A total of 81 birders (including 10 first-time attendees) gathered at Hartman Reserve Nature Center in Cedar Falls September 23-25, 2023 for the annual Fall Meeting. Hartman Reserve was the perfect venue for our meeting - the Nature Center was an ideal for gathering, the surrounding 340-acre woodland has hosted more than 200 bird species, and it was conveniently located near other fall birding hotspots in eastern Iowa. Everyone was excited to close out our 100th year as an organization at this beautiful location.
For our Friday evening social, we partnered with Black Hawk County Conservation Board to host local nature artist Caylin Jade for the release of a special outdoor mural at Hartman Reserve. The mural, which is located in an outdoor seating area near the Nature Center, highlights 11 of Iowa’s nesting birds. Attendees enjoyed refreshments and the opportunity to meet with Caylin on Friday evening as well as view some of her other work (which included many beautiful pieces with Iowa birds as subjects). Although the rainy evening kept us indoors, attendees were able to view and enjoy the mural throughout the weekend. You can view a digital image of the mural here.
As is tradition, Saturday started with several exciting field trips to Hartman Reserve, George Wyth State Park, Sweet Marsh Wildlife Management Area, Prairie Lakes Park, and a special trip to a private mitigation wetland. It was a little breezy, but the temperature was pleasant and the rain avoided us for much of the morning. Saturday afternoon programs included presentations by Iowa State University graduate student Lindsey Gapinski on her work comparing bird community composition on Wetland Reserve Program sites across Iowa, IOU member and University of Iowa medical student Jayden Bowen on the intersection of birds and human health, and IOU member Ann Johnson on a newly-developed, open-source website for sharing information about birding locations across Iowa (birdinghotspots.org). The pinnacle of our festivities on Saturday was our banquet and keynote address from Jon Dunn, author and authority on the birds of North America and beyond. Jon delivered a wonderfully informative presentation on the nuances of Calidris sandpipers, sending everyone home with several tips for better identifying these tricky birds. Many thanks to Jon for joining us!
The weather was perfect for our Sunday morning field trips, which returned to the same five locations as Saturday. In total, attendees tallied 120 species on the weekend including 19 species of warblers and many other exciting migrants.
This meeting would not have been possible without the thoughtful planning of Vice President Kevin Murphy. We are extremely grateful for assistance from the following members of the Prairie Rapids Audubon Society: Francis Moore secured our wonderful venue for the weekend, Tom Schilke organized all field trips, and Charlene Heiar and David Voigts for helping with the registration table. Thanks also to field trip leaders Katie Klus, Wendy VanDeWalle, and Al Brooks and to the Black Hawk County Conservation Board for hosting us.