THE CVAS ANNUAL PICNIC Sunday, June 2 at Los Robles Open Space Meet at 8:00 am for the morning bird walk, then at 11:00 for the potluck lunch. It’s been twenty-three years since we first held our CVAS Annual Picnic at the Los Robles Trail area adjacent to the original Janss House in Thousand Oaks, […]
Get ready for a dive into South America’s birdiest country! Together we’ll explore Colombia’s unique ecology, breathtaking scenery, and unparalleled avian diversity! Colombia holds the record with nearly 2,000 bird species and an impressive 80 endemics! During our time together, we’ll discuss what has given rise to such incredible diversity. Topics include the country’s five […]
We have a last-minute special guest from Belize, Jonathan Urbina, presenting a bonus program about the Yellow-headed Amazon this Monday, June 2nd from 2-3 pm at the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology. Born and raised in Belize, Jonathan went to school at Murray State in Kentucky, majoring in environmental sciences. He has gone on to […]
Free-Flying Los Angeles Parrot Project Non-native parrots have become a very present and boisterous element of the urban ecosystems throughout Southern California. Now through the Free-Flying Los Angeles Parrot Project (FLAPP) on iNaturalist, we created a dataset focused on two of the more prominent species in Southern California, the Red-crowned and Lilac-crowned Parrots. After being […]
Mono Lake is well-known for its breeding population of California Gulls, and for the large numbers of Eared Grebes and phalaropes that use the lake in fall migration. Tucked away in the scattered wetlands, ponds and creeks around the shores of Mono Lake, there is also an established breeding waterfowl population. Deborah House has monitored […]
Patch Birding the Colorado Lagoon in Long Beach Patch-birding will lead to better understanding of how our local birds use different parts of the landscape from year to year and season to season, which may be more useful than knowing how often birds stray far off-course. Over the course of 8 years, Robb Hamilton has birded […]
How Does a Songbird Learn to Sing? Especially when he’s a cowbird who has never met his parent? Steve Rothstein will discuss generalizations regarding how songbirds learn their vocalizations as well as some exceptions to those generalizations. He will also discuss cowbirds and what’s known about their vocal development and how both innate and genetic […]
Rooted in Community: California Walnut Woodlands The Ecological Significant to Avifuana Changes in land use following Euro-American colonization resulted in the severe reduction of the endemic Southern California black walnut (Juglans californica) and its woodland habitat. Natasha Khanna-Dang studied the availability of trees and large shrubs and feeding behavior of birds in eight patches of […]
Public Lands Russell Galipeau will take us back in time to the establishment of federal lands, the role Congress and the President play, the agencies we have entrusted to care for them, and the threats they face. Russell Galipeau is a member of the Conejo Valley Audubon Society. He has served 40 years with the […]
Each September, our first meeting of the season is dedicated to the birding trips and adventures of our members, so you are invited to show off your recent, or not-so-recent photos. Bring your photos on either thumb drive or other medium to WFVZ for the meeting, or for those who wish to share your photos […]
Bald eagles were historically present on all eight California Channel Islands, but by 1960, exposure to the pesticide DDT led to their decline and disappearance. In 1980, a team of wildlife biologists with the Institute for Wildlife Studies initiated the Bald Eagle Restoration Project, an intensive reintroduction and management effort that has spanned 45 years […]
Birding the Bottom of the World: a Bucket List Trip to Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and Antarctica NOTE: November’s meeting will be in-person only! We will not be streaming the meeting over Zoom. We want to see your faces! Join us at the Western Foundation (details below). Antarctica is a destination […]