Denver Field Ornithologists

Our mission is to promote interest in the study and preservation of birds and their habitats. Members are encouraged (through meeting presentations and field trips) to learn about birds in the field, noting species and numbers, while familiarizing themselves with their songs and calls, as well as habits and habitats.

Our club was formed in 1935. The Lark Bunting, our monthly newsletter has been in existence since 1965, publishes the scheduled field trips for the upcoming months (about a hundred each year), and lists the sightings from previous months, along with notices and announcements of interest to our readers. Membership and donations to our club provide the funding source for our services. Membership is open to anyone interested in birds of the Denver area in particular, and the birds of Colorado in general.

Membership ranges from $20 to $30 per year depending on whether you choose to have the Lark Bunting emailed to you or sent via first class mail. Student (age 18 or younger) membership is $5 per year. A membership application form is in the Lark Bunting or it can be downloaded from this site.

We hold regular monthly meetings on the 4th Monday of the month, except May, June, July and December, at the Museum of Nature and Science in the Ricketson Auditorium. Our presentations feature leading birders in the area, who cover a variety of timely and wide-ranging topics tailored to all levels of expertise. Dates and topics of the meetings are on the Colorado Rare Bird Alert 303.659.8750, this web site and in the Lark Bunting newsletter. Park on the north side of museum and walk around to the west door between 7 and 7:30pm. If late, (although lateness creates a problem for our hosts) enter through security/volunteer door.

David Leatherman and the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Colorado

Monday, February 22, 2010
February finds David Allen Leatherman making a return visit to DFO’s podium from his northern Front Range haunts of Ft. Collins and its environs. Warning: David states, “No one prone to Nature addictions should attend, because these creatures (the “odes”) can hook you.” David's photo of the Plains Clubtail on the left is definitely eye catching!

Before you say, “Where are the birds?” remember David’s last amazing presentation to DFO, in March of 2008, titled “Learning More About Birding by Learning More About What Birds Eat.” On that evening he convincingly illustrated for us that a broader understanding of the natural world and its interrelationships will enable us to find more birds!

While in the field birding we have all observed dragonflies and damselflies, the “odes” (Insect Order Odonata), patrolling the edges of steams and ponds and “hawking” for insects over meadows or open fields. Dragonflies and damselflies begin their lives in the water and emerge to become skillful terrestrial predators; some consider them to be the insect equivalents of mountain lions and bobcats respectively. These insects have amazing adaptations including compound eyes which contain as many as 30,000 lenses, giving these creatures a complete 360 degree view of the world around them. And dragonflies “invented” jet propulsion as an escape maneuver over 300 million years ago.

Many birders know that during the mating and egg laying process the male dragonfly or damselfly will grasp the female by the neck and they will fly in tandem. In 1934 Arthur Cleveland Bent documented an astounding event in Ontario in which a huge dragonfly had grabbed a ruby-throated hummingbird by the neck and was holding it on the ground until the human observers intervened.

In "The Dragonflies and Damselflies of Colorado" David will try to tie in as much bird information as possible, but essentially the presentation will be about this group of "watchable" insects. He will discuss the names, lore, and lives of the Order Odonata, and also survey the major groups present in Colorado. Currently the unofficial state roster stands at 105-108 species, with a potential for 5 or so more. The talk will be accompanied by David’s photographs.

David was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. While still in junior high school his interest in birds was triggered by the sighting and identification of a male Blackburnian Warbler, which is still his favorite bird. He earned a degree in biology from Marietta College, and a Master of Forestry degree from Duke University. From 1974 to 2005 he was employed as a forest entomologist with the Colorado State Forest Service with a primary focus on the mountain pine beetle. He has been a longtime member of the Colorado Field Ornithologists and is a former editor of the CFO Journal. He also served as an adjunct faculty member in CSU's Bioagricultural Science and Pest Management Department. He has a major interest in birds and their food habits, and is an award winning wildlife photographer. He has seen well over 400 bird species in Colorado and has played a significant part in three First State Bird Records for Colorado: Slaty-backed Gull, Tropical Parula, and Brown-crested Flycatcher. He also has collected numerous specimens for CSU’S Gillette Museum of Anthropod Diversity and has contributed at least five species of insects new to science and dozens of new state records. He credits Roseate Skimmers found in Fort Collins in 2007 and his friends Bill and Inez Prather for his newfound interest in “odes.” Join David for a most informative evening examining another fascinating aspect of Colorado’s natural world.

For more information on “odes” see: Bagging Big Bugs (1995) and also a Guide to Colorado Insects (2006), both by Whitney Cranshaw and Boris Kondratieff of Colorado State University Dragonflies through Binoculars (2000) by Sidney W. Dunkle.

Birding 2.0 -- Using Technology to Become a Better Birder...

With Ted Floyd, Bill Schmoker, and Nathan Pieplow

Monday, March 22, 2010

We are sure almost every DFO birder has experimented with technological aids of one type or another; from websites to GPS to IPods singing out bird calls in the field. Ted, Bill, and Nathan will amaze you with their INTERACTIVE presentation. They will showcase a wide variety of the latest technological resources available in the market today for the tech-savvy birder.

They will demonstrate such things as:
     • Birding software
     • Bird and birding websites
     • Handheld electronic gadgets
     • Innovative electronic bird finding guides such as the Colorado County Birding website
     • Bird identification and vocalization sites and aids: Macaulay, Xeno-Canto, Raven Lite
     • eBird, COBIRDS
     • Citizen science
     • Navigation (GoogleMaps) and weather info.
     • and more...

Ted Floyd is the editor of Birding, the flagship publication of the American Birding Association. He is the author of numerous articles and two recent books, including The Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America (HarperCollins). Ted is a frequent speaker at bird festivals and other birding events, and he is an instructor with the ABA’s Institute for Field Ornithology. His last two appearances before the DFO audience were “The Most Excellent Birds in the World” (Oct. 2007), and “Birding at Night: The Ultimate Frontier” (March 2009) about the mid to late summer molt migration of Colorado chipping sparrows.

Bill Schmoker’s greatest professional accomplishment is being a dedicated middle school science teacher in Longmont where he lives with this wife and son. He is the past president of Colorado Field Ornithologists and in his spare time he is an accomplished nature photographer whose work has appeared in magazines, field guides, newspapers, interpretive signage, advertisements, corporate logos, websites, and other venues. He is also a busy blogger, columnist, instructor, speaker, and tour leader for ABA and other organizations, and he is a Nikon Birding ProStaffer. Visit Bill at http://schmoker.org or http://brdpics.blogspot.com.

Nathan Pieplow teaches writing at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and is the distinguished editor of CFO’s quarterly journal Colorado Birds. Nathan has been a key figure in the development and implementation of the online Colorado County Birding website, an innovative electronic birdfinding guide, and of the Colorado Birding Trail, with its unique emphasis on creating partnerships between private ranchers and the state's birding community. Nathan is a contributing author to Birding and an instructor with the ABA’s Institute for Field Ornithology. He is also an active natural-sounds recordist and he blogs at Earbirding.com.

All persons in attendance on March 22nd will receive a FREE copy of Let's Go Birding! a new beginner's guide by Ted Floyd and Bill Schmoker, published by the American Birding Association. Thanks to the ABA for this special offer. Whether you love your computer, Blackberry, and IPod or hate them, join us for an entertaining and informative presentation by three of Colorado’s top birders and leaders in the use of technology in the pursuit of our feathered friends.

Spring Migrant Refresher Course on Calls and Songs April 26, 2010; Nathan Pieplow -- (No meetings May through July)

The Denver Field Ornithologists monthly meetings are held in Ricketson Auditorium at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science in City Park. These meetings are free and open to the public and occur on the 4th Monday of each month August through April (except December). Park on the north side of the museum and walk around and enter through the museum's west door. Plan to arrive by 7:15pm; DOORS OPEN BY 7:00 AND ARE LOCKED AT 7:30pm. If late, you can enter through the security/volunteer door, but this creates problems for our hosts.

DFO Board is asking members to participate in a survey developed in order to better understand the needs of the membership. The survey is in the February issue of the Lark Bunting, and is available for download here. Download Survey

NOTE: Please call the Colorado Rare Bird Alert for DFO meeting announcements or cancellations. Colorado Rare Bird Alert – 303-659-8750

DFO FRS Two-Way Radio Standard is channel 11, code 22

Downloads and Resources