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• Haehnle Sanctuary & Surrounds

  • When
    Tuesday, January 07, 2025
  •  
    9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    Haehnle Sanctuary

  Join us for a winter birding tour of  Haehnle Sanctuary and surrounding areas.  We will meet at the Haehnle parking lot.  Based on recent sightings we may visit the Hawkins/Dalton Rds. area or Mike Levine trail.

  
  

  Directions: The Haehnle Sanctuary is northeast of Jackson, on the north side of Seymour Road and less than a mile east of Wooster Road.

  • use the coordinates of 42.321180, -84.289458
    Goggle Map
  • use the intersection of  Seymour Rd & Fairlane Dr, Grass Lake, MI 49240, the Sanctuary is across the street.

  For more information, reply to the announcement email or  email jacksonaudubon@gmail.com
  

  Weather cancellation Policy: JAS programs and activities will be cancelled if Jackson Schools close.

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• Winter Woodies & Member Meeting

  • When
    Tuesday, January 14, 2025
  •  
    6:30 PM
  • Location
    Ella Sharp Museum 3225 S Fourth St., Jackson, MI

  Winter Woodies:  A Focus on the Thirteen Conifers of Michigan
  Presented by Robert Ayotte

  In northern temperate and boreal climates conifers thrive in low nutrient settings and demonstrate various strategies to tolerate freezing winter temperatures.   We’ll explore coniferous adaptations to cold with a special focus on those native to Michigan.  For each species we’ll review the effects of major insects and fungi.  Finally, we consider how diseases and climate change may affect the role and placement of conifers in their native ecosystems.

  

  Robert is currently the President of the Michigan Botanical Society and has worked the past two seasons in the Huron Manistee National Forest for the Michigan Natural Features Inventory.  He holds a degree from the University of Michigan in Natural History Interpretation with a focus on Forest Ecology.

  NOTE:  This is change in topic from initial publication of event.

  Meetings will begin with a social time at 6:30 PM then the member meeting followed by the program starting at 7:00 PM.

  Bring recyclables (magazines, feeders, etc.) to the program.

  Weather cancellation Policy:  JAS programs and activities will be cancelled if Jackson Schools close.

  Show details
• Watkins Lake State Park/County Preserve - Winter Bird Walk

  • When
    Tuesday, January 21, 2025
  •  
    9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    Watkins Lake State Park and County Preserve

  Join us for a winter walk through a mixed habitat of deciduous trees and Tamarac swamp on the west edge of the property.  We should be able to see finches and other winter species.

  Carpool:
  Meet at the DNR parking lot at 9 AM.   Parking at the western trailhead is limited, so we will carpool from the DNR parking lot to the west trailhead.

  The parking lot is on the north side of the park on Arnold Rd.
  A Michigan Park pass is required for the parking lot.

  Google Map

  Email jacksonaudubon@gmail.com for more information. 

  Weather cancellation Policy:   JAS programs and activities will be cancelled if Jackson Schools close.
  

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• Whitehouse Nature Center & Member Meeting

  • When
    Tuesday, February 11, 2025
  •  
    6:30 PM
  • Location
    Ella Sharp Museum 3225 S Fourth St., Jackson, MI

  Monica Day, director of the Whitehouse Nature Center at Albion College, will talk about the centers key features including the arboretum, restored prairie, Kalamazoo River, Anishinaabe, and the wren survey they have been doing for years.  Come and learn about this natural gem right in our backyard.

  Meetings will begin with a social time at 6:30 PM then the member meeting followed by the program starting at 7:00 PM.

  Bring recyclables (magazines, feeders, etc.) to the program.

  Weather cancellation Policy:  JAS programs and activities will be cancelled if Jackson Schools close.

  Show details
• Tour of Whitehouse Nature Center

  • When
    Tuesday, February 18, 2025
  •  
    9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    Whitehouse Nature Center, Albion

  Following the meeting presentation on the Whitehouse Nature Center   join us for a guided tour of the property.  Our guides will be will be Dale Kennedy and Doug White, former Albion College professors who have done research at this facility.  

  
  

  Meet at the parking lot at 9:00 AM.  The nature Center is located on Farley Dr. in Albion. 

  Google Map

  For more information, reply to the announcement email or email jacksonaudubon@gmail.com

  Weather cancellation Policy:   JAS programs and activities will be cancelled if Jackson Schools close.
  

  Show details
• The Secret Lives of Bluebirds: Thinking Inside the Box & Member Meeting

  • When
    Tuesday, March 11, 2025
  •  
    6:30 PM
  • Location
    Ella Sharp Museum 3225 S Fourth St., Jackson, MI

  Lynn Ward,  Jackson County Bluebird Coordinator for the Michigan Bluebird Society, will present “The Secret Lives of Bluebirds: Thinking Inside the Box.”  This  documentary highlights the life cycle of the Eastern Bluebird.  This is a film from inside the bluebird box that reveals how they live their lives-finding mates, building nests, laying and hatching eggs, along with raising their young.

  Meetings will begin with a social time at 6:30 PM then the member meeting followed by the program starting at 7:00 PM.

  Bring recyclables (magazines, feeders, etc.) to the program.

  Weather cancellation Policy:  JAS programs and activities will be cancelled if Jackson Schools close.

  Show details
• Woodcock Night View

  • When
    Tuesday, April 01, 2025
  •  
    7:30 PM - 8:30 PM
  • Location
    Riethmiller Rd. DNR Parking Lot

  Bring a flashlight and see the annual breeding spectacle of the American Woodcock , a.k.a. Timberdoodle, peenting at the Riethmiller Road grassland.  This prairie is a reliable and excellent observation location.

  
  (Nolan Williams)

  Frank M. Chapman describes the sky dance:
  "He begins on the ground with a formal, periodic peent, peent, an incongruous preparation for the wild rush that follows. It is repeated several times before he springs from the ground, and on whistling wings sweeps out on the first loop of a spiral which may take him 300 feet from the ground. Faster and faster he goes, louder and shriller sounds his wing-song; then, after a moment's pause, with darting, headlong flight, he pitches in zigzags to the earth, uttering as he falls a clear, twittering whistle."
  Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America, 1895

  This is an EVENING event starting at 7:30 PM.

  It is April, we are in Michigan, and the sun will be setting-so dress warmly.

  Meet at DNR parking lot, north side of Riethmiller Rd., west of St. Jacob's church.   NOTE:  This is the parking lot in the prairie area, not the parking lot that is in the wooded area east of the church.

   Google Map link

  Email jacksonaudubon@gmail.com for more information. 

  Weather cancellation Policy:  JAS programs and activities will be cancelled if Jackson Schools close.

  Show details
• Wild Bird Feeding Tips and Tricks & Member Meeting

  • When
    Tuesday, April 08, 2025
  •  
    6:30 PM
  • Location
    Ella Sharp Museum 3225 S Fourth St., Jackson, MI

  Martha Holzheuer, owner of Natures Niche, a nature-focused gift and supply store on the north side of Midland. She will present “Wild Bird Feeding Tips and Tricks” She will discuss feeding wild birds responsibly and offer some tips and tricks for dealing with common problems such as European starlings, House sparrows, squirrels, raccoons, and Michigan weather.

  Meetings will begin with a social time at 6:30 PM then the member meeting followed by the program starting at 7:00 PM.

  Bring recyclables (magazines, feeders, etc.) to the program.

  Weather cancellation Policy:  JAS programs and activities will be cancelled if Jackson Schools close.

  Show details