Interested in hearing more about our Working Waterways hedgerow survey? Bird Conservation Program Manager Karen Velas will be speaking at an Altacal Audubon Society event that is open to the public.

Native Trees & Plants for Bird Habitat

Presented by Joseph O'Neil and Karen Velas

Monday, April 21, 2014 6:30 p.m., Chico Creek Nature Center

Joseph will review slides of some of the native trees that will be seen on his Birds & Trees Walk at Butte Creek Ecological Preserve on April 27. He will go over the many resources that trees provide for our feathered friends, explaining how tree identification is a useful tool to understanding and locating birds better. Karen will discuss the benefits of California native plant hedgerows to birds in the agricultural landscape of the Central Valley. She will provide an overview of plant species that attract birds and talk about her ongoing study which looks at overwintering and breeding songbirds in hedgerows along farm field margins. She will be leading a trip to Bobcat Ranch on May 17.

Joseph O’Neil is a 30 year Chico resident, Certified Arborist and birding enthusiast. His goal is to teach birders tree identification. Karen Velas has worked for Audubon California for the last 7 years on a number of different projects  including Important Bird Areas of California, waterbirds of the San Francisco Bay, habitat restoration and the California Condor. She grew up in southern California and never expected to land in the Central Valley but she loves being in the heart of the Pacific Flyway.