KGNU Monthly Nature Almanac

Signs of Spring are in the air as Boulder Naturalists Steve Jones and Ruth Carol Cushman hike on a cool foggy morning among the wild trees and bushes of Skunk Canyon.  They’re looking for courting birds hiding in the shrubbery — chickadees and doves and perkey towhees. Listen to them describe what they find in the KGNU Almanac for April.

Previous KGNU almanacs

Towhee in Skunk Canyon. Photo by CC VanWie

BCNA Classes and Activities

 BCNA classes for 2024 are beginning, and registration opens soon for a biodiversity walk at Chautauqua with Lynne Sullivan, an interpretive naturalist with the City of Boulder Open Space. Please join us for a walk with fellow naturalists and friends to learn more about Biodiversity Within Changing Times and Climates. Details and registration links.

Help Track Pikas

BCNA has worked with the Colorado Pika Project in the past, and invites you to continue working with them by collecting and sharing data about pikas with the Pika Patrol app.  

This is a new mobile app that allows the public and scientists to track observations and monitor populations of American pikas. The app makes it easy for anyone who gets out into pika habitat to record observations, making it an excellent tool to get involved in pika community science in Colorado and across the west.  We hope it will help the Colorado Pika Project expand the area where we are studying the impact of climate change on pikas.  

The app makes it simple to record pika sightings and share observations with scientists.  All you need to participate is a mobile device.  No training is required to use the app as it will teach users to identify pikas by sight, hay piles, and scat. Pika Patrol is available for free in the Google Play and Apple App Stores. Interested users can also go to www.pikapartners.org to learn more about the app.  You can try the app out if you have any hikes planned in pika habitat before the snow falls.  To download Pika Patrol, click here if you have an iPhone or here if you have an Android phone. You can also help us improve the app by submitting reports of any issues to this form.

Gifts for the Naturalist in Your Life

Look for books and CDs published by BCNA at any of these places:

• Special events hosted by BCNA
• Locally at the Front Range Birding Company: 5360 Arapahoe Ave, Boulder, and 10146 W. San Juan Way, Littleton
• Wild Birds Unlimited: 2720 S. Wadsworth, Denver; 7370 W. 88th Ave., Arvada; and 1520 S. Hover St., Suite D, Longmont 80501
• Wild Bear Nature Center Gift Shop in Caribou Village Shopping Center, 20 Lakeview Drive, Nederland
• Covered Treasures Bookstore, 105 Second Street, Monument CO
• Boulder Audubon Chapter’s annual holiday sale
• Amazon: Butterflies of the Colorado Front Range or Dragonflies of the Colorado Front Range
• Brigham Distributing
• Some Barnes & Noble stores in the Front Range
• Butterfly eBooks are available from Amazon, Apple Books (purchase using the Apple Books app), barnesandnoble.com, and kobo.com.

Banner Photo © CC VanWie