October 2019 Yellowbill

In October we’ll have three field trips but no General Meeting. Our next General Meeting will be in December when Gary Woods will be presenting pictures from his most recent year of birding.

As a reminder, memberships are now due 1 September for the 2019-2020 season. Please see the article below for more information on how to join or renew your membership to Fresno Audubon Society. It’s also our annual birdathon fundraiser through October 15. Details about this fundraiser are found below the membership article.

Our surveys of the San Joaquin River Conservancy lands continue. If you want to participate, you can download the instructions from our website by clicking here. Also, we have restarted our Introduction to Birding classes at the River Center. If you want to participate as an instructor, please contact me at rsnow@fresnoaudubon.org.

Robert Snow
President

Opinion

Growing a Climate Conscience

by Barbara Bailey

“How wonderful it is that no one has to wait even a minute to start gradually changing the world!” Anne Frank

I recently had an opportunity to visit the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, and it was sad but thought-provoking, and ultimately a powerful statement of what we can do as a people when we choose to act.

Anne, her family and four other people were shut up in very tight quarters for 2 years during Hitler’s invasion of The Netherlands during World War II. She was a teenager at the time and  kept a diary; the quote above is from her writings. Although I knew the story, during the tour I was moved to tears by her quiet determination and ability to write clearly about what she and others were going through.

In a somewhat strange coincidence, while we were in Europe another young woman was showing great courage: Greta Thunberg spoke to the US Congress about climate change and the world’s collective need to, very quickly, change behaviors both big and small. The stories of both these women stuck with me and wrought a change.

For some time now I have been thinking about climate change and its effect on birds and people. During the same years I have gotten more involved with National Audubon Society through the state office. I applaud the work Audubon does researching the effects of climate on birds, and I think they do a good job shepherding legislation that supports birds. All of the things they do fall in the category of large-scale change, which is very important. However, when it comes to suggesting ways we can change the things we do every day that contribute to climate change, I haven’t found much being said or done at the national or state organization level. 

A paper came out last week in the journal Science that reported that about 1/3 of the world’s songbirds, over 3 billion, have disappeared since 1970. If this isn’t an invitation to act, I don’t know what is. 

Each of us has a carbon footprint, and we can choose to lessen our impact on the environment, or we can choose to do nothing.  Here are some of the things we can do to try and lessen our impact on the environment:

• Find out what your personal impact on the environment is by calculating your own carbon footprint. There are many online tools that can assist, such as this one by the US EPA, and this one by Carbon Footprint.
• Find ways to offset the amount of carbon you release into the environment.  Some ways include planting more trees, engaging in agricultural practices that absorb carbon, and others described here.
• Combine errands that require a car, or better yet, ride a bicycle or walk.
• Reduce your consumption of meat and dairy.
• Think hard about the necessity of airplane trips, and consider offsetting your impact by buying carbon offsets.

There are also some things we can do that will directly benefit birds. First and foremost, we can plant our yards with plants that are native to this region. These plants use less water than standard nursery offerings, and many offer food for our local and migratory birds either in the form of berries and seeds, or through support of beneficial insects. Audubon’s Plants for Birds website will help you select native plants for your yard that specifically benefit birds.

There are many good books that discuss ways to reduce carbon, and still more that deal with the impact native plants can have on the environment. The most comprehensive discussion of carbon reduction that I have found is Drawdown, edited by Paul Hawken. There is an accompanying webpage at drawdown.org. Many experts work with Hawken to calculate which solutions are best. What I find most useful about the book is that each segment begins with a chart showing ranking and results by 2050, estimated reduction in CO₂, net cost to implement, and net savings.

Our personal cache of books about native plants includes Bringing Nature Home; How you can sustain wildlife with native plants by Douglas W. Tallamy; Reimagining the California Lawn: Water-conserving plants, practices and designs by Carol Bornstein, David Fross, and Bart O’Brien; California Native Plants for the Garden, Bornstein, Fross, O’Brien; and Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates, East Bay Municipal Utility District. And while books are nice resources, websites are ever-changing sources of information. Don’t forget that we have some excellent plant nurseries nearby that offer native plants, in particular Auberry’s Intermountain Nursery.

It is more than a little embarrassing that it took a long airline trip to prod me into action. However, by buying  carbon offsets, I did the best I could to account for the travel. I hope you will join me in finding ways to lower our respective carbon footprints.

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General Meetings

There will be no general meeting in the month of October and November. In December we’ll have Gary Woods’ bird photography.

Membership

Annual memberships now due

September brings migration and it is also time for your Fresno Audubon Society (FAS) membership renewal.  FAS’s membership year runs from September 1 to August 31 the following year.  Please join us to ensure that we can keep our organization financially healthy and able to continue our programs of field trips, speakers, and education.  Those with PayPal accounts can join or renew on our website here or you can download a membership form here and mail it and your check to our new address:

Fresno Audubon Society
PO Box 3315
Fresno, CA  93650

Thank you for supporting Fresno Audubon Society.

Important!  Annual Dues Increase

Wanting to better ensure support for the many activities conducted by Fresno Audubon Society (FAS) and realizing that there had not been an increase in dues in many years, the FAS Board of Directors recently voted to raise the club’s annual dues beginning this September 2019.

The new dues are:

Student   $15 annually
Individual   $25 annually
Family   $35 annually
Life    $1,000

Members using PayPal’s automatic renewal feature will want to cancel their current payment (automatic payments cannot be changed, only canceled) before renewing their memberships.  Then you can set up a new automatic payment, or make a one-time payment on our website here. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Birdathon Fundraiser
Fresno and Madera Counties
Sept 15 to Oct 15, 2019

It’s time again for Fresno Audubon Society’s (FAS) annual Birdathon. The Birdathon is a key source of the donations we need to keep our budget balanced and to avoid drawing upon our reserve funds. Last year’s event was a big success, and we would like to do even better this year.

To participate, get out there, enjoy fall birding and see how many species you can find; then, report your bird lists on eBird. Challenge friends, family and colleagues to pledge or make a sponsorship donation to help you raise money for FAS, and please consider making a pledge or donation yourself. At the end of the 15 September to 15 October period we will tally the bird sightings in eBird for the counties of Madera and Fresno.  We will add together all the sightings reported in eBird during this period, and pledges will be calculated based on this total number.  Alternatively, you can choose to “sponsor” the Birdathon by paying a fixed amount.

All funds will go to FAS to carry out our mission: “Engaging local communities in building a sustainable environment for people, birds and other wildlife through education, science, and advocacy.”

Here’s a list of the key accomplishments of FAS in the past year, funded by your donations.

• Built a bird feeding site at the River Center, including a bird-friendly fountain
• Partnered with the River Parkway Trust and an Eagle Scout to install 8 Barn Owl boxes on the San Joaquin River Parkway
• Began monthly bird surveys on the Parkway restoration properties
• Conducted our first beginning bird classes and purchased binoculars for use by students.

Two ways to donate

1. Make a sponsorship donation
   $25 ___$50 ___$75 ___$100   $______ other

2. Pledge per species observed.

The pledge categories:  $0.25 per species – $5.00 per rare species

If you choose to pledge per species observed, the species list will be published at the end of the Birdathon for calculating your total donation. Last year a total of 232 birds including 6 rarities were recorded making a per-species pledge $58 and a rarities pledge $30.

You may pay or pledge by:

Emailing pledges to:  admin@fresnoaudubon.org

Mailing checks P.O. Box 3315, Fresno, CA 93650

Going online and using the donate button at:  fresnoaudubon.org/donate/