Red Tails July/August 2025

naomihanvey
Aug 15
5 min read

Click below to download a PDF of the newsletter!

Central Basin Audubon Society Annual Meeting

by Gayle Talbot, President

CBAS held our Annual Meeting in the lovely backyard habitat of Treasurer Margaret Schiffner, with Yellow-headed Blackbirds visiting as well. Fourteen people attended, including the Manager of the CNWR, Eileen Hails, and two of our five Ron Van Nurden Memorial Scholarship recipients. Each gave a report to us after a light dinner. Levi Kukes, from Quincy HS, was awarded $1,500. Levi told us about his extraordinary “gap year” as the WA State FFA VP and about all his travels, as far as Spain and Portugal, before he begins college this fall at the University of Idaho to study Rangeland Management. Jared Goetz, from Almira-Coulee-Hartline HS, is one of our continuing scholarship recipients; he was awarded $5000. He will begin his seventh year at WSU for his Veterinarian degree, and we shuddered at the story of a dental cleaning on a Grizzly Bear with his head inside the bear’s mouth. Other very busy scholarship recipients were unavailable to attend. Leslie Magana (Connell HS) is our newest recipient and received a $1,500 award. She is heading to Columbia Basin College for her first two years with a career goal of Fish & Wildlife Management. Walker Fulk (Ephrata HS) is a continuing recipient and was awarded $4000 to attend University of Idaho. Walker has goals for a career in Fish and Wildlife Management. Elinor Sonnichsen, Ephrata HS, is a continuing recipient, awarded $4,000 for WSU, studying Civil Engineering. We are so proud of all of our scholarship recipients and will be featuring each in future newsletters.

Left: President Gayle Talbot presents award to Jared Goetz. Center: Levi Kukes gives his presentation. Right: President Gayle Talbot presents award to Levi Kukes. Photos by Twila Herrin.

Bird Walk Report

by Margaret Heming, Field Trip Chair

CBAS had a successful and well-attended bird walk at Sun Lakes State Park on Saturday, April 26th. Thirteen birders gathered at the Caribou Trail parking area to discuss a plan for birding on this very windy day. Shiraz led us down the road to where we could view the Golden Eagle nest up on the side of the cliff wall. It was a spectacular sight! Thanks to the birder who shared his scope with all so we could watch the nest up close. Due to the wind, we opted to bird closer to the lake and picnic areas. Most of us saw at least 24 species during the event, including White-throated Swifts, Osprey, a Bald Eagle, Say’s Phoebes, Violet-green Swallows, Yellow- rumped Warblers, Buffleheads, Redheads, and many Canada Geese with goslings. Many thanks to Shiraz for leading us and for the donuts!

On May 31st, CBAS held the second bird walk of the season. We met at The Cove, which is a few miles south of Vantage on the west side of the Columbia River. Five-year-old Harper and her mom Charlene met Jackie and me. We were a small group but ended up running into other birders who were there to find the Nighthawks. We walked around the former campground and found about 18 species. Highlights included Wild Turkeys, a Bald Eagle, a Western Kingbird, Bullock’s Orioles, Western Wood-pewees, and American Goldfinches. And we were able to spot both the Lesser and the Common Nighthawks!

Join us for our next bird walks, all starting at 8 AM:

June 28 Gloyd Seeps, off Stratford Road, near Rd 10
July 26 Lind Coulee/Chestnut Orchard
August 23 North Potholes Reserve
September 20 Potholes State Park

For more info, contact Margaret at 509-475-3143

Left: Sun Lakes bird walk in April. Middle: May Bid Walk. Right: Darkling Beetles at Soda Lake. Photos by Margaret Heming.

Audubon Refuge Keepers and CNWR Bus Tours, 2025

by Gayle Talbot, President, and Margaret Heming, Field Trip Chair

Gayle: Amazing but true, our ARK program ran smoothly with just eight volunteers this year! THANK YOU Margaret Schiffner, Jackie Chase, Twila Herrin, Gayle Talbot, Margaret Heming*, Louis Logan, Steve and Jane Stiger. Both the classroom presentation where Margaret S. shares a slideshow of the refuge, then volunteers at three display tables to give more details about birds and other wildlife; and the following two days of bus tours on the CNWR with three field studies at Soda Lake, using good binoculars and microscopes, are important to get the full impact of the ARK program! We really appreciate each person who volunteered many hours of time for school children to learn the importance of our nearby Columbia National Wildlife Refuge! The five elementary schools participating this year were Connell, and from Moses Lake: Lakeview Terrace, Sage Point, Longview, and Groff. CBAS gladly paid the busing costs for the schools that chose this program for their students. This year there were 44 parent volunteers and teachers and 298 fourth graders. It was pure joy to see both adults and kids excited over ARK!

Margaret: It was my privilege to serve as a guide through the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge for the CBAS ARK program in May. Over the course of the month, Louis Logan and I traveled with nine groups of fourth graders from five different schools in the area. The students were well-behaved, excited to be in the refuge, and fully engaged in learning about habitat, plants, birds, and other wildlife.

Louis shared info about plant life and pointed out the balsamroot, yarrow, lark spur, phlox, sand dock, willows, cattails, etc. Not every tour saw the same wildlife. Bird highlights for the month included Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Northern Harriers, Pelicans, Western Kingbirds, lots of Red-winged Blackbirds, Cinnamon Teals, a Lazuli Bunting, a Pied-billed Grebe with babies (grebettes) and a Ferruginous Hawk eating a snake. Several Rattlesnakes and Gopher Snakes were spotted. Mammals seen included Yellow-bellied Marmots (Rock Chucks), Mule Deer, Coyotes, a Racoon, a Muskrat, and a Beaver. Not sure who had more fun, the students or I!

Top Left: Twila Herrin at the nests station at an ARK presentation (Photo by Gayle Talbot). Top Middle: Jane Stiger at the binoculars table at CNWR (Photo by Gayle Talbot). Top right: Margaret Schiffner at Longview Elementary (Photo by Gayle Talbot). Bottom Left: Louis Logan at the touch table (Photo by Gayle Talbot). Bottom Right: The ARK bus (Photo by Margaret Schiffner).

Thank You So Much!

by Margaret Schiffner, Treasurer

We are so grateful for all the support we get from our membership and others, far and near. Thank you for renewing memberships, since this is what keeps our chapter afloat: Wayne Edwards, Paula Zanter-Stout, and Tracy Cumings. We are still adding to our Ron Van Nurden Memorial Scholarship Fund with donations from Smart Payables and Hilary McGhee! Thank you!

Additionally, we are grateful to A&H Printers, celebrating their 70th anniversary this year, for printing our newsletter, and Naomi Hanvey for designing Red Tails so that it all fits!

Wildlife at CNWR!