Golden Gate Audubon’s monthly Speaker Series in San Francisco and Berkeley features renowned naturalists, photographers, ornithologists, and other fascinating speakers. To cover event costs, we ask non-members for a donation of $5. Non-members may attend for free if they join that evening. As always, GGAS members are welcome to attend free of charge.
Doors open for refreshments at 6:30 p.m. and the speaker will start promptly at 7 p.m.
Berkeley location:
Northbrae Community Church
941 The Alameda (between Solano and Marin Avenues)
NEW S.F. location:
S.F. State University Downtown Campus
835 Market Street, 6th Floor
(Westfield Shopping Center)
Heermann’s Gulls Nesting in California
Byron and Joanna Chin
San Francisco: Thursday, January 16, 2020
6:30 p.m. refreshments, 7 p.m. program
Note new transit-friendly location! S.F. State University Downtown Campus, 835 Market Street (Westfield Shopping Center, at Powell Street BART station), 6th floor.
Heermann’s Gulls were thought to breed exclusively on small islands in the Gulf of California and off the Mexican coast, where their numbers are declining due to warming seas and overfishing. But in 1999, a few nested on a man-made island on Roberts Lake in Seaside, California—the only known nesting colony of Heermann’s Gulls in the United States. Learn about the natural history of Heermann’s Gulls, the Seaside colony’s growth to 100 individuals, its environmental challenges, and efforts by Monterey Audubon and others to help the colony by monitoring and deployment of a floating nesting island.
Byron and Joanna Chin have been avid birders for over a decade, with a particular love for gulls and other seabirds. They’ve spent the last two years studying the Heermann’s Gull colony in Seaside and have worked closely with Monterey Audubon to conserve them. When not involved in bird-related pursuits, Byron is a patent litigator and Joanna is a pediatrician.
Rodenticides: The New DDT?
Lisa Owens Viani
Berkeley: Thursday, February 20, 2020
6:30 p.m. refreshments, 7 p.m. program
Are anticoagulant rat poisons the new DDT? Lisa Owens Viani will describe the epidemic of wildlife mortality caused by these poisons. She’ll explain their impacts on birds of prey such as hawks and owls, among many other animals. She’ll summarize proposed legislation to reduce the use of dangerous rodenticides, and what we can do to help beneficial predators thrive and provide us with their free, natural pest control services.
Environmental writer Lisa Owens Viani co-founded Raptors Are The Solution, which educates people about the ecological role of raptors and the danger to wildlife from widespread use of anticoagulant rat poisons.
Creating Urban Bird Habitat
Amber Hasselbring
San Francisco: Thursday, March 12, 2020
Note: Second Thursday of the month
6:30 p.m. refreshments, 7 p.m. program
Note new transit-friendly location: S.F. State University Downtown Campus, 435 Market Street (Westfield Shoppin Center, at Powell Street BART station), 6th floor.
Birds need native plants and the insects that feed on them, but how to provide native habitat in our urban backyards and public open spaces? Nature in the City’s Backyard Natives Nursery enlists volunteers to grow native plants in their own yards. Learn how these volunteers engage with each other to harvest seed, clone plants from cuttings, and coordinate large-scale habitat restoration… and how your own backyard birds can benefit from this collaborative effort.
Amber Hasselbring is Executive Director of Nature in the City, whose mission to connect everyone in San Francisco to nature by cultivating and conserving local habitats.
Audubon California - Tricolored Blackbird
Samantha Arthur
Berkeley
Thursday, January 17
6:30 p.m. refreshments,
7p.m. program
The Tricolored Blackbird is a colonial breeder that is nearly endemic to California. Historically, these birds bred on wetlands in the Central Valley. As a result of the loss of 90 percent of the wetlands, Tricolors increasingly nest in agricultural fields. When nesting and farmers’ harvest schedules conflict high proportions of the Tricolor population are put at risk. Tricolored Blackbirds were listed as a threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act in April 2018 due to sharp, ongoing population declines. In this presentation Conservation Project Director, Samantha Arthur, will discuss Audubon California’s multi-pronged approach to save the Tricolored Blackbird. This approach includes creating new wetland habitat, working with dairy farmers to delay harvest until after chicks have fledged from nests, and advocating for protections under the state and federal Endangered Species Acts.
Samantha Arthur is a Conservation Project Director for Audubon California, focusing on improving wetlands management for the benefit of bird species in the Central Valley. She also manages Audubon California’s campaign to save the Tricolored Blackbird.
Innovative Habitat Enhancement for Birds
Since 1997 Golden Gate Audubon has partnered with the Port of San Francisco to enhance shoreline wildlife habitat at Pier 94, located along the south eastern bay shoreline, on property owned and operated by the Port of San Francisco. After completing successful wetland and beach enhancement projects, in 2013 Golden Gate Audubon initiated habitat enhancements in the adjacent upland areas of Pier 94. Through creative partnerships and modest funding, Golden Gate Audubon mobilized materials, equipment, and people to transform a mostly barren area of shoreline rubble and road into a viable place for native plants and wildlife. This project is a model for beneficial sediment reuse – using clean local “waste” sediment from mining, dredging, and excavation projects for habitat enhancement rather than disposal
Mike Perlmutter is the Environmental Stewardship Team Supervisor for the City of Oakland Public Works Environmental Services Division. The Environmental Stewardship Team supports volunteer cleaning, greening, and beautification projects throughout City of Oakland public spaces such as parks, creeks, and rights of way. Mike holds a Bachelor’s of Science from Tufts University, and a Master’s of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Mike has worked in San Francisco Bay Area environmental conservation since 1998. His experience includes native plant and wildlife habitat restoration with the National Park Service, wildlife advocacy with the National Audubon Society, regional invasive plant management with the Bay Area Early Detection Network, and urban environmental stewardship with the City of Oakland.