March 26, 2025 (Wednesday) - Using Listening Software and Our RCAS Citizen Scientist Data to Enhance Your Birding Experiences. Talk by Lee Allen. Grace Congregational Church (Rutland) Conference Room, 6:30 PM.
Lee Allen will talk on two related topics. As he outlines them, first "I will briefly describe two listening devices, Merlin Sound ID and Haikubox, how they work, and my experiences using them. Many birders are now using Merlin Sound ID to assist in identifying 'who is around'. Merlin's Sound IDs are not perfect... especially for mimics but during noisy spring mornings Merlin has helped me to increase my high confidence visual and sound ID numbers by at least 20%. In addition, for the last 2 years, I have been using a Haikubox to listen 24/7 for birds on my property. Highlights include recording more than 85 individual species on busy spring days, learning more about seasonal arrivals and departures, and seeing the impact of refilling feeders after an extended absence. Both devices have been game changers greatly enhancing my birding enjoyment."
Second topic: Presentation and interpretation of 20+ years of RCAS species count data from annual Christmas Bird Counts and monthly West Rutland Marsh walks. WOW! Highlights include several "new" species over time and changes in species seasonal presence and abundance.
March 18, 2025 (Tuesday) - RCAS Monthly Board Meeting. Board meetings held on the third Tuesday of every month and are open to the public. West Rutland Town Hall conference room, 6:30 PM.
March 15, 2025 (Saturday), 8:00 AM - West Rutland Marsh Monitoring Walk. Join us for our monthly monitoring of West Rutland Marsh. Meet at the boardwalk on Marble Street. Go the whole 4-mile route or go halfway.
February 18, 2025 (Tuesday) - RCAS Monthly Board Meeting. Board meetings held on the third Tuesday of every month and are open to the public. West Rutland Town Hall conference room, 6:30 PM.
February 15, 2025 (Saturday), 8:00 AM - West Rutland Marsh Monitoring Walk. Join us for our monthly monitoring of West Rutland Marsh. Meet at the boardwalk on Marble Street. Go the whole 4-mile route or go halfway.
Thursday, January 23, 2025, 8:00 AM - West Rutland Marsh Monitoring Walk. Join us for our monthly monitoring of West Rutland Marsh. Meet at the boardwalk on Marble Street. Go the whole 4-mile route or go halfway.
January 22, 2025 (Wednesday) - Birds & Culture of Cuba. Talk by Mike Blust. Grace Congregational Church (Rutland) Conference Room, 6:30 PM.
January 21, 2025 (Tuesday) - RCAS Monthly Board Meeting. Board meetings are open to the public. West Rutland Town Hall conference room, 6:30 PM.
January 18, 2025 (Saturday) - Winter Regulars & Rarities. We go in search of winter birds (residents and visitors from the far north) along the back roads and lake shores of Rutland and Addison Counties. Dress for the weather - remember, it is usually much colder and windier along Lake Champlain. Meet at 8 AM at Otter Valley Union High School, US Rte 7 in Brandon. We will try to carpool in as few cars as possible from there. Bring a lunch and hot drinks. Some cars may hang around for owls after sunset.
Saturday, December 28, 2024. Rutland County Audubon’s annual Winter Bird Count will take place this year on December 28. Birds spotted within a 7 1/2 mile radius of Mead’s Falls in Center Rutland will be counted by teams of field birders and feeder-watchers in this count circle. Results will be tallied and posted on e-Bird. Interested persons can contact birding@rutlandcountyaudubon.org for information or to sign up.
The Winter (or Christmas) Bird Count is a census of birds in the western hemisphere, performed annually in the early northern-hemisphere winter by volunteer birdwatchers and administered by the National Audubon Society. The purpose is to provide population data for use in science, especially conservation biology, though many people participate for recreation. The CBC is the longest-running citizen science survey in the world.
Prior to the turn of the 20th Century, hunters engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas “side hunt”. They would choose sides and go afield with their guns—whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won. Conservation was in its beginning stages in that era, and many observers and scientists were becoming concerned about declining bird populations.
Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, an early officer in the then-nascent Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition—a Christmas Bird Census that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them.
December 17, 2024 (Tuesday) - RCAS Monthly Board Meeting. Board meetings are open to the public. West Rutland Town Hall conference room, 6:30 PM.
Saturday, December 14, 2024, 8:00 AM - West Rutland Marsh Monitoring Walk. Join us for our monthly monitoring of West Rutland Marsh. Meet at the boardwalk on Marble Street. Go the whole 4-mile route or go halfway.
Our Past Events…
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