| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
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| Wednesday Walk – San Luis NWR 7:45 am Wednesday Walk – San Luis NWR Feb 5 @ 7:45 am – 4:00 pm  Join a tour of one of the great remnants of the historically bountiful wintering grounds for migratory waterfowl on the Pacific Flyway located in the Bear Creek, Salt Slough, and San Joaquin River floodplain. It hosts a myriad of tree-lined channels, wetlands and native grasslands. ... | ||||||
| Wednesday Walk – Elkhorn Slough/Stevens Ranch 5:15 am Wednesday Walk – Elkhorn Slough/Stevens Ranch @ Stephen's Ranch Feb 19 @ 5:15 am – 4:15 pm  Join us for an exciting field trip to the Stevens Ranch in Moss Landing. This unique property was originally purchased by David Packard to stop the development of the northern side of Elkhorn Slough. His son-in-law Robert Stevens continues to run the ranch as a... | ||||||
| Saturday Walk – Ball Ranch 6:45 am Saturday Walk – Ball Ranch @ Ball Ranch meeting location - Target Feb 29 @ 6:45 am – 12:00 pm  Ball Ranch, on the San Joaquin River Parkway, offers various habitats including grasslands, wetlands, ponds, riparian areas and oak groves. Cormorants, ducks, mergansers, grebes, raptors, sparrows, finches, quail, gnatcatchers, woodpeckers and many others can be found there. Occasionally we have found Lewis’s Woodpeckers. There are... |
Join a tour of one of the great remnants of the historically bountiful wintering grounds for migratory waterfowl on the Pacific Flyway located in the Bear Creek, Salt Slough, and San Joaquin River floodplain. It hosts a myriad of tree-lined channels, wetlands and native grasslands. There is a good chance of seeing Tundra Swans, several species of geese, numerous species of ducks, raptors, shorebirds, sparrows and many other wetland and grassland species. Along the way we will keep an eye out for the native Tule Elk that once numbered in the millions in the Central Valley. We will stop at the visitors center and view the wildlife and history exhibits before starting the auto-loop drive. This is an all day trip so plan accordingly. We will meet at Target near Herndon and highway 99 at 7:45 am for an 8:00 am departure.
Checklist: binoculars, scope, field guide, snacks, lunch, water, sunscreen, hat, radios
Northern Pintail by Dan Cobb, Merced NWR, 19 November 2019
Meeting location
Pectoral Sandpiper by Gary Woods
Join us for an exciting field trip to the Stevens Ranch in Moss Landing. This unique property was originally purchased by David Packard to stop the development of the northern side of Elkhorn Slough. His son-in-law Robert Stevens continues to run the ranch as a haven for birdlife. Expect to see numerous species of upland birds as well as shorebirds in the multi-thousands.
This is an out of town trip starting at 8:00 am, so you can either stay the night before nearby (Watsonville is the most economical) or leave Fresno at 5:30 am to arrive by 8:00. After birding we will eat lunch and then return home, so expect the day to end around 4:00 pm.
Meeting place for carpooling from Fresno is the Target Parking lot at 6655 N Riverside Dr, Fresno, CA 93722. We will meet at 5:15 am for a 5:30 departure.
Checklist: binoculars, bird guide, water, sun protection and lunch.
Leader: Robert Snow, (650)483-2347, rsnow@fresnoaudubon.org.
Directions to the Stephens Ranch: You can navigate to the Elkhorn Native Plant Nursery (now closed) in Moss Landing, then turn east on Struve road. Proceed towards the former nursery, and you will see the ranch house on your right. The coordinates are Struve Rd, Moss Landing, CA 95039, 36.831258, -121.758357.
Ball Ranch, on the San Joaquin River Parkway, offers various habitats including grasslands, wetlands, ponds, riparian areas and oak groves. Cormorants, ducks, mergansers, grebes, raptors, sparrows, finches, quail, gnatcatchers, woodpeckers and many others can be found there. Occasionally we have found Lewis’s Woodpeckers.
There are no restrooms on this property. We will walk a mile or more on dirt roads, but most of the area can be driven for those who prefer driving. Please meet at Target in the River Park Shopping Center near Highway 41 and East El Paso Ave at 6:45 am. We plan to be finished by noon. The gate to the property must be locked while we are on the property so plan to stay until noon
Checklist: binoculars, scope, field guide, snacks, lunch, water, sunscreen, hat, radios
Green Heron by Clayton Dahlen
Linda Schafhauser will lead this trip through the Madera grasslands and foothills along Rd 26 to Eastman Lake. Expect to see eagles, hawks, shorebirds and owls, and possibly migrating Rufous Hummingbirds if the right trees are in bloom. After lunch at Eastman Lake we will have a chance to walk the numerous trails in the area.
We will bird along the 13 mile driving route to Eastman Lake. The return to Madera route may include sections of unpaved road. Return to Madera AmTrak Station approximately 2pm. The car caravan will pull off the road, in safe places, to bird on route and in the park. There may be short trail walks. Spring migration can bring a variety of ducks and shorebirds such as the long billed Dowitcher, Greater Yellowlegs, American Widgeon, Buffleheads and Northern Shovelers. There have been recent sightings of Common Mergansers sharing the creek flowing out of Eastman, with Cinnamon Teal. Two Swainson’s Hawks and a Loggerhead Shrike often greet drivers as they near the park, while Bald and Golden Eagles make appearances soaring over the adjacent hills. Sightings, but more often calls in a rocky campground area include wild turkeys and California Quail. The resident campground Roadrunner can sometimes be seen standing camouflaged among the rocks. Scanning the lake may provide views of gulls and cormorants. More common Western Meadowlarks, California Scrub Jays, Red-Tailed Hawks, Ravens and Crows line the grasslands and trees. Lunch will be in a picnic area within a walking view of the lake. After lunch, for those interested, the return route to Madera Amtrak Station may include (condition permitting) birding along a short section of unpaved road along a grassland and orchard.
We will meet at the Amtrak station in Madera (18770 Rd 26, Madera, CA 93638) at 8:15 for an 8:30 departure.
Checklist: binoculars, scope, field guide, snacks, lunch, water, hat, radios
Trip Leader: Lynda Schafhauser rufusradar@me.com (559)474-0651
Please register for the event here.
Map to meeting location:
Join us for dinner at BJ’s Brewhouse with Biopsychologist Susan Schneider. Susan has over 25 years of research and teaching experience in the science of consequences and nature-nurture relations. She’s also an avid birder, field trip leader, and environmental activist. President of San Joaquin Audubon (just stepped down this summer), she was on the Tropical Audubon board in Miami and is a past president of Mountaineer Audubon in West Virginia. She’s published numerous scientific articles and book chapters, and has been a faculty member at St. Olaf College, Auburn University, and Florida International University; she’s currently a Visiting Scholar at University of the Pacific. Her book for the public, The Science of Consequences: How They Affect Genes, Change the Brain, and Impact Our World (see www.scienceofconsequences.com) was a selection of the Scientific American Book Club and took her on a 3-year international book tour. It describes the science of reinforcement learning, its important role in the larger realm of nature-nurture relations, and its many beneficial applications for people and animals. Schneider is currently focused on fighting climate change: giving talks, consulting professionally, and co-chairing the San Joaquin County Climate Action Coalition.
Please register for the event here.
Please join us for an evening discussion of bird intelligence by Biopsychologist Susan Schneider, PhD. Susan has over 25 years of research and teaching experience in the science of consequences and nature-nurture relations. She’s also an avid birder, field trip leader, and environmental activist. Her talk is titled No Birdbrains Here: The Latest on Bird Learning, Instinct, and Intelligence. Birds can learn from consequences, as we and many other species can: Baby chicks learn to peck accurately, wild mockingbirds can learn to recognize individual people, and pigeons were able to learn to categorize art and music. Even instinctive behaviors like imprinting can be more flexible than scientists used to think, and songbird song appears particularly malleable. This talk will explore bird learning and intelligence, from everyday foraging, to learning through observing, to tool use. Such adaptability may be critical as wild birds attempt to adjust to the many threats they face. Scientists also take advantage of this powerful learning ability to help save endangered species.
Please register for the event here.
Map to the UC Center:
Join us for a trip to the beautiful and important Audubon Kern River Preserve and Lake Isabella. We will begin birding at 7:00 am on Saturday, so it is best to leave Friday and spend the night in Kernville. Accommodations in Kernville can be found online (e.g. here). To learn more about the preserve click here. A map of the trails on the preserve is found here. A list of winter birds can be found here.
Please register for the event here.
We will meet at the preserve headquarters at 7:00 am on Saturday 14 March. A map to the headquarters is here:
Checklist: binoculars, scope, field guide, snacks, lunch, water, sunscreen, hat, radios
Trip Leader: Robert Snow, (650)483-2347, rsnow@fresnoaudubon.org
Marsh Wren by Larry Cusick
River West is several hundred acres of grasslands, riparian areas, ponds, bluffs and river habitats. The walk is mostly level but we may walk as much as 3 miles on dirt trails and through wet grass. Those who don’t want to walk the entire property can bird a smaller area. We are not able to drive this property. Because the trail gate is open all day, participants are able to leave early. This is the area where we saw the Vermillion Flycatcher several years ago. He hasn’t been spotted this year, but there are lots of good birds in the ponds and river habitat. It’s not unusual to record more than 50 species this time of year. Possible sightings included American Bittern, Virginia Rail, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Ruby-crowned kinglets, Sparrows, Northern Harriers, White-tailed Kites to name a few. We will also be able to see the habitat restoration that the SJR Parkway and Conservation Trust has been working on for the past few years. We will meet outside the gate at the intersection of W Riverview Dr and W Bluff Ave at 8:00am. There is plenty of on street parking in this area. There is a port-a-potty available on the premises. We plan on finishing by 11:30 am. Register for this walk here
Kearney Park, which was originally the estate of Martin Kearney, a land developer and agricultural promoter in the late 1800s, was once owned by the University of California, and is now a Fresno County park. Kearney Park is good for sparrows, nuthatches, wrens, woodpeckers and sapsuckers, and finches among many other birds. Spring migrants such as flycatchers, tanagers, and warblers can be seen at the park. Kearney Park is also one of the few places in the Fresno area where Yellow-billed Magpies can be seen. Owls are sometimes found at the park, as are nighthawks. Wear walking shoes and warm clothes; early April mornings in the country can be cool. Bring a lunch. There is a $5 entrance fee. Register for this walk here
Checklist: binoculars, scope, field guide, snacks, lunch, water, sunscreen, hat, radios
Trip Leader: Larry Parmeter lanpar362@gmail.com (559)288-3456
The Kearney Park entrance location is here
Map to meeting location:
Gray Flycatcher by Gary Woods
Join us for a trip to the San Joaquin Experimental Range (SJER) with Rebecca Ozeran from UC Cooperative Extension. The SJER is a US Forest Service research area and active cattle ranch in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. This property has restricted access so this is a great opportunity for Fresno Audubon. We may see Gray Flycatchers and Western Bluebirds, as well as a variety of sparrows and Lewis’s Woodpeckers. We will meet at 7:15am for a 7:30am departure at the UC Cooperative Extension parking lot, 550 E. Shaw Ave., Fresno.
There will be restrooms available. The terrain is sometimes rocky and sloping, so it’s not a good site for people with limited mobility.
Checklist: binoculars, scope, field guide, snacks, lunch, water, sunscreen, hat, radios
Trip Leader: Rebecca Ozeran (livestock and natural resources advisor). Please contact Susan Estep estepmail@yahoo.com (402)212-1215 with any questions.
Please register for the trip here. Registration is limited to 25 people.
Map to meeting location: