morrigan joined Red Rock Audubon as an Americorps service member. She came on to help us expand our reach deeper into the community. And that she has, and so much more.

Today, she is so much more than her job title suggests. Morrigan is a quiet force for our chapter. She creates curriculum, lesson plans, presentations, resources, and activities for kids, teens, and adults.

She leads birding and mindful outings, creates journaling and writing opportunities for us, helps our partners by giving time and quality attention, and creates and organizes our newsletter. She writes regular blog posts to tell stories. She is dependable, thorough, creates and meets her own deadlines, and does all the administrative and coordinating tasks that are invisible to us but vital to our success. Her work ethic, genuine desire to help people, birds, insects, and their habitats, creativity, and discipline have helped her to become the incoming Artist in Residence at Clark County Wetlands, to teach our teachers, and publish the conservation stories that we want disseminated. We are so lucky to have her!

Give Morrigan a 🥳 to wish her a happy birthday and a bit of gratitude. She won’t bring attention to herself, but we will!

Our 2023 annual report is out! If you’re a member, check your email to have a look at a recap of our biggest year as a chapter.

We make positive impacts for birds by making positive impacts with people.

We keep our events FREE and open to the public because we would never want cost to dissuade you from joining us. And what we hear time and time again is that our events are valuable. That's because we put effort and work into making our events interesting, impactful, and warm.

Come see what we mean and join us soon. We have Zen Birding with poet JM Huck on Saturday, Hendeson Bird Viewing Preserve birding on Sunday, and Sunset Park birding on Monday morning. Register on our website and visit the events page. Again, they're free and it only takes a few minutes to register.

Do you want to make a difference for birds, their habitats, and the people in southern Nevada? And do you want to do this alongside a group of motivated people?

Our Spring Ambassador Program may be for you! This program will bring 20 people together and go through an intensive training over zoom. During this training we will go over the threats facing birds, how to be a part of positive change, how to communicate with strangers, and best of all, celebrate birds.

This is how it works: first of all it's free. Nice! Now that you got that, we will spend three, 1.5 hour video chats as a group over three Tuesday nights in March. After that, we will have three tracks of focus. You can do one, two, or all three.

Imagine yourself posted up at a Killdeer colony at Cornerstone, at the Burrowing Owl preserve, at Pond One at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, or helping to maintain a community garden with native plants.

We know that our lives are busy, so we want to help you figure out what is right for you and then enable you to go do it.

Space is limited, and we have a few left. Sign up and help us make a splash this spring.

https://www.redrockaudubon.com/event/name/ambassador-program-on-zoom-mar-12-2024

Have you noticed that we have more people joining us and leading new and exciting outings?

This time around we have Zen Poetry with poet JM Huck and another one of our creatives, Morrigan, leading. This is at Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve Saturday the 24th.

You must register for this event, but good thing it's free!

www.redrockaudubon.com

We have a new one for you this Saturday - it’s Zen Birding with poet JM Huck.

On Sunday, we have our popular Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve guided walk. And then we have our Sunset Park walk on Monday morning.

Our events are free and open to the public. Head to redrockaudubon.com and register on our events page. See you this weekend?

A few snaps from Victoria and Melissa’s recent birding and breakfast at The Giving Garden in East Vegas.

Our Bird Friendly Community Chair, , joined Victoria of to invite friends and neighbors for a morning of birding, journaling, and celebrating the unity of community and everyday nature. Nestled away in every city block, in every city, in every country is the opportunity to pause and notice what we are already a part of.

provided the coffee! With springtime around the corner, we have to ask: what is one thing that you can this spring to make your slice of Las Vegas just that much more accommodating to the people and wildlife around you?

Interested in helping to collect important information on winter bird populations? Participating in Christmas Bird Counts is a great way to do that, but what are they and how can you do it with limited time or experience?

Learn more about whether or not doing a count in the next few weeks is good for you by tuning into our Dec 6 zoom session on local CBCs. Join us Wednesday evening to learn more. Resister through the link in our bio.

You've heard of Christmas Bird Counts, but what are they?

In short, they are a series of bird counts done every year to track bird populations of decades. It helps many scientists look for trends and ask deeper questions.

You don't need to be an expert birder or scientist. New people start birding on Christmas Bird Counts all of the time, and that's also part of the point!

Learn more by joining this zoom session about the Christmas Bird Counts on Wednesday the 6th:

Kathy Klein led a fun group around Spring Mountain Ranch to do some early winter birding. They even found an Eastern Phoebe, a bird we rarely g*y to see in Nevada!

We have a few weekend trips and zoom presentations on Friday and Monday nights around dinner time.

Some of our trip leaders will be attending workshops as a thank you to them. And then it’s Christmas Bird Count time!

📸 Barbara Beck