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Latest News and Updates from Audubon in California

California Condor. Photo: Scott Frier/USFWS

Helping out on the Pacific Flyway Shorebird Survey. This is the time of year for the Pacific Flyway Shorebird Survey, run by Point Blue Conservation Science. We've got a team helping out, and we got the Oakland Airport. Lots of birds, but not exactly the scenic landscape one hopes for on these things. Ah well, anything that helps the birds.

Drought reducing birdsong in San Gabriel Mountains

In case you're keeping track, there hasn't been any research yet showing how the drought is great for birds. On the the other hand, there've been plenty showing how the drought is hurting them. Here's another on the latter side, showing how drought is actually reducing birdsong in the San Gabriel Mountains:

"Jenny Rechel has been studying birds in the San Dimas Experimental Forest above Glendora for 19 years. These days, she's hearing fewer species come through — a result of the historic four-year drought that continues to plague the state. Seems like there’s fewer bird calls," the U.S. Forest Service researcher said. "I hear less calling, especially in the areas by the streams."

Plumas Audubon Society talks grebes in a recent Sacramento Bee article
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Plumas Audubon Society talks grebes in a recent Sacramento Bee article

Jane Braxton Little writes about, "An avoidable catastrophe for nesting grebes." in the Sacramento Bee featuring Plumas Audubon Societies own David Arsenault and Audubon's Grebe Project.

Brigid McCormack talks San Francisco Bay birds on KQED

Audubon California Executive Director Brigid McCormack recently talked about the thousands of migratory birds making their way to San Francisco Bay on KQED. Check it out:

Witness to the drought
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Witness to the drought

Twice a month, Ralph Baker and John Harris from Stanislaus Audubon Society spend a day inspecting habitat and counting birds at the Grasslands Wildlife Management Area in Los Banos, one of fourteen refuges named as essential habitat under the Central Valley Project Improvement Act.

Feds unveil draft plan for desert renewable energy development
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Feds unveil draft plan for desert renewable energy development

Plan is an attempt to map both renewable energy and conservation across huge swath of desert habitat.

Peep, peep goes the Sandpiper

Least Sandpipers (calidris minutilla), utilizing newly formed channel in Sonoma Creek Marsh.

Sonoma Creek Marsh restoration update

We learn all about marsh mounds from restoration manager Courtney Gutman.

It is time to renew our commitment to safety in Los Angeles parks
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It is time to renew our commitment to safety in Los Angeles parks

The murders of two women in L.A.'s Ernest E. Debs Regional Park remind us that a park where no one feels safe isn't really a park at all

Op-ed: ESA protection for Tricolored Blackbird will give it a fighting chance to survive

Great opinion piece in the Contra Costa Times about the plight of the Tricolored Blackbird and the need to protect this species before it goes extinct.

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