Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis

Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis has arranged to have tours of the Bell Museum’s Ornithology Laboratory on the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota.  One tour will be on Wednesday, January 27th at 6:00 p.m. and another on Tuesday, February 9th at 6:00 p.m. Since space will be limited, please sign up by calling or e-mailing Jerry Bahls at 763-572-2333, jobaud@comcast.net, or Susan Tertell at 612-729-1566, stertell@gmail.com.  Information on the meeting place will be give when you sign up.  The tour will be at the Ecology Building on the St. Paul campus. There is a small amount of metered parking adjacent to the building, and also a pay parking lot accessible from Buford Circle.

Big Waterbirds Galore

Arnie Fredrickson

Everything you wanted to know about water birds and more! Arnie Frederickson will be presenting a slideshow on sandhill cranes, trumpeter and tundra swans, snow geese, and white pelicans. Arnie is retired from the University of Minnesota where he served as a member of the faculty of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. He got hooked on photography at the age of 32 when he received a Kodak Instamatic camera for his birthday. Arnie started out photographing wildflowers and landscapes. He discovered white pelicans at age 66 and was hooked. Soon he included tundra and trumpeter swans, herons and egrets, and sandhill cranes in his passion for the big birds. Arnie also serves as the volunteer trumpeter swan monitor for the Three Rivers Park District.

Tuesday, February 2, from 7:00 to 9:00. Coffee and cookies are provided, and everyone is welcome.

Programs are at the Mayflower Church which is located at:

109 East Diamond Lake Road

… just west of 35W on Diamond Lake Road.
Enter through the main entrance and go downstairs to the big room.

Upcoming programs:

March 2, 2010

Birding Sites in Minnesota  - Kim Eckert, author of “A Birder’s Guide to Minnesota”

April 6, 2010

Captivating Bluebirds - Stan Tekeila, author of “Birds of Minnesota”, “Captivating Bluebirds”, and many more

May 4, 2010

Saving our Wetlands and Bird Habitats - Tom Cooper, U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Phenology is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as “the study of periodic biological phenomena, such as flowering, breeding, and migration, especially as related to climate”.

This is certainly a topic of interest to birders, from the casual to the devoted.  If you notice something that you think will be of interest to other birders, please submit a comment and we will post it.  Have you seen a flock of flickers in your nearby park?  Or maybe a slew of cedar waxwings in your cedar trees.  Whether it is the first or last robin of the year, or the nest you have in your tree, another birder will find it of interest.

Thanks for your submissions, and remember, there are still interesting birds to see this time of year – and always!