Monterey Audubon Society newsletter: September 11 - 25, 2023

Hi there birding friends,

Another Little Sanderling for the books! I swear I'm trying to keep these short, but there's so much good stuff out there. That's a real perk to birds - we can keep learning about them for our entire lives and still not know everything! Thank you all for your emails of support and I hope to see you Tuesday at the Pacific Grove Museum. Be sure to come up and say "Hi"!

Amanda Preece

Environmental Advocate, MAS

Tuesday, September 12th Pacific Grove Museum public presentation with Audubon California Spatial Ecologist Keilani Bonis-Ericksen

More information about our speaker and her presentation online.

More Fall Field Trips!

Fall migration is upon us and Monterey Audubon has a full set of field trips to enjoy the spectacle. Breeding birds of the Northern Hemisphere have fledged and cared for their chicks. Now they’re flying south to warmer climates to spend the winter. Many of these journeys are long and arduous, and they’ll need to stop to refuel along the way. We at Monterey Audubon urge you to get out and see some of these special birds along their journey. A morning to observe and enjoy birds in their natural habitats provides respite and rejuvenation from our own busy lives and journeys as well. In the annual cycles of avian life, fall migration is a special time. Enjoy it with us!
 

Monday Sept 18 - Birdability at Shorebird Pond with Amanda Preece

Bird along an ADA accessible path at a coastal pond near Watsonville.
 

Sunday Sept 24 - Hawk Hill in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area with Jane Rudebusch and Mary Kenney

Ready to up your raptor game? This is the best time and place to do it as raptors gather their courage to cross the Golden Gate. Check out the daily Hawk Counter.
 

Saturday Sept 30 - Point Pinos with Patrick Furtado

Look for migrants at El Carmelo Cemetery and the cypress trees at Point Pinos. Enjoy our rocky shorebirds and possibly pelagic birds if the winds are right.
 

Friday Oct 6 and Saturday Oct 7 - Big Sur Land Trust’s Mitteldorf Reserve with Steve Rovell on Friday and Fred Hochstaedter on Saturday.

Enjoy a hike through a redwood forest to a lovely lodge and a beautifully maintained nature trail. In collaboration with Big Sur Land Trust. 
 

Sunday Oct 8 - Beginning Birding with Amanda Preece

Learn the basics on our monthly walk.
 

Sunday October 29 - San Lorenzo Park in King City with Sam Phillips

Enjoy this under-birded hotspot in King City with south county resident and raptor expert Sam Phillips.

Check out the details of these field trips and more on our website! 

Merlin Sound ID app has made my life easier, but made eBird editor's lives harder

Have you heard about the amazing Merlin app? If you don't have it, you should download it onto your smartphone now! It's basically a field guide of likely bird species for your location and has other helpful tools to help you ID or locate birds. But the really nifty feature is the sound ID function. Utilizing the giant database of bird recordings submitted by ornithologists and the wider birding community, this app can help you determine what bird songs or calls you may be hearing. It especially comes in handy when there's a skulky bird who doesn't want to be seen! It has helped me learn calls and songs of local birds, but it has also led me astray. Once I had a California Thrasher (who is a very good mimic) trick the app into identifying the songs of the birds the thrasher was mimicking. And if there is noise interference or I don't have a good GPS signal, it might suggest that I'm hearing a species that would be highly unlikely for the region. To make sure you are getting appropriate suggestions from Merlin, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has made a handy online guide for how to ensure you are using Merlin to the best of its ability.

If you use Merlin to identify a bird and then want to report that bird using eBird, you should include other methods you used to verify the species, other than just the Merlin app identification. EBird is an amazing database and only useful to researchers because of the work done by local eBird editors, who are volunteers that put in many hours reviewing eBird submissions. Rare bird sightings need to be confirmed before being included in the big database that scientists use to model bird ranges and movements to assure that it is accurate. The Merlin app has given people a great resource for learning bird calls and songs, but some folks are submitting rare bird sightings merely based on the Merlin ID suggestions. In cases of rarities, this likely won't be enough evidence to confirm the rare bird to the big database. Specific identifying features of the song or call need to be noted or clear descriptions of the appearance of the birds would need to be included. Better yet, pictures can really help with an identification!

This is a big enough topic that there is a National Audubon magazine article about it. Merlin has 100% improved my birding experience out in the field, but like with all new technology (I'm looking at you, drones!) it's important to understand how to best apply and interpret the given results. No matter what, have fun out there and keep searching for the sneaky little warblers that the Merlin app might help you find!

Former county supervisor and Moonglow Dairy owner Lou Calcagno dies at 87

Moonglow Dairy is a phenomenal birding destination in Moss Landing along the south bank of Elkhorn Slough with a species list of 298 birds. Working lands allow for a diverse mix of bird species, and the active diary was no different. This was a classic place to find Tricolored and Yellow-headed Blackbirds in the fall and winter and the shorebird pond (pond #1) lured in many vagrant shorebirds. More info about birding Moon Glow Dairy is on Don Roberson's website HERE. Moonglow Dairy owner Lou Calcagno passed away on August 31 at his family home on the dairy property, where he'd lived his whole life. In October 1978, Don Roberson asked permission to access the dairy for a Big Day effort, and while you'd think most owners of a working dairy wouldn't like the idea of birders driving through and walking around on the property, Lou was supportive, and granted access. Birders have been allowed at the dairy almost ever since. Lou was active with the Elkhorn Slough Foundation, was on the Coastal Commission, and believed in preserving the environment and existing agricultural lands around the region. Read the full Monterey County Weekly obituary online HERE. We don’t know what public access will be like in the future at Moonglow Dairy, but we can be grateful for the many years of support and access gifted to us by the Calcagno family.

Use Your Power - VOTE! 

Join Monterey County Elections in celebrating National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday, September 19, 2023!

What is National Voter Registration Day (NVRD)?

NVRD is a day to celebrate democracy and increase civic engagement across the nation by promoting voter registration. Participation is easy! On September 19th, encourage others to register to vote, talk about the issues you care about, and double-check to make sure you yourself are registered to vote. It only takes 30 seconds to register to vote or check your voter status at  www.registertovote.ca.gov.

Environmental organizations often talk about actions we can take in our daily life to help birds (see How to Help Birds on our website), but our collective action has a far greater impact. Make sure to stay engaged at the city, county, state and national level, and vote to support action on climate change and to protect bird habitat.

IRA Planning Tip for Retirees

If you have an IRA and the required minimum distributions (RMD) are beginning to cause tax issues, consider a direct distribution to a local nonprofit like Monterey Audubon! The Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) is the smallest amount account holders must withdraw from employer-sponsored retirement plans each year once you reach 73 years old. If you fail to meet your RMD, the amount not withdrawn will be taxed at 50%. If you donate the RMD, it will not be subject to federal income tax. Consider your local birds and wildlife when you start working on your taxes and estate planning, and donate to support our mission. Thank you for your consideration and please get in touch with us if you have questions or ideas.

Monterey Audubon Society FEIN: 94-2397544

Other Upcoming In-person Events

Central Coast Birding Collective field trip - Neary Lagoon, Santa Cruz

Sunday, September 17, 2023, 9:00 - 11:30 AM

A Sunday stroll through Neary Lagoon, an important part of the urban watershed, with CCBC. Free. Open to all levels of birders. Amazing, welcoming group! More info HERE.

California Coastal Cleanup Day - everywhere!
Saturday, September 23, 2023 - all day!

Join MAS and other organizations for the 39th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day, the state's largest annual volunteer event! We'll be hosting a cleanup at Carmel River State Beach. More info and waivers are online HERE.

Latino Outdoors 10-year anniversary celebration - Emeryville, CA

Saturday, September 23, 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Latino Outdoors' 10 year anniversary with a dinner, live music, and an art auction. Tickets ($130) available online HERE.

Virtual Events

Wed, Sept 13, 7:00 PM - Wild Stories from the History of Bird Migration Research with Rebecca Heisman, Portland Audubon

Thurs, Sept 14, 6:00 AM PT - Americas Flyways Initiative: Site Selection, Monitoring Framework, & First Pilots, Audubon Americas

Sep 14, 2023 12:00 PM PT - Interdisciplinary Ecology in the Anthropocene, Ecological Society of America

Thurs, Sept 14, 1:00 PM PT - Environmental Experts of Color Database Launch, Green 2.0

Thurs, Sep 14, 6:00 PM PT - BIRD BOMB - It's Probably a Red-tail, Denver Field Ornithologists

Sat, Sept 16, 2:00 PM - Beginner Bird ID: Fall Edition, Ventura Wild Birds Unlimited

Tues, Sept 19, 6:00 PM PT -  Birds ‘n Bites: Drying Desert Oasis?, Great Salt Lake Audubon

Wed, Sept 20, 7:00 PM - The Magic of Central America: Costa Rica’s Birds and Ecology, Yolo Audubon

Thurs, Sept 21, 7:00 PM - Unraveling the Mystery Of Avian Keratin Disorder in Alaska, Golden Gate Bird Alliance

Sign up for the FIFTH ANNUAL Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference: September 13-17, 2023, Online. Registration is open.

UCSC Golden-crowned Sparrow research in the news

If you ever visit the University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum in the winter (free birding field trips are held every Tuesday morning!), be sure to look for the flocks of Golden-crowned Sparrows with colorful leg bands. These migratory birds have been banded and monitored for the last 10 years and are always a treat to find while out bird watching. A new publication from a research team (including past MAS presenter Dr. Bruce Lyon) shows that these sparrows like to live and travel with their unrelated friends. Long-term relationships with flockmates influence where they like to hang out in the winter and where they migrate to in the summer, indicating that a birds' social life has an influence on where they go, just like availability of resources. Birds - they're just like us!

Read the full article on the National Audubon Society website HERE.

New book - Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet by Ben Goldfarb, discusses the impacts of roads and noise pollution

40 million miles of roadways encircle the earth, yet we tend to regard them only as infrastructure for human convenience. While roads are so ubiquitous they’re practically invisible to us, wild animals experience them as entirely alien forces of death and disruption. In Crossings, environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb travels throughout the United States and around the world to investigate how roads have transformed our planet. Read a chapter excerpt from High Country News online HERE.

I'm honestly trying to help... I really wish I could talk to birds and explain the situation.

Visit our website to sign up for field trips and learn about our efforts to protect local birds.