UPCOMING EVENTS
Bird Alliance of SW New Mexico Board Meeting
Mon, Oct 7, 2024 | 5:00 pm
The Bird Alliance of SW NM invites members to our Board of Directors meetings. We meet every other month, on the first Monday of the month, at 5 PM. If you are interested in attending board meetings, please email swnmaudubon@gmail.org. We will add you to the list to receive the agenda and location a few days in advance of the meeting.
Program: Learn to Use the Merlin Birding App
Friday, October 11, 2024 | 6:30 - 8:00 pm
Harlan Hall, Room 135 (604 W 12th St, Silver City)
Hands-on workshop for new and casual birders
Learn to use Merlin, a free phone app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, to help identify birds by location, sight, and sound. Heidi Erstad will be your guide.
Limited to 30 participants! RSVP to swnmaudubon@gmail.com
October Big Day
October 12, 2024
Hosted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Saturday, October 12, 2024 is your 24-hour opportunity to be a part of bird research. All you need to do is watch birds for at least 10 minutes and report what you see online at ebird.org! These observations help scientists understand global bird populations.
The Big Sit
Sun, Oct 13, 2024
8 am - noon
Iron Bridge, Cliff, NM
Join us at the Iron Bridge overlooking the Gila River for some relaxed sit-down birding!
The Big Sit is a semi-competitive, stationary birding event where bird-enthusiasts will identify as many bird species as possible from a 17ft diameter circle. People will be participating all over the world! Bird lovers of all backgrounds and skill levels are welcome!
- Participate for any length of time between 8 am and noon
- Shade available
- Family friendly
- Welcoming to all identities!
Please arrive with chairs, drinking water, snacks, binoculars*, and start looking and listening. (*We'll have extra binoculars on hand)
Check out the October Iron Bridge eBird list to see who might show up 🙂
Ride-sharing from Silver?
Meet in the WNMU Fine Arts parking lot, ready to hit the road at 7:15 am
Location
The Iron Bridge spans the Gila River and is located off of 180 W in Cliff, 25 mi west of Silver City.
From 180, turn south onto Iron Bridge and continue for 1/2 mile
Park on the dirt pull-off on the road leading to the Iron Bridge
Bird Alliance of SW New Mexico Board Meeting
Mon, Dec 2, 2024 | 5:00 pm
The Bird Alliance of SW NM invites members to our Board of Directors meetings. We meet every other month, on the first Monday of the month, at 5 PM. If you are interested in attending board meetings, please email swnmaudubon@gmail.org. We will add you to the list to receive the agenda and location a few days in advance of the meeting.
SPUR-OF-THE-MOMENT Field Trips
SWNMA programs are planned far in advance, so sometimes we miss good birding possibilities. That's why we encourage member-initiated Spur- of-the-Moment field trips. You don’t have to be an expert, you just need a desire to get out there with fellow birders! If you email us the date, destination, and when/where to meet, we'll pass that info to our list of interested others. Want to get on the list? Just send us an email.
Please visit us on Facebook for updates and for virtual gatherings, announced here on the Website or for members via email.
Visit the joint SWNM Audubon Society and Gila Native Plant Society YouTube channel to view past recorded Zoom programs.
PAST EVENTS
Jun 2: Gila Centennial Outing at Sapillo Box Canyon
Dave McDonald led 12 birders through the Sapillo Box Canyon on our last Gila 100 bird outing. Light on birds that day, but we all enjoyed the gorgeous day and being near the Gila Wilderness.
June 1: Gila Centennial Celebration at Gough Park
We had a fun and busy day at the Gila 100 party! Over 100 folks stopped by our table to say hi, spin the bird wheel, and talk birds!
May 28: Gila Centennial Outing at Railroad Canyon
Susan Mittelstadt and a group of seven birders explored Railroad Canyon, with its great pines and multiple river crossings. The group spotted painted redstarts, red-faced warblers, hepatic tanagers, and ten western tanagers! Check out the complete ebird list.
May 26: Gila Centennial Outing at the Catwalk
Brian Dolton led a group of five through the always-beautiful catwalk. The group spotted 24 species that morning, picking up 21 species at the nearby Fish Hatchery. On the way back to Silver City, a trio of birders spotted a Great Egret perched at the edge of Big Dry Gulch. Check out the ebird list for the Catwalk here.
May 25 River Ranch Outing
Susan and Burt Mittelstadt led 24 participants on this River Ranch outing on a perfect Spring day. Attendees were not disappointed! The group spotted a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak right away, along with 48 other species that day. [Check out the eBird list] The black bear scrambling out of a tree made for some real additional excitement! Thank you to Susan and Burt for being such excellent and inclusive guides.
May 5 Gila River Valley Outing
Bill Norris, Susan Mittelstadt, and Linda Moore led 22 participants on this Gila River bird outing. They started out at Mangas Springs, with a highlight being a great egret. An osprey and bald eagle were spotted on Bill Evans Lake Rd. At the Mangas spillway, the group was treated to kettles of TVs (turkey vultures!) along with a Swainson's hawk dive-bombing a red-tailed hawk! Stopping back along Bill Evans Lake Rd, the sighting of the day was a pair (yes, a pair!) of gray hawks vocalizing, flying around, and giving everyone a great view of them.
Thank you to all who made the outing and to Bill, Susan, and Linda for guiding the way!
Check out the eBird lists for the day here: NM-211 Bridge over the Gila, 410 NM-211, Gila US-NM, 314–346 Bill Evans Lake Rd ,
314–346 Bill Evans Lake Rd (2), 421 Bill Evans Lake Rd, and Mangas Springs.
May 4 Give Grandly
May 3 Program: Identification of Birds in the Lower Gila Valley
Over sixty people packed room 111 of Harlan Hall to learn how to identify the rich range of resident and visiting birds in the lower Gila River Valley. Thank you to Bill Norris and Susan Mittelstadt for sharing strategies and to Bill for the entertaining bird calls!
April 21 CDT x Earth Day Bird Outing at San Vicente
Dave McDonald led a group of eight along San Vicente trail, a great riparian habitat right in the heart of the city. The group was lucky to see some early migrant arrivals: three kinds of warblers, Summer Tanagers, a Cassin's kingbird, an Ash-throated Flycatcher, and - - everyone's favorite returnee - - a Common Black Hawk. View the 27 species spotted on Dave's eBird checklist. Thanks to all who attended!
April 20 CDT x Earth Day
Nearly 150 people stopped by the chapter booth to try their hand at our new Wheel of Bird Fortune!! So much fun on a perfect weather day! Special thanks to Jackie Blurton for putting together such an engaging activity.
April 13 Deadman's Canyon Outing
Sixteen gathered on a cool but clear and sunny day for some canyon birding. Trip leader Brian Dolton provided in depth answers to many questions, including when is it okay to use bird calls to draw birds, the science and ethics of bird banding, and why during migration are those passing through not calling like the ones that have arrived to nest. View the ebird checklist here.
April 5 & 6 Gila Cliff Dwellings Adventure
We had a blast at our first-ever campout and Gila Cliff Dwellings event! Around the campfire, we ate s'mores while Ranger Jonah shared several Native American stories of how certain birds came to be.
https://ebird.org/checklist/
March 24 UU Presentation
Board members Beth Cable and Dave McDonald gave a presentation to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Silver City. Beth presented an overview of our chapter and its activities, then placed our chapter in the context of the National Audubon Society. Dave described some local birding hotspots and showed photos of some of the birds one can see there.
Mar 21 Birds and Brews
After the sprinkles and wind blew through Silver City the day before, a lovely group took a stroll at downtown's Big Ditch park to see what birds were out and about. There was plenty of foraging activity behind the Lion's Club building, including many Yellow-rumped Warblers at the treetops, a White-breasted Nuthatch, Pine Siskins (zzziiiippp!) and Black Phoebes. To our delight, a Hairy and Ladder-backed Woodpecker were within feet of each other for a nice visual comparison. https://ebird.org/checklist/S165533040
We made our way to The Toad for food, drinks, and a little bird trivia. Do YOU know how many (verified) bird species have been found in NM (fyi, this number changes as a designated committee reviews info)??