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Boulder CountyNature Association
2011 Summer-FallField Class Schedule
Boulder County Nature AssociationPO Box 493Boulder, CO 80306www.bcna.org
Butterflies of the Front RangeJan Chu
During early summer, butterflies are emerging in the bright sun and seeking nectar from blossoms. Venture into different habitats, including a wet meadow with kinnikinnick and a willow ravine of wildflowers, to look for migrant and resident butterflies and caterpillars on host plants. Delve into the identification, intriguing behavior, and life histories of Blues, Elfins, Whites, and other Front Range butterfly species.
Indoor class: Monday, June 6, 6:30 to 8:30 pmField class: Monday, June 13, 8 am to noon Field class: Monday, June 27, 8 am to noon
Tuition: $80 ($70 for BCNA members). Limited to 12 participants. To register, contact Jan at (303) 494-1108 or [email protected].
Identification of Summer Wildflowers Joyce Gellhorn and Janice Forbis
Watch for blue columbine under aspen groves and magenta Parry’s primrose along streams as you learn how to identify some of Boulder County’s most colorful wild-flowers in the montane, subalpine, and alpine zones. Your confidence and knowledge about wildflowers will increase as you practice using different types of taxonomic keys and learn the characteristics of different plant families.
Indoor class: Thursday, July 21, 6:30 to 9:30 pm Field class: Saturday, July 23, 9 am to 3 pm Field class: Saturday, July 30, 9 am to 4 pm
Tuition: $100 ($90 for BCNA members). Limited to 12 participants. To register, contact Joyce at 303-442-8123 or [email protected].
Exploring Colorado HummingbirdsSteve and Debbie Bouricius
Hummingbirds remain one of the least studied of all bird groups, and their complex lifestyle poses continuing chal-lenges to researchers. Our indoor class will examine the life cycle of hummingbirds and the status of species found in Colorado. Outdoors, we will observe and practice iden-tifying them at private locations where they are attracted in concentrated numbers, and then get a close-up look into the art and science of hummingbird banding research.
Indoor class: Sunday, July 24, 7:30 to 9 am Field class: Sunday, July 24, 9 am to 2 pm
Tuition: $70 ($60 for BCNA members). Limited to 12 participants. To register, contact Steve at 970-434-5918 or [email protected].
Pika EncounterChris Ray
You may have heard a little pika calling from an alpine boulder field, or seen one scampering over the rocks with a mouthful of flowers. Known as “little chief hare,” this small member of the rabbit family is a vocal and bustling icon of alpine communities. This class will explore the nature and conservation status of pikas worldwide, with emphasis on our local species. We will also visit pika habi-tats and learn tricks for photographing their spectacular foraging behavior.
Indoor class: Thursday, August 4, 6:30 to 8:30 pmField class: Saturday, August 6, 8 am to 3 pm
Tuition: $75 ($65 for BCNA members). Limited to 10 participants. To register, contact Chris at 303-489-8863 or [email protected].
Dazzling Dragonflies and DamselfliesScott Severs
Colorful and dashing are just a couple of the ways to describe dragonflies and damselflies. During the indoor class we will learn about the distinguishing characteristics of numerous Odonata species, focusing on our local ones. We will look at their duel lifestyles, their amazing flying abilities, and their roles in nature. In the field we will discover where and when to look for these jewel-like insects, and how to best approach them for observation.
Indoor class: Wednesday, August 10, 6:30 to 8:30 pm Field class: Sunday, August 14, 8 am to 1 pm Tuition: $60 ($55 for BCNA members). Limited to 8 participants. To register, contact Scott at 303-684-6430 or [email protected].
Wild MushroomsJennifer Frazer
Thousands of species of mushrooms lurk in the woods and yards of Colorado. This class will cover basic mushroom biology, important mushroom toxins, common Colorado mushrooms, how mushrooms make a living, and how to recog-nize major mushroom families. We’ll also learn how to make the beautiful spore prints that can be vital to identification. In the field, you’ll get hands-on experience collecting and iden-tifying mushrooms, learn how to not get lost while on forays, and be trained in the art of the mushroom hoot.
Indoor class: Thursday, August 11, 6:45 to 8:45 pmField class: Saturday, August 13, 9 am to 1 pmField class: Saturday, August 27, 9 am to 1 pm
Tuition: $80 ($70 for BCNA members). Limited to 12 participants. To register, contact Jennifer at 303-549-8276 or [email protected].
Grassland EcologySteve Jones
Camp out under the stars in Pawnee National Grassland while exploring the ecology and cultural history of the grassland sea. Spend a morning in Boulder’s South Boulder Creek State Natural Area among the tallgrasses, wildflowers, and grassland birds. Participants will receive a guide to prairie grasses, along with directions to remote prairie campsites and wildlife-viewing spots from Alberta to New Mexico.
Indoor class: Thursday, August 18, 7 to 9 pmField class: Saturday, August 20, 7 to 11 amField class: Tuesday, September 20 (1 pm) to Wednesday, September 21 (4 pm)
Tuition: $95 ($85 for BCNA members). Limited to 10 partici-pants. Half of instructor fee from this class will be donated to Audubon Nebraska’s Spring Creek Prairie. To register, contact Steve at (303) 494-2468 or [email protected].
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Recommended equipment and reading lists will be provided to participants upon class registration.
Mileage rate for field classes: Non-drivers will be expected to pay drivers 12 cents per mile per person for field class car trips.
Refund policy: Participants who cancel at least one week before a class will receive a tuition refund minus a $15 process-ing fee. No refund is given if a participant cancels less than a week before a class begins.
Scholarships: BCNA offers partial scholarships for class tuition. To apply, go to www.bcna.org and fill out the online application form. If you have questions, please contact Dianne Andrews at [email protected].
About the Instructors
Steve and Debbie Bouricius are licensed master banders engaged in a broad range of banding studies of breeding and migrant hummingbirds in Colorado. With banding stations on both sides of the Continental Divide, Steve and Debbie have banded more than 9000 hummingbirds of nine species since 1999. Steve is a past president of the Colorado Field Ornithol-ogists and has conducted field trips and other programs for thousands of birders in the state. Debbie, a computer systems analyst for Mesa County, has developed the sophisticated database programs which keep track of their banding and nest observations.
Jan Chu, a retired biology teacher, is a volunteer naturalist for Boulder County Parks and Open Space. She has organized Fourth of July butterfly counts at the Cal-Wood Education Center in Jamestown for 27 years, and is currently involved in a comprehensive inventory of butterfly species in Boulder County. Jan is co-authoring a book on Colorado Front Range butterflies with Steve Jones which contains photos of 80 live butterflies.
Janice Forbis is a botanist and horticulturist who is currently the assistant greenhouse manager at the University of Colo-rado. She has worked as a plant ecologist for Boulder County and enjoys getting out in the field and identifying plants from the prairies to the alpine. She will be assisting Joyce Gellhorn in teaching the Summer Wildflowers class.
Jennifer Frazer is an award-winning science writer, biodiver-sity blogger, and trained mycologist. She is a member of the Colorado Mycological Society and has participated as a group leader in two scientific surveys of the fungi of Rocky Mountain National Park. She is passionate about the diversity of life and about sharing that enthusiasm with a sense of humor. You can read more about her at her blog, The Artful Amoeba (theartful-amoeba.com).
Joyce Gellhorn is the author of Song of the Alpine, a book that portrays the Rocky Mountain tundra through all seasons, and White-tailed Ptarmigan, a month-by-month photographic essay of birds that live in the alpine throughout the year. Joyce has taught field classes in Boulder County for 28 years to students ranging in age from four to eighty-four. She teaches classes at the University of Colorado Mountain Research Station, and has taught for Boulder Valley Schools, CU Continuing Education, Rocky Mountain Nature Association, and Teton Science School.
Steve Jones is author/co-author of Wild Boulder County, The Last Prairie, The Shortgrass Prairie, Colorado Nature Almanac, and Peterson Field Guide to the North American Prairie. Steve organized the BCNA small owl and wintering raptor studies and helped carry out the Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas project. He has taught nature classes in Boulder County for 28 years.
Chris Ray is a researcher at the University of Colorado studying threatened plants and animals. The author of many
scientific papers, she has studied pikas throughout the western United States for over 20 years. She has taught field studies centered on the pika almost every summer since 1989 and has been interviewed about the plight of the pika for national and international news broadcasts. Her knowledge of pika behavior helped the producers of David Attenborough’s Life of Mammals film their wonderful sequence on pikas.
Scott Severs has been fascinated by insects since his grand-mother first read him We Like Bugs, a wonderful 1962 children’s book by Gladys Conklin. With a degree in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University, he enjoys field biology and currently works as an ecological consultant for Walsh Environmental. Scott is active in leading and organizing field trips for the Boulder County Audubon Society, and he has taught BCNA classes on warblers, sparrows, and bird migration in addition to his classes on insects.
About Boulder County Nature Association
The Boulder County Nature Association (BCNA) is a private, nonprofit organization committed to studying and preserving the cultural and natural history of Boulder County and adjacent areas of the Front Range.
BCNA volunteers perform natural area studies, flora and fauna studies, wildlife inventories, and historical and geological research.
BCNA also disseminates natural and cultural history informa-tion to the public through hikes, classes, programs, publica-tions, seminars, and support for interpretation facilities in Boulder County.
The strength in BCNA lies in active membership support.
Join Boulder County Nature Association
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Type of Membership: _____Student/Senior (65+) $15 _____General Membership $20 _____Family or Household $30 _____Supporter $40 _____Founder $100 _____Life $300
Please make checks payable to BCNA, PO Box 493, Boulder, CO 80306. Membership runs from January 1 to December 31.
For more information on BCNA, view our website: www.bcna.org.
