Central Minnesota Audubon Chapter

05/22/2026

What a beautiful day to enjoy the park with children!
The Kids to Parks event sponsored by Stearns County Parks on Saturday May 16th at Quarry Park was a great success! There were many activities for everyone! The presentations with Echo the Peregrine Falcon, and Juliet the American Kestrel were well attended. CMAS led bird/nature walks after each live bird presentation!

05/22/2026

Thank you to all who participated in our May 11th event at Pizza Ranch!
This was a CMAS fundraiser, annual meeting, and a most importantly, a show of appreciation to John & Linda Peck for their many years of service and dedication to Central Minnesota Audubon.
*photo by Lisa Schreifels

05/14/2026

Bird Migration is in full swing

‼️LIGHTS OUT - MAY 14‼️

More than half of all migrating birds move during just a small number of peak migration nights, and Minnesota is currently in one of those major migration pushes.

Spring migration is especially concentrated as birds race north to establish territories, find mates, and begin nesting. Over the next week or so, hundreds of millions of birds will move across Minnesota. Tonight, over 25 million birds will fly over Minnesota.

Turning off unnecessary outdoor lighting from 10pm–6am can help make the night sky safer for migrating birds.

Sign up for statewide Lights Out alerts and learn how to help birds at home: mnbirdcoalition.org/migratory-birds

Every light out helps!

04/28/2026

A big Thank You to John Latimer for a very entertaining and instructive presentation to a large group of area organizations on Tuesday 21 April and St Johns University.
John introduced us to Hopkins Bioclimatic Law and the science of phenology. Hopkins Law was introduced in the early 1900's to help farmers manage crop planting times and is now used by phenologists to predict when and where nature events are happening.
We were also entertained by some recordings of children from the network of schools who call in their weekly phenology reports. What a successful way to get children connected to nature.
Thank you to the five area groups who sponsored this event (MNNat, Wild Ones, St Cloud Flower&Garden, Stearns Hort, and CMAS)

04/27/2026

More options for guided Bird Walks

Crane Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
19502 Iris Road , Little Falls, MN 56345

Enjoy Spring Migration at Crane Meadows National Wildlife Refuge!
Join volunteers from Crane Meadows National Wildlife Refuge for a Spring Bird Walk on Saturday, May 9 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Birders of all ages and skill levels are welcome to attend this free event, sponsored by the Friends of Crane Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.
Participants can bring their own binoculars or borrow some from the refuge to observe migrating and local songbirds, waterfowl and raptors along the Platte River Trail. With more than 200 bird species recorded at the refuge each year, there’s always something exciting to discover.
The Spring Bird Walk event will start at the Sedge Meadow Classroom at Crane Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, located at 19502 Iris Road in Little Falls. For more information, visit the refuge website at fws.gov/refuge/crane-meadows, call the refuge at 320-632-1575 or inquire by email to [email protected].

Crane Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is located near the cities of Little Falls, Royalton, and Pierz, in central Minnesota and is part of Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge Complex which is managed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Crane Meadows National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1992 to protect one of the largest, most intact wetland complexes remaining in central Minnesota. Currently, the refuge is made up of 14 different parcels of land, totaling 2,150 acres. Featuring a rich mosaic of healthy sedge meadow, shallow...

04/25/2026

We identified 32 species of birdson our walk this morning at the Avon Hills Folk School.

I hope to see all of you there again on May 16!

04/13/2026

"Intro to Birding" class hosted at Avon Hills Folk School [AHFS]
https://avonhillsfolkschool.org,
led by Central MN Audubon Society [CMAS].

These bird walks are on 4 different Saturdays this spring - April 25th and 16th / 23rd / 30th May, from 7 - 9 AM.

More details on the CMAS website:

Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of the month from September through April. Speaker presentations are open to the public, providing environmental education to everyone in our community.

04/08/2026

Read your April/May issue of the Green-Backed Gazette here:

04/03/2026

As CMAS is getting involved with the Chimney Swift Roost Project this year, we invite folks to get involved with this project. What is a Chimney Swift?

These little guys were built for life on the wing.