Bird on a Wire: Latest news from Audubon California

Spring | Women's History Month | Women in Conservation Ranching | Saving the Salton Sea | Salton Sea Summit | Top 10 Birds | Dunlin at Dawn | Biodiversity HotSpot

 

Spring | Women's History Month | Women in Conservation Ranching | Saving the Salton Sea | Salton Sea Summit | Top 10 Birds | Dunlin at Dawn | Biodiversity HotSpot

Happy Spring Dear KAREN, Spring is the season of blooming flowers, warm breezes, and bird nests crammed with hatchlings. It's an enthralling time for birding. During spring migration, more than a billion birds make their way through California. Can you spot these top 10 resident and migrant birds? For the past decade, I've been behind the scenes at Audubon California. I ensure that our programs are fully resourced and well managed. I'm our team's biggest fan, learning from my brilliant colleagues every day. I'm honored to lead this next chapter as we protect birds and the places they need. Sincerely, Gaylon Parsons Interim Executive Director Audubon California

Townsends Warbler. Photo: Dawna Wakefield/Audubon Photography Awards

Bird of the Month: Great Horned Owl Can you spot the hidden owlet? These big owls aren't picky about where they nest, raising owlets in tree cavities, cliffs, abandoned buildings, and old eagle nests. Learn More Great Horned Owl. Photo: Verdon Tomajko/Audubon Photography Awards Native Plant: Ceanothus thyrsiflorus This drought-tolerant bush with beautiful blue flowers attracts wrens, nuthatches, orioles, woodpeckers, and bees.   Native Plants for Birds Ceanothus thyrsiflorus. Photo: Kousvet/Wikimedia Creative Commons

Celebrating Women at Audubon California We are proud to have so many amazing, talented women at Audubon California. We celebrate them for Women's History Month and all year long! Hear first-hand what inspired each of them to launch careers in conservation.  Read more

Pictured from top left to bottom right: Gaylon Parsons. Photo: Anne Kohler; Andrea Jones. Photo: Luciane Coletti; Keilani Bonis-Ericksen. Photo: Eric Gaylord; Casey Arndt. Photo: Casey Arndt; Paige Fernandez. Photo: Haymar Lim

Women in Audubon Conservation Ranching Meet Doniga Markegard and Carolyn Carey, two of the incredible women enrolled in Audubon's Conservation Ranching Initiative. They don't let anything stand in their way, working around the clock in all weather conditions while fiercely defending birds, the land, their animals, and the food we eat. Read more

Western Meadowlark. Photo: Roger Van Gelder

Saving the Salton Sea: A Community Responds "I live in the community by the Salton Sea. We are breathing highly polluted and toxic air. I have a responsibility for my kids and the children of my community to have healthy air to breathe. We need a faster resolution for the Salton Sea," urges Frank Ruiz, Salton Sea Program Director for Audubon California. Watch Now

Frank Ruiz at the Salton Sea. Video: Mike Fernandez/National Audubon Society

You're Invited: Salton Sea Salton Sea Summit 2022 The Salton Sea Summit III: New Opportunities and Persistent Challenges is next week from April 6-7, 2022, at the UCR campus in Palm Desert, California. The conference will also be live-streamed in English and Spanish. The multi-disciplinary conference will cover Salton Sea hydrology, ecology, air quality and human health, imports and long-range planning, lithium extraction, community and economic development, local projects, policy, and financing. Register

Logo: Salton Sea Summit 2022

Top 10 Birds to Spot There is a tremendous diversity of birds for Californians to enjoy right from our doorsteps this spring. Resident birds have begun nesting and raising young. Species that spent winter here are staging their moves to breeding grounds further north or higher in the mountains. Meanwhile, long-distance migrants have started trickling through from warmer and tropical locales. Here are our top 10 common birds to spot this spring.   Read more

California Scrub Jay. Photo: Lou Orr Arcadia/Audubon Photography Awards

Catching Dunlin at Dawn "Shorebirds whiz overhead in the predawn darkness as I crouch on the edge of a muddy rice field in near-freezing temperatures. I pray that one of them would find its way into my net," recalls Khara Strum of Audubon California. These brave shorebirds are our avian research partners. They are helping us collect data on how California's 'extreme drought' is affecting millions of migratory birds in the Central Valley. Read more

Khara Strum. Photo: Rodd Kelsey/The Nature Conservancy

California Tops NYTimes List as Most Biodiverse and Most Threatened California is designated a Global Biodiversity Hotspot, a distinction for only 36 bioregions across the planet. We also have the most imperiled biodiversity in the United States. Here's how Audubon California is protecting bird biodiversity in the golden state. Read more

California Condor. Photo: Loi Nguyen/Audubon Photography Awards

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