Dear Friends,
We have some important dates coming up (and already happening!)
May 20th: Deadline for Montana Audubon Award nominations
June 3rd-5th: Wings Under the Big Sky Festival
June 3rd: Lewistown Chimney Swift Night Out
Long-billed Curlew Surveys: April 8 - May 7 and May 8 - May 31.
Great Blue Heron Surveys: May 1st - June 15th
We depend on your participation to keep our projects on the wing!
Yours in Conservation,
Montana Audubon Staff
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Nominate a Conservation Leader for a 2022 Montana Audubon Award! |
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Nominations are now being accepted for Montana Audubon’s 2022 awards. Consider nominating someone for Conservationist of the Year, Environmental Educator of the Year, or a Lifetime Achievement award! Nomination forms can be found on our website mtaudubon.org. The deadline for nominations is May 20, 2022. Please submit via email (preferred) to info@mtaudubon.org or by mail to Montana Audubon, PO Box 595, Helena, MT 59624. Award winners will be announced at our Bird Festival banquet in Lewistown on June 4th.
Conservationist of the Year: For an individual who has provided significant wildlife conservation achievement in Montana.
Environmental Educator of the Year: For a person who has shown outstanding achievement in educating others about birds, other wildlife, and conservation of habitat.
Lifetime Achievement Award: For a volunteer who has dedicated extraordinary effort, time and energy to shape the activities and successes of a local Audubon Chapter and/or Montana Audubon.
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Help Us Learn More About Montana Swifts! |
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Chimney Swifts will soon return to chimneys all over central and eastern Montana! As a relatively recent arrival in Montana. In the last three years, Audubon staff and volunteers have located new nesting sites in towns like Billings, Glasgow, and Miles City. While we know the Chimney swifts are out and about, we really need your help locating more while the birds are active and nesting! Because little is known about their nesting range throughout our state, Montana Audubon is turning to citizen science for answers. Unlike searching for other swifts, Chimney Swifts are best surveyed in towns and near buildings with large chimneys! Surveys are short, occurring 30 minutes before until 30 minutes after sunset, with observers being stationed for just a short time at selected chimneys.
There are many ways you can participate and learn more about these energetic urban birds. Start by checking out montanabirdsurveys.com for information on range, identification clues, calls, survey protocols and techniques. Then think about one of the many eastern Montana Towns you’d like to visit. We have maps of each county for you to peruse, and you can survey anytime during June and July, so it’s easy to get involved! Even if you are unable to dedicate an evening to this survey, your Chimney Swift observations are valuable! Please email Peter Dudley with observations and include date, time, location of observation, weather information, and who made the observation. Please include a picture of the location or chimney as well as you could help discover a new nesting site worth monitoring. Remember, always be respectful of private property when considering your observation report.
You can join us in the field during our “Chimney Swift Night Out” event in Lewistown on June 3rd. Participants will learn about chimney swifts and population monitoring techniques, and then put that training to the test that evening as we search local chimneys together.
Lewistown – June 3rd, Wings Across the Big Sky Bird Festival
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Where's the beef--the Audubon Conservation Bird-Friendly Certified Beef Locations |
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In late April National Audubon updated their website and re-tooled their guide to the ranches and retailers that sell products raised on Audubon-certified bird-friendly lands. In Montana, this is a small but quickly growing list. Montana has traditionally been a “cow-calf” state, where livestock producers ship calves to feed-lots in the Midwest and the South, where they are finished on corn and grain, and then sold to processors and onward to retail. But not Audubon Conservation Ranching (ACR) animals! To become ACR certified, ranchers need to finish cattle on grass, just one of the high standards required for certification. In Montana, where population, and thus markets, are small, ACR ranchers primarily sell their products online, direct to consumer, or at farmers markets. Check out the interactive map on the National Audubon site under the heading “Where to Buy Products Raised on Audubon Certified Lands.”
Be sure to interact with ACR Retailer Explorer Map. Hover over the colorful point locations to find retailers that sell ACR products, and also ACR ranches, and where you can purchase some of these delicious, nutritious, bird-friendly meats!
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Test your bird identification skills below! |
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Long-Billed Curlew Update!
Now that spring is in the air, the sound of woodpecker drumming can be heard throughout Montana’s forests, woodlands and towns. Can you identify all 6 woodpecker species above?
Bonus question #1: which one of these 6 species does not normally stay in Montana during the winter?
Bonus question #2: Which of these woodpeckers eats primarily ants during the summer?
Bonus question #3: which species is most closely associated with fire and is found almost exclusively in burned forests?
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Answers: 1-HAWO 2-DOWO 3-ATTW 4-BBWO 5-RNSA 6-NOFL
Bonus 1: Red-naped Sapsucker
Bonus 2: Northern Flicker
Bonus 3: Black-backed Woodpecker
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See our Montana Audubon Center May eNews HERE!
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Help secure the future of Montana’s birds at risk from climate change, habitat loss, and other threats. A monthly donation ensures Montana Audubon can protect birds and wildlife well into the future. Make your $20 commitment now!
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Montana Audubon
406.443.3949
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