Speaker Series
Golden Gate Audubon’s monthly Speaker Series in San Francisco and Berkeley features renowned naturalists, photographers, ornithologists, authors, international travelers, and other fascinating speakers.
To cover event costs, we ask non-members for a voluntary donation of $5. Non-members may attend for free if they take advantage of our discounted six-month membership of $15 and join that evening. As always, GGAS members are welcome to attend free of charge. Locations are listed on the right side of this page.
Alaska—The Breeding Grounds for the Flyways
Nils Warnock Berkeley: Thursday, May 16 7 p.m. refreshments, 7:30 p.m. program
Western Sandpipers on the Copper River Delta / Photo by Milo Burcham
Did you know that Alaska supports more than 80 percent of all the seabirds nesting in the United States? And that close to a third of the world’s shorebird species come to Alaska to breed? Nils Warnock will talk about the many ways that Alaska is important to different bird populations. He will present amazing examples of how Alaska’s birds migrate to all continents. He will also highlight some of the conservation work that Audubon is doing in the state, focusing on current projects in the Arctic and Tongass National Forest.
Nils Warnock, executive director of Audubon Alaska since 2010, has spent most of the past 30 years studying the ecology of Pacific Flyway birds, with a particular emphasis on shorebirds and migration. From 1998 to 2008, he was codirector of the Wetlands Ecology Division at PRBO Conservation Science. Nils has a PhD in ecology from the UC Davis and San Diego State University and serves as an adjunct professor in the department of wildlife at Humboldt State University. His research has taken him throughout the Pacific Basin. He lives in Anchorage, laska.
The Kingdom of Rarities
Eric Dinerstein San Francisco: Thursday, June 20 7 p.m. refreshments, 7:30 p.m. program
When you look out your window, why are you so much more likely to see a robin or a sparrow than a Kirtland’s Warbler or a California Condor? Why are some animals naturally rare and others so abundant? The quest to find and study seldom-seen jaguars and flamboyant Andean Cocks-of-the-Rock is as alluring to naturalists as it is vitally important to science. Eric Dinerstein will discuss his book, an eye-opening tour of the rare and exotic. It offers a new understanding of the natural world, one that places rarity at the center of conservation biology. The program is cohosted by the World Wildlife Fund and Island Press.
Eric Dinerstein is the lead scientist and vice president for conservation science at the World Wildlife Fund. His specialty areas include tropical mammals, large mammal biology, biogeography, bats, rhinos, seed dispersal, and community ecology. He is also the author of Tigerland and Other Unintended Destinations and The Return of the Unicorns: The Natural History and Conservation of the Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros.