Monthly Programs

CVAS holds general meetings on the evening of the first Monday of each month (second Monday, if the first one is a holiday), from September through May. These meetings are held at the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology in Camarillo (see below), and are also available via Zoom at this link: https://zoom.us/j/6155249106

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 and counting. Thanks to these efforts, bald eagles can once again be seen soaring along island coastlines and nesting on cliffs and in treetops across the archipelago.

Today, the Bald Eagle Restoration Project monitors breeding bald eagles on the Channel Islands to detect and remedy any future population declines. Nest monitoring helps us to understand the reasons behind individual nest successes and contributes to invaluable long-term studies. Challenges remain, with some pairs continuing to have failed nests. Ongoing monitoring, livestreams, social media outreach, and educational programming increase public awareness and support of programs that protect bald eagles' ongoing recovery.

Guest Speaker Erin Weiner is a wildlife ecologist and the Eagle Project Lead for the Institute for Wildlife Studies.

She will be joining this month’s program via Zoom.

CVAS’s meetings will be hybrid, simultaneously live at WFVZ – Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology (recommended) and on Zoom. The link to join on Zoom is https://zoom.us/j/6155249106.

Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology collections