We hope that your new year is off to a great start!

Naturalist Opportunity

Get a little flight into your life - be part of the Great Backyard Bird Count!

Spend time in your favorite places watching birds–then tell us about them! In as little as 15 minutes notice the birds around you. Identify them, count them, and submit them to help scientists better understand and protect birds around the world. Join this global effort on February 17-20, 2023.

More info at https://www.birdcount.org/

Get to Know Your Naturalist 

Hi! My name is Jennie Lawrence. I am a class of 2022 Wyoming Naturalist graduate. I am also the Naturalist representative on the steering committee.

As a retired high school science teacher, (Whiting Alternative High School, Laramie) I love the learning opportunities this program provides, along with the many volunteer projects. The first project I participated in, and hope to get back to, was through the Rocky Mountain Herbarium on the University of Wyoming campus. They have many volunteer opportunities available and are a great way to get hours, particularly for those folks living in Laramie.

Tell us your favorite Wyoming Naturalist-tied volunteer moment or experience?

One of my favorite projects was helping release both tadpoles and young adult endangered Wyoming (Baxter) toads. There is something very special about holding an endangered animal, and knowing that you are a part of them (hopefully!) making a comeback.

Something else that I really enjoyed was our end-of-class campout at Sinks Canyon, outside of Lander. That was a fun weekend of learning, hiking, and journaling.

Tell us a bit about your journey to conservation, natural resources, and/or the outdoors.

I have been an unofficial naturalist from a very young age. I grew up roaming the foothills northwest of Boulder, Colorado. One of my earliest self-determined projects was keeping count of, and writing about, a herd of deer that frequented the area. I had a great biology teacher in high school, and he fostered his students’ love of nature studies. That love has continued throughout my life.

I want to hear about you too!

One of my duties is to write a Meet the Naturalist column. I would love to tell your story! Send me an email if you would like to be interviewed for this feature. Missjennae@yahoo.com 

1st Annual WNP Christmas Bird Count in Goshen Hole

 By Zach Hutchinson

On December 19th, 2022, Audubon Rockies staff, family, and members of the Wyoming Naturalists joined together to conduct the first ever Goshen Hole Christmas Bird Count. While yes, it was only four counters, that did not dissuade our effort. We started our day off in some blustery, cold winds, snaking our way into Springer-Bump Sullivan WHMA. Here, the count party walked together for over two miles, spotting a variety of geese, hawks, eagles, and ducks. The wind made the walk slightly less than pleasant, but the birds helped overcome the wind. We found a hollow to shelter in while counting waterfowl on the only open, still water. Here, we scoped out a large number of dabbling and diving ducks, some Canada and Cackling Geese, and the eight Bald Eagles that were haunting the hangout. After leaving the safety of the hollow, we began our loop back to the vehicles, walking through a few inches of crusty snow.

I am going to write the following section as if someone else observed what happened. It makes it less awkward to describe. Yes, I am still writing it, but I will refer to myself in third person.

At one point, a certain party member (Zach), had to step behind the trees for normal human function. Of course, he couldn’t use the first tree available. He had to walk several trees away because everyone knows the best birds get found when doing the call of the wild. Upon arrival at an appropriate location, Zach was startled by two Great Horned Owls spooked off their roost. While this was not the intent, it began the count of EIGHT Great Horned Owls that this intrepid party discovered on the count.

Back to first person. The rest is less risqué.

After a few additional stops to count overhead Cackling and Canada Gooses, our group split up into three parties to continue our counts across the circle. With only three parties total, each group was forced to cover a lot more ground. While it likely affected what all was discovered for the count, the day was ended with a respectable count of 42 species being detected and 5234 individuals counted.

(Peek-a-whoo!  Spot the hidden owl?) 

This circle (a 15-mile diameter circle where all birds seen or heard are counted) should be an interesting circle to participate in, moving forward. It held large numbers of waterfowl, and interesting late species such as Sandhill Crane were observed. A personal goal for this circle was to begin to understand the number of white-cheeked geese that winter in this region, but more specifically, the numbers of Cackling Geese that were holding over. If you are unfamiliar with the Cackling Goose, it is a species that was split from the Canada Goose somewhat recently (less than twenty years ago). It is somewhat difficult to distinguish from the Canada Goose, so much of our time as a single party was spent practicing identification of this species. If you are interested in learning more about this small, white-cheeked goose, check out this article I wrote on identifying the species.

A huge thank you to those who attended, Jacelyn, Dixie, and Alex. I hope that in 2023, I can coax even more Wyoming Naturalists to attend! I think we all had a blast, and I think attendees this year can expect an even better time!

Species	Number or cw
Snow Goose	36
Cackling Goose	2112
Canada Goose	559
Cackling/Canada Goose	492
Mallard	17
Redhead	17
Common Goldeneye	39
Ring-necked Pheasant	18
Wild Turkey	35
Golden Eagle	6
Northern Harrier	6
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1
Bald Eagle	10
Red-tailed Hawk	8
Rough-legged Hawk	4
Ferruginous Hawk	5
Sandhill Crane	15
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)	30
Eurasian Collared-Dove	24
Great Horned Owl	8
Belted Kingfisher	1
Downy Woodpecker	1
Northern Flicker	10
Northern Flicker (Red- shafted)	4
American Kestrel	1
Prairie Falcon	4
Blue Jay	22
Black-billed Magpie	4
Common Raven	6
Horned Lark	226
Black-capped Chickadee	2
Townsend's Solitaire	2
American Robin	81
European Starling	357
Lapland Longspur	1
American Tree Sparrow	119
Dark-eyed Junco	16
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate- colored)	5
White-crowned Sparrow	24
Song Sparrow	1
Red-winged Blackbird	385
Western Meadowlark	37
Great-tailed Grackle	23
House Finch	127
American Goldfinch	15
House Sparrow	318
Total Individuals	5234
Total Species Reported	42