DUBUQUE AUDUBON

Should we have a showing of Listers?

Our survey was available through December 5. We will evaluate the results very soon and post an update.

What is Listers? It’s a hilarious full-length birding documentary by two brothers, Owen and Quentin Reiser, that’s taking the world by storm. The movie is appealing to birders and non-birders alike! In just a couple months, it has over 2 million views on YouTube.

Will I like it? To help you make that determination, we suggest reading the National Audubon Society’s article, which includes an overview and interview with the Reiser brothers. Additional support comes from the organizers of the 2026 BWIAB festival in Toledo, Ohio, (Biggest Week in American Birding), where they have scheduled a premiere showing with Owen and Quentin.

Welcome!

Anyone interested in birdwatching, nature, or the quality of the environment is welcome to become a member of the Dubuque Audubon Society.

Our tri-state region is a great place for birds, and one of the great things about birds is that you can enjoy them at all levels of involvement. You may be surprised how many different species we have in the area at different times of year and how quickly you can begin to identify many of them once you start looking. (Binoculars help!) Any time of year is a great time to be a birder, and we hope you’ll join us!

Our Mission

The mission of the Dubuque Audubon Society is to provide educational opportunities to the people of the tri-state area and to preserve the natural habitat of birds and other wildlife.

Dubuque Audubon December Program

Birding in Panama

Thursday, 12/11/25
6:45 PM Social Time
7 – 8 PM Program

EB Lyons Interpretive Center
8991 Bellevue Heights Road
Dubuque, IA 52003
View Map

Mary Leigh will share information and photos from her birding trips to Panama, which included the Canopy Family locations (Tower, Lodge, and Camp) and some places in western Panama. The Canopy Family offers great birding opportunities that include guides, meals, and transportation. Hopefully you’ll enjoy seeing the best and worst bird photos, along with some monkeys, sloths, and other fun photos. Marty Corfman, our Dubuque Audubon president, joined Mary for the last half of this year’s trip. Marty will also share some photos and stories!

They plan to invite fellow travelers to join in a Q&A at the end or just to give a wave if they’re in attendance (Jean Schmitz, who was all in, Chris Leigh, Mary’s husband who joined some of the time, and Susie Gilligan, who started this whole adventure). Also, board members Maggie O’Connell and Sandy Walton made a recent trip to Panama, so there may be plenty of people who can answer questions related to the Canopy Family!

Read more about Mary and Marty

Mary Leigh is a retired computer programmer who has been interested in birds since she was a kid. She didn’t consider herself a birder until 2022, when a friend showed her the light (that would be Susie), and she began keeping a bird life list and birding locally beyond her back yard. As her photos accumulated, she created MostlyBirdsByMary.com in order to have something to do with them. When looking for local birding opportunities that fall, she went to her first Dubuque Audubon Society meeting and ended up volunteering to fill the vacant secretary position, which put her on the board. The following summer, she started helping with the newsletter after learning the board didn’t have anyone to format it. After a year, she switched from secretary to web admin and redesigned the Dubuque Audubon website.

Marty Corfman’s interest in birding was a slow burn, starting with bringing a small camera to Mexico in 2010. She steadily increased her love of birding over the next years, while working on her bird photography. In the summer of 2023, Marty got connected with the local Audubon chapter through her discovery of the destruction of Bobolink nests on private property in Dubuque. That led to ongoing communication with our city leadership to promote the conservation of bird habitat and bird-friendly policy. Ken Kiss and Jim Olesson kindly asked her to join the board, and the rest is history! Marty’s first entirely birding trip was this one to Panama. What a fantastic experience!

Dubuque Audubon Annual Christmas Bird Count

Saturday, 12/20/25
(Backup Date: Saturday, 1/3/26)

8 AM: Start
4:30 PM: Compilation & Potluck

EB Lyons Interpretive Center
8991 Bellevue Heights Road
Dubuque, IA 52003
View Map

Meet at EB Lyons at 8 AM to go birding with our field trip leaders. We’ll split into groups to identify and count birds within our circle. All levels of experience are welcome. As we move between locations, you can carpool with leaders or drive separately, depending on space and preference. Binoculars are highly recommended. We’ll have a couple extra pairs available.

You may also sign up to participate by feeder watching from home (details below).

Meet at EB Lyons for the compilation & potluck at 4:30 PM. We’ll tally our results for the day. All data will be submitted to the National Audubon Society.

We’ll have a potluck following the compilation, where we’ll provide a couple chili options. Please bring your own beverage. We don’t need everyone to bring food, but please sign up using the button below if you plan to join us, so that we have enough chili and bowls. Regardless of whether you participated in the count, anyone interested in the compilation or socializing opportunity is invited!

Read more about feeder watching from home 🐦

Sign-up Instructions: If you want to participate by feeder-watching from home, email your name and birding address to contact@audubondubuque.org. The deadline to sign up is 5 PM the day before the count, and your birding address needs to be within the radius we cover, which is essentially Dubuque, Asbury, East Dubuque, Sageville, Durango, and Centralia.

Birding Instructions: Follow the protocol of keeping track of your total birding time. If you count periodically throughout the day, you should add up your total time spent. Count how many you see of each species, without any double-counting. For example, if you are watching your bird feeder and see 2 Blue Jays at once and then see 1 later that is indistinguishable from earlier birds, then your Blue Jay count would remain at 2.

Submission Instructions: Either sign up to let us know you’ll be joining us at the compilation and potluck or email your results to contact@audubondubuque.org by 4:30 PM on the day of the count, so that we can include your results in the compilation. You’ll need to submit your total time spent along with your species list with counts.

What is the Christmas Bird Count?

The National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is an early-winter bird census, where thousands of volunteers count birds over a 24-hour period on one calendar day. It is the longest running organized citizen science project in the United States! It began on Christmas Day in 1900, and today it happens in over 20 countries in the western hemisphere. Each count takes place in an established 15-mile diameter circle, and the organizer picks a date in the range of December 14 to January 5. Dubuque Audubon’s circle is centered at Center Grove Cemetery, Dubuque, IA, and includes Swiss Valley, Mines of Spain, City of Dubuque, Western Dubuque, Deere Dike/north of Dubuque, Dubuque Airport, and western Grant County. Over the decades, Christmas Bird Count data has been used in hundreds of analyses, publications, and government reports.

Calendar of Events

We hold monthly programs from September through May on a variety of topics related to nature and the environment.

We also hold an annual Christmas bird count, an annual Duck Waddle at Green Island (traditionally the 2nd Saturday in March), and an annual spring species count (traditionally the Saturday before Mother’s Day), and we offer additional field trips throughout the year.

You can tailor your birding to your interest and activity level, and all levels of experience are welcome.

Latest Newsletter

News Releases of Interest

5/2/25: Iowa DNR: Black bear sightings on the rise in Northeast Iowa
4/12/25: Iowa Audubon: April 2025 Newsletter
4/5/25: National Audubon Society: New Report Shows U.S. Birds Declining Sharply Across a Range of Habitats
4/5/25: Dubuque County Conservation Board: Dubuque Conservation Nature Talk (quarterly newsletter with events and more!)
1/29/25 Iowa DNR: Osprey are a migratory raptor species that breed in Iowa. The Iowa DNR began the Osprey restoration program in 1997. See the DNR’s Osprey page for a link to the yearly Osprey status in Iowa report.
1/28/25 Iowa DNR: Donations and donors to the Chickadee Tax Check-off decline
1/22/25 Iowa DNR: Taxes are for the birds…and other vulnerable wildlife
1/22/25 Iowa DNR: Iowa DNR, Pheasants Forever: Partners for decades to expand wildlife habitat

If you provide an email address when joining or renewing, you will automatically be placed on our regular email list. As an experiment in 2025, we are going to try creating a separate email list for those who would like more group birding opportunities.

Read more on our “More Birding” Email Sign-up page.

More Links of Interest

Summer 2025: Iowa DNR: YouTube Video: Poison Ivy and Parsnip Identification (5:12)
Spring 2025: National Audubon Society: How do Birds Keep Themselves Clean?
5/7/25: Iowa DNR: Leave wildlife babies where they belong — In the wild
4/14/25: Environment for the Americas: Earth’s Fastest Hunter: Meet the Peregrine Falcoln

Protecting Birds from Window Strikes Day & Night

National Audubon Society articles on efforts to reduce bird collisions:

Successes across the network:

Most Recent Blog Posts

Sep 5, 2025

Articles

Feeding Bread to Birds (Or Not)

By Kevin Koch
[from fall 2025 newsletter]

The next time you’re tempted to feed the birds from that bag of bread, think again! You might just be depriving your feathered friends of a broader range of nutrition they’ll need throughout the year.

While bread does contain carbohydrates, bird specialist Dr. David Shealer, Professor of Biology at Loras College in Dubuque, IA, points out that birds also need proteins and fats in their diet...

Sep 5, 2025

Articles

Spotlight on American Goldfinch

By Mary Leigh
[from fall 2025 newsletter]

This summer, I went on a guided bird walk at Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Sapsucker Woods, in Ithaca, NY... During the walk, our guide shared some fun facts about American Goldfinch that make them unusual.