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Latest News and Updates from Audubon in California

California Condor. Photo: Scott Frier/USFWS

Following this year's rains, not all birds and habitat areas getting water

We've always said that for some birds and habitat areas, it's always a drought. This new piece from Water Deeply is latest example.

Endangered birds on California national monuments
Audublog

Endangered birds on California national monuments

A quick look at the federally listed birds that use the California national monuments

Scouting for Tricolored Blackbirds near Folsom. Not that we need to remind you, but California can be a pretty spectacular place sometimes. Check out this amazing sky over our team scouting for Tricolored Blackbird nests yesterday near Folsom. And we did find some of the rare birds.

Which CA birds get left out if federal Endangered Species Act disappears?
Audublog

Which CA birds get left out if federal Endangered Species Act disappears?

If the federal Endangered Species Act is weakened or removed, several bird species in California will lack specific protections.

Audubon Magazine takes a look at the reasons behind our lawsuit to save Humboldt Bay habitat

Black Brant in Humboldt Bay. Photo: Neva Swenson

Audubon Magazine takes a close look at the reasons behind our lawsuit to save bird habitat in Humboldt Bay. Lots of good biological information here:

"Located 260 miles north of San Francisco, the area is the second-largest estuary on the West Coast and one of the state’s most productive bodies of water­—its tides act like lungs, constantly draining, refilling, and replenishing nutrients. Among the various habitats supported by this ebb and flow are half of California’s remaining eelgrass beds, a vital food source and habitat for herring as well as migrating birds.

"This combination of size, biodiversity, and increasingly rare habitat is what makes Humboldt an essential stopover site for about 50 species of birds on their seasonal flights between Mexico and northern breeding grounds. Nearly half the Dunlins and 23 percent of all Western Sandpipers pass through every year.

"Meanwhile, Pacific Black Brants wheeling in from Baja, California, land feet first in the shallow waters of the northern part of the bay, the biggest contiguous bed of intertidal eelgrass between Mexico and Washington state. Up to 60 percent of Brants break up their seasonal journey to Alaska at Humboldt, where eelgrass is the mainstay of their highly specialized diet."

Oldest recorded Rufous-crowned Sparrow found at the Audubon Starr Ranch
Audublog

Oldest recorded Rufous-crowned Sparrow found at the Audubon Starr Ranch

Six-year-old male was last found at Starr Ranch in 2011.

Bird LA Day at the Audubon Center at Debs Park

The 2017 version of Bird LA Day was an incredible celebration of birds throughout the greater Los Angeles region. At the Audubon Center at Debs Park in Highland Park, we hosted a day-long series of family-friendly events. Big thanks to everyone that came to the Center to enjoy the day.

Western Snowy Plovers nesting on LA County beaches for the first time in 70 years

Western Snowy Plover
Western Snowy Plover. Photo: Mike Baird

For the last several decades the story of the Threatened Western Snowy Plover along the California coast has been of the loss of one nesting beach aftern another. But today come news of the birds nesting on Los Angeles County beaches for the first time in 70 years. That's big news.

Update on Tricolored Blackbird breeding - May 2, 2017

Audubon California's Samantha Arthurs gives a quick update on this seasons Tricolored Blackbird breeding.

Update from a new Tricolored Blackbird colony in Sacramento County

Audubon California field technician Bill Abbott shows a colony of Tricolored Blackbirds in Sacramento County.

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