We strive to provide opportunities learn about birds through direct experience with them in the field and through learning about the research and observations of local experts and enthusiasts.
Bird Walks
Local walks with amateur guides. These take a few hours and occur throughout the year.
Presentations
Hear from local experts and students on bird and other ecological and biological topics.
Bird Trips
Extended overnight trips to regional or wider destinations organized by volunteer or paid guides.
Call of the Wild: A Multi-user Protocol for Passerine Acoustic Data Processing
Presented by Miles Butler
Wednesday, September 17, 2025, at 7:00 pm
1912 Center, 412 E. 3rd St., Moscow, ID
The University of Idaho Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society launched a new research project to evaluate the impacts of silviculture practices on populations of declining passerine species in Idaho. As part of our pilot season, we deployed acoustic sensors at five sites in the University of Idaho Experimental Forest near Potlach, Idaho to record bird vocalizations during dawn and dusk choruses. Here, we present our study design and a streamlined method to isolate vocalizations of passerine species from automated recording units (ARUs) to facilitate reproducible data processing. In 2025, we will use processed data to evaluate the effect of prescribed burning regimes on passerine populations. In future years, the project will provide opportunities for numerous undergraduate researchers to study the effects of forest management on avian distribution, behavior, and phenology.
Miles Butler is an undergraduate researcher majoring in Conservation Biology at the University of Idaho. He is in the fourth year of his studies and would like to work in wildlife management and landscape ecology after college. He is from Post Falls, Idaho, and enjoys birdwatching, reading, and gardening.
Fall equinox bird n’ brunch picnic
Sunday, September 21, 2025, at 8 AM-12PM
Virgil Phillips Farm Park, near Moscow, ID
We’re kicking off our 2025-26 membership year with a new event for folks who have donated to and supported Palouse Audubon this past year – and also for anyone who’d like to join us as a member! (Families and plus-ones of members also invited.
We’re planning two bird walks in the morning between 8 – 11am, then a potluck brunch picnic starting 11am at one of the picnic shelters.
We will provide coffee/tea/water, tableware/utensils, and some food, please bring a potluck food item to share. Details are still being finalized – we’re planning fun swag for kids & adults, bird-themed games, silent auction items, and more. Definitely lots of birding and social time with birder friends old and new!
Virgil Phillips Farm County Park is 6 miles north of Moscow on west side of Hwy 95 – plenty of parking available, the picnic shelters are accessible by vehicle. Some trails are fairly level and gentle, others steeper – something for everyone.
Tools for finding, identifying, and enjoying birds more
Presented by Casey Lowder
Wednesday, October 15, 2025, at 7:00 pm
Pullman Rec Center, 190 SE Crestview St., Pullman, WA
Birding is a quickly growing pursuit offering a range of experiences that can delight the nature-loving part of everyone. Learning to find and identify birds has never been easier due to the widespread availability of tools like eBird, identification apps, and physical field guides. This presentation will provide a practical overview of some of these tools with a local context.
Casey is a life-long nature lover and has been recording bird sightings and seeking out more and more bird species for more than eight years. His grandparents first connected him with birds with their backyard feeder setups in his native North Carolina. He was introduced to birding as a practice of close observation and record keeping by the birding community of New England during the years he lived there. Since then, he has been blessed with the opportunity to observe birds on four continents and has identified more than 1000 bird species in the wild. Casey has been leading local bird walks in the Palouse region since moving there in 2020 and works toward improving a variety of ecosystem components in his job at Pine Creek Conservation District.
How to count Four and a half million raptors… Veracruz and its River of Raptors
Presented by Steve Dougill
Wednesday, November 19, 2025, at 7:00 pm
1912 Center, 412 E. 3rd St., Moscow, ID
North America hosts the largest raptor migration in the world each fall in Veracruz, Mexico. But it’s a lot more than just the birds of prey; there’s millions of migrating songbirds and storks and pelicans and anhinga … and clouds of dragonflies and colorful butterflies. It’s also a compelling story of the biologists who grew up in the small rural communities, and the non-profit that runs the counts, the education programs, forges conservation partnerships with local land owners, and hosts several MOTUS towers . I was lucky enough to work here for a season and so I will bring you the story and explain how to count millions of migrating raptors.
Steve Dougill has been a Bonafide bird nut since he was a small child growing up in the UK. He has travelled and worked all over the world on different bird and conservation projects. Currently he splits his time between working with Desert Tortoises and endangered birds in Southern Nevada; normal life things in Clarkston, Washington; and leading wildlife / bird trips mostly to India and Nepal, Mexico, and Gambia / Senegal.
