Hummingbirds at Home
Zoom Event CA, United StatesJoin us for a Zoom event...
Farallon Islands Boat Trip with David Wimpfheimer – A Few Spaces Still Available
Clipper Yacht Harbor, Sausalito Sausalito, CA, United StatesJoin us for our annual day of seabird and marine mammal watching as we head out to the Farallon Islands and offshore waters. Naturalist David Wimpfheimer will be our guide once again aboard Jim Robertson’s power catamaran Outer Limits. Last year’s sightings included both Humpback Whales, Laysan and Black-footed Albatross, Tufted Puffin, Pink-footed, Sooty, and Buller’s Shearwaters, Pomarine and Parasitic Jaegers, Rhinoceros and Cassin’s Auklets, and more. We will get a close-up look at the islands and hear about their interesting natural and human history. This is a trip that both experienced and first-time birders and nature lovers will enjoy.
Online Birding: Diurnal Raptors of Marin
Zoom Event CA, United StatesZoom Program - CLICK HERE to signup
Start Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Time: 7 PM to 8:30 PM
With Shannon Burke - Marin County Parks Naturalist
From colorful kestrels to enormous eagles, diurnal raptors are charismatic birds of our landscapes. Perched at the top of the food web, these species take advantage of different habitats and use various strategies to hunt. We’ll explore how these behaviors, along with distinguishing field marks, can help in identifying our local species as we discuss some of the life history stories that make each unique.
Marin County Parks Naturalist Shannon Burke, known for her expertise in a variety of natural history fields (some animal, some vegetable), has a special interest in raptors and worked for a number of years as a volunteer for the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. She always combines her considerable field identification skills with substantial knowledge of animal behavior to create outstanding programs.
Photo Credit: Elyse Omernick
“The Warden” – Mill Valley Film Festival Streaming Event
CA, United StatesMarin Audubon Society is partnering with the Mill Valley Film Festival to present “The Warden (De Vogelwachter)"
On the deserted beach of tiny Benty Island, the warden (Freek de Jonge in a wonderfully understated solo turn) follows a strict daily routine at the bird sanctuary he has overseen, alone, for decades. With the same precision as his beloved grandfather clock, he monitors the flocks of resident and migrating sea and shore birds that are his only companions and his constant source of wonderment. But everything in his world shifts tectonically when he learns that his post will be shut down. The warden must find a way to resist his fate—but how? Writer-director Threes Anna (The Bird Can’t Fly, MVFF31) captures the quiet joys of solitude and self-imposed isolation in a beautiful film allegory that fits the pandemic era we have now entered—and offers a glimpse of what joy there is to find oneself, after so long alone, face to face with another human being and kindred spirit.
Birds of the Sierra
Zoom Event CA, United StatesSpeaker: Bob Lewis
Host: Doug Waterman
Date: October 8, 2020
Start time: 7:30 PM
End time: 9:30 PM
Description:For over 20 years, Bob Lewis has been leading birding trips to the Sierra Valley, often staying to photograph the birds and he sees. At the headwater of the Feather River, the valley is a magnet for birds and the surrounding mountains provide additional habitats.
Bob will take us to some of his favorite places and show us the birds that live there, along with a few other creatures. He has often been asked where his favorite birding spot is and Sierra Valley ranks high on the list.
Bob trained as a chemist, but his second career is very avian. He’s served on the GGAS board where he led the Adult Education Committee. He’s an award-winning photographer and world traveler, and frequent public speaker on avian topics at libraries and Audubon Societies. He has co-taught Master Birding, Avian Evolution and Bay Area Birds for GGAS, and his bird life list stands at 5059.
Use the link below to access the meeting. A Q&A will follow the presentation. To ask a question use the Chat feature on Zoom.
CLICK HERE for Zoom Link
Photo taken by Bob Lewis - American Bittern
Online Birding: The Biology of Owl Vocalizations – What ARE They Talking About?
Zoom Event CA, United StatesZoom Program - CLICK HERE to sign up
Start Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2020
Time: 7 PM to 8:30 PM
With Joe Mueller
The sounds of owls talking late into the night may seem mysterious, but there are solid biologically accepted reasons for their diversity of vocalizations. The variation has much to do with how owls have evolved, becoming the dominant nocturnal avian predators. Join Joe for an introduction to owls with a focus on the exploration as to why owls have evolved such a plentiful repertoire of hoots, howls, wails, screams, whistles, yelps, shrieks, barks, whines, and whinnies.
As a Professor of Biology for 30 years Joe has been teaching a rich diversity of courses ranging from ornithology to marine invertebrate zoology as well as leading field courses from Alaskan tundra to Costa Rican Tropical Rain Forests. His teaching style has developed from a view of life focused on systems thinking and how interrelationships make up the essential nature of life. He developed and coordinates the Natural History Program at College of Marin and is the 2008 recipient of the Terwilliger Environmental Education Award.
Photo Credit: Elyse Omernick
Online Birding: The Natural History of Osprey in Marin County: Colonization and Population Growth
Zoom Event CA, United StatesZoom Program - CLICK HERE to signup
Start Date: Wednesday: October 21, 2020
Time: 7 PM to 8:30 PM
With Jules Evens
Since the establishment of a nesting colony of Osprey at Kent Lake beginning in the mid-1960’s, the local population grew exponentially, at least over the next three decades. Beginning in the mid-1990’s, the numbers leveled off and then began to decline somewhat. This presentation will trace the dynamics of that founding population, discuss the reasons for its local decline as well as the population’s expansion in the greater Bay Area.
Born and raised in New England, Jules lived with his family and worked as a wildlife biologist in western Marin County for over three decades. He currently lives in coastal Oregon but returns to Marin for field work and friendships. His primary research focuses on tidal wetlands, avian population trends, and species at-risk. He has written three California Natural History Guides: The Natural History of the Point Reyes Peninsula (3rd ed. 2008), An Introduction to California Birdlife with Ian Tait (2005), and Birds of the Northern California Coast with Rich Stallcup (2014).
Photo Credit: Dave Strauss
Online Birding: Red Tales, Hawkish Behaviors, and Migratory Stories – Revelations from the GGRO’s First 35 Years
Zoom Event CA, United StatesZoom Program - CLICK HERE to signup
Start Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Time: 7 PM to 8:30 PM
With Allen Fish
Each fall, tens of thousands of birds of prey funnel overhead at the Marin Headlands, the largest known raptor migration along the Pacific Coast. In the early 1980’s a few Marin citizens started conducting counting and banding studies on the flight, studies that drew many volunteers and soon evolved into the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, a full-fledged program of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy in cooperation with the National Park Service. Today, the GGRO is part of a broad program of community science and ecological stewardship coordinated by the Parks Conservancy, including ONE TAM, and the Native Plant Nurseries.
Now 35 years old, with four staff and 240 volunteers, the GGRO is the only barometer of migrating raptor populations in California, providing population trends and migration locations for up to 19 species of hawks, kites, falcons, eagles, osprey, vultures, and harriers. Along with keeping an annual pulse on California’s raptors, the GGRO has forged long-term relationships with local biologists – to study a range of stressors on the wild birds of prey we have in hand, among them, diseases, parasites, rat poisons and other toxins.
Come join us for an entertaining discussion of the GGRO, Migratory Story and all things raptor, as GGRO director Allen Fish delves into the best stories from Hawk Hill, as well as the unique meaning of 2020 for long-term bird monitoring. For many Bay Area birders, Allen needs no introduction. The GGRO’s first director, he was hired in 1985. With a background in evolutionary ecology and conservation biology from UC Davis, Allen has a particular interest in bird population responses to urban development, climate change, and other human pressures. His presentations always manage to inform and entertain audiences. This program will no doubt continue that tradition.
Online Birding: Improving Habitat for Central Valley Waterbirds
Zoom Event CA, United StatesImproving Habitat for Central Valley Waterbirds
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
7 PM to 8:30 PM
With Khara Strum
Sign up for the Zoom Webinar HERE
Did you know that over 50 percent of the potential habitat for migratory waterbirds in the Central Valley is also agricultural land? Farm fields might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of waterbirds, but here in California farmland is essential to supporting the millions of waterbirds that call the Central Valley home. Join Khara Strum for a tour of some of the ways Audubon California is working with farmers and private landowners to support migratory waterbirds in the Central Valley.
Khara Strum is a Conservation Project Manager for Audubon California. For the last decade, Khara has worked with agricultural industry groups, private landowners, and government agencies to increase the habitat value of farmland for birds and other wildlife in the Central Valley of California.
Feathers and Flight: A Journey to the New World Tropics
Zoom Event CA, United StatesSpeaker: Benjamin Jacobs-Schwartz
Host: Doug Waterman
Date: November 12, 2020
Start time: 7:30 PM
End time: 9:30 PM
Description: International Bird guide, naturalist and photographer, Benny Jacobs-Schwartz will share his dazzling bird photos, captivating videos, and animated story-telling to bring a slice of the tropics to your screen!
Delving into topics of migration, tropical speciation, and bio-diversity, this media rich journey will share some of the fascinating and unique birds that inhabit the new-world tropics. Designed to both educate and entertain, this presentation will certainly leave you with a deeper understanding of tropical ecology, and knowledge about where some of our backyard birds spend their winters!
Benny Isaac Jacobs-Schwartz owns and operates a bird guiding business and lifestyle brand called BIRDS by BIJS (pronounced Bee-jus). Working seasonally as a naturalist guide, expedition trip leader, and international bird guide, Benny works in a variety of locations. Most recently bringing him to such exotic places like coastal Alaska, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Ecuadorian cloud forest.
Seasonally Benny or BIJS, is based in Los Angeles, where he leads public and private birding adventures to urban hotspots. He is also a passionate photographer, specializing in birds. He uses his impressive collection of content to leverage his prolific social media presence. Benny hopes his love of the natural world will inspire others to conserve the open spaces around them and look up more often from their phones!
CLICK HERE to join the Zoom Speaker Series Event. A Q&A will follow the presentation. To ask a question use the Chat feature on Zoom.
Please contact for questions regarding Marin Audubon's Speaker Series events.
Sandhill Crane Populations in California’s Central Valley
Zoom Event CA, United StatesWednesday, December 2, 2020
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
With Gary Ivey, Ph.D.
CLICK HERE to register for the Zoom Event
While only occasionally seen in Marin, both breeding and wintering Sandhill Cranes can be found in greater abundance in California’s Central Valley and the broader Pacific Flyway. All things Sandhill Crane related will be covered in this program: some history, their status, their life history, migration routes, and breeding areas of the three subspecies that use our state. Dr. Ivey will also discuss where and when you can enjoy them during their winter season.
Dr. Ivey is an undisputed expert who has concentrated his work for over 35 years on waterbirds, waterfowl, and wetland conservation. Sandhill Cranes were the focus of both his Master’s Thesis and Ph.D. He currently serves as a Research Associate with the International Crane Foundation (Saving cranes and the places where cranes dance!) and works to further conservation of cranes, Trumpeter Swans, and other waterbirds in Western North America.
Refuge – a Film from Gray Lodge Wildlife Area
Zoom Event CA, United StatesDecember 9, 2020
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
With Director Mark Lipman
CLICK HERE to register for the Zoom Event
We invite you to immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of this dawn-to-dusk portrait of the Gray Lodge Wildlife Area in Gridley. When he first visited Gray Lodge in 2011, Director Mark Lipman was not a birder but was deeply touched by the beauty of the place and the symphony of bird sounds. On the night of our program, Mark will briefly introduce his film and be available for the Q&A session afterwards.
Mark created this beautiful film and sound recording over a period of three winters. His program is vastly different from our previous webinars and does not offer a classroom-type-learning presentation. Rather it offers an aesthetic, meditative experience that we hope you will enjoy as you head into the busy holiday season.
This forty-five minute film is intentionally slow paced with no talking, although we may have a birding expert quietly identify the varied birds as they appear on the screen CLICK HERE access a Bird List in advance of the program. Then you can bird your way through the film! We recommend that you view this film on your largest available screen as Mark has created a three-channel video with surround sound, and viewing would be optimum on a large screen.
Mark has worked as a documentary filmmaker for over thirty-five years, exploring a wide range of subjects from domestic violence to human sexuality to affordable housing and community organizing. His films have been broadcast nationally on public television and won numerous awards. Refuge is his first foray into video installations and the natural world.
When Waterbirds are in Crisis
CA, United StatesSpeaker: JD Bergeron
Host: Doug Waterman
Date: December 10, 2020
Start time: 7:30 PM
End Time: 9:30 PM
CLICK HERE to register for the Zoom Speaker Series Event. A Q&A will follow the presentation. To ask a question use the Chat feature on Zoom.
Description:
In 1971 after 800,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the bay, concerned individuals led by a registered nurse named Alice Berkner jumped into action, bringing International Bird Rescue to life. We have always had to pave a road where there is none. Staff and volunteers work with tenacity alongside clients, partners, and the public to find solutions. Today, we research best practices at our crisis response hospitals in California and Alaska and share them worldwide. Our mission is to inspire people to act toward balance with the natural world by rescuing waterbirds in crisis. We dream of a world in which every person, every day, takes action to protect the natural home of wildlife and ourselves.
We rescue thousands of Bay Area birds every year and provide high quality care for them in our Northern California wildlife center in Fairfield.
JD Bergeron is fascinated by birds. After 20 years of non-profit leadership, JD found a way to bring his passion together with his work experience to become the Executive Director of International Bird Rescue, a nonprofit founded during a major oil spill to help affected wildlife. An unconventional problem solver, JD has redirected Bird Rescue’s impressive track record of working over 230 oil spills to take on the many challenges wild waterbirds face today. JD leads by example, modeling qualities of integrity, mindfulness, and wonder for his dedicated team.
JD thrives on finding innovative ways to inspire others to take action. Moved by his time in the Peace Corps, the nonprofit startup Kiva, and his international travels, he founded Chooda, a volunteer-run incubator with the mission to help inspire change through outdoor adventures that engage individuals with world challenges.
A lifelong lover of nature, JD retreats to the outdoors to gain perspective and to soothe the soul. He counts his month among a million albatrosses on Midway Atoll as the experience of a lifetime. After the magic of Midway, JD returned to Bird Rescue with a renewed passion and commitment to protect the natural home of wildlife and ourselves. He lives with his husband and rescue dog Cosmo in Martinez, CA. His interests include spirituality, drawing, writing, cycling, and volunteering as a Burning Man Ranger.
Changes in Bird Status in the Central Valley
Zoom Event CA, United StatesSpeaker: John Sterling
Host: Doug Waterman
Date: January 14, 2021
Start time: 7:30 PM
End time: 9:30 PM
CLICK HERE to register for the Zoom Speaker Series Event. A Q&A will follow the presentation. To ask a question use the Chat feature on Zoom.
John will discuss the changes in our knowledge of bird distribution and populations in the Central Valley since the publication of Grinnell and Miller’s book on California birds in the 1940s. Loss of habitats, creation of new habitats, reduction of ranges, invasions of new species and other topics will be explored as we reconcile the fact that more species are detected now than prior to the book’s publication.
John is a professional ornithologist and has worked for the Smithsonian Institution, US Forest Service research stations, HT Harvey & Associates, Arizona and Oregon state universities among other organizations since 1981. John has traveled extensively throughout California learning about local bird distribution and is an authority on that state’s avifauna. In 2015 he set the California's new big year record with 501 species and has many big day records as well. John currently has his own company, Sterling Wildlife Biology (www.sterlingbirds.com), specializing in tours, birding classes, research and environmental consulting for The Nature Conservancy, National Audubon’s International Alliance Program, CA Dept. of Water Resources among other organizations.
Marin’s Breeding Birds (How We Know What We Know)
Zoom Event CA, United StatesWednesday, January 20, 2021
7 PM to 8:30 PM
With Dr. Dave DeSante
Sign up for the Zoom Webinar HERE
By way of welcoming the new re-study of the Marin County Breeding Bird Atlas, Dave DeSante offers his reflections on the various sources of evidence we have for the birds who nest here. He’ll talk about the importance of the study of avian populations, the Breeding Bird Survey sponsored by the US Geological Survey, and the MAPS bird banding program organized by the Institute for Bird Populations. An engaging raconteur, Dave will offer a rare-bird’s-eye-view that will interest birders of all levels.
Dr David F. DeSante received his PhD from Stanford University in 1973 with a ground-breaking study of ‘misorientation’ in bird migration. Over the course of a long career, he has been interested in population trends and phenology in North American birds. In 1989, he founded the Institute for Bird Populations, a non-profit devoted to the conservation of North American birds. He is widely published, writing both for popular and scholarly audiences. He resides in Forest Knolls.
New Breeding Bird Atlas
CA, United StatesWednesday, January 27, 2021
7 PM to 8:30 PM
With Atlas Coordinator Juan Garcia
Sign up for the Zoom Webinar HERE
As of this month, the Marin Audubon Society is launching its new breeding bird atlas project. Project leader Juan García will tell us how we got here – and where we’re headed. He’ll review the history of the original project (resulting in the first atlas, published in 1993), describe the goals of the new atlas, and discuss how the volunteers will gather and store data. Listeners will not only learn how the current project is organized but get a preview of key innovations that will be introduced in the new study.
Juan F. García is an independent contractor serving as overall Atlas Coordinator. He grew up on the coastal bend of south Texas, where he began studying birds. A former college professor, he has conducted field surveys for a wide variety of non-profits involved in avian conservation. He has been a Bay Area resident for many years, living presently in Point Reyes Station.
GIS in Conservation
CA, United StatesWednesday, February 3, 2021
4 PM to 5:30 PM - NOTE EARLIER STARTING TIME
With William Wiskes
Sign up for the Zoom Webinar HERE
Like every atlas project, the Marin County Breeding Bird Atlas will feature, at its core, a series of maps that track the distribution of our nesting birds. Join us for a fascinating exploration of high-tech map-making with William Wiskes. William will talk about the pleasures and pains of creating maps for a modern breeding bird atlas. He will focus especially on three classes of maps that he is developing for the Marin County BBA project: conventional paper (printable) maps, an interactive web-map, and a phone-based app that volunteers can use in the field.
William Wiskes, GIS Specialist, is the staff cartographer of the new Marin County Breeding Bird Atlas. He is currently a master’s degree candidate at San Francisco State University. An excellent field ornithologist, William has worked on numerous projects in conservation biology, including, among others, field studies of raptors, Pacific Wren, and Black Rail.
Marin’s Booming Bird Populations: Three-quarters of a Century of Avifaunal Expansion
Zoom Event CA, United StatesSpeaker: Roger Harris
Host: Doug Waterman
Date: February 11, 2021
Start time: 7:30 PM
End time: 9:30 PM
Please sign up HERE
Many of our common Marin County birds, whose abundance we now take for granted, were rare or absent only three-quarters of a century ago. Since the beginning of the Southern Marin Christmas Bird County in the 1970s, for instance, Red-shouldered Hawk detections have increased tenfold. Habitat restoration and maturation, conservation efforts, and cultural changes in the behavior of individual bird species have all contributed to shifting – and, for Marin, generally increasing – bird populations.
Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, and Great Blue Herons, which had been extirpated from the Bay Area, returned in the mid-twentieth century. Black-necked Stilts were first recorded nesting in our marshes in the mid-1960s, followed by American Avocets in 1984. In 1996, Forster’s Terns nested in Corte Madera Shorebird Marsh for the first time in Marin County.
The dean of California ornithology, Joseph Grinnell, wrote in 1915 that the Ridgway’s Rail “seems destined to early extinction.” The rail is the logo bird of the Marin Audubon Society and conservation advocacy efforts have made Grinnell’s prediction of a century ago at least premature.
Our speaker, Roger Harris, will unpack the evolving dynamics of avifaunal population change using data from Christmas Bird Counts, the Marin County Breeding Bird Atlas, and a variety of other sources. Roger is a Certified Wildlife Biologist and a longtime member of the Marin Audubon Society. Once the pandemic resolves, he hopes to return to leading international eco-tours for the Oceanic Society.
Photo courtesy of Roger Harris
Can Citizen Science Save Us?
Zoom Event CA, United StatesWednesday, February 17, 2021
7 PM to 8:30 PM
With Mary Ellen Hannibal
Sign up for the Webinar HERE
Mary Ellen Hannibal is an award-winning author. Her book Citizen Scientist: Searching for Heroes and Hope in an Age of Extinction was named a best book of 2016 by the San Francisco Chronicle and won a Nautilus book award. She frequently contributes to Bay Nature, Nautilus, the New York Times, and Science magazines. Her Stanford TEDx talk addresses citizen science in general: Can Citizen Science Save Us? Her most recent TED addresses How you can help save the monarch butterfly, and the planet. Citizen science is an old/new practice of direct observation of nature by amateurs. Today the practice is turbo-charged by smartphone technology and vast computing power. It is needed as never before, because plants and animals are disappearing too fast, and Earth is undergoing a mass extinction. The good news is that citizen science is a concept, a format, and a tool for addressing environmental problems at a local level, including the urban environment. In this talk I'll go over some of the basics of citizen science and focus on local projects that make a difference.
Birding-by-Kayak on the Russian River
Zoom Event CA, United StatesSpeakers: Miles and Teresa Tuffli
Host: Doug Waterman
Date: March 11
Start time: 7:30 PM
End time: 9:30 PM
CLICK HERE to join the Zoom Speaker Series
Photo credit: Green Heron by Teresa & Miles Tuffli
Join Teresa and Miles Tuffli as they take you on a virtual birding-by-kayak trip along the lower Russian River in Sonoma County. A leisurely paddle is an ideal way to experience the wildlife the Russian River has to offer on a gorgeous summer day. Herons, swallows, raptors, ducks, and songbirds galore are easily observed while quietly moving along the tranquil river. They'll share some of their favorite photos and audio recordings captured while kayaking and map out their preferred launch spot and route.
Miles and Teresa Tuffli are avid birders from Guerneville who especially love helping “bird-curious” folks take the next step of getting into the field to enjoy the bird world! They lead guided bird walks and give educational presentations for local organizations including the PRNSA Field Institute, Redwood Region Ornithological Society, Laguna Foundation, and Sonoma Land Trust. Residents of West Sonoma County for 11 years, Miles and Teresa also enjoy writing about and documenting our local birds at their website: I’m Birding Right Now ( https://imbirdingrightnow.com).