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Redwood Region Audubon Society advocates for protection of birds and wildlife by supporting local conservation efforts to protect wildlife and their habitat.
Friday, July 10, 7:00 p.m. Zoom Presentation:
"Breeding Birds and Climate in Southern
California:
1968-2013" with Frank Fogarty. It is often assumed that climate
change will negatively
affect many organisms in arid regions as they
become warmer and drier. In
reality, these responses likely will vary among
species and populations. Frank
Fogarty, a doctoral candidate at University
of California, Davis and
lecturer
at Humboldt State
University, will be
presenting his
recently published work on the effects of
long-term variation in both
temperature and precipitation in southern California
on the abundance of 41 breeding bird species. Among the species of birds that appear to be significantly impacted by climate variation in southern California are the Black-throated sparrow, Gambel's quail, and Loggerhead shrike.
All photos by Frank Fogarty. Saturday, July 24 Wigi Wetlands Restoration Work Days Return! Help reduce the spread of invasives at Wigi Wetlands by cutting
flowers! The meadow which we largely cleared of Scotch broom is filling in with wild
radish. At this point it is blossoming, but hasn't set seed. We do have a little Scotch broom in bloom, Klamath weed is growing along the trail, and the birdsfoot trefoil is invading the
wetlands! I plan to bring a pump sprayer with vinegar to see if I can
slow down the trefoil. The good news is that the plants haven't produced
much seed yet, so by getting rid of the flowers we can save ourselves a
LOT of future work! New protocols will be in place. We will be practicing social distancing, wearing masks (extras will be provided if needed) and asking people to bring their own work gloves. We will also limit the number of volunteers to 10. We will meet, as usual, at 9:00 am. If more than 10 people would like to work, we will add a 9:30 start time to keep the group sizes small. Please email Jeremy at jeremy.cashen@yahoo.com if you plan to be there so we can make it a safe and productive work day! The Ecological Role of Raptors and the Impacts of Rat Poison, presented by Jaime Carlino. This ZOOM meeting was recorded. If you missed it, or want to watch it again, here's your link.
Rodenticide use is pervasive world-wide
and the costs to
rodent-consuming wildlife species such as raptors, as
well as pets and children, are high.  Raptors Are The
Solution (RATS) is a
non-profit organization working with a coalition of
NGOs, agencies, scientists,
municipalities, and individuals to eliminate toxic
rodenticides from the food
web. RATS and its regional chapters encourage people
to be proactive in
managing rodent issues without the use of poisons. As
a regional chapter of
RATS, the HUM-RATS' (Humboldt Raptors are the
Solution) mission is to educate Humboldt
County residents about the
harmful
effects of widespread use of toxic rodenticides, and
the critical role played by rodent-consuming wildlife
species such as raptors. Jaime will give a brief
overview of rodenticides, their effects on a variety
of non-target species,
describe what RATS and HUM-RATS are doing to address
this issue, and provide
information on how to manage rodent issues without
using poisons.
Jaime Carlino is a long-time bird lover
who studies
wildlife management at Humboldt State
University. She investigated
Barn Owl nest box
selection in California's Central Valley
agricultural
ecosystems for her undergraduate degree. Her master’s
degree work will focus on Barn Owls in Napa
Valley’s
agricultural ecosystems. Jaime hatched HUM-RATS in
2019 because she recognized the importance of
poison-free ecosystems to the diverse array of
wildlife that
occurs in Humboldt County.
If you’d like to receive updates from HUM-RATS, search
‘Humboldt Raptors Are
The Solution’ on Facebook and ‘humrats’ on Instagram.
 In this year of the coronavirus pandemic, 160 home-from-school kids pulled out paints, pencils, pastels, or paste to enter the Student Bird Art Contest.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, entries for the Student Nature Writing Contest were down this year, but 23 students submitted works of prose and poetry.
 The ko' ko', a flightless bird native to Guam was exinct in the wild, and is now returned and thriving! Photo from the San Diego Zoo.
Second Thursday
Audubon Society holds its monthly
Conservation Meeting the second Thursday of each month noon. They are currently being conducted under the Zoom platform.
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Saturday, July 24 - Wigi Wetlands Restoration Work Days Continue! Details on this page.
 Get the great new birding guide by Ken Burton and Leslie Scopes Anderson! It links well-known and obscure
birding sites, some of them only recently opened to the public, into 25 routes
spanning the entire county.
 The 3rd edition of RRAS’ Common Birds of Northwest California by
local birder Kenneth Burton and photographer Leslie Anderson is now
available!
Keep Up to Date Via RRAS Listserve
Be reminded about field trips and programs and learn about upcoming
meetings, public hearings, and symposia of interest to RRAS members and
other concerned nature lovers.
Create an account at https://groups.io/ if you don't already have one, then search for rras and join us!
Looking for inspiration while practicing social distancing? Try Audubon's Joy of Birds for ideas and wonderful photos!
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