Burroughs Audubon Society of Greater Kansas City

Burroughs Audubon Society of Greater Kansas City Promoting the appreciation of wild birds, the enjoyment of nature, and natural history education. Burroughs Nature Center and Bird Sanctuary

Action Alert - deadline TODAY: Tell FAA Don’t Let Space Companies Bypass Environmental LawsVery few environmental groups...
08/31/2026

Action Alert - deadline TODAY: Tell FAA Don’t Let Space Companies Bypass Environmental Laws

Very few environmental groups had this on their radar showing just how fast and furious Executive Branch proposed rule making is. The FAA is proposing to allow commercial space launch companies, such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, to bypass 13 federal laws for their license applications. Many of these are bedrock environmental laws, such as the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, and Marine Mammal Protection Act, which exist to protect our water, air, wildlife, natural areas, communities, and families from potential harm.

The 13 statutes that the proposed rule identifies as eligible for a waiver largely contain environmental requirements or standards. In particular, the potential waivers would be available for:

-National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
-U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Act (49 U.S.C. § 303(f))
-Endangered Species Act
-Clean Water Act
-Coastal Zone Management Act
-Clean Air Act
-National Historic Preservation Act
-Marine Mammal Protection Act
-Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act
-Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
-Noise Control Act of 1972
-Rivers and Harbors Act
-National Marine Sanctuaries Act

Act before midnight, Aug 31 to comment:
https://surfrider.advocacyai.com/action/faaenvirolawcomments

What happens when volunteers, researchers, conservation organizations, birders, photographers, youth groups, and communi...
07/10/2026

What happens when volunteers, researchers, conservation organizations, birders, photographers, youth groups, and community partners work together toward a common goal?
You help unlock the secrets of one of Kansas' most remarkable migratory songbirds, the Prothonotary Warbler.
With its brilliant bright yellow plumage, ringing song, and surprisingly sassy personality, this tiny wetland warbler leaves a lasting impression on anyone lucky enough to encounter one.
Over the past three+ years, Johnson County K-State Extension Master Naturalists have partnered with Burroughs Audubon Society, Sperry-Galligar Audubon Society, Pittsburg State University, Kansas City Public Library Schlagle Library at Wyandotte County Park Lake, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, citizen scientists across multiple counties, photographers, birders, and local scouting groups to support an ongoing research project.
Reports submitted through eBird help identify nesting locations, while nest boxes donated by Audubon chapters, scouting groups, and other partners provide critical habitat. Extension Master Naturalists establish nest box sites, monitor boxes, collect data, and assist with bird banding efforts
Researchers recaptured adult Prothonotary Warblers that had been banded as nestlings just one year earlier.
This year also brought another exciting milestone. For the first time, researchers recaptured Prothonotary Warblers carrying miniature geolocators. Recovering these devices allows scientists to download data and begin piecing together details of the birds' migratory journeys. Revealing where they traveled, where they spent the winter, and adding new chapters to a story that has remained largely hidden from view.
After spending the winter thousands of miles away, these tiny birds somehow found their way back. Not just to Kansas, but to the very region where they hatched. In some cases, they nested within feet of the very box where they first opened their eyes to the world.
It's the kind of discovery that gives you goosebumps. A reminder that even the smallest creatures seem to carry an invisible compass, and that community partnerships and citizen science are helping us better understand the mysteries of migration.

Somewhere inside this tiny bird is an invisible map.For at least two years, this male Prothonotary Warbler has returned ...
07/08/2026

Somewhere inside this tiny bird is an invisible map.
For at least two years, this male Prothonotary Warbler has returned to the same wetland to sing, defend his territory, and raise a family. This spring, researchers discovered that some Prothonotary Warblers banded as nestlings the previous year had returned from their tropical wintering grounds to nest within feet of the very boxes where they first opened their eyes to the world.
That realization stopped me in my tracks.
Not because they returned to Kansas.
Because they returned home.
For more than five years, I've had the privilege of helping monitor nest boxes for Eastern Bluebirds as part of the Johnson County K-State Extension Master Naturalist program. More recently, Prothonotary Warblers were added to the mix. I've spent countless hours checking boxes, recording observations, and gathering data alongside dedicated volunteers, researchers, and partners.
And the story doesn't belong only to those of us who monitor nest boxes.
Every eBird checklist submitted, every citizen scientist who reports a sighting, every photographer who notices a banded bird and shares an observation helps piece together a much larger puzzle. These discoveries happen because people care enough to look closely, document what they see, and share it.
Sometimes conservation feels small.
One box.
One bird.
One photograph.
One observation.
One line of data on a spreadsheet.
Until a bird weighing less than an ounce carries its invisible map thousands of miles across continents, countless perils, and changing seasons and somehow finds its way back to the place where its story began.
Moments like this remind me that long-term monitoring matters.
The data matter.
The volunteers matter.
The birders matter.
The photographers matter.
And perhaps most importantly, they remind me that there is still room in this world for wonder.
Of all the places in the world this bird could have chosen, it came back here.
And its story isn't finished.

This year, researchers recovered geolocators from returning Prothonotary Warblers for the first time. Tiny backpacks carrying clues about where these birds spent the winter, the routes they followed, and perhaps even some of the mysteries hidden within that invisible map.
There are still places this bird has been that we haven't yet seen.
There are still miles of its journey left to discover.
And I feel incredibly fortunate to have witnessed a small part of that story.

The Purple Martin Program is another partnership program supported by Burroughs Audubon Society of Greater Kansas City a...
05/08/2026

The Purple Martin Program is another partnership program supported by Burroughs Audubon Society of Greater Kansas City and the Johnson County Extension Master Naturalists.

Prothonotary Warblers are back in the area for nesting! A group of citizen scientists, master naturalists and various Au...
04/18/2026

Prothonotary Warblers are back in the area for nesting! A group of citizen scientists, master naturalists and various Audubon chapters in Kansas and Missouri, and Pittsburg State University researchers in Kansas provide nesting boxes for the birds and study their migration patterns You can help us!

If you are birding and see a Prothonotary Warbler with brightly colored leg bands, please take a photo of the bird and/or make note of the placement of the colors of the bands and contact me (or respond to this post). For example, this bird has green over silver bands on his left leg and red over white bands on his right leg. With this color and placement combination, we know this bird is Ferrous, a bird that nested in an iron pipe behind Schlagle Library at Wyandotte County Lake Park.

We currently have 161 Prothonotary Warblers banded in eastern Kansas and western Missouri. 69 of them have brightly colored bands, and 92 have only silver bands (Federal bands). Those with silver bands were banded as nestlings when their age and size could safely accommodate banding.

Ten of the birds with brightly colored bands also carry a barometric pressure geolocator. Prothonotary Warblers are too small to carry Motus tags, so we use a tiny geolocator to track their migration. We will need to recapture these birds to remove the geolocator and download the valuable migration data from previous years, because the geolocators do not transmit data to us.

If you see a Prothonotary Warbler without bands, please report it to eBird. We use eBird reports to determine placement of future nesting boxes.
Thank you for your keen eyes and your assistance. We share our data with NestWatch - Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Delta Audubon in Louisiana and Mississippi, and researchers at Louisiana State University (LSU) for research purposes.

Photo credit to David Martin. Photo was taken at Wyandotte County Lake Park in Kansas.

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7300 SW West Park Road
Blue Springs, MO
64015

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Saturday 12pm - 4pm
Sunday 12pm - 4pm

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+18167958177

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