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Tucson Audubon Society
March 29, 2024
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Welcome, Jo, to Tucson Audubon's weekly update.

It's party time! On Monday night around 150 gathered for our Member Holiday Potluck. Thanks to everyone for making the Holiday Potluck such a special evening for Eng-Li and me! And if you lost a black, Eastern Mountain Sport zip-up fleece at the event please call Bete at (520) 209-1812 to reclaim it.

Over the weekend more than 100 major donors to Tucson Audubon's Paton Center for Hummingbirds gathered in Patagonia in a remarkable association. Keep abreast of what's going on at Patons' and elsewhere by visiting Tucson Audubon’s blog for timely stories.

Later this week we will be mailing Invitations for Tucson Audubon's Seventh Annual Gala, to be held on February 10th, to an extended list of friends. Some members like to sponsor tables for themselves and their friends, and we recognize their support on the printed invitation and program. So if you would like to sponsor a table now is the time to let us know.

At the Gala you and your friends will hear international expert Brad Lancaster talk about urban oases and Tucson. There's still a great deal of work to be done to present this important event and we invite you to become a volunteer now as we plan this important community event.

We have some Conservation News for you below, including the revelation that a controversial land-swap that would enable foreign-owned Rio Tinto’s “Resolution Copper” to build a massive copper mine under Oak Flat near Superior, Arizona was recently inserted into an unrelated defense spending bill at the request of Senator McCain (R-AZ). Read more below.

Remember to join the many other people using the relaxed browsing and shopping experience at our nature shops for your gifts. Stop in and treat yourself to a fresh cup of shade grown coffee from our Donation Café while you browse our vast selection of gifts, stationary, feeders, books, apparel, and much much more. Details below and here where you can also print your holiday gift catalog.

Most urgent of all for Tucson Audubon as we head into 2015 is that we have significant needs for general unrestricted funding today. If the stock market has been good to you this year, please consider supporting our birds with a very generous gift this winter. Watch your mailbox for some special requests, or mail your check today, or give online. You'll soon be learning of our need to raise $500,000 by the spring.

Finally, now is the time for you to be planning for your participation in this season's Christmas Bird Counts, and you can find a full program of CBCs here.

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





KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS
by Paul Baicich & Rick Wright
tucsonaudubon.org/festival

 



Education Classes: One-click Shopping

Give the intelligent gift! Classes and workshops with expert instructors.

Click here for more information and to register today!

MULTI-WEEK EDUCATION COURSES IN 2015 with Lynn Hassler

  • Backyard Birding and Beyond Part A: Saturdays, January 31 February 21
  • Backyard Birding and Beyond Part B: Saturdays, March 7 28
  • Birding by Habitat: April 4 – 18


ONE AND TWO DAY WORKSHOPS IN 2015:

  • eBird Workshop Part 1 for Beginners: January 17 with Jennie MacFarland
  • eBird Workshop Part Two; Advanced eBird for Conservation: January 31 with Jennie MacFarland
  • Sparrows: February 5 & 7: with Homer Hansen
  • Raptors: February 13 & 15: with Homer Hansen
  • Raptor Immersion Weekend: March 1315 with Bill Clark
  • Advanced Topics Birding by Ear: April 16 & 18: with Homer Hansen


TAX CREDIT DONATIONS NEEDED TO FUND MIDDLE SCHOOL EDUCATION PROGRAM.
DEADLINE FOR CONTRIBUTION IS 12/31/2014.
Put your tax credits to good use! Our education program at the Billy Lane Lauffer Middle School could benefit tremendously. For the third year in a row,Tucson Audubon is partnering with Inner City Outings and the Sunnyside School District to offer one hiking/birding outing a month. Your tax credits will be directly dedicated to the Trekking Rattlers student club and fund transportation for their outings, entrance fees to their destinations, and materials.
Follow these instructions to donate today!

Follow these instructions to donate today:
There are three ways you can submit your TAX CREDIT donation! Click here to access the online form. Make sure you use Firefox or Google Chrome browsers as Internet Explorer fights with the programming! Under school, select “Billy Lane Lauffer Middle School” and in the Activity box, type in “Trekking Rattlers Hiking and Birding Club”.

Or, click here to print out a donation form and mail it in to the school. On the form, select Lauffer Middle School and next to it, write in “Trekking Rattlers Hiking and Birding Club”.
Direct any questions to Bete Jones at bjones@tucsonaudubon.org or 520-209-1812.



Registration NOW OPEN | Purchase your tickets today!




Seven Saturdays In Patagonia—Meet PARA on January 10

Biodiversity Hike: 7:30 — To be determined
Relaxed Lecture: 11:00 Patagonia Area Resource Alliance (PARA)

The Patagonia Area Resource Alliance (PARA) is a grassroots, non-profit community alliance committed to preserving and protecting the Patagonia, Arizona area. Come to Tucson's Audubon's Paton Center for Hummingbirds to meet representatives of this watchdog organization and learn about their activities monitoring mining companies and government agencies as they seek long-term, sustainable benefits for public lands and the town of Patagonia.

Paton Center for Hummingbirds NEWS

Go to our Blog to see how our Restoration Crew was working on the center. We began creating the trail around the paddock, turning it into a meadow. The trail will be a short loop trail primarily around the perimeter with good views of a healthy mulberry tree, a nice grove of locust trees, and some large old mesquites.



Arizona Christmas Bird Counts Start This Weekend

The National Audubon Society has conducted Christmas bird counts since 1900. Volunteers from across North America and beyond take to the field during one calendar day between December 14 and January 5 to record every bird species and individual bird encountered within a designated 15-mile diameter circle. These records now comprise an extensive ornithological database that enables monitoring of winter bird populations and the overall health of the environment.

See tucsonaudubon.org/cbc for info on all the Arizona counts.

YOUTH CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT | December 20
Youth ages 12 – 18. Tucson Audubon and Ironwood Tree Experience are teaming together for this year’s Annual Christmas Bird Count for Kids on Saturday, December 20th from 8:00 – 11:00am. Tens of thousands of people across the country will be participating in Christmas Bird Counts. This 115-year-old tradition is the longest running Citizen Science survey in the world. We'll walk the trails at the Mason Center to see what birds are around, learn how to collect bird observation data, and enter our data into eBird at the end of the morning. All experience levels are welcome. All you need is an interest in birds and the outdoors. Bring your field guide and binoculars if you have them, or if not, we will provide them. Trip lead by Jennie Duberstein. Click here to register today! FREE OF COST!

FEATURED COUNT OF THE WEEK
Tucson Valley CBC | Sunday, Dec. 14

Contact Rich Hoyer to sign up for this count, 520-325-5310 birdernaturalist@me.com. Learn about Lark Buntingsin the Tucson Valley from TVCBC data.



Discover New Skills, Meet New Friends, Volunteer Today!

Gala Decorations Team Members
If you enjoy being artsy-craftsy, then this for you. We need a couple of volunteers to join the Gala Decorations Team in a fun afternoon of creativity. We'll be making tissue pom-pom flowers which will be used as part of the dining room decorations at Tucson Audubon's 2015 Gala in February, and wrapping baskets of wine and other items for the silent auction. Bring a positive attitude, lots of energy and a smile. Position to start: January. Contact Bete Jones.
More volunteers needed for our Gala. See tucsonaudubon.org/volunteer for more opportunities.

TAS VOLUNTEERS!
Now you can use your volunteer points to register for education classes. Contact Sharon for more information.

Habitat Restoration Volunteers
Atturbury Wash Workdays are back with opportunities February 14 and a Native Planting Workshop on March 28
. 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. 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.



Great Field Trips Coming Up

Tucson Audubon offers a wide range of free field trips for our members.

Sweetwater Wetlands — Wednesdays
Wake up with the Birds at Agua Caliente Park — Thursdays
Birding Hikes at Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve — First Fridays
Mason Center Saturday Morning Birdwalks
Arivaca Cienega/Buenos Aires NWR - Saturdays, November thru ApriL

December 14 thru January 5. Christmas Bird Counts

December 13—Saturday

Atturbury-Lyman Bird and Animal Sanctuary at Lincoln Park

January 17—Saturday, 7:30 am
Himmel Park

Go to our website to learn more and to register.


Great Books Make Great Gifts

We have a wide selection of good reads down at our two Tucson Audubon Nature Shops. Stop by to check out what we have to offer. Browse among titles like Welcome to Subirdia by John M. Marzluff and The Passenger Pigeon by Errol Fuller.

Over many years of research and fieldwork, Marzluff and student assistants have closely followed the lives of thousands of tagged birds seeking food, mates, and shelter in cities and surrounding areas. From tiny Pacific Wrens to grand Pileated Woodpeckers, diverse species now compatibly share human surroundings. By practicing careful stewardship with the biological riches in our cities and towns, Marzluff explains, we can foster a new relationship between humans and other living creatures—one that honors and enhances our mutual destiny.  Marzluff discusses this research fully in his latest title Welcome to Subirdia $30, available now at the Tucson Audubon Nature Shop.

Errol Fuller’s The Passenger Pigeon is new to our shelves. This stunningly illustrated book tells the astonishing story of North America’s Passenger Pigeon, a bird species that—like the Tyrannosaur, the Mammoth, and the Dodo—has become one of the great icons of extinction. Errol Fuller describes how these fast, agile, and handsomely plumaged birds were immortalized by the ornithologist and painter John James Audubon, and captured the imagination of writers such as James Fenimore Cooper, Henry David Thoreau, and Mark Twain. He shows how widespread deforestation, the demand for cheap and plentiful pigeon meat, and the indiscriminate killing of Passenger Pigeons for sport led to their catastrophic decline. Fuller provides an evocative memorial to a bird species that was once so important to the ecology of North America, and reminds us of just how fragile the natural world can be. Also available at our Nature Shop $29.95

 

SHOP HOLIDAY HOURS
Wednesdays, Dec. 24th & 31st — Shop closes at 2pm.
Thursdays, Dec 25th & Jan. 1
Shop and offices closed
All other days as normal. 

 

OPTICS

Vortex Diamondback 8x42
The elegant and durable 42mm Diamondback delivers the best of everything in a robust package. Long-range details are enhanced through the 42mm lenses, phase corrected BaK-4 prisms, and fully multi-coated optics. Naturalists of all skill levels enjoy the comfortable eyecup design and the ergonomically balanced feel. With waterproofing and fogproofing, you won't worry about rain, snow, heat, or cold. Vortex's VIP warranty means your Diamondback is meant to last for generations.
Regular Pricing $241.99 Member Pricing $217.79

 

View and print your special Holiday Catalog here.

Tucson Audubon's Nature Shops are the best place in our region to try and buy binoculars. Check out our prices and you can see why. Come in and see us for the top brands.

 Need directions to our Nature Shops? Find all the info here.

 


Conservation News

Controversial Oak Flat Land Exchange Slipped into Defense Spending Bill
A controversial land-swap that would enable foreign-owned Rio Tinto’s “Resolution Copper” to build a massive copper mine under Oak Flat near Superior, Arizona was recently inserted into an unrelated defense spending bill at the request of Senator McCain (R-AZ). Since 2005, the proposed land swap has repeatedly failed to pass on its own merits in both houses of Congress. Now, it has been unexpectedly hitched to the National Defense Authorization Act, along with a host of other lands-related bills, which would have a mixed bag of measures, including protecting more than 250,000 acres of public lands as designated wilderness, “streamlining” oil and gas permitting processes, and a proposed amendment that would prevent the sage grouse from being listed under the Endangered Species Act for one year, among an amalgam of random provisions that lawmakers are tacking-on to this “must-pass” defense spending bill. The move to insert the controversial land-swap, Section 3003, has upset conservationists and recreationists because of the outstanding ecological and recreational values of the greater Oak Flat / Apache Leap area, concerning water and subsidence issues, and because of the Section 3003’s clear intent to short circuit the public process that is designed to protect the public’s interests in public lands. Eighty Native American tribes across 25 states have registered a unified opposition to the proposed land swap because they hold the lands in question as sacred and instrumental their ability to freely practice their tribal religions. An Arizona Daily Star report notes, “Opponents are outraged that legislators inserted the hotly contested land swap into a must-pass piece of legislation at the 11th hour . . . If the land remained public, the mining project would be dependent on U.S. Forest Service approval and would have to complete the entire process required by the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA . . . Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said the current version of the bill removes a requirement that the mining company consult with tribe members about the mining project.” Click here to contact your Senator TODAY to protect Oak Flat by expressing your opposition to this attempt to give away public lands to a foreign mining company and circumvent the democratic process. Or, contact your senator directly by phone or e-mail. Look up your Senator by clicking here.

Learning About and Taking Action for Water Sustainability
Water. We humans need it for so many uses. And so do the ecosystems on which we depend. Here in southern Arizona, we are currently enduring an extended drought, and future water supplies are in question as climate change threatens to make our water woes much worse. At Tucson Audubon, we continue contemplate the importance of water in our work. Water management is a very complex topic. We are striving to continue our own learning process and to focus our involvement in water-related issues. To this end, on December 8th Tucson Audubon hosted a panel of water experts. The excellent panel shared a wealth of knowledge and engaged TAS staff and board members in an educational, productive dialogue. We thank the experts who generously provided their time and expertise.

We encourage all of us to become conscious of our relationship with water. What does your water bill tell you? What are some easy ways we can all reduce our water use? How can we avoid or minimize polluting our waters? And how can we ensure there is enough water for wildlife habitat too?

Food for thought. Here are some links to recent news articles on local and regional water issues:

Helpful Resources:

Pima Association of Governments: Clean Water Starts With Me,Information and Activities,Watershed Planning and How to Shrink Your Water Footprint

Conserve to Enhance (C2E). Learn more about your water supply, ways to conserve indoors and outdoors, conservation benefits and rebate programs. Learn about how Conserve to Enhance works, and enroll in C2E today so that you can begin to put your water conservation efforts to work for environmental enhancement projects in your community! Tucson Audubon’s ecological restoration work at Atturbury Wash has been funded in part by grants awarded to us by the C2E program.

Watershed Management Group. WMG develops community-based solutions to ensure the long-term prosperity of people and health of the environment.

Conservationists Call on New Mexico’s Governor Martinez to Implement Alternatives to Harmful Gila River Diversion Project
A highly controversial water diversion project proposed for the Gila River, which runs from its headwaters in the Gila Wilderness of southwestern New Mexico to its confluence with the Colorado River in Arizona, has been recently approved by New Mexico’s Interstate Stream Commission, despite strong opposition from conservationists and many fiscal conservatives. Tucson Audubon is opposed to the proposed Gila River diversion project because of its potential negative impacts to wildlife and wildlife habitats of the Gila River corridor. The conservation community has galvanized to urge New Mexico Governor Martinez to save one of the Southwest’s last free-flowing rivers from this harmful diversion project. Click here now to take action to urge Governor Martinez to support cost-effective, non-diversion alternatives to protect the Gila River, and remind her that Arizonans, and all of the wildlife downstream from proposed diversions, have major a stake in the future of the Gila River too!




Dates For Your Calendar


Arizona Christmas Bird Counts
Schedule and details up now on our website. New counts added this week and updated!

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



Thank you, Jo, for being a part of Tucson Audubon and helping to protect birds, other wildlife, and the places they live in southeast Arizona for future generations. 

Sincerely,

Dr. Paul Green
Executive Director | Tucson Audubon

 

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