Wednesday, 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.

Wednesday, 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.

Wednesday, 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.