Programs

Murie Audubon General Meeting & Program

Published on by MurieAudubonAdmin

BLM Acquires Rim Rock Property

Katy Kuhnel, the Outdoor Recreation Planner for the Casper Field Office of the BLM will present our September 11 program via Zoom. She will inform us about the planning process with this property and what recreational activities that may be available to the public.

The program will be September 11 at 7 PM available on Zoom via your own computer-details to follow. To use Zoom, you need to register for EACH event (so every month). To register, click on this link https://forms.gle/abVyDRnss6JjxDPP6 and follow the directions. On the day of the event, about one hour before the event, you will receive an email with a link that will enable you to watch and participate in the event. You do not need a camera on your computer to participate. You may ask questions during and after the program, most commonly by typing the question in the text box that is part of Zoom. We’re looking forward to this program and we hope that you all will participate.

Bruce Walgren
Program Chair

Please see the newsletter for more information about Zoom, and how to register for this program. The September newsletter can be found on the newsletter tab.

October General Meeting

Published on by MurieAudubonAdmin

Audubon Rockies Community Naturalist Zach Hutchinson will be the guest speaker at the Audubon program for October.

Zach returned at the end of September from a whirlwind, five-week journey around the globe! He spent two weeks in South Africa, two weeks in southeast Arizona, and one week in southern Colorado.
Okay, not so much the globe, but he did cross an ocean! He will present mostly on his time in South Africa, where he experienced safaris, sharks, and sunbirds! While birds were not the focus of his trip, he will share some of the photos of birds he took in between his other adventures. Prepare to hear about amazing sightings, harrowing  escapes, and awful misfortunes!

Zach’s presentations are always entertaining, educational, and fun, so you won’t want to miss this. Please join us on Friday, October 12, 2018 at 7 pm at the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Building
at 2211 King Blvd. for this exciting program. As always, the program is free and open to the public! See you there!
– Zach and Bruce

 

Special Program: Birds of Peru

Published on by MurieAudubonAdmin

Special edition Audubon Program: Birds of Peru

Before we take our traditional break for summer, we have the opportunity to have a fun program.

Community Naturalist Zach Hutchinson will be the speaker for a special Murie Audubon program on May 18th.   Zach will share photos and stories of his February adventures among the birds of Peru.  If you didn’t get to see Zach at either the Izaak Walton league or at the Werner Museum, here’s your chance.

As usual the program is at 7:00 p.m. at Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Building, 2211 King Blvd in Casper. And as always, the program is free and open to the public!

Bruce Walgren

Program – Wyoming Natural Diversity Database (WYNDD)

Published on by Harry

MURIE AUDUBON PROGRAM PRESENTS, Dr. George P. Jones, Vegetation Ecologist with the will be our guest speaker at the May program.

First, George will explain why the WYNDD exists, which is to provide information for people to use in resource development, management, and conservation.

Second, what they concentrate on: plants and animals that either are rare in Wyoming or are common only here, and the state’s vegetation – or habitat – or ecosystem-types. This part would be, basically, explaining what the biodiversity of Wyoming looks like from our point of view. Third, how they develop and provide this information. He will explain how, and why, their business has changed over the years to include more focused surveys, better-defined survey techniques, and the like.

WYNDD is a member of a network of similar programs collectively known as the Natural Heritage Network. Each of the 50 US states, most Canadian provinces, and many Latin American countries house a network program dedicated to gathering and developing biological information on species of conservation concern and natural vegetation communities. Programs in the network use the same database methodology and software and receive technical support from a coordinating organization known as NatureServe. Most programs are housed in universities or state agencies; WYNDD operates as a service and research unit of the University of Wyoming.

Please join us on Friday, May 11, 2018 at 7 pm at the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Building at 2211 King Blvd. for this program. As always, the program is free and open to the public!

Murie Program

Published on by Harry

The Stinging and the Stingless: Among the Bees of Mayan Mexico Dr. Will Robinson, entomologist in the Biology Department at Casper College, will give a presentation to Murie Audubon Society on April 13th at 7 p.m. at the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission at 2211 King Blvd.

Dr. Robinson visited Tabasco State in southern Mexico last December-January as a Fulbright Specialist in apiculture. There he worked with two kinds of local beekeepers: those keeping the notorious “killer bees,” honey bees with the reputation as vicious defenders of the hive, and those keeping “stingless bees.” Stingless bees are fascinating, overlooked social bees of many different species that have been kept by the Maya for thousands of years for honey production and medicinal hive products. Will encountered some eye-opening surprises in both kinds of bees, which he will share with the audience. He also managed to snap a few photos of birds and other wildlife along the way.

Please join us on Friday, April 13, 2018 for Will’s program.  As always, the program is free and open to the public!

Janurary 12, 2018 Program – Saw-Whets in the Night

Published on by Harry

Members of Jenny Edwards’ IB Environmental Systems and Societies class will present our program for January 12, 2018.  The class members participated in Zach Hutchinson’s Northern Saw-Whet Owl banding project on Casper Mountain last October.

Many of you may know about Zach’s Bird Banding at EKW State Park during the summer months.  Unlike that program, these nets are set up during the hours after dark.  The 40 foot long and 8 foot high nets are set up in appropriate habitat and are checked every 30 minutes for owls.  An electronic recording of the owl is used to lure the owls into the net.  When a bird is captured its vital statistics are recorded and the bird is banded before being released.  Little is known about the owl population in Wyoming, so it is hoped that the data will shed light on numbers and perhaps migration data.

Please join us on Friday, January 12, 2018 at 7 pm at the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Building at 2211 King Blvd. for this program.  As always, the program is free and open to the public!

MURIE AUDUBON JANUARY PROGRAM

Published on by MurieAudubonAdmin
Lewis Hein will be the guest speaker to kick off the new year.
Lewis spent 10 weeks from mid June to mid August in a tiny town exactly in the middle of Panama, studying the effects of sleep on learning in bats and paper wasps. At least, that was what he was supposed to be doing. In reality his group could do almost nothing for seven of these ten weeks while they waited for a building. Meanwhile, he set about doing and learning as many interesting things as possible: exploring Pipeline Road, a

world renowned birding location, mist netting for bats, and other rain foresty activities.  Along the way, he accumulated many sights and adventures, including a ride to the treetops in a Smithsonian operated canopy crane, trips on one of the most interesting bus systems in Central America, and a run in with the Panamanian police.
Murie Audubon’s programs are free and open to the public. The program will be on
Friday, January 13, 2017, at 7 PM at the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Building at 2211 King Blv