All Audubon meetings, held on the 3rd Thursday of each month, 7:00pm, September through May November 2019 (except December), at the Hal Holmes Center next to the Ellensburg Public Library, are open to the public. Please come and meet with us, and stay afterwards for juice, treats, and conversation. Many thanks to the Ellensburg Public Library for sponsoring our meetings! 7:00pm • November 21st • General Program There’s a Fungus Among Us! What lurks beneath us on earth’s carpet? The mission of Can I safely eat that? What purpose does Kittitas Audubon that organism serve? is to develop an appreciation of Find out at November’s program on the 21st! nature through Helen Lau will introduce the audience to the secret life of fungi and discuss some of their ecological functions. She will share images of some of our most common education and local fungi and common edible fungi as well as their look-a-likes. Helen Lau is a conservation, botanist for the USFS on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. She manages with a focus on the rare botanical species (plants, lichens, bryophytes and fungi), native plant restoration and invasive plant program on the Cle Elum Ranger District. Helen’s birds. research interests are in fungi biodiversity and she received an undergraduate degree at Evergreen State College and her master’s degree on mycorrhizae ecology in the Biological Sciences Department at Central Washington University. Photos provided by Helen Lau The Hooter • Kittitas Audubon’s Newsletter kittitas audubon • www.kittitasaudubon.org By Gloria Baldi Following is a brief summary of the September 5th Board minutes: Board Members Announcements • Injured birds from Kittitas County have previously been taken to Blue Mountain Wildlife in Pendleton, PRESIDENT Oregon. Because of a state requirement for interstate avian transport, BMW may no longer be able to Judy Hallisey ................270.792.9188 take the birds unless an Oregon Veterinarian decrees the bird is disease free, a monetarily prohibitive VICE PRESIDENT requirement (as well as a senseless requirement). Jan Demorest ...............509.933.1179 • A discussion on hummingbirds ensued. It was suggested leaving feeders out through the month of October for those hummers migrating later than others. In the case of the Anna’s Hummingbirds, SECRETARY which do not migrate, discussion centered on heated feeders, or how to keep a feeder from freezing. Jim Briggs .....................509.933.2231 If you do have an Anna’s coming daily to your feeder, please contact KAS for possible feeder solutions. TREASURER Audubon Conference of Washington was attended by Judy Hallisey and Barry Brunson. Sharon Lumsden .........509.968.3889 • The big news was the impending release of the October 10th Audubon Climate Initiative listing 389 CLIMATE CHANGE Barry Brunson ..............270.792.9186 species of North American birds on the brink of survival due to climate change, habitat destruction, cats, windows, and more. 140 million points of observation are included in the data. (The latest issue CONSERVATION of the Audubon has detailed information.) Norm Peck ....................509.933.4233 • The next national Audubon Conference will be in Tacoma in 2021. EDUCATION Conservation/Wildlife Open Position .........contact us! • Norm Peck is monitoring the early scoping of the wolf recovery program. FIELD TRIPS Steve Moore ..................509.933.1179 • The south end Wenas shooting range continues to be developed. • Judy Hallisey wrote the PUD about an osprey nest that had been removed. HISTORIAN • Judy has been approved to be a member of the Nature Conservancy Checkerboard Project, with the Open Position .........contact us! goal of managing the lands as community forests. MEMBERSHIP Climate Change Kris Kaylor .....................509.304.4103 • Thanks to all the KAS members and Climate Change people who participated in the worldwide climate PAST PRESIDENT strike on September 20th. There were 200 to 300 participants rather than 100 reported by the Daily Tom Gauron ..................509.968.3175 Record. PROGRAMS Lesley McGalliard .........509.933.2812 Old Business • A grant for the ‘butterfly garden’ at Helen McCabe Park is being pursued. PUBLICITY Open Position .........contact us! • The solar farm siting resolution was discussed at WA State Audubon, and continues to be refined. SCHOLARSHIPS Scholarship Gloria Baldi ...................509.933.1558 • Kiana Rose, a senior at CWU and one of KAS’s present scholarship recipients, spoke about her project. NEWSLETTER She is surveying the birds found at Englehorn Pond and the Native Plant Garden on the CWU campus, Kris Kaylor .....................509.304.4103 an area near the CWU Parking Facility and not accessible to the public. Therefore bird behavior is rather undisturbed. Total acreage is 1.97 with 0.82 acre in pond habitat and the balance in wetlands * BLUEBIRD BOXES Jan Demorest .............509.933.1179 and a garden….all designated as a critical area by the City of Ellensburg. The primary question of her research is: what is the species composition, diversity and abundance of birds at Englehorn Pond? * SOCIAL GREETER • Secondary questions include determining if there are climate-sensitive species in the area, what Kay Forsythe ...............509.925.2356 factors are disturbing the health of the pond and garden ecosystems, and are there steps the CWU * CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT Biology Department could take to restore and improve the habitat. Phil Mattocks • Kiana will publish a booklet of the birds and findings to be used by teachers and students. KAS Board Meetings are held at The next Board meeting is November 7th. Come join us. 4:30pm on the 1st Thursday of each month at the Methodist Church across from The Ellensburg Library. The 2019 KAS Christmas Bird Count is These meetings are open to the public and all Audubon members— happening on December 14th. please come and join in the discussions. Meetings adjourn by More information will be in the 6:00 or 6:30pm, then we all go out December Hooter, but if you intend for a sociable dinner—NO business to count, please mark your calendar! discussion allowed! *Non-voting members 2 The Hooter • Novembert 2019 • Kittitas Audubon’s Newsletter October 5th 1st Saturday BirdWalk Report by Steve Moore. Photos by Kris Kaylor We had 10 walkers on a cool sunny morning with a definite autumn feel to the air. Our winter residents are arriving and settling in: juncos just getting in from the forests, many Steller’s Jays around and perhaps arriving from upland areas, and some less common birds for these woods (chased in by cooler weather maybe?)***********************: Spotted Towhee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Fox Sparrow. No ducks, but a couple of Pied-billed Grebes in the upper pond. Still around after summer were aWarbling Vireo, and small groups of Yellow- rumped Warblers gleaning bugs off the branches and moving from tree to tree. We tallied 24 species. The Big Event of the day was finding a dark lump perched in a tree at the edge of the river, evidently patient enough to bear several moments of our scrutiny with the binocs. Careful looking resolved the dark cap-with-earflaps of a Peregrine Falcon, by now looking at us with suspicious interest. As we watched, a shape, a missile, crossed our field of view from upper right to left and disappeared in a tree – it was like seeing a meteor when you don’t expect it. Some large bird, of course, and the falcon flushed immediately, screaming its discomfort up the river, then back again overhead. It returned another time or two after some minutes, still keening. That was some angry bird! Next, we moved left-wise through the woods and found the object of its ire, sitting non-plussed on an inclined branch: a Great Horned Owl, who remained there, half- interested in us, for 5 minutes or more. Wonder why it flew in like that? – perhaps it had seen the falcon and wanted a more secluded perch. Anyway, both characters gave us a good show and a memorable Oregon Shorebird Festival by Dick and Terry Carkner The 33rd Oregon Shorebird Festival was the weekend of September 20 in Charleston, Oregon, just south of Coos Bay. We gathered at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology to register. They offered lodging but we drove down in our camper. The RV park was within walking distance to the Institute and several restaurants. They offered 3 different tours Saturday and two on Sunday plus a pelagic tour. We signed up for the Bandon Marsh and beach trip for Saturday and the pelagic tour for Sunday. At the Bandon Marsh National Wildlife refuge observation deck we saw Black-bellied Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, a MewGull and Surf Scoters. The tide was going out so the birds were pretty far out. Lots of gulls and cormorants. We drove around to the south jetty to find Wandering Tattlers, and Black Turnstones. Further down the coast at China Creek along Bandon Beach we looked for the Western Snowy Plovers. At Face Rock we added a Common Murre to the list. The Tufted Puffins and Black Oystercatchers nest on these rocks in the spring so we might make a trip back there in the spring. We had three good leaders with scopes and we were surprised that no one had a field guide. I had mine! It was a lovely fall day, perfect for birding. Unfortunately, rain was forecast for the pelagic tour on Sunday but we were prepared with rain gear, muck boots to keep our feet dry, and patches behind our ears to help prevent motion sickness. Sunday morning we got up very early to catch the pelagic tour in hopes of seeing and adding a lot of new birds to my life list. Oregon Pelagic Tours led this five hour tour. Our guides, both named Tim, were enthusiastic and very knowledgeable.