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Tag Archives | Mendocino Coast Audubon Society

Meet Our African Penguins

By on January 13, 2025 in

Get a behind-the-scenes look at our African penguin colony at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We will learn about some of the drama that happens between pairs—romance, breakups, and even a little about their chick-rearing. This provides an opportunity to learn about their individual birds in a way that isn’t possible by visiting them at the aquarium.

Aimee Greenebaum is the Curator of Aviculture at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. She received a Bachelor of Science in wildlife biology from Kansas State University. She has been working with birds for over 24 years and has been with the Monterey Bay Aquarium for almost 21 years. She manages the Aquarium’s avian exhibits, which currently include the shorebirds, Common murres, Tufted puffins, African penguins, and Laysan Albatross. Aimee is the Co-Chair for the Avian Scientific Advisory Group (ASAG) and steering committee member for the Charadriiformes Taxon Advisory Group (TAG) for AZA-accredited Zoos and Aquariums.

Aimee was one of the primary authors for both the Shorebird Animal Care Manual and the Alcid Animal Care Manual that were developed by the TAG that is used as a primary resource for the care of all captive shorebirds and alcids.  She also co-authored the chapter about shorebirds in the book “Hand-Rearing Birds,” second addition by Duerr and Gage. Aimee has experience working in rehabilitation with local shorebirds, most commonly with the federally threatened Western Snowy plover. She also went to South Africa and spent two weeks helping SANCCOB (South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds) and helped rehabilitate the critically endangered African penguin.

Join us in person or via Zoom

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Tree Death on the Mendonoma Coast

By on February 3, 2022 in

Over the past two decades, tree mortality in coastal Mendocino and Sonoma Counties has picked up noticeably. This phenomenon is creating hazards for people and their homes, threats to power lines and roads, and changes in coastal ecology that make future vegetation development harder to predict. In this online talk, Cal Fire Forest Pathologist Chris Lee will explore the nature of the mortality—including tree species affected, hard-hit locations, and mortality patterns—and what we know so far about the varied causes behind it. Spoiler: there are a lot of different factors, from past land-use choices to a changing climate to a spectrum of pests both native and non-native. Bring your curiosity, your questions, and your own observations to this discussion as we sum up what is known up to this point about the mounting tree mortality problem and ponder what can be done about it. Chris Lee has been pursuing a deeper understanding of forest ecology and pathology since 1999, when he began a master’s degree in Natural Resources from Humboldt State University. He later gained a PhD in Forestry at the University of Missouri-Columbia, studying tree pathogens common to both the Midwest and California. He worked for seven years as a sudden oak death Research Associate for the University of California Cooperative Extension, and for the past eight years he has worked as a Forest Pest Specialist for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Forest Entomology and Pathology Program.

You must pre-register for this event at https://www.mendocinocoastaudubon.org/

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Managing Breeding Waterfowl on a Landscape Dominated by Agriculture

By on February 7, 2021 in

During this presentation you’ll learn about some of the challenges that California’s locally breeding mallards face, as well as some of the novel approaches being used to help recover the declining population.

Caroline hails from New York, but has been working for CWA (California Waterfowl Association) since 2011 as the Waterfowl Programs Supervisor. Although she has conducted field work in every flyway, the Pacific is her favorite because it has such a wide variety of species, habitats, and conservation issues. California is of particular interest because while millions of birds fuel up and spend much of the fall and winter here, the state is unique in that it also hosts sizeable breeding population of locally breeding species; mallards, gadwall, cinnamon teal, wood duck. Much of the field work conducted by CWA is to evaluate conservation actions and support the hunting regulation process by providing pertinent population data; thus much of the work Caroline and her crew does involves capturing and banding birds throughout the late winter through to the fall. In her down time, she likes to explore other regions of the Flyway, using working vacations to assist colleagues at the Alaska Department of Fish & Game with various waterfowl projects.

To join our Zoom Meeting via desktop, laptop, tablet, or smart phone:

At 6:45 PM, go to the MCAS website and click the zoom link. Meeting ID: 838 3391 1815 Passcode: 110982

Want to see past meetings or brush up on your birding skills? Check out our helpful videos on the MCAS YouTube Channel.

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Status of Spotted Owls in NW California and the Impact of Barred Owls

By on January 22, 2021 in

Barred owl populations have been increasing in the Pacific northwest for several decades and are now impacting northern spotted owls throughout their range. To address this problem, several barred owl removal studies have been initiated which included areas of local long-term demographic studies on Green Diamond property, the Hoopa Reservation, and the Six Rivers and Shasta-Trinity National Forests. Peter Carlson, currently working for Colorado State University as a long-time member of the research team for the studies on national forest lands, will discuss some of the impacts of barred owls, the recent trends of the owls, and status of the removal studies. While the impacts of barred owls are of real concern, that is only one of several ongoing threats to the spotted owl. Peter will also discuss the barred owl issue in the context of multiple stressors.

Peter Carlson began studying spotted owls in the San Bernardino mountains in 1992 and has worked on the NW California demography study since 1994. He has some fond memories of working briefly with barred owls and other raptors, in their native habitat, in Illinois in 1986m prior to beginning his MS work in Wildlife Ecology at the University of Florida. He previously worked for Humboldt State University as the field coordinator for the demography study, and since 2005 has worked through Colorado State University as a Research Associate for the study.

To join our Zoom Meeting via desktop, laptop, tablet, or smart phone:
At 6:45 PM, click on the following https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8608672804?pwd=NTFJaW4zaWVDRERmWkJ5MmhEQ0drQT09

Meeting ID: 860 867 2804 Passcode: 7sMeYj

We are requesting that you to click on the link 15 minutes prior to the start of the event, so that you can make sure that your audio and video are working properly.

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