Program Meetings

Watch the program here:

https://youtu.be/NhUGSJwEef8

Vjera has been using digital bird databases since they first existed.She was an early adopter of Birdnotes.net, which started in Oregon in 1999, and now is an expert user and a volunteer reviewer for eBird. 

The March 23, Tuesday, Lane County Audubon Meeting will be about eBird, the free bird database from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Vjera Thompson will be the program speaker. Her program will explore many resources available via the eBird program. 

If you want to do the eBird homework before the program meeting, there is a very good short introductory video about eBird here: https://ebird.org/about

However, if you are interested in submitting data to eBird, she urges you to view the free tutorial, called eBird Essentials: 

https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/product/ebird-essentials/

There will undoubtedly be many questions for Vjera even after viewing the tutorial. We want you to send your questions directly to Dennis, to compile them and get them to Vjera several days before the Audubon meeting, preferably by March 17, Wednesday.The email address for Dennis is dennisarendt@gmail.com

February Program available on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UY-9N1IhcM

Author and hiking guru William L. Sullivan takes us on a tour of new or dramatically changed trails in the area between Salem and Bend. All are featured in the newly released fifth edition of his guidebook, 100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades. Completely revised, this new edition to the area between Bend, Salem, and Eugene includes lots of new trails to make up for those that have been closed or changed by recent fires. Included are a new path along the Deschutes River north of Bend, a new bird refuge trail at Salem, and several reopened trails to wildflowers in the Cascades. He discusses the effects of wildfires and the Forest Service’s new permit system. Along the way, expect anecdotes about local history, plants, and outdoor lore.

Program recording available here: https://youtu.be/2RAR_bGEnj8

Polyglottal Passerines – Mimicry Is Not Just for Mockingbirds

While birding at Finley National Wildlife Refuge in his teens, Rich Hoyer heard the most amazing thing – a Purple Finch incorporating sounds of a California Scrub-Jay in its jumbled song. He thought he had discovered something new, since such behavior wasn’t mentioned in any field guide. Since then he’s been fascinated and intrigued by mimicry in birds, collecting personal observations and recordings of the phenomenon. In this audiovisual presentation, Rich Hoyer will present examples of mimicry in songbirds from throughout the Americas and share his enthusiasm for this curious and often entertaining behavior.

Born and raised in Oregon, Rich Hoyer earned bachelor’s degrees in German and Zoology at Oregon State University. Following a few years as an itinerant biologist and summer guide on Saint Paul Island, Alaska, he moved to Tucson, Arizona and has been working as a professional birding tour leader for WINGS for the past 23 years.

Of Ravens, Wolves and People

LCAS and the Eugene Natural History Society are cosponsoring a Zoom program by John Marzluff  "Of Ravens, Wolves and People."

John Marzluff is a professor of wildlife science at the University of Washington (Go Dawgs). His talk will report on the travels of ravens as they forage among wolves, pumas, and people.

He has studied how humans affect birds through habitat fragmentation and increased urbanization, as well as the challenges of conserving birds on islands. Currently he is focusing on the habits of common ravens in Yellowstone National Park. Some ravens in the park commute long distances to exploit human and canine hunters, agricultural subsidies, sewage ponds, and dumps. Travels of 60 miles per day are not unusual. Others beg at picnic grounds and pullouts. One rings a bell for roast beef at the home of a tavern waitress. 

He has written or co-written six books about birds, most focusing on his favorites, the crows and ravens. While his work has focused primarily on corvids (ravens, crows, and jays), he has also worked with falcons and hawks throughout the world. Conversely, he is interested in all the ways that birds affect people. How, for instance, birds influence art or language.

Ram Papish will guide us on a tour of what he terms “the greatest wildlife spectacle in the world.” He will show us herds of wildebeest, zebra, and antelope stretching endlessly in every direction, and give us an opportunity to witness the eternal struggle between predator and prey on the expansive plains of Tanzania.

Looking beyond the megafauna, he’ll share photos of the wonderful and abundant birdlife of the African savannahs, wetlands and rainforests. And, as a bonus, his presentation will offer a window into the mysteries of Mountain Gorillas in Uganda. 

Wearing his science hat, Ram worked as a wildlife biologist studying birds and other wildlife, primarily in Alaska for more than 20 field seasons. Pivoting to his writing and artistic endeavors, he has also authored and illustrated two children’s books:

In a slide show of her original paintings, Janet Essley explores the fascinating life cycles of these long-distance migrants, the amazing physiology, and the conservation challenges they face. The Red Knot (Calidris canutus), a medium-sized sandpiper, is a regular guest along the Oregon Coast during its spring and fall migrations. Extremists among sandpipers, Red Knots migrate longer distances, breed farther north, display faster beach-probing feeding maneuvers, and ingest harder shelled mollusks than other sandpipers. 

Recording scientific knowledge through art forms from around the world, Essley’s Cultural Cartography of Red Knots is a unique collage of human and avian natural history. Research for this project has immersed Essley in shorebird scientific studies and an astounding variety of human artistic expression from around the world. If nothing else, she says, studying migrating birds teaches us that the world is one shared home.