ONLINE ZOOM PROGRAMS

KEY FOREST ISUES THAT AFFECT BIRDS AND OTHER WILDLIFE  JOHN BUCKLEY- SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

This program will feature striking photos of high-severity wildfires, beautiful wild forest areas, a diversity of wildlife, and examples of forest treatments that may be applied to public forest lands. This fast-paced slide show will cover a range of forest issues, from the trade-offs that result from leaving the forest “unmanaged" to potential effects of aggressive treatments at the other end of the spectrum. The bird and other wildlife photos will make this program compelling for people of all ages and 

JULY 9, 2021 - THE GREAT SOUTH TEXAS BIRDING ADVENTURE with Jim Gain

On a very early Monday morning on April 26, 2021, 3 intrepid birders from California’s Central Valley set out to travel to the Lower Rio Grande Valley in search of BIRDS. By the time they returned 9 days later, a total of 206 life Texas birds would be checked off their combined eBird totals. Join Jim Gain as he shares the adventures that he, Rich Brown and Jim Rowoth experienced along the Lower Rio Grande River, Texas.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Stanislaus Audubon Board Member since 1988, Jim has served as Webmaster, StanislausBirds Administrator, eBird Reviewer, & Stanislaus Bird Records Committee member. He was until recently a teacher and administrator with Modesto City Schools. He taught Biology, Earth Science and Spanish for 20 years before serving as the District's Instructional Technology Supervisor for 14 years.

JUNE 11, 2021 - A BIRDING TRIP TO CUBA with Chris Conard

In February 2018, Chris Conard took Victor Emanuel Nature Tours into the western two-thirds of the biologically diverse island of Cuba. There was a birding emphasis, but they also visited cultural sites, met locals, and received historical background from excellent guides. 

They saw most of the Cuban and West Indian endemics: Cuban Trogon, Cuban Pygmy Owl, Cuban Gnatcatcher, Cuban Grassquit, Cuban Green Woodpecker, Giant and Loggerhead Kingbirds, Zapata Wren, Zapata Sparrow, Blue-headed Quail-Dove, Fernandina's Flicker, and the world's smallest bird, the Bee Hummingbird. American Flamingoes and wintering warblers allowed for great photographic opportunities.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Chris Conard is a Natural Resource Specialist at the Bufferlands in Sacramento County. He regularly leads field trips for Sacramento Audubon, serves as a county editor for eBird, and recently finished six years as president of the Central Valley Bird Club. 

MAY 14, 2021 - WEST COAST PELAGIC BIRDING with Alvaro Jaramillo

Pelagic birding is when you go offshore and look for the truly marine species that you usually cannot see from shore. It is one of the most exciting and amazing birding you can do, yet it all happens while you are on a boat, and that creates some complexity. In a sense, you are birding in a foreign environment, on an unfamiliar platform. Yet for those who get hooked, oh boy! This is where birding dreams can come true. Alvaro will take you through a bit about ocean ecology, what birds you can see in the Pacific, and how to maximize comfort while out there. 

If you have never been out in the Pacific, those pages in the book with storm-petrels, shearwaters, albatrosses, petrels, and murrelets—well, they might as well be birds found on the moon! Alvaro’s introduction to pelagic birding will hopefully leave you with a taste of what is awesome about a West Coast offshore venture.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Alvaro Jaramillo lives in the coastal town of Half Moon Bay. He runs a birding company that organizes tours throughout the world. In the summer and fall, however, you can find him on many weekends leading pelagic birding trips out of Half Moon Bay, Morro Bay, Monterey, and Bodega Bay in California

MARCH 12, 2021 - SKETCHING AND DRAWING BIRDS with Matthew Dodder

Matthew will discuss his evolution from an untrained bird scribbler to something more refined, but still essentially a self-taught illustrator. His drawings began as crude field sketches in ballpoint pen and eventually became more detailed and thoughtful, through trial and error, and the discovery of the pencil and its eraser. He advocates drawing birds as a means to improve one’s observation skills and visual memory—challenging everyone to give it a try. He will show how he begins with a sketch and ends up with a fully rendered colored drawing.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Matthew Dodder was born in California and moved to New England with his parents, who made him shovel snow for four-teen years while they stayed inside by the fire. He loved to draw Snow Buntings and Common Redpolls that he saw during his time in the ice, as well as the Blackburnian Warblers and Scarlet Tanagers he found every spring. What he REALLY wanted, though, was to move back to California after his long sentence in the cold, muggy and oppressive Northeast. Matthew brought his parents back with him to Palo Alto. He began teaching Advanced Birding at Palo Alto Adult School in 1999, where he also met his future wife “Cricket.”

They have since had many birding experiences together, including when Matthew got dangerously close to a Southern Cassowary in Australia. Matthew has served on the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society Board of Directors for five years and became executive director in 2019.

He also loves to draw birds with colored pencils. His art blog is neornithes.wordpress.com.

FEBRUARY 12, 2021 - ALEUTIAN GOOSE RECOVERY - PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE with Eric Hopson

The recovery of the Aleutian Canada (Cackling) Goose from near extinction in the late 1960s has been a remarkable success story for the Endangered Species Act and modern wildlife management.

Removal of non-native predators from key nesting islands in the Aleutian chain, along with other actions including hunting closures and protection of important migratory stopover and wintering habitat areas, are considered primary reasons for this success. Many individuals and groups have made this recovery path possible.

Partnerships with private landowners have also played a major role. Born in partnerships which continue today, the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1987, thanks to the National Audubon Society and a financial contribution from Joseph M. Long and Don Lundberg.

As the population continues to grow and expand its range, the San Joaquin River NWR remains a core fall/winter habitat area.. 

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Eric Hopson has been the Assistant Refuge Manager at San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge since 2002. He has a Bachelor degree in Wild-life Management from Humboldt State University. He served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana from 1989-92. Eric has worked as a biologist and manager at National Wildlife Refuges in Texas, Nevada and California. 

JANUARY 15, 2021 - BIRDS OF THE SAN JOAQUIN RIVER NWR with Jim Gain

This presentation will take a look at the changes to the valley over time and the importance of the Refuge today. We will look at the dominant and secondary habitats that are flourishing as well as the seasonal status of bird populations including residency, abundance and distribution. A photographic tour of birds photographed on the refuge will conclude the presentation.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Jim Gain Stanislaus Audubon Board Member since 1988, Jim has served as Webmaster, StanislausBirds Administrator, eBird Reviewer, & Stanislaus Bird Records Committee member. He was until recently a teacher and administrator with Modesto City Schools. He taught Biology, Earth Science and Spanish for 20 years before serving as the District's Instructional Technology Supervisor for 14 years.

December 11, 2020 - BIRDS OF BELIZE with Rich Cimino

Rich Cimino has been birding Northern California for fifty-two years.  He currently lives in Marin County, volunteering with Marin Audubon Society on conservation and management committees.  He also works for the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory Hawk Watch, the McNear Swift Watch Group, and is a docent and board member at Olompali State Park.  As a past resident of Alameda County, Rich was the Conservation Chair of Ohlone Audubon Society.  He was active in the Altamont Pass Wind Turbine Mitigation Initiative, as well as creating the Eastern Alameda Christmas Bird Count, now in its tenth year.

Rich established Yellow-billed Tours twenty years ago.  He leads small-group field trips into many of the Important Birding Areas through California. His spring and fall birding tours include Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and spring in Wisconsin timed for the arriving Caribbean warbler migration. 

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Rich leads annual June field trips into Alaska—Nome, Barrow, Seward and Gambell.  In March of every year, he offers tropical birding tours into Guatemala and Belize, which is the focus of this Zoom Audubon program.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020 - BIRDS OF MONO LAKE AND BIRDS OF COLOMBIA with Santiago M. Escruceria

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Santiago M. Escruceria is a Colombian-born American citizen residing in California for the past 41 years. He graduated with a BA in Cultural Anthropology and a minor in Environmental Studies from Sonoma State University. He has taught environmental education, in Spanish and English, for the past 30 years, 21 of which he has spent with the Mono Lake Committee. At Mono Lake he manages the Committee's Outdoor Education Center program for Los Angeles youth. Santiago is an avid birder and bird photographer, leading birding adventures in Colombia during the winter and walks for school groups in the Mono Basin during the rest of the year. • guadualitobirdingtours.com. He is currently the president of the Eastern Sierra Audubon Chapter.

AUGUST 14, 2020 - Birding the Sky Islands of Arizona with Jim Gain

The Sky Islands of SE Arizona are home to many unique bird species found nowhere else in the US. Recently returned from a pre-COVID-19 birding trip with Rich Brown earlier this year, Jim will share the geographic and climatic influences that make this area so special and share a delightful photographic display of birds he has photographed there. 

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Jim Gain Stanislaus Audubon Board Member since 1988, Jim has served as Webmaster, StanislausBirds Administrator, eBird Reviewer, & Stanislaus Bird Records Committee member. He was until recently a teacher and administrator with Modesto City Schools. He taught Biology, Earth Science and Spanish for 20 years before serving as the District's Instructional Technology Supervisor for 14 years.