Boulder County Nature Association

KGNU Monthly Nature Almanac

Booming firecrackers amd roman candles light up the night around the 4th of July. Meanwhile, a silent and subtle, natural light blinks and winks in local wetlands and irrigation ditches. It surprises many people that fireflies live in Colorado. If you want to see some, Boulder Naturalists Steve Jones and Ruth Carol Cushman recommend bug spray and bug netting to protect yourself from another insect that loves to hang out in wetlands and ditches where fireflies reside.

Listen and enjoy the KGNU Almanac for July to find out more about where to find fireflies locally.

Firefly. Photo by Randy Geitzen.

BCNA Classes and Activities

The date for History from a “Birds Eye View” – Changes in Feathered Fauna in an Evolving Landscape” has been changed to August 8th.

Have you ever wondered what it was like in Boulder County 50 years ago? 100 years ago? 200 years ago? What birds would were here? How did they live? Join us on August 8 at 6:30pm at the Lafayette Public Library to hear Martin Ogle and the Lafayette Historical Society track how changes in human land use have transformed the avian fauna of our region. On Friday, August 2nd, Steve Jones and Scott Severs will lead a group to look at these changes in the field.

In August, join BCNA and willow expert Gwen Kittel to learn about willows in Boulder County. Then explore a rare Boulder County ecosystem, the Todd Gulch Fen, to study what is growing there and to see rare species in this mountain wetland.

Detailed information and registration dates

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.