Not long ago, Audubon California met with Sacramento Valley farmers to discuss ways that we could work together to provide forage and nesting opportunities for birds that use fields of wheat and rice, without adversely affecting the crop. For Audubon California, the listening we do at these meetings is usually more important than the talking.

"Nobody knows this land better than the people that work on it every day," says Audubon California's Valerie Calegari. "They know what birds are there and they know how their management of the land affects those birds."

At this meeting, one of the local farmers, Fritz Durst, invited us to visit the lands he manages in the Dunnigan Hills. We met with his staff and learned about their work on the farm and the birds they encounter. Among the things we talked about was how to identify and avoid disturbing ground nests for Northern Harriers.

Soon afterwards, Thomas Leacox (pictured above), who works on Durst’s farm, used what he learned to maneuver his 25-foot-wide harvester around a Northern Harrier nest, saving two chicks and an unhatched egg.