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.
Restoring Vital Bird Habitat in Carman Valley
Featuring Jim Steele
San Francisco: Thursday, May 17 — 7 p.m. refreshments, 7:30 program
Carman Valley, after restoration / Photo by Jim Steele
For 25 years, Jim Steele monitored birds in the Tahoe National Forest around Yuba Pass, Sierra Valley, and Perrazzo Meadows. He was also the principal researcher in an intensive study of six wet meadows on the east and west slopes of the Sierra Nevada crest, funded by the U.S. Forest Service. This riparian habitat is critical not only for breeding birds, but also for birds during molt and migration. The research culminated in the restoration of the Carman Valley watershed just west of Sierra Valley. Jim will offer a short history of the restoration and discuss the importance of a healthy watershed for birdlife. He will also share insights on the upslope movements of Orange-crowned Warblers and the changing habitat use of Black-headed Grosbeaks in the Carmen Valley area. In his research, bird banding provided an opportunity to observe the progression of individuals from juvenal to adult plumage, and photos of birds in the hand will let you test your identification skills of the juvenal plumages of common birds such as Black-headed Grosbeak, Western Tanager, Lazuli Bunting, Yellow Warbler, and MacGillvray’s Warbler.
Jim Steele was the director of the Sierra Nevada Field Campus from 1985 to 2009 and co-authored the Checklist of Yuba Pass and Sierra Valley. During that time, he monitored birds of the Sierra Nevada on the Tahoe National Forest via point counts and participated in an 18-year bird banding study. He has taught classes on bird banding and teaches a class on birdsong identification at the Sierra Nevada Field Campus.
Free for GGAS members, $5 nonmembers.
Location: First Unitarian Universalist Church and Center, 1187 Franklin Street at Geary.
Magical Madagascar
Featuring Bob Lewis
Berkeley: Thursday June 21 — 7 pm refreshments, 7:30 program
Sickle-billed Vangas of Madagascar / Photo by Bob Lewis
Ninety million years ago, Madagascar broke away from the last fragments of Gondwana, the great southern continent. Since that time, life on Madagascar has been evolving in its own unique way, isolated from Africa by 300 miles of the Mozambique channel. Five or six families of birds are found only on this fourth-largest island in the world, and more than half of the world’s chameleons live only here. Lemurs are found nowhere else. Join Bob Lewis as he considers the evolutionary concepts of endemism and adaptive radiation on this island laboratory, and illustrates Madagascar life with striking images taken on a recent trip. Meet Cuckoo-Rollers, Asities, Mesites, Vangas, and other Malagasy birds, and discover some of the many species of lemurs that call the Madagascar forests home. To get in the right time zone, we’ll spend a few minutes in Cape Town, South Africa, chasing the elusive Cape Rockjumper before departing for our ultimate destination.
Bob is a GGAS board member and an award-winning nature photographer who has traveled to many countries in search of avian subjects. He has taught birding classes in the Bay Area for almost 20 years and is a frequent speaker at libraries, conservation groups, photo clubs, and benevolent societies on bird-related subjects. Bob has seen about 4,000 of the world’s 10,000 species of birds, and enjoys photographing members of the world’s bird families.
Free for GGAS members, $5 nonmembers.
Location: Northbrae Community Church 941 The Alameda (between Solano and Marin), Berkeley