Bird Sounds Seminar with Nathan Pieplow - A Shared Vocabulary for Bird Sounds, Part I
2021-01-14 19:00 - 22:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Online
In an effort to promote bird knowledge and interest, OAS has partnered with author and bird sound expert Nathan Pieplow for a 5-part set of one-hour sessions from mid January to early February in 2021 starting at 7pm each night.
Tell your friends! This is a rare opportunity to have the caliber of Nathan Pieplow for an in-depth discussion on how to listen to and decipher bird sounds, using the latest vocabulary and methods described in his recent books: Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Western North America and Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Eastern North America.
Jan 14 — A Shared Vocabulary for Bird Sounds, Part I
Jan 21 — A Shared Vocabulary for Bird Sounds, Part II
Jan 28 — Beyond Beginning Ear Birding, Part I
Feb 04 — Beyond Beginning Ear Birding, Part II (group presentations)
Feb 11 — How to Record Bird Sounds (With Your Phone)
TO PAY VIA CHECK:
The cost is $30 for the seminar (OAS members), $45 (non -members). If interested, please send a check of $30 or $45, including your email address for follow up to:
Ohlone Audubon Society (Bird Sounds Seminar) 1922 Hillsdale St, Hayward, CA 94541
In the event that the seminar is canceled due to lack of interest, your check will be voided. If you would like it returned please let us know.
TO PAY VIA PAYPAL
https://www.ohloneaudubon.org/index.php/join/donate
The cost is $30.07 (OAS members), $45.07 (non-members). Additional fees cover transaction costs.
For extra measure, but not mandatory, you can send an email to programs AT ohloneaudubon.org after your payment.

Real Life Great Horned Owl Soap Opera: Learning their language
2021-01-17 11:00 - 13:00 | Online
Karla Bloem
2021 World Owl Hall of Fame Special Achievement Award winner
Executive Director, International Owl Center
Minnesota, USA
A 3-week old Great Horned Owl fell out of her nest in 1997 and injured her wing too severely to ever be able to fly. Alice was placed with Karla Bloem in Houston, Minnesota to be used as an ambassador to teach people about owls. Because she imprinted on humans, she eventually claimed Karla as her mate. Alice was upset that Karla didn’t know how to behave like a proper male Great Horned Owl, so in self-defense Karla began studying Great Horned Owl vocalizations in 2004. This long-term study expanded to include the vocal and behavioral interactions of more than two dozen captive and wild owls over the past 16 years. This is their story, as it unfolded, and it is juicier than most television soap operas while offering detailed insights into their vocalizations and behaviors.
Great Horned Owls vocalizations are innate and not learned, and the captive owls studied vocalized in the same ways the wild owls did. This intimate, long-term study has engaged many dedicated volunteer observers and has allowed a better understanding of their complete vocal repertoire and associated behaviors, individuality of territorial hoots, vocal development of young owls, regional variation in territorial hoots, and has given small insights into the heritability of territorial hoot characteristics.
(Because Alice is retired and highly territorial and jealous at home, she will appear only via video.)
​
Karla Bloem is the founder and Executive Director of the International Owl Center. Alice’s popularity led Karla to create the International Festival of Owls, the first full-weekend, all-owl event in North America that has served as the inspiration for similar festivals in Italy, Nepal and India. Karla and Alice testified before the Minnesota House and Senate environment committees to successfully gain protection for Great Horned Owls in 2005. She is part of a committee organizing the next World Owl Conference in October 2022 in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
​This presentation will also be livestreamed to the International Owl Center’s YouTube channel but will NOT be saved for later viewing after it concludes. Click HERE to register to watch it as a Zoom webinar and be able to ask questions.

Do Acorn Woodpeckers make granaries or do granaries make Acorn Woodpeckers?
2021-01-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Speaker: Sahas Barve
We will plunge into the complicated social lives of acorn woodpeckers. How they build granaries and what they will do to win access to a big granary. Using cutting-edge radio tracking technology and over 45 years of demographic data, we will learn how these common backyard birds cooperate with close relatives to raise offspring and eavesdrop on neighbors to gain social information. Finally we will look briefly at how fire may be affecting the socio-biology of this enigmatic bird of the Californian oak savannah.
Bio: Sahas Barve is from Mumbai, India and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. He is an avian ecologist, interested in understanding why some birds are social and what is the evolutionary benefit of social behavior to these birds. He is an avid birder and wants to see 6,000 species by the time he is 60.

Bird Sounds Seminar with Nathan Pieplow - A Shared Vocabulary for Bird Sounds, Part II
2021-01-21 19:00 - 22:00 | Online

Bird Sounds Seminar with Nathan Pieplow - Beyond Beginning Ear Birding, Part I
2021-01-28 19:00 - 22:00 | Online

Raptors in Winter
2021-02-04 19:00 - 21:00, 2021-02-11 19:00 - 21:00, 2021-02-25 19:00 - 21:00 | Online
Feb 4, 11, 25, 2021
Instructor: Maureen Lahiff
Venue: Zoom
Raptors in Winter, 3 Zoom presentations, Thursdays Feb 4, 11, and 25, 7 to 9 pm, with detailed suggestions for individual field observations.
Year-round resident hawks, falcons, and eagles of the greater Bay Area and the Central Valley are joined by a number of wintering migrants (including Ferruginous and Rough-legged Hawks). We will explore the rhythm of their lives and discuss identifying juveniles and adult birds, including birds in flight. This class focuses on raptors that are diurnal (active during the day).
One of the nice things about raptors is that you don’t have to be on scene at daybreak to get good looks at these birds, so you can travel a bit further afield. It is rewarding to travel to eastern Alameda and Contra Costa, and Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties to look for diurnal raptors.
Maximum 75 participants
$75 GGAS members, $110 non-members

Registration opens: January 1, 2021

Limited to 75 participants

Monthly Program: February 2021
2021-02-04 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom, CA, United States
Verdin photo by Eddie Bartley
Birding Info: Frank Ruiz, Salton Sea Program Director for Audubon California, will provide an update on some recent breakthroughs for conserving the Salton Sea. The Salton Sea is a perfect example of the water crisis in the west, affecting thousands of birds and exacerbating the already existing health crisis in the region. Water diversion and the ongoing drought has prompted the Salton Sea to recede at a faster pace calling for an expedite implementation of the Salton Sea Management Plan. How is Audubon and its partners helping to alleviate this crisis?
Phainopepla by Eddie Bartley
Main Program: Birding California’s Big Sink with Eddie Bartley
Join Eddie Bartley for a fast-paced spin around one of California’s most important birding areas: the Salton Sink.
Though much altered by humans in the past century, the endorheic (drain-less) Salton Sink holds magnificent bird diversity and abundance, especially in winter, which will be the seasonal focus of this presentation. Eddie will share photography and natural history stories about the unique biodiversity, regional specialty birds, and favorite wildlifing spots that he and his partner, Noreen Weeden, have discovered in their 25+ years visiting this natural phenomenon-prone region.
A conservation activist since his teens, Eddie is a volunteer researcher and instructor with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, California Academy of Sciences, and Golden Gate Audubon Society, and is currently the President of the Yerba Buena Chapter of the California Native Plant Society as well as the Farallon Islands Foundation. Eddie and Noreen lead natural history, bird watching, and photography tours for Nature Trip out of their home base in San Francisco.

Bird Sounds Seminar with Nathan Pieplow - Beyond Beginning Ear Birding, Part II
2021-02-04 19:00 - 22:00 | Online

Meet the Woodpeckers
2021-02-06 10:00 - 11:00 | Online
The Pileated Woodpecker is the American Birding Association’s 2021 Bird of the Year . In its honor, Sequoia Audubon Society of San Mateo county, with its partners MROSD and San Mateo County Parks, are featuring woodpeckers in the lead up to the Great Backyard Bird Count.
On Saturday, February 6, from 10 – 11 am, Alvaro Jaramillo will give a webinar “Meet the Woodpeckers”.
He will talk about the species of woodpecker to be found in San Mateo county including, of course, the Pileated Woodpecker.
Alvaro Jaramillo is a world-renowned ornithologist, author, and tour leader who also happens to be a local birder residing in our beautiful county. He also serves as Affiliated Senior Biologist for the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory.
He will be joined by Karine Tokatlian, biologist and bird specialist for MROSD.

Bird Sounds Seminar with Nathan Pieplow - How to Record Bird Sounds (With Your Phone)
2021-02-11 19:00 - 22:00 | Online

The Great Backyard Bird Count
2021-02-12 - 2021-02-15 | Online
The Great Backyard Bird Count is coming! On February 12–15th, birders all over the world will count birds for four days to provide an important snapshot of where birds are right before their migrations. We may not be able to bird together on MDAS field trips, but we can still contribute to science meaningfully from home or on our personal birding trips.
You can learn the background and importance of this community science activity that can be done right from your backyard by reading “The Great Backyard Bird Count Is Coming!” by Alan Bade, MDAS Community Science Coordinator. This article is from the February 2021 edition of The Quail.

A Rainforest at our Feet: Local wetland restoration in the San Francisco Bay Area
2021-02-18 08:00 - 17:00 | Online
In this talk, acclaimed plant ecologist John Zentner will discuss how wetland health impacts the health of birds and wildlife. John will guide participants through understanding different types of local wetlands, from marshes, vernal pools, riparian wetlands, and more. He will then outline methods of wetland conservation and how these projects are crucial to maintaining holistic and healthy ecosystems that sustain all life.
About The Speaker:
John is a plant ecologist specializing in landscape restoration. He has an undergraduate degree from UCSB, and graduate degrees/certifications from U of O and the University of Oslo. John has been the wetland specialist for the California Coastal Commission, the program manager for the Coastal Conservancy’s enhancement program, the chair of the SF Bay Habitat Joint Venture’s Implementation Committee, and is currently the chair of the Arundo Removal and Restoration Team (ARRT) at the Walnut Creek Watershed Council. Over the past thirty years, he has restored vernal pool complexes, riparian systems, perennial and seasonal marshes and native grasslands. Presently, John is focused on working with community groups of local restoration projects, especially small creeks, and researching landscape restoration, especially the undiscovered historic links.

Birds Of Owens Lake: Changes & Trends
2021-02-19 18:30 - 20:00 | Online
Join us for an exclusive evening exploring the birds of Owens Lake
Friends of the Inyo is proud to present an exclusive virtual event featuring Rich Cimino, an international birding expert and professional guide with 50 years of experience, and local photographer and popular Owens Lake Bird Festival leader, Martin Powell.
Learn about the birds that stop at Owens Lake as they travel the globe. Rich will be sharing his knowledge and trends he’s seeing, with the help of beautiful photos taken by Martin who will offer commentary and backstory on his stunning images.

About Rich Cimino
Rich Cimino, a birder for over 50 years, was the keynote speaker at the Owens Lake Bird Festival in 2019. He is an expert birder, having led trips to Alaska for 20 years and first visited the Eastern Sierra over 50 years ago. Rich is an active member of the Marin Audubon Society and Alameda County Ohlone Audubon Society and travels the world guiding tours for his business, Yellowbilled Tours. Rich resides lives in Marin County, California.

About Martin Powell
Martin Powell grew up in Lone Pine, California, and still calls this special place home today. He is an avid hiker and bird photographer. Recently retired, he enjoys traveling the world looking for that perfect bird picture. Martin has made trips to Nome, St. Lawrence Island, Panama, Wisconsin, and Florida. Martin leads bird photography tours for the annual Owens Lake Bird Festival and is a board member for Friends of the Inyo.

Almaden Lake - Evolution of the Environment and How Birds Adapt
2021-02-25 17:00 - 18:30 | Online
Through SFBBO’s Colonial Waterbird Program, our biologists and community science volunteers have monitored populations of colony nesting waterbirds during the breeding season at more than 70 sites throughout the Bay Area. Join us to hear Larry Manning, who has been a colonial waterbird monitoring volunteer for nearly 20 years, as he discusses the history of Almaden Lake in San Jose and the birds that nest there.
Larry Manning was introduced to birding about 40 years ago by Lou Young, who was his boss at NASA Ames Research Center and an SFBBO board member. Lou and his wife Jean and Larry and his wife Judie participated in a lot of the SFBBO Fall Birding Challenges. As Larry started thinking about retirement, he decided that he wanted to be involved is environmental conservation activities and started doing easement monitoring and trail patrol for Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, invasive species eradication for Peninsula Open Space Trust, and Snowy Plover monitoring for San Mateo County Parks at Kelly Beach in Half Moon Bay. He started with SFBBO about 20 years ago doing nesting surveys in the tidal marshes behind Moffett Field and Snowy Plover surveys in the San Mateo Bridge area. About 18 years ago he moved his participation to monitoring the nesting site at Almaden Lake and then added monitoring at the Llagas Creek site in Morgan Hill and the Los Gatos Creek Park. He has also participated in the SFBBO Birds in your Neighborhood Program and given presentations to the national Well Connected Program.
This program is family-friendly. Please register – the Zoom meeting link will be sent in the confirmation. If you have trouble registering or have any questions, please contact Sirena Lao, Environmental Education and Outreach Specialist, at slao@sfbbo.org.

Virtual Elephant Seal Tour at Año Nuevo
2021-02-27 10:00 - 12:00 | Online
Año Nuevo Reserve Director, Patrick W. Robinson will lead us on a virtual elephant seal tour at Año Nuevo. His tour will include an introduction to the site, a walk through the colony, some show-and-tell of the electronic tags used on the seals, and a summary of some of the research projects that are being done. We will follow this tour with a Q and A session. Because this park is currently closed to the public due to COVID-19 restrictions, this is quite an opportunity to view these animals without the presence of crowds.

Lindsay at Home: Hospital Behind the Scenes
2021-02-27 11:00 - 11:30 | Online
Get an exclusive behind the scenes look at our wildlife hospital as our expert veterinary staff treats a wildlife patient! Join us on Zoom for “Lindsay at Home: Hospital Behind The Scenes” 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!

Monthly Program: March 2021
2021-03-04 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom, CA, United States
California Poppies photo by Stephen Smith
Birding Info: We are trying something new this month! Instead of a birding info speaker, we are going to spend 15 minutes socializing with other Mt. Diablo Audubon members in Zoom breakout rooms. Meet some new people, or reconnect with old birding buddies!
Globe Lily, photo by Stephen Smith
Main Program: Wildflowers of Mount Diablo with Stephen Smith
Local wildflower enthusiast Steve Smith will present Wildflowers of Mount Diablo: Flower Lore. Ever wonder why they are called Milk Maids or how Buttercups helped beggars garner more attention? What do lupine and poppies have to do with Cal Berkeley? This program presents a unique and quirky look at the origin of several of the common names of our wildflowers. Included are anecdotes about the historical lore behind the uses of these flowers whether it religious, medicinal, superstition or most often for love.

Steve Smith is President of the Mount Diablo Interpretive Association, a non-profit cooperative partner which aids Mount Diablo State Park. An avid hiker and amateur naturalist Steve most enjoys hitting the trails of the mountain in Spring in order to document the over 200 species that grow there. He helps to maintain a comprehensive bloom report each week during peak flower season and oversees the online wildflower guide on the organization’s wonderful website, mdia.org.

A Walk Through a Bay Area Birder’s Garden
2021-03-11 17:00 - 18:30 | Online
Join Barbara Coll as she walks through her garden live! As she walks around her yard, she will point out the feeders, plants, and water elements that attract the 63 species she has recorded in 30+ years of living in Menlo Park on the San Francisquito Creek. She will also discuss feeder/birdbath maintenance, the current Pine Siskin irruption and subsequent Salmonella outbreak, seed types, and which plants the birds love. Barbara will share many videos and photos of the birds that she sees from her home windows. She is also a fanatic eBird user and will introduce you to the Yard tracking feature.
Barbara Coll is a regular volunteer with SFBBO. She took her birding to a new level a few years ago by starting to photograph the birds she sees. When she retired from the insanity of Silicon Valley and the digital marketing world, she found birding a wonderful mix of nature, challenge and statistics. Barb’s website with all her photography can be found at www.barbsbirds.me.
This event will be fun, casual, and family-friendly! Please register – the Zoom meeting link will be sent in the confirmation. If you have trouble registering or have any questions, please contact Sirena Lao, Environmental Education and Outreach Specialist, at slao@sfbbo.org.

California Connections: Tracks, Scat and the Birds that Bind Us
2021-03-13 10:00 - 11:30 | Online
California Connections: Tracks, Scat and the Birds that Bind Us—with Aimee Murillo, Interpretive Park Ranger at Lava Beds National Monument
March 13, 2021
10:00 am PST
Lava Beds National Monument, a unit of the National Park Service in far northeastern California, is vastly different from the San Mateo Coast. Or is it? Join Aimee Murillo, interpretive park ranger at Lava Beds, for a presentation about these dynamic sites and what tracks, scat, and birds one might spot in both locations, and why.

The Breeding Behavior of our Local Owls—Getting to Know our Nocturnal Neighbors
2021-03-17 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
With Joe Mueller
The best time of year to get to know owls is during the breeding season. This is the time when they communicate with each other and allow us a glimpse into their lives. Join Joe for a guided journey into understanding the reproductive behavior of our local owls. We’ll explore topics from territoriality and pair formation to courtship and nesting.
As a Professor of Biology for 30 years Joe has been teaching a rich diversity of courses ranging from ornithology to marine invertebrate zoology as well as leading field courses from Alaskan tundra to Costa Rican Tropical Rain Forests. His teaching style has developed from a view of life focused on systems thinking and how interrelationships make up the essential nature of life. He developed and coordinates the Natural History Program at College of Marin and is the 2008 recipient of the Terwilliger Environmental Education Award.

March 2021 Conservation Icons: Harry Fuller, owls
2021-03-18 18:00 - 18:45 | Online
Explore the mysterious world of Great Gray Owls and other nocturnal birds of prey with bird expert and author Harry Fuller as part of our Virtual Conservation Icons speaker series. Join Fuller at 6 p.m., Thursday, March 18 for a conversation with Lindsay Wildlife Executive Director Carlos de la Rosa and learn about Fuller’s passion for these raptors and other birds.
In addition to a long career as a journalist, Fuller has worked as a volunteer and professional birding guide. He is the author of the books Great Gray Owls of California, Oregon and Washington; Freeway Birding; and San Francisco’s Natural History: Sand Dunes to Streetcars. He also blogs about birding at towhee.net and atowhee.wordpress.com.
Fuller is dedicated his talk in memory of Shadow, our late Great Gray Owl animal ambassador.

The Sage Trifecta
2021-03-24 20:30 | Online
The Sage Trifecta with Bruce Mast
The sagebrush basin and range country east of the Sierras offers a starkly beautiful landscape filled with fascinating birds and wildlife. Join us from the comfort of your armchair as we take a whirlwind virtual tour of the region around Susanville and Honey Lake. The centerpiece of our virtual Zoom trip will be watching male Greater Sage-Grouse dance at dawn for females’ attention. Nearby, we’ll look for Sagebrush Sparrow and Sage Thrasher, to complete the ‘sage trifecta.’ Elsewhere we’ll seek out wintering Ferruginous and Rough-legged hawks and try for mountain specialties such as White-headed Woodpeckers, Pinyon Jays, and Townsend’s Solitaires. Along the way, we’ll explore the human and natural history of the land and consider the conservation threats that imperil it.
Bruce Mast honed his birding and citizen science skills as a volunteer at Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge in Central Texas, where he mapped nesting territories of endangered Black-capped Vireos and Golden-cheeked Warblers. He has led a Sage Trifecta field trip to Lassen County as part of Birdathon for several years—a peak lifetime experience for attendees who rose at 4 a.m. in freezing cold to watch the mating rituals of the Sage-Grouse. Bruce is Treasurer of the Golden Gate Audubon Board of Directors.
This event will take place online via Zoom and last approximately 60-75 minutes. Registrants will be sent a link and password to access the Zoom. The session will be recorded, and registrants will have access to the recording on the web for two weeks after the event, regardless of whether they attend the live presentation.

Reconsider the Coot—Crazy Reproductive Antics of a Common Marsh Denizen
2021-03-25 16:30 - 18:00 | Online
Coots are often overlooked by birders because they are so common. Dr. Bruce Lyon has been studying the reproductive antics of American coots for the past two decades and has discovered that there is far more to this bird than meets the eye. He will highlight some of his discoveries about the parental and reproductive strategies of coots and answer questions such as: Why do some coot females lay their eggs in the nests of other coot females? What do the birds that receive these unwanted foster eggs do? Coots are just as bizarre when it comes to raising their own kids, and there are many puzzling features of coot parental care behavior. For example, why do coots lay far more eggs than they can normally raise and why do they beat up their kids so much? And, finally, why are baby coots born with such a ridiculously fluorescent orange plumage?
In addition, because Dr. Lyon’s coot research was done in a wild part of central British Columbia, he will briefly highlight a few of the special birds encountered at the study site. Finally, he’ll discuss how the research program is expanding to ask similar questions in a mysterious coot in the High Andes of Argentina.
Bruce Lyon is a professor of Evolutionary Ecology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His research focuses on the evolution of reproductive strategies and mating behavior of birds. His long-term research on the adaptive basis of brood parasitism in American coots has sought to understand why parasitism within species evolves and how the behavior influences other aspects of social behavior. Dr. Lyon has also investigated the evolution of ornamental plumage signals in a variety of species, including lark buntings, lazuli buntings and the evolution of ornamental offspring plumage in the newly hatched chicks of American coots. Most recently, he has conducted a decade long investigation into the winter social lives of migrant golden-crowned sparrows that spent their winters on the Arboretum of the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Please register – the Zoom meeting link will be sent in the confirmation. If you have trouble registering or have any questions, please contact Sirena Lao, Environmental Education and Outreach Specialist, at slao@sfbbo.org.

Lindsay at Home: Hospital Behind the Scenes
2021-03-27 11:00 - 11:30 | Online
Get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at our wildlife hospital as our veterinary staff treats a wildlife patient! Join us at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 27 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!
Cost: $5 for families with a Lindsay membership, and $10 for non-member families.

Birding California’s Big Sink
2021-03-28 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Birding California’s Big Sink with Eddie Bartley & Noreen Weeden
Take a fast-paced virtual spin around one of California’s most important birding areas: the Salton Sink. Though much altered by humans in the past century, the endorheic or drainless Salton Sink (of which the Salton Sea is a major feature) holds magnificent bird diversity and abundance, especially in winter, which will be the seasonal focus of this presentation.
Eddie and Noreen will share photography and natural history stories about the unique biodiversity, regional specialty birds, and favorite wildlife spots they’ve discovered in 25+ years visiting this region filled with natural phenomena.
Eddie Bartley and Noreen Weeden are volunteer researchers and educators with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory and Golden Gate Audubon Society and board members at the Yerba Buena Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. They also lead natural history, bird watching and photography tours for Nature Trip of out their home base in San Francisco at NATURETRIP.COM. They’ve led winter trips to the Salton Sea for Golden Gate Audubon for a number of years.
This event will take place online via Zoom and last approximately 60-75 minutes. Registrants will be sent a link and password to access the Zoom. The session will be recorded, and registrants will have access to the recording on the web for two weeks after the event, regardless of whether they attend the live presentation.

Rare Bird Sightings in Marin 2020
2021-03-31 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
With California Young Birders Club Members – Joseph Zeno, Mark Schulist, Lucas Corneliussen, and John King
Marin County hosts some of the best opportunities to see and find rare birds. You can see a new bird in Marin every time you go outside. As you grow as a birder and begin to be able to recognize most of the local species, you will start to find new birds that may be rare where you live. The species you observe will change with the seasons. Fall migration in Marin County is exceptional for finding rare birds compared to most places on the west coast because the extent to which Point Reyes National Seashore extends into the Pacific Ocean makes it an ideal resting place for migrating birds. Some of the birds that stop there are regular migrants, and some are truly rare because they get blown off course. These are known as vagrants. This webinar will illustrate where you can find rare migrants and vagrants in Marin county, giving tips on how to find them, and these talented and enthusiastic young birders will show you some of the highlights and best experiences they had with Marin’s rare birds in 2020.
All of the young birders presenting on this date are part of the Bay Area Chapter of the California Young Birders Club. Check out their website and read about their monthly field trips throughout the state.
Young Birders
Joseph Zeno: Sophomore currently attending Terra Linda High School and part of the Marin School of Environmental Leadership (MarinSEL) program. Started birding in 2017 and likes to find and photograph birds and make photo books and calendars. Interested in studying how birds interact with other organisms in our changing environment.
Mark Schulist: Sophomore currently attending Marin Academy High School. Started birding in 2017 and enjoys photographing birds as well as any other wildlife. Interested in patterns of birds and how birds are able to migrate with such consistency.
Lucas Corneliussen: Junior currently attending Credo High School in Sonoma County. Started birding in 2011 and enjoys California county birding and birding in new locations all over the state as well as birding throughout the Point Reyes National Seashore on an almost weekly basis. Currently interested in nocturnal flight counts (NFC) and changes in migration patterns within certain species over the course of different periods of time.
John King: Sophomore currently attending Terra Linda High School. Started birding in 2017, and still enjoying the different habitats California has to offer. He enjoys birding in coastal forested areas where small passerines are abundant and in large flocks. Interested in the evolution of birds and the adaptations (structural/behavioral) they made to survive in the wild.

The Farallones—Minus The Seasickness
2021-03-31 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
Farallones‚ Minus The Seasickness with Alvaro Jaramillo
The Farallon Islands are the most important seabird colony in the US Pacific Coast south of Alaska. Hundreds of thousands of seabirds breed there, and others forage nearby. We are lucky in the Bay Area, that Southeast Farallon Island is accessible on a one day boat trip, as it is approximately 27 miles from shore.
It is never truly comfortable to go anywhere on a boat, and sometimes it is more of an adventure than other times. But the prize of seeing hundreds of thousands of breeding Common Murres, Tufted Puffins, hundreds of Pigeon Guillemots, the largest Western Gull colony on earth as well as shearwaters, whales and hundreds of noisy sea lions and Northern Fur Seals makes it all worthwhile.
Join us on an outing to the Farallons, starting from Half Moon Bay, and returning through the deep offshore waters outside of the continental shelf. One of the world’s natural history gems is right outside our doorstep. If you (or your stomach) don’t like boats, this is a way to see what all the fuss is about!
Alvaro Jaramillo is a lifelong birder, biologist and book author. He runs Alvaro’s Adventures, a birding tour company based in Half Moon Bay, CA.
This event will take place online via Zoom and last approximately 60-75 minutes. Registrants will be sent a link and password to access the Zoom. The session will be recorded, and registrants will have access to the recording on the web for two weeks after the event, regardless of whether they attend the live presentation.

Virtual Bird ID Seminar with Jon Dunn—3 Consecutive Thursday Evenings
2021-04-01 19:00 - 20:30 | Online
In an effort to promote bird knowledge and interest, OAS has partnered with author and bird expert Jon Dunn for a 3-part set of one and a half hour sessions on three consecutive Thursday’s from April 1 to April 15, 2021 starting at 7pm each night.
Jon Dunn is one of the top birders in the world, a leading expert on the identification and distribution of North American birds, consultant for Birding magazine, author of many books including National Geographic’s Field Guide to Birds of North American, and current president of Western Field Ornithologists.
The seminar is targeted for intermediate to advanced birders; topics include: waterfowls, gulls, and sparrows.
Register online using EventBrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bird-id-seminar-with-jon-dunn-tickets-140641222683
Members $30, Non-members $45
Please make sure to provide your email address for contact for the online seminar registration. Details regarding seminar registration information will be sent starting March 13, 2021.
