Membership Meeting Archives - Saint Paul Bird Alliance

Feather Trails – Recording Available – Sophie A. H. Osborn

Recording Now Available – Click Here

Co-sponsored with Land of Lakes Bird Alliance

Program Notes: Birds are visible, vocal sentinels that alert us to environmental harms through their declining numbers or their failure to thrive. In her book Feather Trails—A Journey of Discovery Among Endangered Birds, Sophie Osborn shares her personal experiences reintroducing endangered Peregrine Falcons, Hawaiian Crows, and California Condors to the wild. While immersing readers in the triumphs and tribulations of being a wildlife biologist, Sophie explores the threats that imperiled these birds, and reveals that what harmed them threatens us, too. She will discuss what led to the endangerment of these three captivating species, recount biologists’ efforts to recover their populations, and read a few excerpts from her book describing what it was like to work with these magnificent birds.

Sophie A. H. Osborn is an award-winning writer and wildlife biologist whose work has included studying and conserving more than a dozen bird species in the Americas. She contributed to reintroduction efforts for several endangered birds, including as a field manager for the California Condor Recovery Program in Arizona. Her first book, Condors in Canyon Country, won the 2007 National Outdoor Book Award for Nature and the Environment. Reviewers for the American Birding Association chose her second book, Feather Trails, as their favorite bird book of 2024. Sophie has written articles for Bird Conservation, BirdWatching, and Wyoming Wildlife magazines, and co-edited an anthology of short stories, Wild Work—Adventures of Women Field Biologists (publication date: September 2026). She also writes the “Words for Birds” blog.

Additional Information:

Sophie’s website: https://www.wordsforbirds.net/

Words for Birds blog on the Substack platform: https://wordsforbirds.substack.com/

Ojibwe Legends of our Insect World

March 12 – 7 pm

Aŋpétu Téča Education Center, Roseville, MN
1910 County B Road West, Rm 207
Roseville, MN 55113

In-Person ONLY – No Registration Needed

Co-Sponsored with Land of Lakes Bird Alliance

Winter is traditionally storytelling season in our Native communities in Minnesota. Many Ojibwe legends (Aadizookaanag) honor our natural world, and Hope will share some of her favorites with us.

Hope Flanagan is an elder who has taught and worked in the Twin Cities Native Community since the late 1970s. She is a long-time Community Outreach and cultural teacher at Dream of Wild Health. Before that, Hope taught in an Ojibwe Immersion classroom for 10 years and served as a storyteller for Minneapolis Public Schools. She teaches about plants and wild plant gathering and is also a leader for Urban Bird Collective walks.

Dream of Wild Health – https://dreamofwildhealth.org/

Urban Bird Collective – https://urbanbirdcollective.org/

This presentation will be in-person only – no Zoom or Recording

Board Elections – Results

Board Elections

At our chapter meeting on May 8th, the following candidates were elected to the Board of Directors. Congratulations!

If you would like to learn more about each candidate, you can click here.

Kiki Sonnen President

Debbie Brown Vice President

Neil Carlson Treasurer

Amanda Rice Secretary

Monica Bryand Board Member

Lucas Lin Board Member

Craig Cox Board Member

Owen Stefanich Board Member

January Speaker Series | Bird Monitoring Program in Belize

Abidas Ash, bird biologist and lead bird bander for the program in Belize, will talk about the current MoSI (Monitoring of Overwintering Survival of Neotropical Migrants) program and how they have been working as a network. She will talk about the current status of each station, providing data on total banded birds, species diversity, and interesting finds so far. In addition, she will talk about the future of the program and bird conservation in Belize.

Abidas Ash is from Belize and grew up learning about sustainable agriculture, permaculture, and conservation from her parents, who have been practicing sustainable farming for 50+ years. She has a bachelor’s degree in Natural Resource Management from the University of Belize. As an undergrad, she learned about bird conservation and bird monitoring techniques. She worked at a field station for 2 ½ years, where she expanded her skills and knowledge in bird banding. She then joined the University of Belize Environmental Research Institute, where she has been leading the MoSI program for the past six years. She is the lead bird bander for the different MoSI stations and has conducted many training sessions and demonstrations with students and community members.

More Details

December Speaker Series | Charles Grolla presents “Ojibwe Bird Stories and Legends.”

Ogimaagiizhig-Charles Grolla, a member of the Bois Forte band of Ojibwe, will present “Ojibwe Bird Stories and Legends.” His presentation, based on his book Ojibwe Bird Stories, will give an Ojibwe perspective on birds, based on a lifetime of stories and legends he acquired from elder family and Ojibwe family members. Grolla will tell us about Ojibwe names, and cultural uses and functions in traditional Ojibwe society.

Grolla teaches the Ojibwe language and culture at Cass Lake-Bena High School. He was formerly a police and conservation officer at the Red Lake reservation. He has a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and a master’s in differential instruction. He is also a traditional Ojibwe knowledge keeper.

Join us virtually on Zoom – Thursday, Dec 9 @ 7:00 pm.

“The American Kestrel,” featuring Julian Sellers.

“The American Kestrel,” featuring Julian Sellers. This presentation May 13th will describe the taxonomy, life history, population trends, and threats facing the American Kestrel. Julian will bring you up to date on the Saint Paul Audubon Society’s nest box project and show some fun videos.

Julian Sellers began birding at age 10 in Rockledge, Florida. He has served the Saint Paul Audubon Society as Field Trips chair, Christmas Bird Count organizer/compiler, and a member of the Conservation Committee. Julian contributed to our “Go Native” booklet, which recommends native plant species for landscaping in central Minnesota, including the Twin Cities, and he coordinates the chapter’s American Kestrel nest box project.

Details

Annie Bracey using MOTUS to track juvenile Common Terns

Monthly Virtual Speaker Series – September 10

Featuring Annie Bracey, U of MN, Duluth, presenting “Motus Avian Monitoring Network and Common Terns”

Please join in to watch the first online presentation of the Saint Paul Audubon Society’s 2020-21 Speaker Series. This new monthly series of talks in a virtual format is taking the place of our monthly in-person meetings for now.

Our September speaker is Annie Bracey, a PhD student in the Conservation Sciences program at UMD, who also works at the Natural Resources Research Institute in Duluth. Her dissertation research is on the life-cycle biology and conservation of Lake Superior Common Terns and includes tracking technologies to document movements of adults and juveniles throughout the year. She also works on large-scale monitoring of Great Lakes wetland birds and restoration of the St. Louis River in Duluth.

Annie has provided the following overview of her upcoming presentation: “The Motus Wildlife Tracking System is a network of coordinated, automated radio telemetry arrays used to study animal movement at multiple spatial scales. I will provide background information about the Motus Network, describe how our research group at the Natural Resources Research Institute in Duluth has been using Motus, and provide examples of species we are currently studying with this technology, including the Common Tern and Rusty Blackbird. I will also briefly discuss how this network is hoping to expand throughout the Midwest portion of the United States.” She will also talk about the new Motus monitors at Carpenter Nature Center and Sax-Zim Bog.

To watch the presentation, simply go to saintpaulbirdalliance.org/events/, find the meeting link for that date and click on “Join us.” The presentations will also be taped and posted on our website, for additional viewing.

Note: The Zoom presentation is limited to the first 100 people to login.