Welcome to the Huachuca Audubon Society
The Huachuca Audubon Society (HAS) offers monthly meetings in the form of lectures or slide shows on birding and natural history subjects. Meetings take place in Sierra Vista, usually on the third Tuesday of the month, September through May. Frequent birding trips to a variety of birding hotspots are offered year round. Whether in the area for a few days or newly relocated here, you are invited to join us in any activity offered. Check out recent trip reports of travels in Mexico and locally.
March Trogon News is available!
Read the latest edition of the Trogon News here.Join our Trogon News e-mail list for chapter announcements: email our webmaster.
Breaking News!
Consult the new Arizona Important Bird Areas (IBA)
Survey Database!
Do you know the origin of the birding term Jizz?
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ABA announces
2010 Young Birder Camp Circuit
Audubon Guides releases
iPhone App Series
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Huachuca Audubon Society has always supported recycling as a community
service. We recycle 1/4 to 1/2 ton of newspapers monthly from Apache
Middle School and have done so for years. We have also recycled
plastic, glass, aluminum cans, magazines and newspapers from Coronado
National Memorial for years. Last year the Memorial started it's own
recycling program and recycled 11 tons of materials. The Memorial has
also installed recycling containers throughout the park. We have also
recycled computer ink jet cartridges for some time. We have picked up
recyclables from the Amerind Foundation and Rainbow Ridge Assisted
Living for years. Please talk to family, friends, neighbors,
churches, school groups, etc and encourage recycling in our community.
Please find local recycle information below:
The Sierra Vista Environmental Operations Park offers recycling at the
Refuse Transfer Station located just east of Sierra Vista off Highway
90. Hours are Mon-Fri 8 AM to 3 PM and Saturday 7 Am to 3 PM.
Recycle is free for magazines and newspapers, #1 and #2 plastic, tin
and aluminum cans, and cardboard. For a $5 charge they will accept
refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, water heaters, and like items.
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Huachuca Audubon Society, in partnership with Audubon Arizona, is
pleased to offer a free educational resource to the community. We have
a portable box containing 24 binoculars, several field guides and a
copy of the Science Takes Wing lesson set. Teachers are encouraged
to checkout the box for use with their students. Scout and other
community groups may also use the box. Conservation starts with
understanding so share the wonder of birds with your favorite club or
class this year! The box is available for one week periods. To
reserve the box, please contact Tricia Gerrodette in Sierra Vista at
triciag2@cox.net
or (520) 378-4937.
Schedule of Events for March 2010 [E-mail us about coming events & corrections]
Local Programs and Events
Upper San Pedro Water District (USPWD) public outreach meetings are starting. The web site announcement contains details about the first three meetings, along with some supporting information. These initial meetings will be held from 5:30pm to 7:30pm:
- Huachuca City, February 23 - Huachuca City Community Center, 201 Yuma Street, Huachuca City, (520) 456-1354
- Bisbee, February 24 - Bisbee Senior Center, 300 Collins Road, Bisbee, (520) 432-2167
- Hereford/Palominas, March 1 - Palominas Elementary School, 10385 E. Highway 92, Hereford, (520) 366-6204
Please attend more than one meeting if you possibly can. Listen to the presentation and listen to questions and concerns of others at the meeting.
This is our chance to try to influence the concepts behind a comprehensive water plan for our valley before it comes to a vote. We need your help to do this.
If you hear any interesting questions or comments, please share them with the Huachuca Audubon Conservation Committee, so in case you personally cannot attend a future meeting someone else can attend and make sure the question gets asked.
WHERE: Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch,
366 Research Ranch Road, Elgin, AZ 85611,
Phone: 520/455-5522
WHEN: Tuesday and Wednesday, March 2nd and 3rd, 2010
EVENT: Animal Tracking Workshop
Join certified trackers Rob Speiden and Dr. Chris Hass for an in-depth, hands-on animal tracking workshop, at the Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch on March 2nd & 3rd. This course will help you better understand and appreciate the environment by learning how to identify animals by their signs and prints. Through classroom presentations and field trips, we will discuss and conduct hands-on activities including the morphology of tracks, sketching/drawing, aging tracks & sign, gait patterns, and trailing animals.
COST: $130 per participant, covers course instruction, course materials, and rental of the facilities. Housing is available for an additional $20 per night.
The instructors: Rob Speiden runs the Natural Awareness Tracking School and is author of "Foundations for Awareness, Signcutting & Tracking." He teaches courses in animal and human tracking around the US, and is instrumental in the development of curriculum materials for the Search and Rescue Tracking Institute (SARTI). He is certified in Track & Sign and Trailing by CyberTracker conservations.
Dr. Chris Hass is Assistant Director of the Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch, and has been studying mammals in the southwest for almost 30 years. She has been tracking for decades, and teaching tracking for almost 10 years. She is author of "Mammal tracks of the southwest", and is certified in Track & Sign by CyberTracker Conservation.
The workshop is limited to 10 participants. Reserve your spot by emailing trackingschool@yahoo.com. A deposit of $50 will be due no later than February 14 - this will be fully refundable if the course does not meet a minimum of 6 participants.
Staff at Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch
11th, Thursday, 4-7pm. Coronado NF Plan Revision Meeting at the Windemere in Sierra Vista.
WHERE: Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch,
366 Research Ranch Road, Elgin, AZ 85611,
Phone: 520/455-5522
WHEN: Saturday, March 13, 2010, 5:00 pm
POTLUCK: 5:30 pm
PRESENTATION: Update on Montezuma Quail Research
Pedro Chavarria, Texas A & M University, will show us hens on nest with chicks and other of his great photographs.
The presentation will begin immediately after the potluck. RSVP to Pat Kugler, pkugler@audubon.org or pkugler@wildblue.net.
Staff at Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch
The Huachuca Audubon Society monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 16th, 7:00 pm in Room 313, Cochise College, Sierra Vista. Come join us to learn about the birds, butterflies and other insects, and plants of northern and central Colombia, arguably the world's most biologically diverse country. The Brodkins spent the month of July 2008 in this beautiful country photographing butterflies for a book that a friend of theirs is producing on the butterflies of the northern Andes.
Mark your calendars for the next Southern Arizona Bird Conservation Committee Meeting! The meeting will be held at the AZGFD Tucson office (555 N. Greasewood Rd) beginning at 9:00 AM on March 25th.
The upcoming meeting at the AZGFD Region V (Tucson Office) is intended primarily to discuss upcoming Coordinated Bird Monitoring (CBM) sites for southeastern Arizona.
CBM includes colonial nesting birds, marsh bird surveys, and riparian bird surveys. Other possible topics for discussion include:
CBM Survey Training Workshops - establish/announce dates for early April
Revision of the Az Partners In Flight Plan (20 yr. anniversary of APIF)
Alternative Funding Sources
Duck Stamp Funding
Overview of Sonoran Joint Venture Projects/Grants
Integrating CBM surveys with Audubon's IBA surveys
Assisting with nighthawk surveys/routes
For Forest Service (FS) volunteers: Birding by Ear led by Rick Romea - COURSE SCHEDULE:
Class 1: March 18, Class 2: March 25, Fieldtrip 1: March 27
Class 3: April 1, Class 4: April 8, Fieldtrip 2 (protocol training): April 10
Contact Glenn Frederick ( gfrederick@fs.fed.us, 378-0311) or Robert Weissler ( weissler@aves.org), if interested in becoming a volunteer for one of the FS studies.
Field Trips
10th, Wednesday, 8am. FSPR bird walk. Meet at San Pedro House (SPH).
14th, Sunday, 7am. Lake Patagonia SP field trip, meet at Sierra Vista City Hall to carpoool.
24th, Wednesday, 8am. Grasslands & river, meet at SPH.
27th, Saturday, 8am. FSPR bird walk. Meet at San Pedro House (SPH).
Note: due to the particularly high price of gas, car pool passengers are expected to provide adequate compensation to their drivers, about 8 cents per mile.
Weekly events
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The Sunday bird walks at the Sierra Vista EOP (Environmental Operations Park)
sponsored by Huachuca Audubon Society, Friends
of the San Pedro River, and the Southeast Arizona Birding Observatory
start at 8 AM. Please come early as tours
are limited to 20 participants with two docents.
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Join the Huachuca Audubon Society for 2-3 hour weekly birdwatching
field trips to the Gordon Lewis property on the San Pedro River.
Meet at 8 am, Monday mornings, at the pull-off just west of the
bridge, on the north side of Highway 92 (near Palominas; There is a
rusty quonset hut just before the turn-off, and a gate numbered
10663.) Check out the Google
map
of the location of the property entrance.
Bring water, sun protection, and adequate clothing; it will
be cold. This is a unique opportunity to visit private property with
incredible riparian habitat, including burrowing owl roosts. There
is no fee, and interested non-members are welcome.
Looking Ahead
Apr. 15-18. Tucson Audubon, 40th Annual
Institute of Desert Ecology.
Apr. 17, Saturday, 7:30am. FSPR Hike Holy Trinity Monastery, St. David.
Apr. 20, Tuesday, 7am. Hummers of the Huachucas, meet at Ash Canyon B&B.
Apr. 28, Wednesday, 7am. Garden/Scheelite Canyons bird walk, meet at Gateway Park (bring photo ID).
May 5, Wednesday, 7am. Brown Canyon bird walk. Meet at parking lot.
May 19, Wednesday, 7am. Ramsey Canyon bird walk. Meet at preserve parking lot.
May 28, Friday, 7am. Hunter Canyon bird walk, meet at Cinema lot (Rt 92 & Choctaw/Bevers).
June 6, Sunday, 7am. Carr Canyon and the Reef, meet at Perimeter Trail lot.
June 12, Saturday, time TBD. Huachuca Audubon Annual Meeting/Potluck, location TBD.
June 23, Wednesday, 7am. Grasslands & river, meet at SPH.
For additional nearby field trips and programs, check out the
Friends of San Pedro River and
Friends of Sonoita Creek.
Interested in butterflies? Check out the
Southeast Arizona Butterfly Association.
International Bird Tours
Lifers & Twitchers Birding Tours (South Africa)
Lifers & Twitchers Birding Tours is a Johannesburg-based tour operator offering 11-12 day bird tours of northern and eastern South African hot spots. For every tour booked by a member of Huachuca Audubon Society, they will donate 10% of the proceeds to our chapter.
Birding Festivals
Mar. 11-15. Southern Nevada Wings & Wildlife Festival in Laughlin, Nevada.
Mar. 18-21. Nebraska Audubon's 40th Annual Rivers and Wildlife Celebration.
Sep. 16-19, 2010. 6th Annual Gila River Festival.
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In order to locate upcoming festivals, please consult the American Birding Association Birding and Nature Festivals Directory.
Mission Statement
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The goal of Huachuca Audubon Society members is to conserve and
restore eco-systems so that birds and other wildlife can flourish and
enrich the Earth's diversity. Members enjoy observing wildlife and
seek its protection through efforts to advance public understanding of
the relationships of all life forms and the consequences of
interfering with these relationships.
Huachuca Audubon Society members are concerned conservationists who
work to extend the public awareness of the value of conservation. They
also seek to inform and influence lawmakers so that their work may
reflect this value.
More about Huachuca Audubon
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Questions regarding Huachuca Audubon should be directed to the
web master.
(NOTE: Adobe Acrobat Reader available free from Adobe for reading PDF files)
Last update: 7 March 2010 by REW.

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