Date: 2/18/26 6:24 am From: Marla Jones via Inland-nw-birders <inland-nw-birders...> Subject: Re: [inland-NW-birders] Inland-nw-birders Digest, Vol 216, Issue 2
I don't think that Certificate in Natural History Illustration exists anymore at UW. It must have been a program offered decades ago. They had a Scientific Illustration program for awhile in the 2000's, but it was out of pocket, not FAFSA or VA eligible, and doesn't exist anymore. Where can a person find a certificate or training program in natural history illustration today?Â
On Wednesday, February 18, 2026 at 05:01:00 AM MST, <inland-nw-birders-request...> wrote:
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 1. WOS Monthly Meeting, March 2, 2026 (on-line only)    (<meetings...>) The Washington Ornithological Society (WOS) is pleased to announce our next Monthly Meeting: on Monday, March 2, 2026, Madison Mayfield will present, "A Different Kind of Life List: A Career Painting, Curating & Taxidermying Birds."  What goes on in a natural history museum like the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington (Seattle)?  And why have them?  Filled with far more than just a lot of "stuffed animals," these collections are time-capsule libraries of biological diversity, and an irreplaceable, verifiable record of Life on Earth.
Madison Mayfield is a museum professional, educator, natural history artist and taxidermist as well as a scientific illustrator.  She holds a BS in Conservation Biology and a certificate in Natural History Illustration from the University of Washington.  For the past 8 years, she has worked in natural history museums around the world as a preparator, educator, outreach director and now is a collections manager at the Burke.  Madison is also a skilled artist and scientific illustrator.  We'll learn about the art of taxidermy and why dead birds are more important than ever as Madison takes us along a path from painting birds to sewing up a Cassowary in Australia to banding hummingbirds in Colombia!
This meeting will be conducted virtually, via Zoom (no in-person attendance). Sign-in will begin at 7:15 pm, and the meeting commences at 7:30 pm. Please go to the WOS Monthly Meetings page:Â Â https://wos.org/monthly-meetings/Â Â for instructions on participation and to get the Zoom link.
When joining the meeting, we ask that you mute your device and make certain that your camera is turned off.
This meeting is open to all as WOS invites everyone in the wider birding community to attend. Thanks to the generosity of our presenters, recordings of past programs are available at the following link to the WOS YouTube Channel:Â Â https://www.youtube.com/@washingtonornithologicalso7839/videos
If you are not yet a member of WOS, we hope you will consider becoming one at  https://wos.org
Date: 2/17/26 10:46 pm From: Vicki King via Inland-nw-birders <inland-nw-birders...> Subject: [inland-NW-birders] WOS Monthly Meeting, March 2, 2026 (on-line only)
The Washington Ornithological Society (WOS) is pleased to announce our next Monthly Meeting: on Monday, March 2, 2026, Madison Mayfield will present, "A Different Kind of Life List: A Career Painting, Curating & Taxidermying Birds."  What goes on in a natural history museum like the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington (Seattle)?  And why have them?  Filled with far more than just a lot of "stuffed animals," these collections are time-capsule libraries of biological diversity, and an irreplaceable, verifiable record of Life on Earth.
Madison Mayfield is a museum professional, educator, natural history artist and taxidermist as well as a scientific illustrator.  She holds a BS in Conservation Biology and a certificate in Natural History Illustration from the University of Washington.  For the past 8 years, she has worked in natural history museums around the world as a preparator, educator, outreach director and now is a collections manager at the Burke.  Madison is also a skilled artist and scientific illustrator.  We'll learn about the art of taxidermy and why dead birds are more important than ever as Madison takes us along a path from painting birds to sewing up a Cassowary in Australia to banding hummingbirds in Colombia!
This meeting will be conducted virtually, via Zoom (no in-person attendance). Sign-in will begin at 7:15 pm, and the meeting commences at 7:30 pm. Please go to the WOS Monthly Meetings page:Â Â https://wos.org/monthly-meetings/Â Â for instructions on participation and to get the Zoom link.
When joining the meeting, we ask that you mute your device and make certain that your camera is turned off.
This meeting is open to all as WOS invites everyone in the wider birding community to attend. Thanks to the generosity of our presenters, recordings of past programs are available at the following link to the WOS YouTube Channel:Â Â https://www.youtube.com/@washingtonornithologicalso7839/videos
If you are not yet a member of WOS, we hope you will consider becoming one at  https://wos.org
Date: 2/1/26 10:31 am From: Mary Giddings via Inland-nw-birders <inland-nw-birders...> Subject: [inland-NW-birders] Bluebirds!
Three Western Bluebirds just arrived and are checking out the Bluebird box in my yard. Two females and a male. I have never seen them this early here. Usually they arrive in March.
I am just to the south of McCroskey State Park in N. Latah county.
Date: 1/23/26 8:57 am From: Doug Ward via Inland-nw-birders <inland-nw-birders...> Subject: [inland-NW-birders] Indian Mt CBC Summary
INWBirders,
Sorry for the delay in getting you a Christmas Count (CBC) summary to digest, but better late than never - so much for the "reduce procrastination" resolution. Hope you've gotten 2026 off to a good start.
Cheers,
Doug
Indian Mt. CBC Summary (2026)
A small group of us ran the Indian Mt. Christmas Bird Count (CBC) on New Year's Day (1 Jan.'26) to keep this fun count going, kick off the New Year, and get annual year lists off to a good start. This count circle is centered southeast of Harrison, Idaho and encompasses parts of Kootenai and Benewah Counties including the Chain Lakes and lower Coeur d'Alene River, the southern end of Lake Coeur d'Alene and associated St. Joe River delta lakes (Benewah, Chatcolet, .), Heyburn State Park, and the town of St. Maries. The thirteen (13) of us covered a total of 12 miles on foot and another 127 miles in vehicles providing decent coverage for the day.
Our efforts were rewarded with a far better than average day over the 33 year history of this count in both species found (77 vs 66 avg/79 record) and total individuals recorded (14,781 vs ~8,360 avg/~16,590 record). While the near record seventy-seven (77) species was impressive, it came with no new birds for the count, which was surprising given the activity and the number of lingering species this year. As with other counts in the region, the mild weather we've had this winter left behind species which should be further south by now including NORTHERN SHOVELER (26), RUDDY DUCK (7), RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET (1), SPOTTED TOWHEE (2), and BREWER'S BLACKBIRD (26). The other end of this weather situation was the near lack of northern species including well below average numbers of ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKs (2 vs 8 avg), NORTHERN SHRIKE (1 vs 3 avg), with no Bohemian Waxwings nor Redpolls found.
Other species of interest included TRUMPETER SWAN (1), GREATER SCAUP (3), BONAPARTE'S GULL (1), LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL (1), "Thayer's" ICELAND GULL (1), and "Harlan's" RED-TAILED HAWK (1).
With respect to the high number of individual birds counted (14,781), waterfowl made up the lion's share (12,441) as you would expect with most water ice free. Within this number we had record counts of RING-NECKED DUCK (785 vs 698 record), COMMON MERGANSER (820 vs 356), RED-BREASTED MERGANSER (20 vs 4), and Ruddy Duck (7 vs 5). In addition to the ducks, we also managed record numbers for DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT (4 vs 2), MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE (27 vs 27), WHITE-BRESTED NUTHATCH (10 vs 10), and BREWER'S BLACKBIRD (26 vs 2). Considering all of the activity this year, we oddly ended up with very low counts for EURASIAN COLLARD-DOVE (5 vs 16 avg), MORNING DOVE (4 vs 13), AMERICAN CROW (2 vs 28), and "sadly" EUROPEAN STARLING (23 vs 106). Not sure what is going on with the doves, but we had a similar experience on the Coeur d'Alene CBC a few weeks back.
So again, a pretty good day on a fun count. Hope your CBC season was a good one and you are ready to maybe add one or two more to your schedule next year. Have a great 2026 with lots of good stuff.
Date: 1/21/26 9:03 am From: Vicki King via Inland-nw-birders <inland-nw-birders...> Subject: [inland-NW-birders] REMINDER: WOS Monthly Meeting, January 26, 2026: (on-line only) "one week early"
The Washington Ornithological Society (WOS) is pleased to announce our next Monthly Meeting: on Monday, January 26, 2026 (please note this is one week earlier due to a scheduling conflict), Chris Templeton Ph.D. will present, "Sound the Alarm: How Chickadees Communicate Sophisticated Information about Predators." Chickadees! We think of them as common, but their vocalization are anything but! Chickadees have one of the most sophisticated means of communicating about predators of all animals. And other songbird species use this information to learn about threats in their environment. Our speaker, Chris Templeton, will introduce us to avian bio-acoustics, describe how birds produce their impressive vocalizations and discuss the different types of information they communicate. Chris will highlight some of the bio-acoustics work his research group is conducting, aiming to unravel the types of information encoded in subtle variations of Chickadee alarm calls.
Chris has spent more than 20 years as an ornithologist. He has studied a wide variety of different bird species across the world, focusing on the evolution and ecology of avian behavior. He has a PhD in Biology from the University of Washington, and is a member of the Department of Biology faculty at Western Washington University.
This meeting will be conducted virtually, via Zoom (no in-person attendance). Sign-in will begin at 7:15 pm, and the meeting commences at 7:30 pm. Please go to the WOS Monthly Meetings page: https://wos.org/monthly-meetings/ for instructions on participation and to get the Zoom link.
When joining the meeting, we ask that you mute your device and make certain that your camera is turned off.
This meeting is open to all as WOS invites everyone in the wider birding community to attend. Thanks to the generosity of our presenters, recordings of past programs are available at the following link to the WOS YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@washingtonornithologicalso7839/videos
If you are not yet a member of WOS, we hope you will consider becoming one at https://wos.org
