Events, Programs, & Field Trips
A “Big Natural Year” in Wild America
Speakers - Andy and Ellen Stepniewski
March 23rd (Thursday), 7pm, Yakima Area Arboretum + Zoom

Roger Tory Peterson invited his British colleague James Fisher on a 3-month natural history tour of North America in 1953. They recounted this journey in Wild America, which takes the reader on a wonderful armchair excursion of our continent’s natural venues. Though not a stated goal, theirs was an early “Big Year” in the parlance of birders. They amassed a list of over 580 species of birds. Since this book was published 65 years ago, it has inspired countless naturalists and birders into learning about and visiting the stupendous natural areas Peterson and Fisher visited. Too, a sequel Return to Wild America: a yearlong search for the Continent’s Natural Soul by Scott Weidensaul) 40 years later focuses on the monumental ecologic changes that have occurred in the sites originally visited.
Andy and Ellen undertook a visit to many of the areas Peterson and Fisher chronicled on their trip in 2022. In this presentation, they will share their travels to a good number of these areas and their flora and fauna, and especially the birds they observed around this vast continent. Though Peterson and Fisher’s circuit of North America was limited to three months, Andy and Ellen took a year and so were able to take their time to more thoroughly visit and explore North America’s varied environments during their “prime time.” During their year, they tallied more than 700 species of birds, testament to a vastly improved road system and knowledge of “where the birds are” as compared to 70 years ago.

Andy and Ellen Stepniewski are life-long naturalists with a love for travel, natural environments, and birds. Both have a long involvement in the Yakima Valley Audubon Society, holding various leadership roles.
This is planned to be a hybrid program, in-person, and electronically. We will be gathering at the Yakima Area Arboretum for this monthly program. Though we hope to see you all there, for those unable to attend, we will attempt to also have a simultaneous Zoom version available and a recording of the program on the YVAS website.
The link for the zoom version will be:
The next program will be Thursday, April 27. Speaker and topic to be announced.
Webinar Viewing tips for YVAS Webinars
Would you like to enjoy Yakima Valley Audubon presentations with the whole family? You can now watch our programs whenever it is convenient for you! Our monthly programs are now available as webinars for viewing both in real time (so you can ask questions) and as recordings from a link on our website.
To view the live presentation on your laptop, tablet, or smart phone, click on the link in that month’s Calliope Crier or go to https://yakimaaudubon.org about five minutes before the program is scheduled to start and click on the Zoom webinar link. If you have never attended a Zoom meeting, you will be asked to download the app this first time. (You do not have to have your own Zoom account to join the webinar.) Be sure to answer ‘yes’ to the questions about joining with video and audio. You can always mute yourself for privacy, but you will need to answer yes to view and hear the presentation.
To better enjoy the beautiful photos in the presentation, you have the option of viewing it on a larger screen, such as your smart TV. To do this, you will need to connect your device to the TV with an HDMI cable. If your device does not have an HDMI port, there are inexpensive multiport adaptors available to enable this. (Try Office Depot or buy one online.)
It is even easier to view a recorded seminar once it has been posted on our website! You can watch the recording through your Internet browser, or, if your smartTV allows you to connect to an internet browser, you can simply go directly to our website and click on the seminar link. Video and sound will automatically be displayed and controlled on your Smart TV. Alternatively, you can pull up the webinar on your computer as above and connect your computer with an HDMI cable to your Smart TV.
Even in these challenging times, Yakima Audubon is committed to bringing you information about our natural world. Please let us know at info@yakimaaudubon.org what you think and what we can do to improve this experience for you.
Previous Programs
Additional programs and videos can be found on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/watch/yakimaaudubon/
- February 23, 2023 - Woodpeckers Part 2: The Rest of the Story - Denny Granstrand
- January 26, 2023 - Madagascar: Biodiversity in Peril - Eric Heisey
- December 1, 2022 - Small Landowners in Washington State, and a Few Songs - Ken Bevis
- October 27, 2022 - Tahoma’s Biggest Stories - Jeff Antonelis-Lapp
- September 22, 2022 - Twenty Years of Field Research on the White-Headed Woodpecker in Washington - Jeff Kozma
- May 26, 2022 - Yakima Valley Audubon’s Vredenburgh Bluebird Trail Marks its 40th Year! - Andy Stepniewski
- March 24, 2022 - Bird’s Eye View - Gina Roberti
- February 24, 2022 - Westport Seabirds - Bill Tweit
- December 2, 2021 - Australia - Dennis Paulson and Netta Smith
- October 28, 2021 - Special Birds of Mount Rainier - Jeff Antonelis-Lapp
- September 23, 2021 - Birding Guatemala’s Highlands - Jason Fidorra
- August 26, 2021 - My Woodpecker Big Year - Denny Granstrand
- May 27, 2021 - Shrubsteppe Conservation - YVAS
- April 22, 2021 - Condors in the Greater Northwest - Jack Nesbit
- March 25, 2021 - Our Backyard Bumbles: An Introduction to Washington’s Bumblebees - David Jennings
- January 28, 2021 - Cottonwood - Rivers and Reproduction - Katrina Strahmann
- December 3, 2020 - Charles Bergman - Every Pengiuin in the World - A Quest to See Them All
- October 29, 2020 - Crows: Clever, Curious, and Charismatic with Loma Pendergraft
- September 24, 2020 - Biology and Conservation of Washington Butterfliest with Dr. David James
Hummingbirds and Attracting Them to Your Garden
Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 10 am to noon

Hummingbirds are truly incredible birds! They amaze us with their boldly colored iridescent plumage, their wild aerial acrobatics, their overly aggressive personalities, and their miraculous migrations. Please join wildlife biologist and expert birder Jeff Kozma for a class focusing on how to identify and attract the four species of hummingbirds regularly found in Washington to your garden. Jeff has been growing nectar producing plants and providing feeders in his yard to attract hummingbirds for the last 17 years and he looks forward to sharing his techniques with you. During the class, Jeff will cover 1) a brief overview of hummingbird biology (e.g., habitat, migration, territoriality, etc.), 2) where and when to expect each hummingbird species, 3) how to landscape your yard with the types of plants that are most attractive to hummingbirds, while focusing on native plants that grow best in our warm dry climate, 4) the proper use of feeders (e.g., making sugar water, maintenance/cleaning/location of feeders, etc.), and 5) how to feed hummingbirds through the challenging winter months.
The two hour class will be at the Yakima Area Arboretum on Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 10 am. The cost will be $20 (Arboretum and Audubon members) or $25 for non- members. To register or for more information, contact the Arboretum: (509-248-7337 or https://www.ahtrees.org). Registration will be limited due to space in the meeting room.
Field Trips and Events Calendar
- Saturday, February 4th 7:30 am to 4 pm McNary National Wildlife Refuge Field Trip. Contact Bill Drenguis at bdrenguis@gmail.com to sign up.
- Saturday, February 11th 8 am to noon Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge Field Trip. Contact Andy Stepniewski at steppie@nwinfo.net to sign up.
- Friday, February 17th February Calliope Crier deadline (send articles, questions to newsletter@yakimaaudubon.org)
- Friday, February 17th through Monday, February 20th Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). Join in this great event as a citizen scientist! Find out more at https://www.birdcount.org.
- Thursday, February 23rd, 7 pm (Yakima Arboretum and Zoom) YVAS February Program My Big Woodpecker Year 2: The Rest of the Story with speaker Denny Grandstrand. Last year Denny spoke about his project to photograph all the North American woodpeckers, but only had time for some of them. This year, he will be speaking about and showing photos of the rest of them.
- Saturday, March 11th, 8-10 am Second Saturday Birdwalk. Bird walk at the Popoff Trail in Yakima. Leaders: Sarah Shippen and Gene Miliczky. More details to come.
- Saturday, April 29th Half-day trip Yakima Training Center Field Trip. Trip requires early sign-up process in order to get permission to visit the Training Center. Contact Scott Downes at downess@charter.net to sign up.
February:
- February 4 (Saturday) - McNary NWR Headquarters. Bill Drenguis. bdrenguis@gmail.com
- February 11 (Saturday) - Toppenish NWR. Andy and Ellen Stepniewski. steppie@nwinfo.net
- February 17-20 (Friday-Monday) - Great Backyard Bird Count GBBC). https://www.birdcount.org
- February 23 (Thursday) - YVAS Program. 7:00 PM at Yakima Arboretum
March:
- March 11 (Saturday) - Second Saturday Bird Walk. Poppoff Trail. Sara Shippen and Gene Miliczky ses1440@outlook.com
- March 23 (Thursday) - YVAS Program. 7:00 PM at Yakima Arboretum
- March 25 (Saturday) - Toppenish NWR. Sarah Shippen and Gene Miliczky. ses1440@outlook.com
April:
- Early April TBD - Bluebird Box Cleanout. Karen Zook. gadzooks7@charter.net
- April 8 (Saturday) - Second Saturday Bird Walk. Selah Cliffs. Sarah Shippen and Gene Miliczky. ses1440@outlook.com
- April 15 (Saturday) - Arborfest. Not a YVAS fieldtrip, but YVAS involvement. Coordinated by Ellen Stepniewski. steppieellen@gmail.com
- April 27 (Thursday) - YVAS Program. 7:00 PM at Yakima Arboretum
- April 29 (Saturday) - Yakima Training Center. Scott Downes. downess@charter.net
May:
- May 6 (Saturday) - Sunnyside Wildlife Area. Andy and Ellen Stepniewski. steppie@nwinfo.net
- May 25 (Thursday) - YVAS Program. 7:00 PM at Yakima Arboretum
June:
- June 2-5 (Friday-Monday) - Audubon Wenas Campout. www.wenasaudubon.org/
- June 10 (Saturday) - Second Saturday Bird Walk. Tieton Nature Trail. Sarah Shippen and Gene Miliczky. ses1440@outlook.com
- June 11 (Sunday) - Snow Mountain. Joint field trip with Cowiche Canyon Conservancy. Stan Isley. Stanisley@charter.net
August:
- August 24 (Thursday) - YVAS Program. 7:00 PM at Yakima Arboretum
- August 25-27 (Friday-Sunday) - Westport Pelagic Field Trip: Friday PM birding; Sat: all day Pelagic Boat trip; Sunday AM: Birding Gray’s Harbor NWR. Contact Sarah Shippen, ses1440@outlook.com for information about signing up.
September:
- September 23 (Saturday) - Conrad Meadows. Kerry Turley. kdturley@gmail.com
- September 28 (Thursday) - YVAS Program. 7:00 PM at Yakima Arboretum
- September 30 (Saturday) - backup dates of October 1, 7 and 8 in case of weather. Bird banding demonstration at the Yakima Arboretum. Jeff Kozma. jcr_5105@charter.net
October:
- October 14 (Saturday) - Second Saturday Bird Walk. Poppoff Trail. Sara Shippen and Gene Miliczky ses1440@outlook.com
- October 15 (Sunday) - Rimrock and Clear Lake. Scott Downes. downess@charter.net
- October 26 (Thursday) - YVAS Program. 7:00 PM at Yakima Arboretum
December:
- December 7 (Thursday) - YVAS Annual Meeting and Christmas Potluck
- December 16 (Saturday) -Toppenish CBC
- December 30 (Saturday) - Yakima CBC. Scott Downes downess@charter.net