Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour
2021-05-16 10:00 - 15:00, 2021-05-23 10:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Online
In a series of live garden visits passionate garden owners and the talented designers of the Bay Area’s most beautiful and inspiring landscapes will show us what’s happening in the garden now, feature their favorite natives, describe their great native plant gardening resources, and more.

California’s Iconic Oaks and Their Many Relations
2021-05-19 19:00 - 20:00 | Online
Oaks support more life forms than any other tree in North America, and California’s oaks are no exception. In a presentation filled with woodpeckers, woodrats, Wood Ducks, and many other organisms, author and naturalist Kate Marianchild will explain why oaks play such an important role in oak woodland food webs. She will talk about animals that rely on oaks for food, shelter, foraging substrate, and more, and oak mistletoe as a keystone genus. We’ll hear about the eleven functions of a gray squirrel’s tail, and we’ll marvel at the tiny wasps who bend oaks to their bidding. We will crawl with Kate through woodrat mansions, fight for breeding opportunities with Acorn Woodpeckers, and navigate through an oak with the third eye of the western fence lizard. Who could stay away?

Blackbirds—A Journey Through the Americas
2021-05-20 17:00 - 18:00 | Online
The Icteridae are the blackbirds, but they include many colorful species such as the orioles and meadowlarks as well as the all-black species, such as cowbirds and grackles. Some of the tropical species, such as the oropendolas are downright amazing-looking and sounding birds. This group of birds is only found in the Americas and they are amongst our most interesting of landbirds, behavior, mating strategies, and breeding biology is more diverse than in any other group of songbirds in our continent. This talk is to introduce people to the awesomely interesting group of birds. After this talk, you won’t walk by a Brewer’s Blackbird or Red-winged Blackbird without thinking about how much more complex they are than a sparrow or a warbler. Our quest to see the diversity of the blackbirds will also take us to some interesting parts of the American continent and the Caribbean.
Alvaro Jaramillo is an Affiliated Senior Biologist with SFBBO and the owner of Alvaro’s Adventures where he leads workshops and birding trips throughout the world. He has a B.S. in Zoology and an M.S. in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Toronto, and also conducted research at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is an author and contributor to numerous field guides and popular publications, including the American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of California and New World Blackbirds.

NightSchool: Songbirds in Spring
2021-05-20 19:00 - 20:00 | Online
Signs of spring: flowers, pollinators, and bird songs. If you’ve noticed more avian chatter, movement, and transportation of nesting material, it’s because it’s bird breeding season. Join the California Academy of Sciences to learn about how scientists monitor the health of California songbird populations and get a peek into the Academy’s stunning collection of eggs and nests.
To-dos for songbirds during the breeding season: Build a nest, keep hungry nestlings fed, and protect nest from predators. Hilary Allen, Avian Ecologist at Point Blue Conservation Science, talks about the sneaky and fascinating behavior of songbirds, and what nest monitoring can teach us about their reproductive success, fitness, and survival.
Because most birds sing when they are on their breeding territories, trained observers often survey birds by recognizing their unique calls and songs. Jack Dumbacher, Academy Curator of Ornithology, will talk about how this is done now, and introduce some of the exciting new technologies that researchers are developing to use song and automated recording units to scale up songbird surveys.
Collections manager Moe Flannery is back, taking viewers behind-the-scenes to explore some of the incredible songbird eggs and nests that are part of the ornithology collections. Now that birds are busy nest-building, it’s the perfect time of year to observe the intricacies and diversity of songbird construction and to marvel at the size of hummingbird eggs.
All NightLife virtual programming is intended for audiences 21+.

The Breeding Seabirds of Alcatraz Island and Climate Change
2021-05-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Presented by Lidia D’Amico and Zoe Burr
In this event, Lidia D’Amico (National Park Service Alcatraz Biologist) and Zoe Burr (Farallon Institute Seabird Biologist) will dive into the world of Alcatraz seabirds. They will tell you about several species that typically breed on the island every spring and summer, and the threats these birds are facing from climate change and living in an urban environment. Alcatraz Island sits in a unique position within the San Francisco Bay and as a result is one of only two estuarine breeding colonies for Brandt’s cormorants.

Lindsay at Home: Hospital Behind the Scenes
2021-05-23 11:00 - 11:30 | Online
An exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the Lindsay Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital as their veterinary staff treats a wildlife patient! Join them at 11:00 AM Sunday, May 23 live on Zoom for “Lindsay at Home: Hospital BTS” and explore the fascinating world of wildlife rehabilitation. This half-hour online program is perfect for all ages and gives you unparalleled access to a working wildlife hospital. Be sure to bring your questions!

Bird Identification Techniques Workshop 2021—Part 1
2021-05-24 18:00 - 20:00 | Online
There are many challenges to becoming a birder, particularly if you want to know what everything you are looking at is! In other words, you want to put a name to a face. The problem is that it does take a lot of practice; the good thing is that practice is birding, and that is fun! One major challenge is that we focus so much of field marks that sometimes we do not see the forest for the trees. The real way we identify birds is by looking at them not as parts, but as wholes, not only in pattern and color, but also in the way they move and behave. In addition, we hardly ever focus on one of the most important features on a bird: the face! This workshop begins with getting you to understand how the brain identifies birds–the psychology and brain science behind bird identification. We use that to understand how we can best use our innate skills at recognition to apply this to birding. We also discuss tips and tricks that apply to certain groups of birds and facilitate their identification. We think about techniques that may work to speed up learning birds and also tips on how to get better at bird identification even when you are not out in the field on a birding trip. Your computer can even be a learning tool! This will be a holistic, multi-faceted workshop on bird identification. I guarantee to you that it will not be like any birding how-to classes you have attended before. I am hoping you will come out of it with a brand-new outlook on bird identification, and one that will hopefully take away some of the frustration felt in trying to identify birds yourself!
Alvaro Jaramillo is an internationally known ornithologist and expert. Alvaro has a B.S. in Zoology and an M.S. in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Toronto, and also conducted research at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. An expert on the birds of California and North America, he wrote the American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of California and New World Blackbirds. He is also an authority on the birds of Chile, authoring Birds of Chile (2003), collaborating on Chile’s Important Bird Areas program, and helping to identify a new bird species there, Oceanites pincoyae (Pincoya Storm-Petrel). An author and contributor to numerous field guides and popular publications, Alvaro’s passion is not only to understand the biology and natural history of birds, but to enrich other’s enjoyment of birds and further avian conservation and he leads birding trips throughout the world with his company, Alvaro’s Adventures.

Bird Identification Techniques Workshop 2021—Part 2
2021-05-26 18:00 - 20:00 | Online

The Nature of Oaks with Douglas Tallamy
2021-05-27 17:00 - 18:00 | Online
Join the Marin Art and Garden Center for an event celebrating one of the most important species of the plant kingdom—the mighty oak tree. In this virtual presentation, Author Doug Tallamy will introduce his new book, The Nature of Oaks.
Oaks sustain a complex and fascinating web of wildlife. The Nature of Oaks reveals what is going on in oak trees month by month, highlighting the seasonal cycles of life, death, and renewal. From woodpeckers who collect and store hundreds of acorns for sustenance to the beauty of jewel caterpillars, Tallamy illuminates and celebrates the wonders that occur right in our own backyards. He also shares practical advice about how to plant and care for an oak, along with information about the best oak species for our area.

Queer Birds: Community Inclusion, Community Building, and Community Science
2021-06-02 19:00 - 20:00 | Online
In the early 2000s, LBGT rights were under attack; there was no marriage equality, and LGBTQ people often felt unsafe in the field. To build a veritable, ongoing community, a group of LGBTQ birders banded together to start what is now called QBNA—Queer Birders of North America. Local Bay Area birder Jennifer Rycenga spearheaded the west coast organizing efforts for this group, which has now flourished for almost two decades, with biennial birding trips both nationally and abroad. The community built up through QBNA has always been open to all allies of the cause, and has been the occasion for genuine solidarity with many straight birders. This model of open, accepting community parallels the 21st century growth in Community Science projects like eBird, iNaturalist, and the BioBlitz movement. This talk will look at the history of LGBTQ birders and QBNA in particular, and the rapid growth of community science in the Bay Area, as examples of how birding can create and sustain diverse communities of people.
Jennifer serves as the Board President of Sequoia Audubon. Jennifer teaches at San Jose State University in Humanities.

Life in a Salty Desert: How Song Sparrows Have Adapted to Life in the San Francisco Bay
2021-06-03 17:00 - 18:00 | Online
Sparrows are one of the most widespread bird species across North America—but the Song Sparrows of the San Francisco Bay aren’t just any ordinary backyard bird. These birds are the only Song Sparrows equipped to survive in the harsh, inhospitable environment of the salt marsh. Each arm of the Bay is home to a different subspecies, making this a hotspot for genetic diversity. Learn what makes these little brown birds different from all the rest, and why it is so important to protect their native habitat.
Chloe Mikles is a first-year PhD student at the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University. She has a B.S. in Animal Science from Cornell University, where she worked with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology studying evolutionary biology in songbirds. She has studied birds in Kenya and Australia, but the birds of the San Francisco Bay are the most fascinating to her. Chloe is passionate about sharing her love for the outdoors and research with others. Check out her website and follow her on Twitter.

Monthly Program: June 2021
2021-06-03 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom, CA, United States
Photo by Lauren Schmaltz
Birding Info: Krista Vossekuil and Rosalie Howarth will show us the winning photos from the Second Annual MDAS Photo Contest. See the top five finalists in each of eight categories, and learn what the judges had to say about the top pictures. Admire the work of some of our chapter’s finest photographers in this special slideshow presentation.
Main Program: Why Save Parrots? with Lauren Schmaltz

The World Parrot Trust (WPT) is an international leader in science-based, results-oriented parrot conservation and welfare efforts. It is a dynamic organization with a clear mandate for the protection of parrots—one of the most threatened groups of birds on earth.

Since 1989, WPT has led conservation and welfare projects in 43 countries for 70 species of parrots, focusing its efforts on the deployment of immediate and long-term conservation strategies built on established scientific principles, encouraging bird welfare advocacy, and facilitating conservation education initiatives.
Lauren Schmaltz completed a dual Bachelor degree in Biology and Spanish and a Master of Environmental Studies. In the midst of her studies, Lauren also spent several years living overseas in the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), Costa Rica, and Bonaire.

Lauren joined the World Parrot Trust in 2017 and has a keen interest in environmental management, community outreach and education, and sustainable development that harmonizes well with WPT’s growing initiatives in parrot conservation, habitat restoration, and community engagement.

Songs from the Ashes: Wildfire and Bird Communities
2021-06-09 17:00 - 18:30 | Online
Our Sonoma County birds are real-life phoenixes, with many of them enduring one wildfire after another and adapting to a changed landscape each year. How does smoke and flame affect bird populations? What happens in a bird rescue center after a wildfire? Which species thrive after a burn? Join us to hear behind-the-scenes stories of bird rescue and unique avian observations from the last few fire-heavy years with Ashton Kluttz, Executive Director of the Bird Rescue Center in Santa Rosa.
Current Executive Director at the Bird Rescue Center, Ashton Kluttz completed her BA in Environmental Studies at Washington College (Maryland). She began her tenure with the Bird Rescue in 2010 and her career as a wildlife rehabilitator in 2009 with the Marine Mammal Center where she served in the Stranding Department. Striving to provide the best care for our local wildlife, she obtained her Registered Veterinary Technician certification in 2018, has co-authored a chapter on towhee care currently included in a wildlife care book for facilities around the world, and serves on the board of the California Council for Wildlife Rehabilitators that provides community, protocols, and information to all California wildlife facilities.

For the Love of Hummingbirds
2021-06-10 19:30 - 21:00 | Online
Hummingbirds amaze and intrigue us. Their high-speed enigmatic lifestyles are a blur; their startling colors and exotic behaviors are delights. Hummingbirds also inspire us—they are like tiny ambassadors with the power to usher people into a deeper interest in and appreciation for the natural world. Author John Shewey taps into the intrigue in this program based on his new book, The Hummingbird Handbook. Join John for this fun-filled program and learn more about hummingbirds, how to attract them, how to cater to them, and how to be a great hummingbird host in your yard.
Lifelong birding enthusiast John Shewey is a veteran writer, editor, and professional outdoor photographer, with credits in Birdwatching, along with dozens of other magazines and he is co-author of Birds of the Pacific Northwest, a Timber Land Press Field Guide. John has photographed birds from the mountains of Alaska to the jungles of Central America to the islands of the Caribbean, and his website chronicles many of these travels in rich photographic detail. Visit him at birdingoregon.com.

Madagascar’s Fragile Magic
2021-06-17 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Presented by Eric Schroeder
Eric Schroeder will take you on a tour of this amazing island, home to 308 species of birds, 108 of which are endemic. Endemism isn’t limited to individual species but, remarkably, extends to the family level; Madagascar has six endemic avian families: the mesites, the asities, the vangas, the tetras, the ground rollers, and the cuckoo roller (which has only one species—the Cuckoo-roller—in the family.)

Bird Photography 101
2021-07-15 17:00 - 18:00 | Online
Join San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory as wildlife and conservation photographer Sebastian Kennerknecht discusses the basics of bird photography, including settings, composition, equipment, how to get close to your subject, ethics, and his mental approach when photographing birds.
Sebastian Kennerknecht is a wildlife and conservation photographer with over fourteen years of experience visually covering wildlife and environmental issues internationally. He has produced high quality editorial photographs, time-lapses, videos, and web content featured in and by the New York Times, Washington Post, BBC Wildlife, Smithsonian, The Economist, Science, and Conservation International, among others. Sebastian graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Evolution from the University of California – Santa Cruz, won NANPA’s emerging photographer award, and is an associate fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers.

Listen to Her Sing
2021-07-15 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Only male birds sing, right? Wrong! In fact, this widespread notion has a lot more to do with human cultural and geographic biases than it has to do with nature. In this talk, Nathan Pieplow explores the often-overlooked songs of female birds. You’ll hear the pair duets of meadowlarks and blackbirds, the musical songs of female cardinals and orioles, and the distinctive song of the female Canyon Wren. In which species do females actually sing more often than males? How do you know when you’re listening to a female Blue Jay? And where did we even get this crazy idea that only male birds sing? Answers to these questions and more in this presentation.
Nathan Pieplow is author of THE PETERSON FIELD GUIDE TO BIRD SOUNDS, a two-volume set that is the most comprehensive guide to the sounds of North American birds. He lives in Boulder, Colorado, where he teaches writing and rhetoric at the University of Colorado. Nathan is a former editor of the quarterly journal Colorado Birds and one of the developers of the COLORADO COUNTY BIRDING WEBSITE and the COLORADO BIRDING TRAIL.

Raptors of Wavecrest Open Space
2021-08-07 10:00 - 11:30 | Online
Alvaro Jaramillo of Alvaro’s Adventures returns to share more about our local raptor population, living at the Wavecrest Open Space. Wavecrest is the single most important site on the San Mateo Coast for wintering raptors, which can be seen hunting in the property’s broad fields. Raptors and other species rely on its expansive grasslands, wetland areas, and roosting sites, all of which are an integral part of the coast’s ecological health. Famous for its variety and numbers of resident and migratory raptors, Wavecrest is the place to see them all, including White-tailed Kite, Northern Harrier, Turkey Vulture; Sharp-shinned, Cooper’s, Red-shouldered, and Red-tailed Hawks; American Kestrel, and sometimes Merlin, and Peregrine falcons. Occasional sightings of Swainson’s and Rough-legged Hawks; and Prairie Falcon.

Bird City (San Francisco) 7 sessions on Mondays and Sundays
2021-08-09 18:30 - 20:30 | Online and Field Trip
Instructors: Whitney Grover And Keith Maley
7 sessions on: Mondays and Sundays
Birds are living their fascinating lives all around us even in this second most densely populated city in the U.S. Join Golden Gate Audubon Society to learn about bird identification, behavior, migration, habitat, song and more, and increase your appreciation for nature here in San Francisco. This course is for you if you’ve always wondered about the birds around you, but have not been sure how to take the first steps to learn more.
Red-shouldered Hawk at Crissy Lagoon
Photo by David Assmann

Seven Monday evening classes by Zoom: August 9, 16, 23, 30; September 13, 20, 27 — 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Six three-hour Sunday field trips, August 15, 22, 29; September 12, 19, 26 — 8 to 11 a.m.
Lectures are via Zoom. Field trip locations will be announced in class.

Recordings of the lecture presentations will be available to class participants for a limited period of time.

MDAS members pay the same rate as GGAS members!
Registration opens: July 1, 2021

Limited to 20 participants

California Shorebirds - 3 sessions on Wednesdays and Sundays
2021-08-11 18:30 - 20:30 | Online and Field Trip
Instructor: Eddie Bartley
Fall shorebirding in the San Francisco Bay Area is world class. By mid-August, hundreds of thousands of “wind birds” have winged their way from their northern breeding grounds to the globally significant San Francisco Bay – a key portion of the WESTERN HEMISPHERE SHOREBIRD RESERVE NETWORK .
Shorebirds by Bob Lewis
In three two-hour Zoom lectures, we will focus on the amazing evolutionary adaptations, life histories and identification techniques of the 30 plus species of shorebirds that reside, pass through in migration or overwinter in California. On three Sunday field trips we’ll have opportunities to view and focus on this order but not at all ignore the myriad of other fall migrants and resident birds that we will encounter.

Three 2-hour Wednesday classes by Zoom, August 11, 18, 25 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm
Three 3-hour Sunday field trips, August 15, 22, 29. Some may be in the afternoon.
Lectures are via Zoom. Field trip times and locations will be announced in class.
$75 for GGAS members, $100 for non-members

Inclement weather postpones field trips. Contact instructor for additional information: EDDIE@NATURETRIP.COM If the class is full, you may sign up to be on a waiting list.
Recordings of the lecture presentations will be available to class participants for one week following each class.

MDAS members pay the same rate as GGAS members!
Registration opens: July 1, 2021

Limited to 20 participants

Islands And Avian Evolution
2021-08-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Online
Featuring Bob Lewis
Thursday, August 19 – 7 p.m.
Eastern Crested Berrypecker,
a New Guinea endemic, by Bob Lewis
Islands play a key role in both the evolution of new avian species and the extinction of others. Because of their isolation, birds that arrive on islands evolve separately from their parent group and eventually become unique… thus a new species is born! But that isolation also makes them vulnerable to threats like hurricanes, volcanoes, rising seas, and introduced diseases or predator species. Although over 80 percent of bird species live on continents, 92 percent of extinctions since 1500 have been on islands. Join Golden Gate Audubon Society to view some marvelous island species and learn about the conservation issues unique to islands.
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
HTTPS://ZOOM.US/J/91784420140?PWD=[REDACTED]
Passcode: [REDACTED]
A video recording of this presentation will be available for three weeks after the talk.
About the speaker:
Bob Lewis has taught birding classes in the Bay Area for over 25 years and loves to travel, especially to islands in search of birds. He is a board member of the Farallon Islands Foundation, created to foster life on islands. Bob has visited many of the larger islands populated with unique species, including Madagascar, Borneo, Hawaii, Indonesia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Cuba etc. The talk will be illustrated with his photos of birds from these places.

Seasons of the Southern Coast Range and Birds!
2021-08-21 09:00 - 12:00 | Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve, 4289 Casa Loma Road, Morgan Hill, 95037, United States
Join Saved By Nature along with their community partners Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society (SCVAS) among the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains on a gentle 2.2-mile adventure!
Stroll around a meadow along the Llagas Loop Trail where encounters of wild turkey, deer and seasonal wildflowers are common. We’ll take in views along the Longwall Canyon Trail where we can catch a glimpse of an acorn woodpecker granary and see other birds such as oak titmouse and white-breasted nuthatches pointed out by SCVAS!
Please bring a lunch, water, hat and/or sunscreen and be ready to have a good time! Binoculars will be provided.
Limited to 20 participants.

“Every Bird has a Story” with Judy Kramer
2021-08-21 13:30 - 14:30 | Online
Learn about local birds and their stories through a presentation and accompanying photography all provided by guest speaker Judy Kramer.

Join Judy Kramer and the Environmental Volunteers to learn about the stories of local birds, told through their photographs in “Every Bird Has a Story”. Explore their fascinating lives and behaviors; with a focus on babies, hunting for food, dabblers and divers, beaks, and one Judy calls “the one that got away.”
About the speaker:
Judy is a local, award-wining nature photographer living in Palo Alto. She is a past president of the Palo Alto Camera Club and is now a member of Gallery House on California Avenue in Palo Alto. Her work has been published in three books and seen in various local venues. Organizations that use her photos include the California Native Plant Society, Peninsula Open Space Trust, North American Nature Photography Association, and Environmental Volunteers.
When the wildflowers dried up last June, and unable to travel because of the pandemic, Judy and her husband, Tony, started taking photos along the bay. She discovered that birds were very interesting, and she became a bird photographer. You can see many samples of her bird photography on her web site, www.earthwitnessphoto.com.

Sleuthing Into The Secret Lives Of Wood Ducks
2021-08-26 19:00 - 21:00 | Online
Sleuthing into the secret lives of wood ducks – new research reveals a complex underworld of a unique California bird.
Please join Dr. John Eadie, Dennis G. Raveling Professor in Waterfowl Biology at UC Davis to hear about the natural history, ecology, and conservation of this interesting and beautiful local bird!
This lecture will be ONLINE in a Zoom meeting. You must register on this page (be sure to include your email address) and download Zoom. (There is no need to create an account.) After registering, participants will be sent an email with the meeting ID and password. After the lecture, you will be able to ask questions via Zoom’s chat feature.
Questions? Contact Bill Grabert at bgrabert@tuleyome.org
This lecture is part of the monthly “Nature and You” lecture series sponsored by Tuleyome. Tuleyome is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit conservation organization based in Woodland, California. The word “Tuleyome” (pronounced too-lee-OME-ee) is a Lake Miwok Indian word that means “deep home place”. And that term “deep home place” exemplifies our deep connection to our environment, our communities and our regional public lands.
Note: All participants agree to abide by the terms and conditions of Tuleyome’s waiver of liability which can be seen and downloaded HERE. All participants also understand that photographs will be taken at the event. If you do not wish to be photographed, you must tell the photographer and avoid the cameras’ line of sight.
A $10 donation to Tuleyome is suggested, but is not required to participate in this event.

Memorial Service for Jimm Edgar
2021-08-30 13:00 - 14:00 | First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, 2407 Dana St, Berkeley, CA, 94704, United States
A memorial service for Jimm Edgar, who passed away on July 14, 2021, will be held on Monday, August 30, at 1 pm, at First Pres. Click here to RSVP.
Click here to go to the livestream service. In-person attendance is limited to 150 people.
Jimm Edgar, longtime MDAS leader, passed away peacefully on July 14th in Alabama with his wife Bettie by his side.
Jimm served as MDAS president multiple times during his long tenure with the Chapter. Most recently, he was president from 2005 -2016. At general meetings, his easy manner, engaging smile and humorous style made audience members feel welcomed and appreciated. He loved to tell stories about birds, often repeating his favorites. One of his most beloved birds was the Harlequin Duck and he seemed to thrill at explaining the meaning of Histrionicus histrionicus. Personally, I believe I heard the story at least three times during our travels together. At the meetings, if someone shared a very notable bird sighting, Jimm would often respond, “Oh, is that right,” lending even more significance to the report.
Jimm annually led field trips for MDAS. His favorite outing was to his beloved Mt. Diablo where he emphasized the beauty of the wildflowers as well the variety of birds.
Clearly, Jimm loved birds and birding, and he was especially devoted to organizing and coordinating the MDAS Christmas Bird Counts. After the CBCs, it was always a fun event to compile all of the groups’ sightings over dinner. Jimm obviously took much satisfaction and pride in hosting these events. Beyond MDAS, he volunteered to do counts for several other Chapters as well.
At the June, 2017, MDAS General Meeting, Jimm was presented with the National Audubon Society’s Great Egret Award for his significant long-term contributions to Audubon. Shortly thereafter, Jimm moved to Alabama. Jimm will be long-remembered and dearly missed.
There will be a Celebration of Jimm’s life at his home church – the First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley on his actual birthday August 30th 2021, at 1PM PST. Reception to follow. The Celebration for Jimm’s life will be live-streamed. As a teenager, Jimm met Christ through Young Life Ministries and his Young Life leader, Spokane resident Dick Silk, who was his mentor and lifelong friend. In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to Young Life Jimm Edgar Memorial Fund, 420 N. Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80903.
-Paul Schorr

MDAS Field Trip—Jewel Lake
2021-09-02 | Jewel Lake, Tilden Nature Area, California, 600 Canon Dr, Berkeley, CA 94708, Berkeley, CA, 94708, United States
Tilden Regional Park. Birds are migrating already and will be walking near the Nature Center and Jewel Lake in Tilden Regional Park. A short morning visit may allow us to see Wilson’s, Black-throated Gray and Yellow Warblers, Red-breasted Nuthatches and more.
This hike is limited to 15 participants. All Field Trips are first-registered, first-served. Participants acknowledge the MDAS Liability Waiver (available during registration).
Rating: Category 2 – Moderate
Distance: 2 miles
Elevation change: N/A
Leader: Hugh Harvey
Register for this field trip HERE.
Wilson’s Warbler Photo: Maren Smith

Monthly Program: September 2021
2021-09-02 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom, CA, United States
Main Program:
Birds (and Other Wildlife) of Zambia
Jerry Britten, MDAS President
Zambia may not be one of the first countries in Africa one thinks of as a safari destination, but perhaps this lends to its appeal. Zambia in fact is a politically stable country about the size of Texas, with many parks and safari areas teeming with diverse wildlife in a variety of subtropical habitats, offering a true wilderness experience far from crowds. Jerry Britten, currently MDAS President and Christmas Bird Count Compiler, has traveled to Zambia twice, in 2014 and again in September 2019, the latter being his last overseas travel prior to the current pandemic. He will present highlights of the many birds and animals he was able to photograph, and offer his perspective on the sights and sounds of this part of Africa.

When not birding or engaged with MDAS goings-on, Jerry is an independent contractor/consultant in the fields of optical coatings and diffractive optic design and manufacture. He retired from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 2016 after a 30+ year career as a chemical engineer.

Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike
Photo:Jerry Britten

Birding Info:
MDAS Field Trip Reservations
Marc Desin, MDAS Newsletter and Website Editor
MDAS Field Trips are back! Our new field trip RSVP system will enable you to reserve your spot on one of our field trips. Marc will provide an overview of how to use the new field trip reservation system on the MDAS website.

Magic & Mystery Of Migration - 4 sessions on Tuesdays
2021-09-07 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
This summer, somewhere in Canada, a Blackpoll Warbler will hatch, fledge, and grow to young adulthood. Come August, this half-ounce bird will fly 3,000 miles to the Maritime provinces and then out over the Atlantic Ocean to catch a northwest tail wind that will take it south to around Bermuda. A northeast trade wind will carry it back to land to complete its 80-hour journey over 2,000 miles of open ocean. Why? Join Bruce Mast for a four-week exploration of the magic and mystery of bird migration. We’ll consider why birds migrate, how they navigate, how they fuel their marathon flights, and the evolutionary forces that have shaped migration over the millennia.
Recordings of the lecture presentations will be available to class participants for a limited period of time.

Instructor: Bruce Mast
Four 1 ½ hour Tuesday classes via Zoom, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on September 7, 14, 21, and 28.
$50 for GGAS members, $75 for non-members.

Note that we are also offering two sets of optional six-hour field trips — on Saturdays September 18 and October 2, OR on Sundays September 19 and October 3 — for an additional fee of $100/members or $125/non-members. Field trips run from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and locations will be provided to registered participants. Each set of trips is limited to 10 people.
If you ONLY want to sign up for the Zoom classes, click HERE or use the “Register” button below. (Cost of $50/members or $75/non-members.)
If you wish to sign up for the class plus the optional Saturday field trips, click HERE. (Total cost of $150/members or $200/non-members.)
If you wish to sign up for the class plus the optional Sunday field trips, click HERE. (Total cost of $150/members or $200/non-members.)
MDAS members pay the same rate as GGAS members!

Registration opens: July 1, 2021

Limited to 95 participants

Snowy Plover Conservation in the Bay Area
2021-09-09 17:00 - 18:30 | Online
Snowy Plover Conservation in the Bay Area: Successes and Challenges in a Shifting Landscape
The Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) is a federally threatened, ground-nesting shorebird species that breeds, roosts, and forages along the Pacific Coast from Southern Washington down to the tip of Baja California. While their typical habitat across the range is sandy beaches, within the San Francisco Bay, where up to 10% of the range-wide breeding population may be found, Snowy Plovers instead utilize salt panne habitat found within former salt production ponds. Snowy Plovers in the Bay Area face unique challenges to recovery compared to other parts of the range due to their habitat type and location within a large urbanized area. For close to 20 years, SFBBO has been working closely with federal, state, and local agencies to better understand these challenges and help Snowy Plovers meet regional recovery goals. This talk will focus on recent Snowy Plover conservation successes and challenges within the South Bay, especially within Alameda County, which annually holds the majority of Snowy Plover breeding in the Bay Area.
Ben Pearl is a science director at SFBBO who specializes in Snowy Plover and Least Tern research and conservation. Ben grew up in San Luis Obispo, where he attained an early love for nature exploring the nearby tide pools and oak forests. He completed his B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at U.C. Santa Cruz, and first came to SFBBO while beginning his Masters at San Jose State University. For his Master’s thesis, he examined how various factors affect plover foraging habitat selection during the winter in the South San Francisco Bay.
Please register – the Zoom link will be sent in the confirmation. If you have any questions, please contact Sirena Lao, Environmental Education and Outreach Specialist, at slao@sfbbo.org.
This program is possible thanks to SFBBO donors with additional support from Cargill. To help keep these events going, we hope you’ll consider making a suggested donation of $5 or more if you can. Your tax-deductible donation helps us make these events available to the public and engage broad audiences with birds, nature, science, and conservation. You may donate in increments of $5 below, click here to donate a different amount, or contact us for other ways to donate.
