Great Egret at George Wyth St. Park  Photo by Ron Kuper

In the Sky - April 2020
Of special interest will be the passing of Venus through the Pleiades open star cluster on April 2-4. 
If you have not seen the close grouping of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars in the eastern sky, I encourage you to try.  I saw them from eastern Iowa this morning at 5:50.  Jupiter and Saturn are close together every 20 years, and having Mars pass them is a bonus.  Jupiter and Saturn will remain close for the rest of the year. Also, there is a hope that a comet that is passing through the northern sky may brighten significantly during April.  It will be moving from the northwest (lower right) of the Big Dipper's pointer stars westward toward Perseus.  More information should be at skyandtelescope.com


COVID-19 and PRAS
By following the guidelines set by the state of Iowa, all PRAS activities will be suspended until April 30th.  These are crazy and confusing times. Things change day by day, even by the hour. After visiting with the church and our next speakers we have agreed to re-evaluate situations as time goes by knowing very well that cancellations may be extended into the future.  PRAS is well set up to communicate cancellations or changes quickly through our gopras.org website, Facebook, and our e-mail list and we will let you know ASAP any changes in our plans during the upcoming months. Thank you for your fantastic support. We couldn’t ask for a better group of people.  -- Tom Schilke, PRAS President

2020 Crane Count Cancelled
The International Crane Foundation notified us crane counters that this year's count has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 precautionary measures set for WI, MN and other states. 

Birding...social distancing with perks!
Need to get your exercise, but still need to distance yourself from others? Go birding! Getting out in nature is good for your health...remember Dr. Suzanne Bartlett Hackenmiller recommends it. Read more here...


Jane Symphony Event Postponed
Due to the COVID-19 crisis the “Jane” documentary with live orchestra has been postponed until a yet to determined later date - probably a year from now.  Any ticket refunds will need to be done through the UNI ticket office which just closed until further notice. To ease the process PRAS has planned to handle ticket refunds for you.  Thank you for your support and patience with this.

Discover Birds & Nature Virtually


PRAS Election

Up for re-election at our May meeting are our officers Tom Schilke - president, Craig Rash - vice president, Francis Moore - treasurer, and Candace Havely - secretary.  Board members seeking renewal are Kris Rash, David Voigts, Jim Welch, Charlene Heiar, and Tom Stone. Those wishing to be considered for board election should contact PRAS at praudubon@gmail.com.  
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