Big Bluestem Flyer

Newsletter of the Big Bluestem Audubon Society

Volume 43, Number 4 March-April 2008
Programs Field Trips
Meeting Place All field trips are free and open to the public.
Extension & 4-H Building, I S U, Ames Meet at 8:00 a.m. in the public parking lot west of (behind) the
Ames Wild Birds Unlimited, located south of the railroad tracks
at 213 Duff Ave. Please arrive before the departure time to
March 20, 2008
arrange carpooling. Contact Jeff Nichols (515-795-4176, or
Thursday, 7:30 pm ozarksbirder@hotmail.com) for more information.
Bio-What? BioBlitz!
Marlene Ehresman
Program/Planning Associate
Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation
March 29, 2008
Marlene will share the results of a special event at a special Ada Hayden Heritage Park and Little Wall Lake
place with very special teams of dedicated people. Special (Story and Hamilton counties)
photos of special critters will be shown. Now do you get the
idea? It was all just blitzin' special! While the INHF was able April 26, 2009
to gain valuable information about the diversity of the newly Bear Creek Wildlife Area and Soper’s Mill Historic
acquired 1200+ acres along the Upper Iowa River, the event Site (Story Co.)
was much more than tabulating species. An update of the May 10, 2008
Angler's Bay acquisition project at Big Spirit Lake will be given Birdathon
as well.
Dave’s Short Lesson: A Few Rails
Dinner: Bali Satay House, 2424 Lincoln Way, (Indonesian cuisine) May 31, 2008
Birder’s Brunch at McFarland Park
April 17, 2008 (Story Co.)
Thursday, 7:30 pm
Conserving Apes and Monkeys
in the 21st Century
Benjamin B. Beck
Director of Conservation
Great Ape Trust of Iowa
We will present two case studies - the golden lion tamarins of
Brazil and chimpanzees in Rwanda and Uganda - to illustrate
the challenges and strategies for conserving endangered
primates and their habitats. We will also explore the issue of
whether the conservation of apes and monkeys deserves
special emphasis compared, for example, to the conservation
of tall grass prairie.
Dave’s Short Lesson: A Few Warblers
Dinner: India Palace, 120 Hayward Ave

May 15, 2008

African Adventures
Safari to Botswana
Ty Smedes
A photo-safari to the well-known Okavango Delta, and Chobe 2007 Birder’s Brunch at Ledges State Park
National Park, in the southern part of the African continent.

The mission of the Big Bluestem Audubon Society is to enjoy the observation and study of birds and natural ecosystems,
contribute to their conservation and restoration, engage in educational activities to benefit humanity,
and gain a broader understanding and deeper appreciation of the world in which we live.
Visit us online at http://bigbluestemaudubon.org
Page 2 Page 4
Officers and Committees Saylorville Christmas Bird Count Page 6
President’s Corner Boone Christmas Bird Count Ames Reads Leopold
Notes from BBASS Board
Page 3 Page 5
Field Trips New Members
Fund Raiser/T-Shirt Order Membership Form
Teacher Treasure Collections Coupons
 Big Bluestem Audubon President’s Corner
Society of Central Iowa
Connections—Its impressive how Big Bluestem members are so
Officers
President: Lynne Brookes interconnected with the environmental community here in Iowa.
515-434-2028 As I have been attending meetings around the state and visiting
rppsolar@yahoo.com with folks at County Conservation Boards- I hear again how well
Vice-President: Royce Bitzer
respected the Society and its many active members are. The Iowa
515-233-6741
mariposa@iastate.edu Prairie Network winter meeting and program was attended by a
Secretary: Shane Patterson number of BBAS members. Past BBAS program speakers and
515- 232-4682 members both abound at CCB Centers.
shane7896@yahoo.com
Treasurer: Michael Meetz
515-382-2534 New connections are forming too. The Mid America Cage Bird
mmeetz@iastate.edu Society has reached out to us for a program on Iowa birds and
Board Members birding. Most of that club’s members feed birds outside and would
Mary Doud
like to learn more about our native avian species. Dave Edwards
515-795-4176
BorealBirders@hotmail.com will be providing them a program at the Des Moines Botanical
Kelly Weichers Center on Feb. 24th.
319-231-6999
goinfishin@hotmail.com
Larry Dau Another new connection—the ISU Vet Med Avian Club has
515-275-4963, invited us to attend a program parrot intelligence. Dr. Irene
gdau@netins.net Pepperberg of Brandeis University will be speaking at the Sun
Tim Grotheer Room on Campus, Feb. 29th at 7 pm. This researcher is especially
515-233-9873
tgrotheer1@msn.com well known for her work with a very special African Grey Parrot,
Lloyd Crim “Alex.” This should be a great new connection showing how brains
515-5026 and beauty come can come together in the avian world.
lcrim@opencominc.com
Committees
Archivist Spring is coming, spring is coming? SPRING IS COMING!
Hank Zaletel Lynne Brookes
515-382-427
madowl@midiowa.net
Bird-a-thon
Karl and Carmen Jungbluth
515-432-5057
weatherbird.opencominc.com
Birdathon is May 10, 2008
Conservation Big Bluestem Audubon's 10th Annual Birdathon is May 10th.
Bruce Ehresman
515-296-2995 Birdathon is a team birdwatching and team fundraising event that
Bruce.ehresman@dnr.iowa.gov is very important to the life of our chapter. Much more information
Education will be provided in our next newsletter, along with a donor pledge
Amy Yoakum, 515-232-2516 form. We need past Birdathoners to stay with us, and new
ayoakum@storycounty.com
Field Trip Birdathoners to join in!
Jeff Nichols
Why is Birdathon so important? No other funding source comes
515-795-4176
ozarksbirder@hotmail.com close to enabling Big Bluestem Audubon to make a difference for
Membership birds, habitat and nature education. Thank you to everyone who
Katy Patterson has made this possible. Supporting these types of projects is what
515-232-4682
Audubon is all about. Your support is all we need to make
birdgirl80@hotmail.com
Program Birdathon a big success again this year. Carve out a block of time
Royce Bitzer (See Officers) on May 10th, and stay tuned for the how-to insert in the next
Publicity newsletter!
Mary Doud (See Board Members)
Karl & Carmen Jungbluth, Birdathon Coordinators
Publications & Electronic Media
David Edwards
515-292-3790
dcejce@dandje.org

Visit our website at http://bigbluestemaudubon.org

2 Big Bluestem Flyer March-April 2008

 Field Trip Report

Ledges State Park Fundraiser/Tee-Shirt Order

January 26, 2008
At our February board meeting, we
Our first stop on this field trip was Lake discussed having another fundraiser/tee-
Laverne on the Iowa State campus. The shirt order similar to what was done in the
juvenile Sandhill Crane that has past and plan to do so if there is enough
overwintered in the area was standing on interest. Short- and long-sleeved tee-shirts
the ice with a few Canada Geese and the with our BBAS meadowlark logo and
resident pair of Mute Swans. Larry Dau organization name will be offered. We
reports that some ISU staff have taken to may also expand the order to include
calling this crane “Ichabod.” sweatshirts and tote bags. Orders will be
taken at a future meeting (probably March
Ichabod or April) with the goal of delivering by the
May meeting. If you are interested, but
cannot attend the meetings, please contact
me at (515) 231-8725.
Mary Doud

Teachers’ Treasures Project

THANK YOU to everyone who has
contributed art and craft supplies to this
project. These treasures continue to be a
resource for Sawyer Elementary School
teachers in Ames. I met the art teacher in
Photo by Larry Dau the hallway during my last delivery and
she appreciates the items and even keeps
We then headed south out of Ames to "stashes" of things like cotton balls for the
check for roadside birds in the Skunk other teachers to take from as they need
River valley. We missed Northern Shrike them. The following items are still in
and Rough-legged Hawk, which I’d been demand: unused colored and white paper;
seeing regularly in this area in the weeks stationary, yarn, felt, ribbon, fabric, wood
before the field trip. Other than a flyover cut-outs, cotton balls, wrapping and tissue
Cooper’s Hawk, we didn’t see much sign paper, colored pencils, crayons, calendars
of life in this area. With temperatures (any year, with appropriate pictures for re-
climbing into the double digits, we headed use such as animals, people, plants,
for Ledges to do a little hiking for the rest landscapes, etc.), cards (cut off written-on
of the morning. Afterwards, we stopped portion) and other art and craft supplies.
along the roadside near Camp Hantesa to Please limit your collection of plastic
see what birds were attracted to the containers (no food containers except small
Winfrey’s feeders, adding a few species to yogurt cups with lids), paper tubing
our trip list. A brief stop at Jungbluth’s (remove all paper please), and egg cartons.
provided a nice look at a perched Sharp- All of these items must be clean and in
shinned Hawk. Other highlights for the day good condition. Items no longer needed
were three Northern Saw-whet Owls (two are: medicine/pill containers, coffee cans,
in the same tree) and one Long-eared Owl. and paper board (such as oatmeal
We finished up with lunch at the Dutch containers and cereal boxes).
Oven Bakery in Boone. Seven participants, Mary Doud
34 avian species. Jeff Nichols

Newsletter Material Deadlines

Because we would like to have the newsletter to each member before the first day of its coverage, the editor needs to have material at least two
weeks before that. Hence the deadline for the next issue will be the 16th of February.
Please be aware that editing your offering for length and style is sometimes necessary.
David Edwards, Editor

March-April 2008 Big Bluestem Flyer 3

 Saylorville Christmas Bird Count
December 16, 2007

Observers 24 Merlin 3 Eastern Bluebird 21

Feeder watchers 0 Wilson's Snipe 1 Hermit Thrush 3
Party-hours on foot 52 Ring-billed Gull 1 American Robin 17
Party-hours by car 45.5 Rock Pigeon 344 Gray Catbird 1
Party-miles on foot 45 Eurasian Collared-Dove 1 European Starling 2816
Party-miles by car 757 Mourning Dove 189 Cedar Waxwing 363
Number of species 79 Eastern Screech-Owl 7 Spotted Towhee 1
Number of individuals 10428 Great Horned Owl 18 American Tree Sparrow 1211
Barred Owl 16 Song Sparrow 53
Canada Goose 49 Long-eared Owl 2 Swamp Sparrow 13
Trumpeter Swan 1 Belted Kingfisher 3 White-throated Sparrow 55
Gadwall 5 Red-headed Woodpecker 2 Harris’ Sparrow 2
Mallard 51 Red-bellied Woodpecker 91 White-crowned Sparrow 3
Canvasback 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 Dark-eyed Junco 1587
Ring-necked Duck 1 Downy Woodpecker 123 Lapland Longspur 1
Greater Scaup 1 Hairy Woodpecker 32 Snow Bunting 67
Lesser Scaup 3 Northern Flicker 15 Northern Cardinal 299
Common Goldeneye 116 Pileated Woodpecker 2 Red-winged Blackbird 15
Common Merganser 7 Northern Shrike 13 meadowlark sp. 36
Gray Partridge 7 Blue Jay 165 Rusty Blackbird 5
Ring-necked Pheasant 90 American Crow 413 Common Grackle 4
Wild Turkey 40 Horned Lark 463 Brown-headed Cowbird 5
Great Blue Heron 1 Black-capped Chickadee 279 Purple Finch 15
Bald Eagle 13 Tufted Titmouse 14 House Finch 90
Northern Harrier 2 Red-breasted Nuthatch 8 Common Redpoll 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 7 White-breasted Nuthatch 99 Pine Siskin 9
Cooper’s Hawk 4 Brown Creeper 10 American Goldfinch 125
Red-tailed Hawk 89 Carolina Wren 1 House Sparrow 782
Rough-legged Hawk 6 Winter Wren 2
American Kestrel 14 Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 Coordinator: Stephen Dinsmore

Boone Christmas Bird Count

January 5, 2008

Thirty-eight field observers and feeder Ring-necked Pheasant – 29
watchers at 18 locations (the most ever) Wild Turkey – 154; highest since Jan. 91
participated in the 22nd Boone County Bald Eagle – 56
Northern Harrier – 3
Christmas Bird Count, on Saturday, January 5,
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 9; record high
2008, the latest calendar date that we’ve ever Cooper’s Hawk – 3
held the count. Accipiter species – 1
Count day began with our eight owling Red-tailed Hawk – 91; record high
parties facing frozen fog, but this didn’t deter Rough-legged Hawk – 8
them or the owls. The morning started foggy, Buteo species – 2
but by lunchtime, the sun broke through, and American Kestrel – 26; record high
the afternoon turned out to be one of the most Hawk species – 1
Rock Pigeon – 426; highest since Jan. 95
pleasant of all the Boone County counts,
Eurasian Collared-Dove – 44; record high
reaching a high temperature of 41F. Mourning Dove – 185; record high (by far)
The weeks before the count were quite cold, Eastern Screech-Owl – 21
with considerable snow and ice, likely reducing Great Horned Owl – 35; record high
the numbers of remnant fall migrants and Barred Owl – 16; record high
resulting in no robins or gulls and few
waterfowl. However, bird numbers were Long-eared Owl – 5
especially high for hawks and eagles, doves, Northern Saw-whet Owl – 5
Belted Kingfisher – 4
and owls. The number of species reported, 56
Red-headed Woodpecker – 3
on count day and one more during the count Red-bellied Woodpecker – 134
week, was slightly above average. Downy Woodpecker – 195
I’d like to thank all the participants, for their Hairy Woodpecker – 93
dedication and enthusiasm, but especially Joyce Northern Flicker – 11
Bahrenfus, for helping contact feeder watchers Pileated Woodpecker - 5
and camps, Karl Jungbluth, for finding a new Northern Shrike – 3
restaurant (La Carreta) for our count party, and Shrike species – 1; taken together, the four
shrikes are a record
Larry Dau, for recruiting new feeder watchers.
Blue Jay – 151
Greater White-fronted Goose – 1; only the
American Crow – 1103
second report of this species for the count
Horned Lark – 5
Canada Goose – 34
Mallard – 1
Black-capped Chickadee – 538
Tufted Titmouse – 81; second highest on record
Red-breasted Nuthatch – 33; second highest on
record
White-breasted Nuthatch – 348; record high
Brown Creeper – 5
Carolina Wren – 5; down from last year’s 12, but
remarkably high considering the cold winter
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 2
Eastern Bluebird – 2
European Starling – 2587
Cedar Waxwing – 30
American Tree Sparrow – 457
Song Sparrow – 19
Swamp Sparrow – 2
White-throated Sparrow – seen only during count
week; first time missed since Jan. 99
Harris’s Sparrow – 7
Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco – 1578
Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco – 1
Lapland Longspur – 1
Northern Cardinal – 332
Red-winged Blackbird – 1
Meadowlark species – 9; second highest on
record
Rusty Blackbird – 1; photographed in east part of
circle
Purple Finch – 18
House Finch – 51
Pine Siskin – 5
American Goldfinch – 268
House Sparrow – 1002
Total number of birds – 10247; fourth highest
Compiler: Mark Widrlechner

4 Big Bluestem Flyer March-April 2008

 Welcome New members Clip and Join
Ames Don’t forget gift memberships!
Mrs. Mildred A. Cooper
Alisha Satre
Ms. Shirley M. Huck Membership Application forms
Mary Jane Hatfield & Richard Mercer
Bouton
Mr. Jim Nelson New member of the National Audubon Society. You will
Nevada receive the Audubon magazine, the Big Bluestem Flyer,
Mr. Andrew J. Swanson membership card. — $20
Des Moines Please make your check payable to National Audubon
Dr. Keith Summerville Society and include “Chapter Code H-57” on the check
Cathy and Clark McMullen
OR
Subscribe to the Big Bluestem Flyer for one year and
participate in some Big Bluestem Society Activities — $10
Restrictions are that you will not be a National Audubon Society
member or have voting privileges, and you cannot be an officer or
committee chair. Please make your check payable to Big Bluestem
Audubon Society.

Send your check and this coupon to

Katy Patterson, Membership Chair
201 E Oneil Dr, Ames, IA 50010

Name _______________________________________________
Address _____________________________________________
City_____________________ State____ ZIP_______________
Phone ________________ E-mail _______________________
Please do not use this form for renewals
to the National Audubon Society.

Present the coupons below at the time of your purchase and a donation will be given to BBAS.
Donations will fund the various habitat restoration and educational projects undertaken by BBAS.

Brekke's Town & Country Store, Inc.

Donate $5 of Your Next Purchase to 1 1/2 miles east of I-35 on new U.S. 30 and 1/4 mile north
Big Bluestem Audubon Society Hours: 8-6 M-F, 8-4 Sat. (515) 232-7906
March 2008 April 2008
Purchase Donation
Donate $5 from your Donate $5 from your
Up tp $15 $1.50
purchase of purchase of
$15 and over $3.00

5 5
$25 or more $25 or more
$ Specially-priced $ Specially-priced
$35 and over
Over $70
$5.00
$7.50
merchandise merchandise
BIRD excluded BIRD excluded
BUCK BUCK Brekke’s offers Big Bluestem Audubon Society a
Valid 1/1 - 1/31/08 Valid 2/1 - 2/29/08
donation when bird seed or other bird products are
purchased.
Present this coupon with your purchase and a
donation will be given to BBAS.
213 Duff Ave Ames, IA 50010
(515) 956-3145 www.wbu.com/ames Offer good until April 30, 2008
BIRDSEED • FEEDERS • BIRDBATHS • OPTICS • NATURE GIFTS

March-April 2008 Big Bluestem Flyer 5

 Ames Reads Leopold
This "happening" will occur on
Saturday, March 8, 1-5 PM, in the
Ames Public Library Auditorium.
Citizens from Ames will read aloud
passages from Leopold's Sand County
and other writings. Many of the readings
will be illustrated with slides from the
Leopold Foundation collection of
Leopold, his family, the famous shack,
wildlife and more. The event is sponsored
by the Aldo Leopold Foundation, The
Leopold Center for Sustainable
Agriculture, ISU's Department of Natural
Resources Ecology Management, and
ISU's Wildlife Extension program.
This is the first of what we hope will
be an annual event in Ames. "Reading
Leopold" started seven years ago in Lodi,
Wisconsin and now dozens of towns and
cities in Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois
have joined in.
Erv Klaas
Notes from December 2007
BBAS Board Meeting
BBAS budget as of 12/4/07 was
$7,337.50.
The annual Pelican Gala and Festival
will be held in early Sept., 2008
Fundraising options were discussed,
such as ordering and selling BBAS items
or having a garage sale
The general membership meeting place
was discussed and it was agreed that the
ISU Extension 4-H building will continue
to be the meeting location
BBAS board approved funding: $100
to Vera Blevins of Bat World Heartland
(past speaker) for flight cages, $500 to
Jon Stravers (past speaker) for Red-
shouldered Hawk and neotropical-
migrant research along the Mississippi
River, $100 to George Wyth SP birdseed
fund (past field trips there for Saw-whet
Owl and Red-shouldered Hawk), and
$1000 to Colo Bog expansion project.
Birdathon is to be held on 5/12/08
Next board meetings are, 4/2, and 7/23
(planning meeting); all are welcome.

Volume 43 No. 4 March-April 2008

unless you renew.

issue of the Flyer
this will be your last
your mailing label,
after your name on
If you have an “X”

We welcome new members!

Ames, IA 50010-0543
PO Box 543
Ames, Iowa Big Bluestem Audubon Society
Permit No. 131 David C. Edwards, Editor
U. S. Postage Paid Big Bluestem Flyer
Non-Profit Org.