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The Snake River Audubon Society is a chapter of the National Audubon Society and serves members in the Upper Snake River Valley of Eastern Idaho. Please join us for our Monthly Meetings, which are ordinarily held at the Idaho Falls Public Library on the third Thursday of the month at 7:15 p.m. from September through April (except December).

Presently, in view of public health concerns meeting rooms at the Library are unavailable, so we are doing virtual meetings, same day and time as usual, via the "Zoom" live streaming meeting platform. If you are a member and Kit has your email address you should receive an invitation. If you are not sure we have your email address, send Kit a message saying you would like to be included in the Zoom Meeting invitation list.

Our Newsletter which is included with Membership is published monthly except for July, August, and December. If you wish to subscribe by email only, send Kit a request by email.

We continue to have field trips and other activities with provision for safe distancing and behavior to keep us all healthy. Check the newsletter for more information.

How to Join Snake River Audubon

Membership information can be found on the back page of our Newsletter which is available for free download from the Birding Resources page of this Web Site. Membership with National Audubon is $30, which includes subscription to the quarterly NAS publication "Audubon". Or you can subscribe local only for $10. Either subscription method includes our newsletter (monthly but for December, June, July, and August).

Bird Collisions with Windows

Keep birds from crashing into your windows! We have it on good authority this works (I've done it on my windows).

Acopian Birdsavers

(PS: Let me know if you can figure out where the word "Acopian" comes from. I looked all over the web. I got one brief glimpse that it might have to do with some Peruvian Amazon connection. But I never could find my way back to that Wikipedia destination lost in the mists of the internet.)

We first heard of this strategy from Hilary Turner, one of our members and a bright star in the spiral galaxy of Birding. It really works! Do it for the Birds! It is easy enough to do. Contact Mark if you have questions.

Early Spring by the Falls

It was a beautiful sunny morning today. It snowed a little over night. But by mid-morning the roads were dry, so I rode my bike down to the river, picked up a cup of tea on the way, and found a dry bench to sit on across the pond from the hotels.

I decided maybe there were at least two types of gulls sitting on the lip of the falls, probably Ring-bills and Californias. A few crows croaked by, and a few Canada's honked over.

And... as I sat sipping my tea I discovered a song sparrow had lit on top of the small clump of bush 10 feet from me on the bank. We regarded each other. I placed a little drop of sweet milky tea on the corner of the table for it, but nothing doing! This was business.

And... after a bit I began hearing a very faint song sparrow song. I thought I must be hearing another bird some distance away. But my visitor's throat was pulsing in time with the soft call. And I realized my visitor must be practicing what Donald Kroodsma calls a "sub-song"--a young bird getting ready for its first spring.

We sat together for a while and it practiced. Then, with what I took to be satisfaction, it stopped singing, looked right and left, and flitted away up river.

What a treat and an honor! Made my day...

Get out doors if you can,

Mark

Idaho Falls Area Birds

A little book you won't want to miss!

We are very proud of our little book! We are indebted to the City of Idaho Falls for its generous support and assistance in helping us create a pocket size spiral bound bird book, Idaho Falls Area Birds, intended to introduce visitors and interested residents to our local wealth of birds. All 112 spectacular photographs were generously provided by local photographers, and we crafted the original text. You won't be disappointed!$10 Available at Barnes and Noble, the Zoo, the Museums, and other Idaho Falls City outlets. Also available at the Willowtree Gallery, Eagle Rock Nursery, and Rocknak's Hardware. And available directly from us at our meetings. Or ask any of our Board members, Linda, Mark, Kit, Carolyn, Don or Sue, or Steve.

Photographers!

Get your bird photos out there! We are working on a "Visitor's Guide to the most Common Birds of Craters of the Moon National Monument." This booklet will be a win-win-win opportunity: a win for the National Monument, a win for Snake River Audubon, and a win for you the photographer.

There is a list (CoM bird list PDF.pdf) on our "Birding Resources" page (access that page from the index box above left) of the 42 more common birds at Craters of the Moon. (Birds at best are scarce on the lava. Most on the list are more common elsewhere in our area). We need photos for all of them. Here are the rules:

1. You must be a SRAS member to participate.

2. Photographs need not actually be taken at the Monument, but they should look as though they plausibly were in fact there.

3. The project has no budget to purchase your photographs if used, but you will retain all copyrights to them, and you will be credited on the image as it appears in the pamphlet.

4. Mail your entries .JPG format to Linda, lmilam1472@aol.com

We are ambitiously hoping to go to press this summer. We'll notify you when our selections have been made and provide you with terms of the arrangement.

Thank you in advance for your help. It's a win/win.

Peregrine Falcon Webcam

Last year, the Falcon cam at the Camas National Wildlife Refuge showed us Ravens! that fledged at least 1 young. It is not what we wanted, but it's what we got.

The camera is currently off for the winter. The good news is, come spring we will have a solid link to the webcam stream that will be imbedded on its own page of the Friends of Camas National Wildlife Refuge website. The "Nestcam" link in the menu bar at the top of the page will take you there. Keep your fingers crossed for Falcons, not ravens!

o

This month's Program

Thursday, March 18

Yellowstone Through the Seasons

By Adam Brubaker

Zoom 7:15 PM

Adam has been guiding in the Yellowstone region for several years now in all seasons. His observational and photography skills do justice to Yellowstone's grandeur. We'll hear some great stories.

Kit will be sending out the Link Wednesday of that week

If you haven't been there before, Zoom is fun! The live internet gives a unique experience. Make sure your membership is up to date, and see that Kit has your email address if you wish to join the meeting. If you aren't yet a member, see the "How to Join Snake River Audubon" paragraph above.

Field Trips

No field trip this month due to the COVID epidemic. But we suggest you stage a private field trip north and west of Idaho Falls. The farm fields are thawing rapidly, there are large puddles, and ample stubble from last year that is prime habitat for ducks, geese, swans, horned larks, occasional snow buntings? longspurs?, raptors of several types, and who knows what else. Let us know what you come up with.

Newsletter

In spite restrictions and cancellation of our planned activities, Kit still gets out a great newsletter. Check it out! Click here to go to our Birding Resources page where you can download a copy of our Current Newsletter which contains additional information about birds and our activities.

MESSAGES FROM SNAKE RIVER AUDUBON

Help Snake River Audubon

At our Board meeting last month we looked around the room, and we all agreed we haven't got any younger. Some of us have been in that room since last century. We are a good dedicated group and like what we are doing. We've had a long run of excellent programs at our SRAS general meetings, and our attendance proves it. We even have more than a year's operating expenses in the bank. (That's not really saying much! But it's good.)

So, we could use some help. We're not the only game in town, but Audubon is often who people think of when they think about birds. Being a volunteer outfit we have a hard time filling those shoes. We could do better if we had some new blood. We need people who want to do something for our avian friends. We could use people who want to work with kids, people who want to learn, people with new ideas, people who want to get out doors.

Our board meeting schedule is in our newsletter every month because it is open to all Snake River Audubon members. Please join us to see what's going on. We could really use your ideas. If you want to dig in, we could use help with everything we do. Watch the newsletter for Board meeting dates. Let us know if you plan to attend, one of us will find a box to sit on--you can sit on a chair!

Notable Notes

Check out our Birding Resources page. We periodically add links to items of interest to bird enthusiasts, and the latest newsletter is available there to view or download early in each month.

Help keep Snake River Audubon going whenever you go shopping at Fred Meyer!

• Sign up for the Community Rewards program by linking your Fred Meyer Rewards Card to Snake River Audubon Society at Fred Meyer Community Rewards. You can search for us by our name or by our non-profit number 91179.
• Then every time you shop and use your Rewards Card, you are helping our chapter earn a donation.
• You still earn your Rewards Points, Fuel Points, and Re-bates.
  • Contact Us
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  • snakeriveraudinfo@gmail.com
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Comments? Questions? Let us know by contacting us at Snake River Audubon