Monterey Audubon Society newsletter: November 20 - December 4, 2023

Hi there birding friends,

Ahoy! I hope you're having a nice week. With the fall rains, perhaps you are searching for yard space or pots to plant native plants in. This is the best time of year to do it! Native plants help support the native insect species that birds need to eat. They sequester carbon more efficiently than exotic plants and are easier to care for. There's no reason not to plant native plants! They may seem harder to purchase compared to the standard exotic plants at the Home Depot, but check out the Calscape website to find which plants would grow well in your area and even which nurseries you can purchase them from.

Thank you all for the encouragement and support, and as always, please get in touch with questions, comments, or ideas at montereyaudubon@gmail.com. Happy birding!

Amanda Preece

Environmental Advocate, MAS

Monterey County Gives! is LIVE

Our 2023 Big Idea: Young Birders Club

With the new Young Birders Club, we encourage, educate, and empower young people with an interest in nature and birds. This is a welcoming space for them to meet friends their age and develop their interests in birds, nature, and conservation. As the Club gains momentum and members, we'd like for the young birders to have a say in how the club is run, and provide opportunities to take on leadership roles and give back to their communities.

Monterey County Gives! is a year-end campaign that inspires philanthropy and benefits local nonprofits. This effort amplifies year end giving by providing a partial matching donation (usually about 10%) to participating organizations. Your donations will help fund our Young Birders Club and many other outreach and conservation projects. And donations also keep the Little Sanderling going. :)

Donations can be made at the link below through the end of the year. Thank you for the support!

https://www.montereycountygives.com/audubon

Mark your calendars for 2023/2024 winter birds surveys (aka Christmas Bird Count)! More count locations and contact information is on our website.

MAS participates in Pacific Flyway Shorebird Survey

The Pacific Flyway Shorebird Survey is long-term monitoring program led by Point Blue Conservation Science, the same organization that monitors the nesting Snowy Plover on the beaches of Monterey Bay. This data-gathering effort was designed to help guide the management and conservation of wintering shorebirds. A vast network of volunteers and professional biologists combine to conduct a survey that provides a snapshot of the Pacific Flyway every year. Monterey Audubon has participated in the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve surveys for the last few years, and it's always a blast! A big part of our mission is to help conserve bird populations, and hemisphere-spanning projects like this one certainly help inform management of the world-traveling shorebird species that we all love. Check out more information on the project and play with the interactive map on the Point Blue website HERE.

At the time he was the county's first premier bird photographer, and many of his photos from the 1960s-70s have not been repeated. For many years, he provided a regular inventory of dead seabirds that washed onto Monterey State Beach and documented the population of Snowy Plovers at Carmel River State Beach for researchers with Point Reyes Bird Observatory (now Point Blue Conservation Science). His deep passion for birds was expressed through his 60 consecutive years of participating in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count.

Ron leaves an extensive legacy of lasting family memories and photographs, and aiding the health and development of the thousands of young people who he cared for through his work as a pediatric doctor. Dr. Ronald L. Branson M.D. passed away of natural causes at age 93 on October 17, 2023. You can find his full obituary online.

Know any students who want to study sea ducks? They could work with us and our Seawatch Project!

The Sea Duck Joint Venture offers a funded Sea Duck Joint Venture Student Fellowship Program each year. More details about the scholarship opportunity is posted online HERE. The Sea Duck Joint Venture in collaboration with Ducks Unlimited has developed this graduate student fellowship program to support research on North American sea ducks. The goal of the program is to increase the number of skilled early career professionals interested in sea duck research, management, and conservation and related fields.

Sea ducks such as the Surf Scoters are present throughout the fall Seawatch season here in Monterey Bay, and our survey data would be an excellent resource for any student interested in comparing the population and timing of migrating seabirds and potentially impactful oceanic conditions, such as sea surface temperature, fisheries landings, etc. Know any folks interested in graduate school and that want to study sea birds? Send them this email!

Other Upcoming In-person Events

Elkhorn Slough Reserve - Early Bird Field Trip
Saturday, December 2, 2023, 8:30 - 11:00 AM

Amateur and expert birders alike will find a place on the Early Bird Tour! More info and registration online HERE.

EcoFarm Conference - Asilomar Conference Grounds

January 17 - 20, 2024

EcoFarm advances ecological and just farming and food systems through learning, convening, celebrating, and advocating. Yes, birds are involved with this, too! More information online HERE.

Olympic Bird Fest - Olympic Peninsula, WA

April 11 - 14, 2024

Need a reason to visit the Northern Olympic Peninsula? A Bird Festival is great excuse. More online HERE.

Virtual Events

Mon, Nov 20, 4:00 PM PT - Creative Bird Photography with Ray Hennessy, American Birding Association

Mon, Nov 20, 7:00 PM PT - The Dinosaurs Amongst Us with Kim Adelson, Morro Coast Audubon

Tues, Nov 21, 6:00 PM PST - Listening to the Dark Skies Along the Great American Flyway, Great Salt Lake Audubon

Mon, Nov 27, 11:00 AM PST - The secrets of bird moult, ageing and identification, The Urban Birder (UK)

Tues, Nov 28, 9:00 AM PST - Condor Chat: Special Condor Release morning, Ventana Wildlife Society

Thurs, Nov 30, 3:00 PM PST - Ultimate Bird Drawing Throwdown Showdown, BirdNote

Thurs, Nov 30, 4:00 - 5:30pm PST - Birds in Watercolor: Paint Step-by-Step with Ronna Fujisawa, Audubon of Northern Virginia

Thurs, Nov 30, 7:00 PM PST - Monarch Butterflies - A Conservation Opportunity for Native Species, Sacramento Audubon

Clark’s Nutcracker, Pinyon Jay, and Pygmy Nuthatch Irruption 2023

Check out this American Birding Association article about the 2023 irruption year that we are witnessing for some species. While there’s no clear definition of an irruption in ornithological literature, it describes large-scale movements of birds over a broad geographic scale on a regular or irregular cycle, but not on an annual migratory cycle. Here in North America, it refers to birds that typically winter in the boreal forests in Canada and the northern United States, moving farther south than they normally would. Read the article online HERE.

You never know who will fly back at the Seawatch! Come by and look out to sea with us.

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