 Photo: Jeff Bleam We are excited to announce the return of the Spring Wings Birding Festival at the Lahontan Valley Wetlands. We are working with Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, Friends of Stillwater NWR, Nevada Department of Wildlife, Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe, Great Basin Bird Observatory, and the City of Fallon to host self-guided tours of Stillwater NWR, Carson Lake WMA, and the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Wetlands. We are recruiting volunteers to be stationed at these three locations and help participants spot and identify birds.
The festival is scheduled for for Saturday, 4/30, and Sunday, 5/1. Volunteers are needed for two shifts each day, 7:30-11:30 and 11:00-3:00. Please let us know if you are interested and available to volunteer. From February 4th through the 6th, former LAS vice-president Alan Gubanich led a birding class to the Tule Lake and Lower Klamath Wildlife refuges on the California/Oregon border. This field trip was hosted through Truckee Meadows Community College. The goal of this class was to view the wintering species at the refuges, including Bald Eagles, Tundra Swans, and Snow Geese. The diversity at the refuges was impressive, as participants observed Great-horned Owls, Sandhill Cranes, Common Mergansers, and too many Bald Eagles and Snow Geese to count! Our staff was along for the ride, at this adventure! We were able to keep eBird lists of the species, which were summarized in the trip report below. We also captured a video of Snow Geese flocks in flight, to show how impressively big the truly are. Click on the buttons below to view either. A huge thank you to Alan for organizing this event and sharing his passion for birding with the greater community! Photographs were taken by Alan and Parker Flickinger.
On January 21st, Jeff Bleam led a field trip exploring Damonte Ranch Wetlands. He kept an eBird checklist of the many different species he observed on his walk.
On Friday, January 7th, Jeff Bleam led our first field trip of 2022, visiting Diamond Creek Pond. Below are his field trip report and several photos he submitted from his checklist.
 Photo courtesy of Emma Wynn. On Friday, November 19th, Kath Giel led a birding field trip starting at Idlewild Park and walking upstream along the Truckee River for about a mile. There were 12 enthusiastic birders on the trip, newcomers to Reno as well as long term residents, many who had never been to this delightful birding area. Valerie Andersen compiled an eBird checklist. Below is the summary and highlights of the event:
Idlewild Park is a lovely park along the Truckee River near downtown Reno. It has two small ponds, and in addition to the perennial MALLARDS and CANADA GEESE on these ponds, we saw HOODED MERGANSERS, COMMON MERGANSERS, and a pair of WOOD DUCK. There was a HAIRY WOODPECKER in a tree near one pond. As we strolled upstream along the Truckee River, we were delighted with a number of DOWNY WOODPECKERS in the trees We also noted a few FLICKERS, AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEES, SONG SPARROWS and ROBINS. A few people spotted a MERLIN on the other side of the river. We also saw a JUVENILE SNOW GOOSE in the river with some CANADA GEESE and then on the way back to our cars we were thrilled with a JUVENILE RED-TAILED HAWK that was fearless and perched just above the ground on a tree stump along the river path (photo above by Emma Wynn). We enjoyed the two hours of birding on a beautiful day, enjoying our birding and making new friends.  We still have spaces available on both our Costa Rica Field trips in 2022! The first field trip happens from February 8th to 18th, and the second from February 19th to March 5th. Ornithologist, Mario Cordoba will be your guide through the Costa Rican forests. To meet Mario and learn about the environment and wildlife of Costa Rica, please check out his previous monthly member meeting below. Also check out the Costa Rica Field Trip Flyer below or contact our field trip coordinator, Kath Giel, for more details.
 Photo courtesy of Jeff Bleam. On Friday, November 11th, Jeff Bleam lead a birding field trip at the Silver Saddle Ranch Area outside of Carson City. As usual, he kept notes, an eBird checklist, and had his camera by his side. Below is his summary and highlights of the event:
Silver Saddle Ranch and the Carson River Park is SE of downtown Carson City and the trail runs along the Carson River. As the group gathered, there was a large flock of BLACK-BILLED MAGPIES and if you look closely you can see a gray bird, which was a COOPER'S HAWK. There were numerous FLICKERS, many CANADA GEESE, JUNCOS, and WC SPARROWS. There was also a large flight PINYON JAYS, a flock of RC KINGLETS, a MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, and on the way to the dam we found HERMIT THRUSH, DOWNY WOODPECKER, and 5 TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE. I played the Solitaire call and song for someone that wasn't familiar with their song and a Solitaire flew in within 5 feet of us and responded with a call then he started to sing. Like the Davis Creek walk a couple of weeks ago it was more birdy on the way to the dam but very quiet on the way back. We ended the walk with 25 species.  Steller's Jay, photographed by trip leader Jeff Bleam. To celebrate Nevada Day, we hosted a field trip at Davis Creek regional park lead by Jeff Bleam. Although our group did not observe our State bird (the Mountain Bluebird), we had a wonderful adventure nonetheless. Below are Jeff's field notes:
Friday's Field Trip was to Davis Creek Regional Park located at the base of the Sierra's in the Washow Valley. As we gathered in the parking lot, we heard CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS, STELLER'S JAYS, FLICKER, and MOUNTAIN CHICKADEES. We walked north to take advantage of the warm morning sun and saw a CASSIN'S FINCH, PYGMY and WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, and a large flock of RUBY-CROWNED NUTHATCHES. Walking through the campground, we heard more Pygmy and WB Nuthatches plus a calling RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH. It was quiet on the way to the group camp area but we did find a male WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER in the parking area and there were only 3 MALLARDS on the half filled pond. We ended the walk with 23 species. ebird cklst - https://ebird.org/checklist/S96851895 DCRP Album - https://flic.kr/s/aHskmWcCJU |
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