Marin Audubon Society

Olompali State Historic Park
2024-12-15 09:00 - 12:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Sunday, December 15, 2024
9 AM to 12:30 PM
Birding with Rich Cimino (Yellowbilled Tours) and Evan Weissman (Olompali State Historic Park)
No registration or participant limit for this trip
Join us to admire the winter birds of Olompali State Historic Park in Novato. We’ll explore grassland, savannah, and riparian habitats, as well as the remnants of the 150-year-old Victorian garden. Expect to see and hear overwintering birds such as kinglets, warblers, sparrows, and maybe a Red-breasted Sapsucker or Say’s Phoebe, as well as year-round residents including six woodpecker species, raptors, and quail.
We’ll walk at a fairly slow pace, about 1.5 miles roundtrip, on wide gravel and dirt trails, with moderate slope in portions. Bring binoculars if you have them; we’ll also have a few to loan. Rain cancels.
DIRECTIONS: Meet at 9 AM in the Olompali State Historic Park parking lot. There is no charge for the trip, but parking is $8, payable by cash, check, or via smartphone with QR code at the parking lot. No fee is charged if you borrow a free State Park pass from your local public library.

Point Reyes CBC
2024-12-19
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.

Southern Marin CBC
2024-12-28
South Marin CBC covering much of East Marin and extending west as far as Bolinas and Stinson Beach. Contact: Alison Pence: smcbc.marinaudubon@gmail.com
Please fill out THIS FORM to volunteer for the Southern Marin Bird Count. Please email Alison Pence if you are willing to carpool.

Las Gallinas Sanitary District & Hamilton Wetlands
2025-01-04 08:30 - 15:00
Birding in Marin, Season 10 – Trip 1
Saturday, January 4, 2025
8:30 AM to mid afternoon
Birding with Jim White and Bob Battagin
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration required. Registration opens at 8 AM on December 26
Bob and I are leading our Birding in Marin monthly first Saturday field trips for the tenth season sponsored by the MAS. Please join us as we go birding with a goal of finding and sharing 100 species at two of our prime wintering habitats for ducks, shorebirds, raptors and sparrows. Las Gallinas is a great example of generating wildlife habitat with ample human access. This will be a 2 mile walk over a wide, flat packed dirt walkway with plenty of scope views to share closeups.
The Hamilton wetlands have been restored with intelligence, sensitivity, and precision. The birds and wildlife have appreciated this and come back in numbers that we expect to share. The walk is flat over a wide, mostly paved walkway, accessible via a ramp.
DIRECTIONS: From Hwy 101 in northern San Rafael take Smith Ranch Road east about a mile, just crossing the tracks turn left and park in 1/2 mile near the east end. Meet at Las Gallinas VSD parking lot.

Migratory Shore Bird Project: Connecting Communities of the Americas through Research for Conservation
2025-01-09 19:00 - 21:00
Thursday, January 9, 2025
7:00 – 9:00 PM
Speaker: Matthew Reiter – Point Blue Conservation Science
Register HERE for this Speaker Series
Topic:
Shorebirds are some of the most migratory species on the planet. However, their populations in the Western Hemisphere have been declining over the past 40 years. To better understand what is driving changes in shorebird populations and to turn data into knowledge and then conservation action, in 2011 Point Blue and partners launched a coordinated research, monitoring and conservation network for shorebirds in the Pacific Americas Flyway. The Migratory Shorebird Project is now a network of over 50 partners in 13 countries from Canada to Chile working together to study shorebirds and shorebird habitats and to implement conservation actions at scales that are relevant for these long-distance travelers.
Speaker Bio:
As a Research Director and quantitative ecologist with Point Blue Conservation Science, Dr. Matt Reiter’s work focuses on the ecology and conservation of migratory waterbirds and their wetland habitats in order to understand the impacts of threats such as habitat loss and climate change across broad migratory landscapes. Matt received an M.S. (2006) and Ph.D. (2009) in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Minnesota and has been at Point Blue since 2009.
Next Speaker:
Thursday, February 13, 2025
Bay Area Wildlife: An Irreverent Guide
Speaker: Jeff Miller

Skagg's Island Road
2025-01-10 10:00 - 13:30
Friday, January 10, 2025
10 AM to 1:30 PM
Birding with Daniel Edelstein
Register HERE for this Field Trip
Registration required. Registration opens at 8 AM on December 31, 2024
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). Skaggs Island Road has flat, level hiking for no more than 1.5 miles; bring your lunch, we’ll eat at the bridge approximately 0.6 mile from the parking area at Hwy 37.
DIRECTIONS: 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 Rd and 2 miles east of the Hwy 121/Sears Point Raceway intersection (at the stoplight). We’ll meet on the north side of Hwy 37 where it intersects with Skaggs Island Road. Here’s a map link that shows where we’ll meet: https://bit.ly/3YYIJeg. Please be careful turning into this road when coming from Marin County. Oncoming traffic is often heavy.
