These K-12 educational videos mostly filmed in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico provide rare natural and cultural history content for Cochise County schools. Produced and reviewed by former educators from the Sierra Vista Unified School District.
With spring approaching, birders will want to consult a free resource before heading outdoors locally: a digital audio collection called SEAZ Birds: The Missing Tracks. This collection of the unique songs and calls of our regional specialties (missing from most birding apps) is now archived by the American Birding Association and available for online listening or for offline download into a smartphone music library:
https://www.aba.org/seaz-tracks/
The project was created by local birder Diana Doyle, who moved to Southeast Arizona to enjoy the unique birding region of the Madrean Sky Islands. Logging hours in the field, she noticed that many of the region’s unique borderland calls were missing in the popular national birding apps, whether it was a common species like Bewick’s Wren with its very different Mexican song, or a hoped-for rarity such as Eared Quetzal. SEAZ Birds: The Missing Tracks ultimately became a 117-track, 75-species, five-disc digital collection.
For additional information, read the liner notes.
The Friends of the San Pedro River will award a two-semester scholarship for tuition and fees (not to exceed $2,800) to a second year, full or part-time student who has a 2.5 GPA or above, is enrolled as a Biology Major at Cochise College, is taking research credits with a Cochise College professor involved with San Pedro River research and is willing to participate in mutually agreed upon volunteer service with the Friends of the San Pedro River.
To apply, complete the application form (.doc) online and submit via email or alternately print and complete it (.pdf) and mail it to the Friends of the San Pedro River postal address. See the form for details.
We are happy to announce that the first phase of a project we have been working on with the BLM is complete. Here is our release explaining it. Check it out!
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Looking for entertaining, educational things for your kids to do outside? We have a suggestion: Agents of Discovery.
The Bureau of Land Management, with the assistance of Friends of the San Pedro River, has developed an augmented reality game for your cell phone for use at the San Pedro House. With this app, you go to the site and explore it, looking for challenges. The GPS in your phone helps you locate the challenges, each one of which is a different activity. The goal is to get kids outdoors, engage their curiosity, and learn about nature and history from within the familiar technical environment of their cell phones. The game is called Agents of Discovery.
How to play:
1. At home, or where WIFI is available, download the free “Agents of Discovery” app from Google Play or the Apple App Store to your mobile device.
2. Visit the San Pedro House at 9800 E Highway 90.
3. Open the “Agents of Discovery” app on your phone, select “Missions”, and then select the “San Pedro House” Mission. You can also login to create an account where you can save your activity.
4. HAVE FUN!
It is recommended that parents accompany children while playing this game. Until the San Pedro House Nature Store reopens and volunteers are present to help you, refer questions to: email fspr@sanpedroriver.org, or call 520-459-2555.
Join Tucson Audubon Society for two events in September:
Current Issue of the River Roundup
Fall 2017 River Roundup Newsletter
In This Issue:
President’s Report… Annual Meeting… Seek the San Pedro Day… Support Letters Needed for River… Sign Grant Received… Wet-Dry Mapping… Thanks, Volunteers!… Millville Ghost… Wells Fargo Robberies… Fry’s Community Rewards… Christmas Bird Counts… Calendar… Members… Contacts
Geology and Geomorphology of the San Pedro River
A new Special Paper by the Arizona Geological Survey details the geology and geomorphology of the San Pedro River. The report’s 15 illustrations include annotated photographs, geologic maps and cross sections, and comparative photographs that evince changes in river channel morphology over the past years and decades.
The perennial San Pedro flows over one-hundred miles north-northwest from the US-Mexico frontier to its confluence with the Gila River near Winkelman, Arizona. Babocomari River and Aravaipa Creek are its two major tributaries. The San Pedro drains an area of about 4,720 sq. miles – nearly the size of Connecticut. During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the San Pedro River downcut dramatically, leaving the former floodplain 5 to 30 feet above the modern channel.
Wednesday, August 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Advance Tickets can be purchased at the Tucson Audubon Nature Shop!: $8
Day Of: $10
At the Loft Cinema
The Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection is proud to once again be hosting The Wild and Scenic Film Festival! This event is a collection of films from the annual festival held each January in Nevada City, CA. Wild & Scenic focuses on films which speak to the environmental concerns and celebrations of our planet.
Tucson Audubon will have music, local conservation organizations tabling, and a fabulous raffle with unique items from local sponsors. Join them for this memorable and inspiring event! Visit www.sonorandesert.org for more information.
Classroom Session. June 25. 12:30 pm-5:00 pm, Arizona Game and Fish Department,
5000 W. Carefree Highway, Phoenix, AZ 85086-5000
Map – Phoenix
Field Session. June 26. 7:00 am-12:00 pm, BLM’s Agua Fria National Monument. Continue reading
What: Young Birders Camp
When: June 12-14th, 2015
Where: Cave Creek Canyon, Chiricahuas
Fee: $150 per individual
Registration deadline: March 31st (soon!)
Please feel free to share this announcement with any young birders you may know.
This birding camp is designed to draw together young birders from around the state of Arizona and to provide them with the opportunity to learn about birds, ecology, and conservation in the company of their peers. The camp is open to youths between the ages of 8 and 18 years and welcomes birders of all skill levels, including novices.