2025 Birdathon Results
Interested in the statewide results of this year's Birdathon?
Our friends at AZFO, Arizona Field Ornithologists, have complied the bird sightings by species by county for the entire state. This year, birders in Yavapai County tallied 169 species on Global Big Day, May 10th.
The tally will be posted soon, link below.
West Willow Natural Area Protections
First steps on an exciting story -- Prescott City's proposed management of the sensitive and unique Cottonwood forest along the west side of Willow Lake.
As you see, some signs have been put in place, including some closure of "social trails" for restoration. We will stay involved, proposing some access restrictions and trail modifications to protect sensitive bird species and all the wildlife that live in this urban forest.
Window on Nature
Window on Nature is our ever-popular live speaker program series, free and open to all.
Our flock gathered for our May program, all about our Important Bird Areas programs throughout our state. That was the last program before our summer break.
Watch these programs on YouTube, details below.
Can't attend in person? Want to watch again? Our programs are also available as a live stream and on YouTube.
Bird of the Month :
American White Pelican
Each month, we publish an article in a local magazine, "5enses" . We share these articles here on our website.
New Signs at Willow and Watson Lakes
No doubt you have passed by the signs along our lakes' shores, only to find that the sun had got there first and bleached out every word and image.
Now --good as new! We had these signs reprinted, and the City of Prescott has set them in their frames. Nice!
Kestrel Nestbox Program
American Kestrels are on the decline, and limited nesting sites are part of that decline. We have had great success with our American Kestrel nestbox installations, and the 2024 nesting season is no exception! If you happen to see a Kestrel with legband(s), please report your sighting and location to [email protected].
Duck Feeding Signs
Posted in both English and Spanish, our signs remind people to bring healthy food when they come to feed the ducks on our lakes. Offering birdseed, grapes, oats, corn or cooked rice is nutritious for the birds and reduces water pollution as well.
Other Audubon chapters have requested permission to use our signs at their duck-feeding sites.
We are happy to share!
What's This Bird?
Working out the answer to a photo bird ID can help us learn the birds. We all know to look first for the face patttern and bill shape, but clearly we need other tools on this one. This is certainly a small bird seen high in a tree --makes you think of warblers first. Or perhaps a kinglet. So many warblers show yellow, black and white, but what we can see of this bird is only black and white. In our area, likely birds would be Black-throated Gray or Black-and- White Warbler. This bird could have yellow in the face and throat, like a Grace's Warbler. But the key here is the patterned undertail. It turns out that warbler under-tails can be as good a field mark as their face pattern, maybe better since our view is often from below. That eliminates Grace's and Black-throated Gray as they both have all-white undertail coverts and all-or mostly-white tails when viewed from this angle. Only the Black-and-White Warbler has this patterned undertail. Another clue --the clue we often know but don't think we do--is the behavior. This bird is "nuthatching" along a tree limb, which is typical for a Black-and-White.
We spied this bird on a recent PAS field trip!
Limited Public Access to The City of Prescott Airport Water Reclamation Facility (Recharge Ponds)
As of October 16, 2023, public access to the Recharge Ponds is limited to individuals who have signed a Waiver and have obtained a Keycard from the City of Prescott. The Keycard allows access to the Recharge Ponds seven days a week from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset.
Please find more information about the access, Keycard and Waiver here in this PDF file.
To obtain your Keycard, please make an appointment with the City of Prescott Financial & Business Operations Manager, Public Works, by calling 928-777-1130 ext: 5003, or by emailing [email protected].
Read the Results of Our 2024
IBA and Cuckoo Surveys
on the Upper Verde River
Our surveys are essential for the protection of Yellow-billed Cuckoo, considered to be a threatened species by Federal and State wildlife managers alike. Our data helps wildlife managers to protect this sensitive habitat along the Verde. Our data also supports continuation of this unique area as an Important Bird Area (IBA)
Read on for a summary of our 2024 Cuckoo surveys!
Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owls
To reuse is to recycle! In 2020, we built some hack boxes for our American Kestrel Nestbox and Release Program. Now they will help the Pygmy Owls.
Hack boxes provide a safe place for fledgling raptors to roost as well as a place to learn to fly and hunt before being released into the wild. We no longer need our boxes for the kestrels, so we are donating them the the AZ Game & Fish Dept. They will head to southern Arizona to assist the AZGFD with their efforts to help the tiny Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owls. Yeah!
Granite Creek Clean-up
On April 20, our PAS team joined in the annual Granite Creek Clean-up!
Prescott Audubon is a regular financial supporter of the annual Granite Creek Clean-ups, and we also a enter a PAS team to get out and pick up some trash! Birdsong and glimpses of birds always help make the morning fly by. In past years, our teams have collected lots of plastic, paper and cardboard, lumber, pipe, and the occasional tire-- several bags of trash. Meeting and making friends with other like-minded people is a bonus!
We appreciate the folks at Prescott Creeks for all their years of coordinating this clean-up day.
Yes, Administration is Important, too--
Join our Team! We Welcome You (and your skills)
All-volunteer organizations such as Prescott Audubon survive thanks to help from all who believe in the organization's mission. At PAS, our focus is on celebrating birds and the habitat we share. We want to thank our officers and board members for their efforts to keep this busy & multi-dimensional team that is Prescott Audubon somewhat organized and heading in the right direction.
All the board members share all the tasks for steering this little ship, and we owe them a big debt of gratitude. But it take more than the officers. If you are organized, an artist, a media or IT person, a retired attorney, a bird-lover, a writer--- You get the idea --we welcome your help and we are always happy to meet new members, so don't be shy!
What would you like to do for Prescott Audubon?