Speaker Series - Golden Gate Audubon Society

Golden Gate Audubon’s monthly Speaker Series features renowned naturalists, photographers, ornithologists, and other fascinating speakers. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, our Speaker Series events are now entirely online.

How to View Our Speaker Series: Our online events are hosted through Zoom and are provided on a first come, first serve basis of up to 500 participants. In order to sign into our events, you will first need to register for GGAS’s email distribution list. We send Speaker Series email alerts on the Sunday before each scheduled event. Our alerts contain important information for the event including our unique Zoom links and passwords to sign in.

If you’d like to sign up for our email list, please email ggas@goldengateaudubon.org.

Thank you to Recology- Our San Francisco Speaker Series Sponsor

April 15, 2021

Bird Sound Recording for Conservation and Research

Presented by Greg Budney

This presentation will discuss how audio recording is used for conservation and research with examples ranging from the use of portable recording systems in tropical bird conservation, autonomous recorders for detection and monitoring, automated playback systems for reintroduction, and will also touch on related issues such as the ethics of playback. The talk will include brief discussion of individuals that have carried out this work.

May 20, 2021

The Breeding Seabirds of Alcatraz Island and Climate Change

Presented by Lidia D’Amico and Zoe Burr

In this event, Lidia D’Amico (National Park Service Alcatraz Biologist) and Zoe Burr (Farallon Institute Seabird Biologist) will dive into the world of Alcatraz seabirds. They will tell you about several species that typically breed on the island every spring and summer, and the threats these birds are facing from climate change and living in an urban environment. Alcatraz Island sits in a unique position within the San Francisco Bay and as a result is one of only two estuarine breeding colonies for Brandt’s cormorants.

June 17, 2021

Madagascar’s Fragile Magic

Presented by Eric Schroeder

Eric Schroeder will take you on a tour of this amazing island, home to 308 species of birds, 108 of which are endemic. Endemism isn’t limited to individual species but, remarkably, extends to the family level; Madagascar has six endemic avian families: the mesites, the asities, the vangas, the tetras, the ground rollers, and the cuckoo roller (which has only one species—the Cuckoo-roller—in the family.)