Mesilla Valley Audubon Society

“Sometimes I think that the point of birdwatching is not the actual seeing of the birds, but the cultivation of patience. Of course, each time we set out, there's a certain amount of expectation we'll see something, maybe even a species we've never seen before, and that it will fill us with light. But even if we don't see anything remarkable - and sometimes that happens - we come home filled with light anyway.” Lynn Thomson, Birding with Yeats: A Mother's Memoir

ABOUT US

The Mesilla Valley Audubon Society (MVAS) is a 501 (c)(3) conservation and natural history organization based in southern New Mexico and is a chapter of the National Audubon Society. It serves communities in Dona Ana, Otero, and Sierra counties and aims to promote the appreciation and conservation of birds and other wildlife. A priority is to protect wildlife and bird habitats through enviromental education, issue advocacy, and natural history experiences

MVAS is headquartered in Las Cruces, and its main activities are in Doña Ana County, with frequent field trips across southern New Mexico and El Paso County in Texas. Common birding areas include at least a dozen eBird.org hotspots within the city of Las Cruces and along the Rio Grande. Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park and Leasburg Dam State Park are exceptional areas. To the east of the Rio Grande and City of Las Cruces, the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument offers an entirely different habitat that is home to a different range of bird species.

June Activities

We are officially on our summer break until August, but we still have these activities to enjoy in June:

• Birds & Beer instead of our monthly meeting. On June 17, we’ll meet at Boneyard Cantina at 139 N. Main Street starting at 6 p.m. We have the back room reserved. Join us for this fun social activity!

• Adopt-a-Spot park clean-up on June 20 at 8 a.m. at Sagecrest Park on Roadrunner Parkway.

• Our monthly nature journaling activity. We’ve moved our June 27 activity to Dripping Springs to explore their garden and perhaps Ice Canyon. If you’d like more information, email and ask to be added to the MVAS Nature Journaling Club email list.

Don’t forget to order your MVAS shirt, either a short- or long-sleeved T-shirt or a hooded or non-hooded UV shirt, or one of each! We’ve set up an online shirt store with unisex and women’s cut options, so there should be something for everyone!

The shirts will be a light gray with the logo below emblazoned across the front by silk-screening. We’re taking orders through June 17 (coincidentally, the date of our June Birds & Beer at Boneyard Cantina!) so that we can start distributing them at the July Birds & Beer (and thereafter).

Order your MVAS shirts here to shop for your MVAS attire! Note that Zeffy is a company that offers services at no cost to nonprofits like ours and you will see a question asking if you’d like to make a donation to Zeffy to support them. It will be prepopulated with a donation. If you do not wish to make one or want to change the amount, you can easily do that by clicking on “other.”