The Ponds at Las Gallinas Sanitary District – San Rafael
Thursday December 7th, 2023
8:30 AM to noon
Birding with Sande and Bob Chilvers
No registration required. All participants are welcome to join this trip.
Join old friends and meet new ones as we resume our regularly scheduled walks on the first Thursday of the month at Las Gallinas. Special thanks to Bob and Sande Chilvers for volunteering once again to lead our monthly walks in search of waterfowl, waders, songbirds, raptors, and shorebirds. Among other birds, we will see various species of rails, swallows and teals. With fall migration underway, we are likely to spot some interesting species, so come assist in our search.
We welcome bird enthusiasts of all levels, especially beginning birders on this leisurely walk around the ponds We all help each other to find and identify the birds, and there are usually several experienced birders to assist. You don’t even have to arrive on time because we spend the first 30-60 minutes studying the birds around the first pond, and our group is easy to find.
DIRECTIONS: From Hwy 101, exit at Smith Ranch Rd. Drive east on Smith Ranch Rd. toward McInnis Park. Turn left immediately after crossing the railroad tracks and drive about 0.5 mile through the LGVSD gates and into the parking lot at the end of the road. Meet the group by the bridge just past the parking lot. There is an outhouse in the parking area for public use or you can use the bathrooms at nearby McInnis Park.
Loch Lomond Marina – San Rafael
Saturday, December 9, 2023
8:30 AM to 11:00 AM
Birding with Rich Cimino
No registration required. All participants are welcome to join this trip.
Join Rich for an easy stroll around the Loch Lomond Marina breakwater, wheelchair accessible with a paved path out to the end. The path provides panoramic views of the surrounding bay and gives you the feeling of actually being out on the bay in close proximity to the Marin Islands.
Winter birds here include Black-bellied Plover, Black Turnstone, Least and Western Sandpipers, Black Oystercatcher, and a variety of ducks on the bay. If you have a scope, bring it for a better look at the ducks.
DIRECTIONS: Head east on Second Street in San Rafael, which turns into Point San Pedro Road. Continue approximately 2 miles past the Montecito Shopping Center to a red light at the intersection of Point San Pedro Road and Loch Lomond Drive. Turn right here, then turn left in front of Andy’s Market where the road comes to a “T” at the water- front. Continue all the way to the end of the road where you will find ample parking and a public restroom. Meet in the parking lot next to Andy’s Market, 75 Loch Lomond Dr. Come early for coffee and chat.
Dress warmly as some winter days here are cold and windy. Heavy rain cancels.
Protecting Biodiversity and Facilitating Landscape-scale Tidal Marsh Restoration: Management of Invasive Spartina in the San Francisco Estuary
Thursday, December 14, 2023, 7:00 pm - 9 pm
Speaker: Jen McBroom, California Invasive Plant Council
Register HERE for this Speaker Series Program
Topic:
San Francisco Bay is the largest estuary on the west coast of North America and a critical stopover along the Pacific Flyway migration route for millions of shorebirds and waterfowl. Rimming the Bay between freeways, airports, and landfills remain precious tidal wetlands and opportunities to return salt evaporator ponds to functioning ecosystems. Since 2005, the Coastal Conservancy’s Invasive Spartina Project has used airboats, genetic testing, sophisticated GIS, and a lot of hard, muddy work to push back the invasive plants that threaten habitat for shorebirds, waterfowl, and the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse. Learn about how hometown heroes are doing their part to address the global biodiversity crisis.
Speaker Bio:
Jen McBroom is a biologist at Olofson Environmental Inc. and has been counting Ridgway’s rails for the Invasive Spartina Project since 2005. She got her start in the tidal wetlands of the San Francisco Bay studying song sparrows and marsh wrens after finishing her degree at UC Davis. Since then, she has logged many hours in muddy boots mapping invasive plants and observing the wildlife at the edge of the Bay.
Photo: Marsh along San Leandro Bay
Photo by: Simon Gunner
Next Speaker - Thursday, January 11, 2024
Northern Spotted Owls, by Taylor Ellis, National Park Service
Point Reyes Christmas Bird Count
Point Reyes CBC covering West Marin including Tomales Bay and the Point Reyes National Seashore. Register HERE and to get more information on the count and dinner.
The Ponds at Las Gallinas Sanitary District – San Rafael
Thursday, January 4, 2023
8:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Birding with Sande and Bob Chilvers
No registration required. All participants are welcome to join this trip.
Join old friends and meet new ones on our regularly scheduled walks on the first Thursday of the month at Las Gallinas. We welcome bird enthusiasts of all levels, especially beginning birders, on this leisurely walk around the ponds. Special thanks to Bob and Sande Chilvers for volunteering once again to lead our monthly walks in search of waterfowl, waders, songbirds, raptors, and shorebirds. Among other birds, we will see various species of rails, swallows and teals.
Stinson – Bolinas Birding Area
Birding in Marin Season 9-Trip 1
Saturday, January 6, 2024
8:30 AM to 3:30 PM
Birding with Jim White and Bob Battagin
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration opens on December 27, 2023 at 8 AM
A healthy happy New Year to you all. Bob and I are pleased to share the bird rich Stinson Beach/ Bolinas birding area with you. Coupled with non freezing winter weather and many diverse habitats the CBC, Southern Marin Christmas Bird Counts, show this to be most specie rich, birdiest, area in Southern Marin county. These habitats include the ocean, beaches, rocky shores, a large lagoon with acres of mudflats, Douglas Fir and Redwood forests, Alder riparian, parking lots, residential and more. The CBC data show an average of over 125 specie winter in this area. Plus, many of these birds, like ducks, gulls and shorebirds, are rather easy to see as they float about on the water or walk along the open shores. Can we find 100 species today?
Northern Spotted Owls
Thursday, January 11, 2024
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Speaker: Taylor Ellis, U.S. National Park Service
Register HERE for this Speaker Series
Topic:
Taylor will discuss Marin’s unique spotted owl population, which is geographically and genetically distinct from other northern spotted owl populations to our north. Northern spotted owls are considered an indicator species of healthy forests and were federally listed as a threatened subspecies in the 1990s and have been monitored closely by the National Park Service and Point Blue since then. Taylor will discuss the main threats to Marin’s spotted owls, including the threat from barrel owls, who have taken over most of the nesting sites for spotted owls to our north. He will also discuss what makes Marin's spotted owl population so unique relative to others.
Speaker Bio:
Taylor Ellis is a wildlife technician at Point Reyes National Seashore, where he implements the northern spotted owl monitoring program as well as monitoring other wildlife species throughout the year. Taylor has been working with spotted owls for 20 breeding seasons since first interning with the U.S. Forest Service in New Mexico in 2003. Taylor received his M.S. in Biology from Sonoma State University after studying the indirect impacts of tule elk on small mammal populations at Tomales Point in Point Reyes National Seashore.
Photos: Northern Spotted Owl
Photo by: Taylor Ellis
Next Speaker - Thursday, February 8, 2024
Snowy Plover - by Matthew Lau, National Park Service
Loch Lomond Marina – San Rafael
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration required. Registration opens on January 7 at 8:00 AM.
Join Roger Harris and other Marin Audubon board members for a field trip specifically designed for people interested in getting some of the birding basics down. And there is no place better suited for that than the half-mile-long flat and paved levee path at the Loch Lomond Marina. With panoramic views of the surrounding bay, we should get close-up views of wintering waterbirds including Black Turnstones, diminutive Least Sandpipers, Black Oystercatchers with bubblegum pink legs, Snowy Egrets sporting golden slippers, and a variety of ducks, grebes, gulls, and cormorants. This is a terrific place for photography, if you like, but each participant is requested to bring binoculars.
Olompali State Historic Park – Novato
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
9:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Birding with Rich Cimino
No registration required for this trip. All participants are welcome to join.
Olompali State Park has reopened after a nearly nine-month closure due to mudslide damage. It’s always an exciting time to birdwatch at Olompali State Historic Park! Beginning and experienced birders are invited to join Rich Cimino to bird the park. We will walk the old ranch road to the park’s reservoir. We hope to see a wide variety of species that thrive in the park’s oak savanna and open grasslands.
Meet Rich at 9:15 AM in the parking lot. The field trip will start at 9:30 .
DIRECTIONS: Exit Hwy 101 at Atherton Ave/ San Marin Dr in Novato. Follow the signs to Olompali State Historic Park. A right turn onto the Old Redwood Hwy frontage road will take you to the park. There is an $8 cash only parking fee. Recently, the park gates have been opening by 8:30 AM.
Skagg’s Island Road
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
10 AM - 2 PM
Birding with Daniel Edelstein
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration required. Registration opens January 21st at 8AM.
Skaggs Island Road; flat, level hiking on road for no more than 1.5 miles; lunch at bridge ~.6 mile from the parking area at Highway 37.
Daniel invites you to discover the joy of a wilderness-like paradise — Skaggs Island Road — that often attracts dozens of shorebird and duck family members, in addition to uncommon, visiting non-breeding raptors such as Rough-legged Hawk, Ferruginous Hawk, and Merlin (along with sightings of White-tailed Kite and other raptor species).
Closed to the public, Skaggs Island Road is accessed by meeting our group in the parking area adjacent to Hwy. 37 (approximately 3 miles east of Reclamation Road and 2 miles east of the Highway 121/Sears Point Raceway intersection (at the stoplight). We’ll meet on the north side of Hwy. 37 where it intersects with Skaggs Is. Rd. and bird together while walking north on the road.
Please be careful turning into this road when coming from Marin Co. because oncoming traffic is often heavy.
Here’s a map link that shows where we’ll meet:
https://www.google.com/maps/search/Skaggs+Island+Road,+Highway+37/@38.1563398,-122.3935838,14z
Daniel is a freelance Birding Guide (WarblerWatch.com) and Consulting Avian Biologist. His web site (WarblerWatch.com) features abundant birding information, in addition to his 17-year-old warbler-centric blog (WarblerWatch.blogspot.com).
The Ponds at Las Gallinas Sanitary District – San Rafael
Thursday 1, February , 2024
8:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Birding with Sande and Bob Chilvers
No registration required. All participants are welcome to join this trip.
Join old friends and meet new ones on our regularly scheduled walks on the first Thursday of the month at Las Gallinas. We welcome bird enthusiasts of all levels, especially beginning birders, on this leisurely walk around the ponds. Special thanks to Bob and Sande Chilvers for volunteering once again to lead our monthly walks in search of waterfowl, waders, songbirds, raptors, and shorebirds. Among other birds, we will see various species of rails, swallows and teals.
With fall migration underway, we are likely to spot some interesting species, so come assist in our search. We all help each other to find and identify the birds, and there are usually several experienced birders to assist. You don’t even have to arrive on time because we spend the first 30-60 minutes studying the birds around the first pond, and our group is easy to find.
DIRECTIONS: From Hwy 101, exit at Smith Ranch Rd. Drive east on Smith Ranch Rd. toward McInnis Park. Turn left immediately after crossing the railroad tracks and drive about 0.5 mile through the LGVSD gates and into the parking lot at the end of the road. Meet the group by the bridge just past the parking lot. There is an outhouse in the parking area for public use or you can use the bathrooms at nearby McInnis Park.
Sausalito, Mill Valley, Strawberry Point
Birding in Marin, Season 9, Trip 2
Saturday, February 3, 2024
8:30 AM to 3:30 PM
Birding with Jim White and Bob Battagin
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration opens Wednesday, January 24 at 8 AM.
We are going to explore the bay from the Sausalito water front to the Golden Gate and Richardson’s Bay around to Strawberry Point and on to Blacky’s pasture in Tiburon. Many ducks, loons and grebes winter on the bay waters and we may find close comparative looks at similar species pairs like Eared and Horned or Clark’s and Western Grebes, of Red-throated, Pacific and Common Loons or Greater and Lesser Scaup. We are likely to find some shorebirds too, perhaps a Spotted Sandpiper or a rather rare Wandering Tattler.
Herring runs happen around this time of year and if we are lucky they will still be numerous. Herring deposit large numbers of eggs on eelgrass, which water birds, especially gulls, love to feast on. Last year near this time I think that 10 species of gulls were located. So brush up on your gull IDs and join Bob and I along the shore.
DIRECTIONS: Meet at the east end of Harbor Drive. Handicap Accessible. We will park where the birding is close, near level and smooth. Thanks to enlightened development planning, Harbor Drive and the rather posh Strawberry spit have fine public shoreline paths.
Snowy Plovers
Zoom Event CA, United StatesThursday, February 8, 2024
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Speaker: Matthew Lau, U.S. National Park Service
Register HERE for this Speaker Series
Topic:
There is a small but locally significant breeding population of western snowy plovers at Point Reyes National Seashore. They are federally listed as Threatened and California state listed as a Species of Special Concern, but the local breeding population size has been gradually increasing over the past half decade due to intensive management and monitoring across the range. Matt will present on the fascinating breeding biology of western snowy plovers, cover local conservation issues that snowy plovers face, and review local population trends and ongoing research and management at Point Reyes National Seashore.
Winter Birds of the Delta – Boat Trip
Sunday, February 18th, 2024 - Rescheduled from 2/4 due to bad weather
8:40 AM to 4:00 PM
Birding with David Wimpfheimer
Register HERE for this Boat Trip
The trip costs $130. Registration for this trip opens January 8 at 8 AM.
A waitlist will open if the trip sells out. Add your name to the list by clicking Contact Organizer prompt. You may cancel your ticket for a refund until 9AM on February 2nd by clicking Contact Organizer on the Ticketbud site and leaving a message.
Tomales Bay State Park
Wednesday, February 28, 2024
10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Birding with Rich Cimino
Register HERE for this field trip
Registration required. Registration opens February 18th at 8 AM.
As we bird the trails of the State Park on this field trip, we will also discuss the Forest Health & Fire Resilience management plan for the California State Parks.
Mt. Tam and Corte Madera Marshes
Birding in Marin - Season 9, Trip 3
Saturday, March 2, 2024
8:30 AM to mid-afternoon
Birding with Jim White and Bob Battagin
Register HERE for this field trip
Registration opens Wednesday, February 21st at 8 AM.
Mount Tamalpais, rising like an icon above Marin, hosts some birds uncommonly seen in the rest of the county such as Pileated Woodpecker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Purple Finch, Red Crossbill, and in the winter, 1 or 2 Townsend’s Solitaire.
The Ponds at Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District
Thursday, March 7, 2024
8:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Birding with Sande and Bob Chilvers
No registration required. All participants are welcome to join this trip.
Join old friends and meet new ones on our regularly scheduled walks on the first Thursday of the month at Las Gallinas. We welcome bird enthusiasts of all levels, especially beginning birders, on this leisurely walk around the ponds. Special thanks to Bob and Sande Chilvers for volunteering once again to lead our monthly walks in search of waterfowl, waders, songbirds, raptors, and shorebirds. Among other birds, we will see various species of rails, swallows and teals.
Re-discovering and Conserving the Black-Naped Pheasant-Pigeon, A Critically Endangered Species
Thursday, March 14, 2024
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Speaker: Jordan Boersma, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Register HERE for this speaker series
Topic:
Jordan will discuss the Black-naped Pheasant-Pigeon, a critically endangered species that hasn’t been documented by scientists since it was first described in 1882. In 2022, Jordan and his team embarked on an expedition to Fergusson Island, Papua New Guinea, and by leveraging the natural history knowledge of local hunters, was able to confirm the existence of this species, known locally as Auwo., thus demonstrating the invaluable role of Indigenous communities in ongoing efforts to relocate species lost to Western science. Plans are to build on the partnerships formed in 2022 to help conserve this elusive and culturally important species and continue to uncover natural history information about Auwo and other endemic taxa on Fergusson island.