Burrowing Owl and wildflowers on the Audubon Bobcat Ranch

Our colleague Dash Weidhofer, who manages the Audubon Bobcat Ranch outside Winters, recently found this Burrowing Owl on the property. It may be the first recorded sighting of that species on the property. He also captured some cool images of the wildflowers blooming.

Support programs that provide water to birds

You may not have ever heard of the Farm Bill’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program or the Department of Reclamation’s WaterSMART grants – but our birds count on them every day. In the Central Valley, Farm Bill programs help protect Tricolored Blackbird colonies and create surrogate habitat on agricultural lands for a variety of birds, such as Long-billed Curlews, Western Sandpipers, and Snow Geese. WaterSMART conservation programs work at the community level to provide more water for birds and people. These programs have benefits throughout the parched West. In the Colorado River Basin, more than fifteen years of drought is threatening river habitat for the endangered Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Summer Tanager.

Please send an email today asking Congress to fully support programs that safeguard birds and conserve water for habitats and communities.

Happy birthday to the National Wildlife Refuge System!

From US Department of the Interior Facebook page: 

On March 14, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt established the first wildlife refuge on Pelican Island in Florida. Created to protect bird species that had been hunted to the brink of extinction, this first refuge led to the National Wildlife Refuge System that now includes over 560 refuges across the country. Though the brown pelican has recovered, Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge continues to protect 14 other threatened and endangered species. 

Audubon California is joining up with several other agencies, including the USFWS to complete a citizen science survey of the California Brown Pelican on May 7. Save the date!