Program Meetings

Kangaroo Paws, Donkey Ears, and Frogmouths: Wildflowers and Birds of Southwestern Australia with Bob Fleming

Last September (spring in the southern hemisphere), Bob Fleming visited Australia’s southwestern region. Join us for an evening journey, as he shares some of what he experienced there.

Noah Strycker, now a world-renowned birder, grew up in Lane County. He went on to study birds on six continents, with field seasons in Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Australia, Antarctica, the Galapagos Islands, and the Farallon Islands.

If you’ve never had an opportunity to travel into the wilds of eastern Africa, this is your chance for a vicarious visit to an amazing part of the world. John Sullivan and Laura Johnson travelled to Northern Tanzania in 2016. While both of them enjoy looking at birds, animals, bugs, snakes, flowers, and plants wherever they travel, John is the main photographer.

Did you know Oregon has 500 species of bees, including four species that are actively managed in ingenious ways for crop pollination? Come and learn who these bees are and some of the weird and wonderful features of their lives.

We co-sponsor a program each December with Eugene Natural History Society. This year Bruce Newhouse will share information about pollinators that will help us nurture them.

Did you ever wonder about all those flying and crawling critters on your flowers? Do you know how to tell a bee from a fly? Do you know that some flies are good pollinators? Do you know how to plant a garden that will be the best possible place for pollinators?

If these kinds of questions go through your mind as you stare at your garden, this presentation is for you! We will familiarize ourselves with the most common native pollinators and learn a few simple tricks to tell them apart. We’ll also learn some of the best things you can do to invite native pollinators into your own yard, including which plants “rock the world” of the little creatures that run it.

FMI: Dean Walton: dpwalton@uoregon.edu

Seldom on a winter’s night in Oregon can a birder rack up a checklist of more than 30 species in a single hour. But that’s exactly what listeners have in store for them on January 11, when the Lane County Audubon Society presents singer-songwriter Stephan Nance at Eugene Piano Academy for the release of their latest, birdiest record, Look at the Harlequins!

Kim Nelson will share information she has gathered on the enigmatic Marbled Murrelet (MAMU).

These murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) are unique small, cryptic seabirds that nest inland in older-aged forests of the Pacific Northwest, instead of on off-shore rocks like their relatives. Murrelet populations have declined over much of their range due primarily to current and historic loss and fragmentation of their forest breeding habitat. Changes in ocean conditions and prey availability are also impacting nesting frequency and nesting success. Come hear about the Marbled Murrelet, the last bird species in North America to have its nest found. Kim will discuss murrelet ecology, recent research in Oregon, and new developments in technology that help in studying this elusive seabird.

Kim is a Research Wildlife Biologist in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University.

Ram Papish will explore changes in Bogoslof, a very actively volcanic Alaskan island north of the Aleutian Island chain in the Bering Sea ecosystem. Ram will present data on seabirds and seals from Bogoslof Island and the Pribilof Islands. The colonies are going in opposite directions. Wildlife thrives on Bogoslof, even as the same species decline over most of the Bering Sea. The presentation will include photographs from both islands as well as scientific information about the area’s wildlife. He has spent about 10 summers on Alaskan Islands assisting in seabird and seal research, and will share stories about camp life in these remote, seldom-visited areas. Other research locales in his past have included French Frigate Shoals, Laguna Atascosa NWR, Panama, Hawaii, and several more.

A Presentation by Joe Moll

The Willamette River and its tributaries have been an economic driver for centuries.

Due to its rich resources, the river basin is home to about two-thirds of Oregon’s population, and will continue to attract people to the region in the coming decades. Inevitably, this influx is leading to more conflict over demands for available water, and more pressure on water that remains in-stream.

With settlement and development, demands on the river increased, and the health of the river declined. The loss of complexity and floodplain connections have contributed to decreases in native and increases in non-native fish and wildlife populations. Water quality declined dramatically in the first two thirds of the 20th century but has improved in recent decades.

How have we and how will we deal with these changes? And what impacts might we see in water availability, fish and wildlife health, and community development? This presentation will focus on the conservation work of McKenzie River Trust in the upper Willamette Basin, from headwater streams to the mainstem Willamette River near Harrisburg. The Trust is a part of a growing network of organizations working to protect, enhance, and restore river processes. This recognition of a Living River, or one that is free to meander and change course throughout the seasons and throughout the years, has implications for how we choose to live, work, and play in the Willamette Valley.