President's Corner
Chapter Status
by John Shenot
This month, I want to report on the “status” of our chapter and some of the things we are doing. If what follows seems a little like bragging, don’t be annoyed; take pride in what we all are doing together. You are the Northern Colorado Bird Alliance!
In 2025, we hosted a variety of outstanding guest speakers at our monthly programs who informed and entertained hundreds of attendees. Together, we learned about Cooper’s Hawks, the importance of eagles in Native American culture, how birds perceive colors, how to reduce bird collisions with windows, and much more. You can find recordings of some of those talks on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@nocobirdalliance).
We offered more than 25 field trips throughout the year that were attended by more than 300 people. Nearly all our field trips had attendance limits (out of necessity) and were “sold out.” This included field trips specifically designed to diversify our membership and make birding more accessible to people with disabilities. We also offered our first-ever conservation walk, which combined birding with learning about a salient conservation issue.
Our educational programs in Northern Colorado reached hundreds of non-members, including about 200 children. We awarded one grant that created resources for teaching students about raptors, and another grant that helped establish a summer bird camp at Lory State Park. We also wrapped up a big project wherein our chapter trained more than 400 Audubon Society leaders across the country on ways to get health benefits from birding.
Northern Colorado Bird Alliance is strong and getting stronger. Our membership numbers have held steady at about 1,300 since we expanded in 2022. Nearly 1,500 people follow us on Facebook, and 1,000 on Instagram, which obviously includes plenty of non-members. Our members volunteered more than 1,500 hours of their time last year! We finished 2025 “in the black” for at least the tenth year in a row, even though we didn't raise membership dues once in that period, and we have enough money in savings to weather any unexpected expenses that might come our way. We could even take on some bigger conservation projects in the community – your ideas would be welcomed!
