Audubon
The Environmental Sanctuary
La Cumbre Country Club (LCCC) began an environmental stewardship program approximately three years ago. The first step started by signing up for the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses. In the summer of 2017, Audubon International certified LCCC as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary based on LCCC’s performance in the following areas: Environmental Planning; Wildlife and Habitat Management; Chemical Use Reduction and Safety; Water Conservation; Water Quality Management; Environmental Case Study; and, Outreach and Education.
LCCC plans to continue to go down the road of environmental sustainability by removing more turf from irrigation, removing casual drainage into Arroyo Burro Creek, planting more native plants, implementing more best management practices, and evaluating further energy conservation projects. We feel that LCCC will continue to be recognized for these efforts nationally in the golf community.
A Place to Nest
In 2019, an estimated 132 nestlings and seven barn owls fledged from the nest boxes at the LCCC. With assistance from Beau Tindall (SBAS intern) and Johanna Kisner (Principal Biologist at KR&EC), David banded 98 western bluebirds and 20 tree swallows.
Due to the protective nature of barn owls and the nest boxes' inaccessibility, these were only checked periodically using a video camera on an extendable pole. In 2019, a Bluetooth-compatible GoPro5 camera was used; it communicated wirelessly with the iPhone allowing for real-time review of the nest contents while recording the later review event.
Fledglings
A total of 140 nestlings are believed to have fledged from the nest boxes in 2019 consisting of 95 western bluebirds, 20 tree swallows, 13 oak titmice, five white breasted nuthatches, and seven barn owls. Mortality of nestlings after banding was only three individuals (from three different nest boxes) that appear to have died in late May due to starvation and/or lack of attention by the adults. One nest appears to have failed due to the predation of an adult at the nest site resulting in the death of the chicks prior to banding.
Nest Timing
Of the 42 nest boxes, 23 boxes were used for some type of breeding activity. Of the 23 nest boxes that were used by non-woodpeckers, four had the beginnings of a nest structure but never had eggs, ten had one clutch of nestlings, and 13 had two clutches of nestlings. The “cut-off” in July is due to the monitoring ended since the nestlings were near fledging and there were no more eggs being laid. It is presumed that all of the nestlings successfully fledged which was supported by a lack of dead chicks when the boxes were cleaned out later in the season.
Bird Banding
In 2019, Beau Tindalland David and Johanna Kisner banded 98 nestling western bluebirds (95 are believed to have fledged) and 20 nestling tree swallows. Data from the banding efforts have been submitted to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Laboratory. Thus far only one adult has been recaptured (in 2018) though numerous individual western bluebirds have been observed with a single USFWS aluminum band.
Off the 4th Hole
You'll find the beautiful cluster of flowers ideal for Monarch habitats. These pollinating plants attract the Monarch's and give them a place to stay. Opening up areas like this help Monarch's overall population numbers and makes for beautiful scenery to play golf.
