Research Grant Offered!

Redwood Region Audubon Society (RRAS) is offering a research grant (one award per year) of up to $500 for studies on birds. This grant is available to undergraduate and graduate students at Cal Poly Humboldt and College of the Redwoods. Its purpose is to encourage learning about birds in Humboldt, Trinity, Siskiyou, and Del Norte counties and to support projects that will advance knowledge of them.

Application is due December 1, 2023

Christmas Bird Counts are coming soon!

The first one is the Arcata count, on December 16.

Details available here.

Help Rename Birds!

Do you think it would be better if a bird's name had something to do with the bird, rather than with a person who may (or may not have) discovered it?

Why isn't a Bonaparte's gull called a hooded gull?

I just discovered that Heermann's gull (the only gull I can easily identify) is named after a man who in the 1850s was a surgeon for the Pacific Railroad Survey (he was also a naturalist.)

A decision has been made to rename some birds that were named after people. If you'd like to suggest new names, here is your chance! 

Deadline is December 31, and the list and instructions are available here.

Photo courtesy of Ken Burton

Larry Karsteadt and fellow birders enjoy a Saturday morning bird walk at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary.

In addition to our regularly scheduled activiities, which are listed lower in this column, we have a special walk this month:

Details on all our walks and field trips are available here.

Regularly scheduled bird walks and work days:

Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary 

Every Saturday! 8:30 - 11 a.m.

Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge

2nd Sunday

Eureka Waterfront Birdwalk

3rd Sunday

Wigi Wetlands Restoration Work Day

4th Saturday.

Southern Humboldt

4th Saturday

Where the Heck Are the Snares?

The Story of Ecological Recovery in the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic

by Andrea Tuttle

The remote islands south of New Zealand are home to many endemic species of birds and marine mammals, but all have been subjected to the ravages of sealers and penguin oil dealers bringing cats, rats, and rabbits. 

Andrea takes us on an exciting travelogue of a Christmas 2022 trip with National Geographic that offers spectacular scenes of the flora and fauna of these windswept outposts and tells the story of the hard-fought recovery of the Macquarie and Campbell islands, and the endemic Campbell Teal, long declared extinct.

More information on the program and speaker is available here.

To use the link below to watch the recording, you will need this passcode:

Tzm06#1^

This Is Standard Text

The purposes and objectives of this corporation shall be to engage in such educational, scientific, investigative, literary, historical, philanthropic, and charitable pursuits as may be part of the stated purposes of the National Audubon Society, of which this corporation shall function as a Chapter.

Mailing Address:

PO Box 1054 Eureka,

CA 95502