Celebrating our Centennial at Lindsay

By Ilana DeBare

Talk about grand finales! Golden Gate Audubon Society’s traveling Centennial exhibit arrived at its final venue of 2017 this month – Lindsay Wildlife Experience in Walnut Creek – and looked like it had been designed to fit that exact space.

Over 150 GGAS members and friends gathered to launch the exhibit on Sunday, October 15, a beautiful afternoon that came after the week of terrible North Bay wildfires.

They were welcomed by Lindsay’s expert wildlife rehabilitation volunteers offering close-up views of some of their live, rescued birds, including a Northern Barred Owl and Great Grey Owl.

Attendees then browsed the colorful 14-panel exhibit on GGAS and its accomplishments, along with a display of striking taxidermied birds from the Lindsay collection. Kudos to GGAS staffmember Clay Anderson for hanging the taxidermied specimens so beautifully!

The Centennial exhibit fit beautifully in Lidnsay’s downstairs space. Photo by Ilana DeBare
Belted Kingfisher from the Lindsay taxidermy collection / Photo by Ilana DeBare

GGAS board member Jill Weader O’Brien and Lindsay Wildlife board member Elizabeth McWhorter welcomed the crowd, as did Ariana Rickard, representing Mount Diablo Audubon Society, which serves the Walnut Creek area. Then GGAS Executive Dirctor Cindy Margulis gave a passionate summary of the importance of GGAS’s work – made even more salient by events like the recent fires that put the people, landscapes, and wildlife of Northern California at risk.

Of course there was a 100th birthday cake, frosted with images of some of the species that GGAS has protected over the years: Western Snowy Plover, California Least Tern, Black Oystercatcher, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Burrowing Owl. (So some members went home able to make the unusual claim, “I ate a Burrowing Owl.”)

Happy 100th bird-day! Photo by Ilana DeBare
Some of the attendees at the Centennial launch reception at Lindsay Wildlife Experience. Photo by Ilana DeBare.

If you couldn’t attend the launch party, you can still enjoy and take part in the Centennial!

  • An anonymous donor has offered $10,000 in matching funds for GGAS in honor of the Centennial. To help achieve this match, we need your tax-deductible donation by October 31st. Click here to give easily and securely online, or send a check to Golden Gate Audubon, Attn: Centennial Match, 2530 San Pablo Avenue, Suite G, Berkeley CA 94702.
  • Come visit the exhibit at Lindsay! It will be on display in two areas of the museum — upstairs in the Buckeye Room and also on the lower level–  through February 2018. Lindsay Wildlife Experience is open Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and is located at 1931 First Avenue in Walnut Creek. Bring your children or grandchildren and enjoy an encounter with some of their live, rescued animals while you’re there!

Do you know of a public venue that might be a good site for the traveling Centennial exhibit in 2018 or 2019? We’re hoping to extend the audience for these beautiful panels by bringing it to community centers, branch libraries, office building lobbies, etc. If you have a suggestion for an exhibit site, contact us at ggas@goldengateaudubon.org