As we look back on the past year, something important stands out: in the wake of the 2024 Valley Fire and after a tumultuous start to 2025, you—our IBO community—have been the constant glimmer keeping us moving forward. The outpouring of support we’ve received from the IBO family has lifted our spirits and strengthened our resolve in ways we can hardly put into words.
As you read this year’s newsletter, we hope you’ll take a moment to read some important updates from us as an organization, especially in Jay’s 2025 update article that shares how we’re navigating this period of recovery and the changes that have come with it. We also hope you’ll enjoy hearing from our crew about the return to Lucky Peak after the fire.
Your donations, your volunteer hours, and your emails checking in on us have meant more than you know.
This year, we saw a record number of donors establishing endowed funds and planned gifts to help stabilize IBO’s future, so that no matter what shifts come in federal funding we can continue our mission.
We also saw a remarkable surge in consistent, smaller gifts from so many of you. This is our “bread and butter” that sustains our mission day after day. On top of that, you supported us with more than 5,000 volunteer hours contributed by dozens of dedicated people on projects from banding, to habitat restoration, construction, outreach events, and more!
From all of us at IBO: thank you, sincerely, for being the heart of this work.
Greg, Jay, Rob, Heidi, Jeremy, Lesley, Colin, Ashlyn
Click here to read all our 2025 newsletter articles
Upcoming Events and Announcements
2026 Songbird and Raptor Workshops
Our NABC Certified Songbird Trainer, Lucian Davis, will be offering a virtual songbird molt and aging workshop in early 2026. This $150 workshop will cover nearly all aspects of songbird aging, with a focus on molt and identifying molt limits.
The workshop is open to all experience levels, but is geared toward folks with some general knowledge of birds. Beginners will gain a broad understanding of in-hand songbird aging methods, and folks with prior experience aging birds are likely to come away with some new aging techniques to try out, and a deeper understanding of some tricky subjects like eccentric molt, WRP codes, and reading Pyle.
This will be a five-week virtual course with two 1.5 hour classes per week and optional homework. Learn more, and join the waitlist to attend by filling out our Workshop Interest Form here. We will send out final registration links and payment information to all interested participants after the holidays.
Join the waitlist for Fall 2026 raptor handling workshops by filling out our Workshop Interest Form here.
IBO Stickers and Shirts are available!
We’re especially excited to announce a new effort featuring commissioned student art! Our first feature is a Calliope Hummingbird piece created by Iris Smith, and more pieces by other students are in the works. We have Iris’ new design (and the usual classics) available in our Bonfire Shirt shop.
We’ve also turned Iris’s work into stickers to support our hummingbird research. Get your own sticker by making a donation to IBO’s hummingbird fund. We’ll mail a sticker to anyone who donates $5 or more! (if you donate more than $5 and would like multiple stickers, email us at IBO@boisestate.edu). Stickers will be mailed in early 2026.
Valley Fire Habitat Restoration Volunteering
Our friends at Idaho Department of Fish and Game continue to lead the charge restoring habitat after the 2024 Valley Fire burned 10,000 acres of wildlife habitat including much of our Lucky Peak migration station. There are opportunities this winter to help with seed collection. View a list of restoration dates and signup links here.
Vehicle Donations Needed
We continue to search for folks who could donate used ATVs or UTVs, or a 4-wheel-drive truck or SUV. Do you or someone you know have a vehicle you would like to donate? We could use vehicles like this for our Team Goshawk work in southern Idaho, restoration work at the Diane Moore Nature Center, and as crew transportation on our Lucky Peak project. Email IBO@boisestate.edu for details.
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We need your support
With the end of the year fast approaching, IBO needs your help to support some of our most iconic projects.
Don’t forget to make your gift prior to Dec. 31 to receive tax benefits. Your gift to the Intermountain Bird Observatory may also qualify for an additional education tax credit in Idaho.
Thank you all for your continued generosity!
Read about a recent Donor Legacy Gift here!
There are two easy ways to support the Intermountain Bird Observatory:
Visit our secure online donation website and make a gift today
Or, you can mail a check payable to:
Intermountain Bird Observatory c/o BSU Foundation, Inc.
1173 W University Drive
Boise, ID 83706
Please specify if you wish for your donation to go towards a specific project, e.g., Hummingbirds, Long-billed Curlews, or the Diane Moore Nature Center, otherwise it will go into the general IBO account.
For additional questions on supporting IBO, please contact Melanie Bannister at melaniebannister@boisestate.edu, (208) 426-4199
A Gift in Your Will or Living Trust – the Easiest Way to Make an Impact
Interested in helping the Intermountain Bird Observatory contribute to conservation efforts that directly impact human lives? A simple and versatile way to ensure that we are able to conduct our research focusing on migratory birds, education, discovery of the natural world, and community engagement is with a gift in your will or living trust.
By including a bequest to the Boise State University Foundation, specifically for the IBO, you are ensuring that we can continue our work for years to come. As little as one sentence in your will or living trust is all that is needed to complete your gift. You can learn more here, or contact Melanie Bannister at melaniebannister@boisestate.edu, (208) 426-4199.
This article is part of our 2025 end of the year newsletter! View the full newsletter here, or click “older posts” below to read the next article.
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