The January 10 Banquet was a wonderful evening of friendship, food, and fun, celebrating yet another successful year in the life of Evergreen Audubon. It was nice to be at Hiwan Golf Club – where the first ever Banquet was held in January 1970 – and where we enjoyed a roaring fire and a tasty dinner on a cold night.
After dinner, Chuck Aid kicked off the program with a slide show of member’s favorite birds of 2024, tying up his presentation with the Awards for Birds of the Year that went to Else Van Erp for a Prothonotary Warbler, and to Darius Semmons for a Pine Warbler.
The Successful 2024 Birding Challenge Contestants were: Chuck Aid (w,j,co), Ron Belak (w,j), Steve Garman (w,j,co), Peg Linn (w,j), Kathy Madison (w,j,co), Chris Marr (w,j,co), Holly Marr (w,j,co), Holly Winters (co), and Tom Ryon (w). [w=Bear Creek Watershed; j=Jeffco, co=Colorado) The goal of the Challenge is to identify by sight or sound the following number of species (one-third of the known number) in at least one of six geographic regions:
- The State of Colorado: 171
- Bear Creek Watershed: 112 species
- Jefferson County: 130 species
- Clear Creek County: 75 species
- Gilpin County: 64 species
- Park County: 102 species
Emma Vasicek, Executive Director, was next, sharing highlights from a remarkable year of programming and events and recognizing three outstanding program volunteers. Please see her article.
As Emma pointed out, Evergreen Audubon has hundreds of volunteers who put in thousands of hours and we appreciate every one of them and every hour they contribute. That said, it was my great pleasure to wrap up the evening by presenting the Royal Order of the Dipper award to two volunteers who made extraordinary contributions this year: Linda Engelhart and Andrea Furlong.
Linda stepped in three years ago on an emergency basis to help the chapter distribute our holiday wreaths and has been our wreath sale coordinator ever since. This is a very important fundraiser for us and running it is a huge, complicated and time-consuming job that just happens to be at a very busy time of year. Thank you, Linda, for making it a success for three years in a row.
Andrea has been an active volunteer behind the scenes for many years, but she stepped out of the background in a major way this past summer, turning Evergreen Nature Center’s back yard into a native plant garden. Andrea planned the garden, secured topsoil and plants, organized volunteer planters and weeders, and installed the irrigation system and fencing. Andrea even secured the donation that paid for the plants and equipment. Thank you, Andrea. We can’t wait to see the garden mature this summer and in the future.
top photo: Linda Engelhart and Melissa Leasia. (photo by
Lisa Wald) bottom photo: Andrea Furlong gardening at the nature center. (photo by Melissa Leasia)
Carol Burdick and Lisa Wald at the check-in table; Chris Marr and Chuck Burdick; Evergreen Nature Center staff Emma Vasicek, Mac McIntosh, and Maddy MacFarland; Judy Blake, Rachel Hutchison, Kathy Madison; Kim Hamilton, Jean & Dwight Souder, Andrew Hamilton; Marcia & Tracy Boyd, Peg Linn, Tom & Deb Ryon; Steve Garman, Don McKenna; Sue Broderick, Lee Thomas, Kim Hamilton, JoAnn Hackos; Thom & Cris Noller, Linda Engelhart. (photos by Chris and Holly Marr)