Isn't southeast Arizona the premier birding location in the nation? Then vote for our area in a national poll. More details below. And talking of voting, don't forget to vote early for conservation in the mid-term elections.

We are hoping that 200 or more of our members, including you, will attend our Seventh Annual Gala on the evening of February 10, 2015. Please Save the Date!

At Tucson Audubon's Mason Center we make more electricity than we use, we harvest rainwater, compost and have demonstration native plant and food gardens. And we need a volunteer or two to become regular, reliable maintainers of our site. These and other volunteer opportunities are below.

Next month sees the first Bisbee Film Festival with a string of FREE films about wildlife and environment. I'll be speaking for a few minutes following the showing of Emptying the Skies. While the tickets are free, you do need to book seats online. And if mines are on your mind, find out what the rain brought into Harshaw Canyon during the last few weeks below.

Coming up soon are the Christmas Bird Counts: you'll find a link to them all below. You'll also find details of upcoming free birding trips below, together with a link to a full listing of all upcoming trips.

Thank you Jo for sharing your love of birds, birding, and the places they live through Tucson Audubon.

Prop 122: Just a Bad Idea! Vote NO

Prop 122 is a dangerous proposal, placed on the Arizona ballot by the State Legislature, that would jeopardize the health of our air, water, and vulnerable species, not to mention waste taxpayer money!

Prop 122 would give Arizona the power to declare federal laws (like the Endangered Species Act) unconstitutional and then make it illegal for the state, counties, cities, and towns to use resources to enforce federal laws, or even "cooperate" with federal officials!

Don't let the Legislature squander our public dollars on future lawsuits: Vote NO on November 4th.

The Coalition For Sonoran Desert Protection needs your help!
With less than three weeks left until Election Day, and early ballots arriving in mailboxes right now, we are helping the No on Prop 122 campaign put up campaign signs and distribute flyers around town.

Can you help?

The Coalition has both small and large signs and are trying to have them all up by Monday. They also need to circulate flyers as soon as possible. Go to the Coalition's website for details.

Urban Bird Habitat Success at the SAHBA Home Show

The SAHBA Home & Garden Show this past weekend was the perfect venue to launch the Bringing Birds Home initiative and our innovative new bird "Recipe Cards" that give instructions attracting specific birds to urban Tucson through habitat design.

We were able to reach out to many people who have never before heard of Tucson Audubon.

Special thanks to all who made this event possible: SAHBA Home & Garden Show, Harlow Gardens (they generously loaned us some lovely plants for the booth) and volunteers: Sarah Whelan, Tim Helentjaris, Natasha Kline, Jim Watts, Carolyn Haldar, Deb Vath, Jim Gessaman, Juan Jorquera, Sheryl Forte, Pat and Dick Carlson. Thank you all so much!

Nominate Someone For a Tucson Audubon Award

Tucson Audubon has three awards to honor people and institutions in southern Arizona for outstanding work in conservation, education, and recreation.

Each of those awards was named for someone who had contributed to that area. The first award in each category was awarded to the named individual.

These awards are .

• The Wally and Marion Paton Award for Outstanding Contributions to Birding
• The Kenn Kaufman Award for Excellence in Education Relating to the Natural World
• The David Yetman Award for Exhibiting or Promoting Conservation in Southern Arizona
• The President's Award which is given by the president of Tucson Audubon for practices in keeping with our mission.
  

Please nominate a deserving individual or business for one of Tucson Audubon's awards today!

Cooler Weather Means Volunteer Time

Mason Center Has Opportunities For You!
We are preparing Tucson Audubon’s Mason Center for the fall and winter season when many people visit and many events occur. As we enter the busy season a variety of regular tasks need to be done to augment the staff presence there. Please check the list of needs HERE. The Mason Center is a wonderful place to spend time. Located on the Northwest Side, it is a 20-acre preserve of ironwood-saguaro habitat with a classroom, offices and a composting toilet building. The buildings and the grounds around them are a demonstration of sustainable living in our region. We make more electricity than we use, we harvest rainwater, compost and have demonstration native plant and food gardens. It’s a great opportunity to help us out and at the same time learn more about what we do there.

Gala Silent Auction Team Members
Help raise thousands of dollars for our work on birds. Are you good at reaching out to businesses and individuals to donate items for our Gala Silent Auction? We need two or more Procurement Coordinator volunteers to join the team responsible for all aspects of Tucson Audubon’s 2015 Gala Silent Auction. There is an immediate need to assist the Procurement Coordinator in identifying items of interest for the Gala and reaching out to organizations during business hours, evenings or weekends (as appropriate) by phone, letters and in-person to donate items. Bring a positive attitude and a smile. The Procurement team is involved in four roles; procurement, descriptions/bid-sheets, staging, and check-out. Position to start: Immediate. Contact Bete Jones.

Habitat Restoration Volunteers
Atturbury Wash Workdays are back with opportunities November 8 and February 14. Celebrate our cool fall weather by getting out on the land, getting dirty, and making a difference! This is a chance to wield your outdoor strengths with a team of fellow volunteers at our urban ecosystem restoration site. At the events, which run from 8am-noon, you'll learn about restoring desert ecosystems through planting native plants and installing natural channel design structures. For more information and to sign up to volunteer, contact: Andy Bennett, Ecosystem Restoration Specialist, 520.262.1314 More info about the overall project

Find the details of these positions and more here.

Upcoming Birding Field Trips

SIGN UP for these trips at tucsonaudubon.org/fieldtrips

October 23—Thursday 6AM TOMORROW
Upper Pena Blanca Canyon
By now the summer riffraff are gone and we can concentrate upon the tougher, permanent residents for this scenic area draining into Pena Blanca Lake in the Coronado NF.
Leader: Tim Helentjaris. Limit 12 participants.

October 25—Saturday 7:00 am
Urban Birding By Bike
October is a great month to be on a bike, so join me for a ride around town to see what birds have come to winter or just passing through along with all the endemics.
Leader: Michael Bissontz 520-577-8778 seetrogon@comcast.net

October 25—Saturday 8:00 am
WOW—Arizona Backyard Habitat Restoration demo site and birding trip
Join hosts CJ and Mary Ellen for a free tour of the extensive meadow and backyard habitat restoration they’ve done at their property nestled at the base of the Catalina Mountains in Catalina, AZ. They’ve restored ~3 acres of meadow to native bunchgrasses and wildflowers surrounded by hummingbird and pollinator gardens and a large natural area. Top it all off with 33 hummingbird feeders, 27 other feeding stations, 4 water features, and you’ve got an incredible birding site that constantly brings in rarities and is a proper birding hotspot. Please wear neutral colors and be respectful of others. Contact CJ to register and get necessary directions. 

October 26—Sunday 7:00 AM
Empire Cienega
Join Tucson Audubon for a fall stomp through the riparian areas at Empire Cienega. Be prepared for large number of mosquitos! They were ferocious two weeks ago. Meet at the Houghton and I-10 meeting place at 7:00 AM. Please do not show up if you did not register.
Trip Leader: Clifford Cathers 520-982-3272.

See the full list of current trips

10Best Readers' Choice Vote for Best Birdwatching Destination

You have until MONDAY NOV. 10 at noon PT to vote for your favorite birdwatching spot!

The current leaders on 10Best and USA TODAY's Best Birdwatching poll are:

1. Magee Marsh, Ohio
   
2. Platte River Valley, Neb.
   
3. Bosque del Apache, N.M.

Vote everyday and get Southeastern Arizona into the top 3!

Conservation News

1872 Documentary Needs Your Funding
Incredibly the 1872 Mining Law, that still governs mining in the west, puts mining as the highest, best use of our public lands. So mining trumps other uses, such as recreation, wildlife habitat, and all others.

Mining companies take billions of dollars in gold, silver, and other precious metals from our public lands—with little or no environmental oversight or protections—and don't have to pay a penny in royalties to U.S. taxpayers. Meanwhile Frances Causey and John Doherty are seeking funding to create a documentary on this outdated law.

Vote Early, Vote for Conservation!

Coming up soon, on November 4th, 2014, Arizona will hold its State and Congressional midterm elections. As we enter the busy holiday season, voting early is one way to ensure your conservation-friendly vote will be counted! The last day you can mail your completed early ballot is Friday, Oct. 31. Ballots must be received by the Recorder’s offices by Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 7 PM in order to be counted. If you decide to vote early, remember to sign and date the return envelope.

If for some reason you can’t get your early ballot in the mail by Halloween, you can hold onto it and take it to any polling place on Election Day, along with your voter registration card and valid picture identification. Visit the Arizona Secretary of State’s non-partisan website to learn about the offices to be elected, who the candidates are, ballot measures, important dates and voter registration deadlines.

Voting is one of the easiest and most important ways that you can act as a citizen on behalf of Nature. Do you know how you are planning to vote yet? Our elected leaders will be making critical decisions in the coming years. These decisions directly affect our own quality of life, as well as the prospects of survival for countless, voiceless creatures of Nature—like birds! It is crucial that we educate ourselves about the candidates on our ballot, to ensure we vote to elect leaders that share our values for a healthy environment. Reputable organizations such as The League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter provide useful voting guides, scorecards on past environmental votes, and give their endorsements to conservation-minded leaders. Tucson Audubon does not endorse political candidates. However, we encourage our membership to be informed voters, and to vote for the environment by electing leaders with solid environmental voting track records and platforms.

Be sure to Vote No on Proposition 122 as we discussed above.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Re-opens Public Comment Period for Yellow-billed Cuckoo Critical Habitat Proposal
In an October 14 public advisory the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it will re-open the public comment period on its proposal to designate 546,335 acres of critical habitat for the western population of yellow-billed cuckoo in 80 separate units in nine western states. Critical habitat is a specific geographic area that contains features essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and that may require special management and protection. Critical habitat may include an area that is not currently occupied by the species but that will be needed for its recovery. TheUSFWS advisory states, “On Aug. 14, 2014, the Service announced a 60-day comment period on the proposal, which closes Oct. 14, 2014. Service decided to re-open the comment period for an additional 60 days after receiving requests from members of Congress in the affected states to allow additional time for public review and comment. The Service is now drafting a new notice for publication in the Federal Register with additional information about the proposal and comment period extension.”

Tucson Audubon will be submitting detailed comments on the proposed designation. We encourage our membership to submit individual comments as well in support of maximal protection for the declining cuckoo and its habitat. In the coming weeks, Tucson Audubon will provide you with talking points and contact information to make your comment submission easy to do.

Heavy Monsoon Rains Wash Toxic Pollution from Mines into Our Rivers
This year’s robust monsoon rains have been a blessing, but they have also been a curse, catalyzing mine-related pollution accidents in our region. Heavy rains have tested, and compromised insufficiently constructed and maintained retention structures at both operating and abandoned mine sites. This past September, storm water overflow linked to heavy rains from Hurricane Odile had caused Grupo Mexico’s active Buenavista del Cobre mine in Cananea to leach pollutants into nearby creeks and streams, which are tributaries of the San Pedro River. The AP reported that, “Mexican officials say the material in the water is probably toxic.”

These same September storms had a similar effect in the Patagonia Mountains. The Arizona Daily Star reported that, “The heavy rains of mid-September washed out acids, minerals and possibly heavy metals into two canyons, both of which eventually drain into Harshaw Creek, said Floyd Gray, a U.S. Geological Survey official in Tucson who went to both sites and collected samples of the contamination. Harshaw Creek, whose watershed supplies part of Patagonia’s town water supply, is a tributary to Sonoita Creek, a stream that’s long been beloved by bird-watchers and other naturalists.” Floyd Gray is a former Tucson Audubon board member who recently provided us with a personal tour of the Patagonia Mountains. During the tour we learned that mining operations from the late 1800s to the early 1960s left piles of poison tailings throughout the mountain range, concentrating heavy metals in certain areas, such as Trench Camp Mine. Gooch Goodwin, who is an active board member of the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance (PARA), was the person who first saw and reported the toxic orange sludge. The Arizona Daily Star confirms the orange sludge Gooch saw was indeed originating from abandoned mine sites, “The rains caused a breach of tailings piles at the old Trench Camp Mine, which until a few years ago was owned by Asarco. It leached out potential toxins from underground tunnels there, as well as at the old Lead Queen Mine, on Forest Service land.”

Watch the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance’s 18-minute documentary film Mining Patagonia and learn more details about proposed mining in the Patagonias on PARA’s Website. Also, read Tucson Audubon’s Conservation Action Alert to learn more about proposed mining in the Patagonia Mountains and take action to protect this Important Bird Area!

EPA Study Shows Nasty Neonics Provide Negligible Benefit for Soy Production
A recent article by Greenwire reports that neonicotinoid pesticides (neonics) do not aid soybean production. Neonic chemicals can persist for many months in soil, pollen, nectar and other plant tissues – resulting in the harm or death to non-target species such as earth worms, freshwater snails, butterflies, birds, bees and a host of beneficial insects. The article reveals that, “Soybean farmers who have used seeds treated with neonicotinoid pesticides on 74 million acres have seen "little or no benefit" from that treatment . . . The review of scientific studies found the pesticides provide no additional benefit when compared with not using any pest control. The products are applied to nearly all U.S. corn crops and about half the nation's soybeans and have been linked to colony-collapse disorder, a phenomenon that threatens bee populations . . .The peer-reviewed study, conducted by EPA's Biological and Economic Analysis Division, concludes that imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin seed treatments "provide negligible overall benefits to soybean production in most situations," in part because the chemicals are no longer effective during the period of time when the crops are most vulnerable to pests.” 

Tucson Audubon strongly supports a proposed ban of neonics on City of Tucson property, and has written a letter to the Tucson City Council in support of it. Read Tucson Audubon’s Conservation Action Alert to learn more and take action to protect our pollinators!

Dates For Your Calendar

Members' Annual Holiday Potluck. December 8 | 6:00 PM St. Philip's in the Hills Episcopal Church
Rich Hoyer presents Why Botanists Make Better Birders. Also celebrate Paul and Eng-Li Green as they conclude their tenure at Tucson Audubon. See tucsonaudubon.org/calendar for full info.

Wednesdays Sweetwater Wetlands Bird Walk. Join Bryon Lichtenhan for an easy walk through the wetlands to see waterfowl, regular and visiting warblers, and several exciting species hiding in the reeds. Birders of all experience levels welcome! Contact leader for start time and to sign up.

Every Thursday! Wake Up With the Birds at Agua Caliente Park. Explore the ponds and Molino Basin occasionally. FREE. Call 615-7855 for meeting time or see tucsonaudubon.org/fieldtrips.html.

February 10, 2015 Tucson Audubon's Seventh Annual Gala. An Evening for the Birds: Bringing Nature Home. Featuring Brad Lancaster. Oasis Tucson:Transforming Mirage into Reality. Sponsorship details from Paul Green

Sincerely,

Dr. Paul Green
Executive Director | Tucson Audubon