Purpose
The Yuma Audubon Society is dedicated to conserving natural resources,
educating members on conservation issues, and increasing awareness about
the diversity of nature in the Yuma area. Our constitution is here:
YAS
Constitution
In the recent past, Yuma
Audubon has sponsored Audubon Adventures, the Yuma Birding & Nature
Festival, and Audubon Christmas Bird Counts.

Common Poorwill
Meetings
Meetings are held the second Tuesday of November through the second
Tuesday of April
at 7:30pm, at the Casa Sierra Vista Apts club house, located at 600 E. 25th Street (just east of Arizona Ave.
& 25th St.) A kick-off meeting in October and a May picnic are held at the
Yuma West Wetlands or another park.
A typical meeting agenda is:
- Short business meeting
- Conservation news
- Break with refreshments
- Raffle
- Feature presentation
Next
few meetings:
- February 12, 2008
- March 11, 2008
- April 12, 2008
Location: Casa
Sierra Vista Apartment Club House - 600 E 25th Street
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Greater Roadrunner |
Feb
Meeting: Betty's Kitchen & Mittry Lake Habitat Restoration
Fred Wong of the Bureau of Land Management will discuss his efforts at
restoring the native riparian habitat along the Colorado River.
The goal of these restoration projects is to attract birds, especially
nesting southwestern Willow Flycatchers. |

Field Trips
The local Yuma area is
surrounded by many natural features, including the Colorado & Gila Rivers,
deserts, mountains, the Imperial Dunes, and the Salton Sea. Join us
as we explore these areas in search of diverse birds, reptiles, mammals,
and plants.
Field trips are usually held
the Saturday following the monthly Tuesday meeting. We carpool from
the Red Lobster parking lot (corner of 16th Str & 4th Ave.) at 7:00 a.m.
Past trips have visited the Salton Sea NWR, Cibola NWR, Cienega de Santa
Clara, and Palm Canyon.
Upcoming Field
Trips:
- February 16, 2008: Imperial NWR Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)
- March 15, 2008: Cibola NWR
- April 12, 2008: Salton Sea NWR
Feb
Field Trip: Imperial NWR GBBC
Join us as we participate in the GBBC, sponsored by National Audubon
Society and Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology as a way for everyone to
learn more about birding while collecting important conservation
data. Imperial NWR volunteers (and I) will be leading 30-45 minute
excursions through the closed area of the refuge. Trips will leave
every 15 minutes from the refuge headquarters; the last trip will
leave at 10:00 a.m. More details will be available at the
February meeting, or give me a call at 210-6474. |
Field
Trip Report - Jan 07: The trip to Tacna was cold! Traci,
Mickey, Al & Helga, and I met Murray, L.D., Bob Hoover, Terry & Jean, Eric
& Brooke, and Lin at the Tacna Chevron at 7:45 am. From there we
caravanned the final few miles to the Couch's Kingbird site. Except
it wasn't there! Lots of other birds to entertain us, like Vermilion
Flycatchers, both accipiters, and plenty of doves, though. But no
kingbird. A couple of folks left after a couple of hours.
Still no kingbird. But lots of searchers--and more coming all the time.
Soon there were more birders than birds. After 3 hours we decided to
move on to Quigley WMA, so I left my cell number with a California birder
I knew. We took a break at the Tacna Chevron and were pulling into
Betty Mason's when my phone rang--Rich Hoyer had spotted the wiley bird
eating bees at some near-by hives. So we turned our caravan around
and drove back to the site. And had marvelous looks at the bird
swooping out of a mesquite grove to catch bees mid-air. Following
that we saw White-tailed Kites, White-fronted Geese, Snow Geese, Canda
Geese, and numerous ducks at Quigley WMA, and then several other species
at Quigley Pond. All in all, it was a cold but successful morning!
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Christmas Bird
Count
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Birdcage Primrose |
Close to Christmas we hold our annual
Christmas Bird Count
(CBC) and Birdathon. We count and monitor the status of birds around Imperial NWR, Laguna Dam, and Mittry Lake.
Please contact Henry Detwiler if you'd like to participate.
The 2007 CBC was held on Saturday, Dec 15th. We spotted 120
species--results are out on the Audubon web at:
www.audubon.org |
Membership
Membership can be at the national or chapter level, or both. Fee
structures and benefits are as follows:
$10 for local
(chapter) members
- Local members receive our
newsletter, "The
Clapper", and are welcome to join us for monthly meetings and field
trips (Oct-May).
We have several levels of membership available; a copy of the form
you can print out is at: YAS
Application
$20 for national members
- National members receive
"Audubon" Magazine and automatically become members of our local
chapter. |

Black-necked Stilt chick |

Contacts
President:
Pat Rather, yaspresident@yahoo.com
Conservation:
Cary Meister, 782-3552,
cwm4@mindspring.com
Program:
John King, 344-7658
Membership:
Bob & Susanna Henry, 627-3608,
tmsbhenry@adelphia.net
Hospitality:
Rod Black, 783-3612
Secretary:
Nancy Meister, 782-3552
Treasurer:
Suzanne Detwiler, 580-2410
Field Trips:
Henry Detwiler, 210-6474,
henrydetwiler@earthlink.net |

Western Screech-Owl |

Links
National Audubon
Society
www.audubon.org
Imperial NWR
www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/arizona/imperial.html
Cibola NWR
www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/arizona/cibola.html
Local & National Rare Bird Reports
birdingonthe.net
Southwest Birders
www.southwestbirders.com
Yuma-area Bird
Guide
www.southwestbirders.com/guide_yuma.htm
ASU - AZ birds, range
maps, & songs
http://askabiologist.asu.edu/expstuff/experiments/birdsongs/

Thick-billed Kingbird - Yuma Main Drain
(as of Oct 2007 it's back for another season)
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Click on thumbnail pictures for full-sized photos |
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