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Field trips are given monthly, and sometimes more than once a month. Everyone is welcome to join in, you do not have to be a member of the Morro Coast Audubon to participate. There is no charge for the trips, except for our annual pelagic trip, and any parking or gasoline sharing fees.

NOTE: Some of our fieldtrips will be on short notice. To be aware of those types of trips, and to keep updated on planned trips, join MCAS Alert! for email updates. Join here.

YOUTH OUTREACH COORDINATOR: Carlo Christian has volunteered to assist both the Field Trip and the Education Chairpersons in getting young people involved in our MCAS activities. Contact Carlo with your ideas about youth programs or to volunteer a little of your time to help with future youth activities. Contact him at : carlocc@sbcglobal.net or at 528-4587.

MOBILITY IMPAIRED: Welcome to Linda Sewell who has graciously volunteered to assist as field trip Liaison to those with limited mobility. Linda is an MCAS member and resident of Arroyo Grande. She is filled with energy and optimism, and does not allow her disability to limit her joy of birds and nature. Please contact her with your interests, ideas, questions and concerns at LMS1@PGE.com or 801-5095. NOTE: Please pass this information on to non-MCAS members … they are welcome at all MCAS field trips! Thank you Linda!!

 

June 2009 Field Trips

 

June 28th (Sunday) from 7-9am Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area is a geologically unique region of sand dunes and serves as a haven for wildlife, rare vegetation, and humans past and present. During the months of March through September, California least terns and Western snowy plovers nest within the park.  To learn more about Oceano’s comprehensive least tern and snowy plover management program, join Stephanie Little, Environmental Scientist, for a two-hour guided tour of the park.  This will give folks the opportunity to see first hand, what Oceano Dunes is doing to manage and protect breeding snowy plovers and California least terns.  The tour will begin at the Oceano Campground Nature Center.  Highlights will include: bird watching at the Arroyo Grande creek mouth, a tour and discussion of some of the park’s restoration efforts, and the opportunity to view the 300-acre seasonal snowy plover and least tern habitat closure.  It is very likely that plover and tern nests and chicks will be showcased on this outing.   Space is limited and on a first come, first served basis.  Please contact Stephanie Little at <sjlittle@parks.ca.gov> or 805-610-6229 to reserve your place.  We will be taking state park vehicles and a waiver form will need to be filled out prior to the tour. 

July 2009 Field Trips

Beginning Birding Walk Along Morro Bay

Saturday, July 25th, 8am – 11am
Leaders: Stephanie Little, Christy Holmes, and Jennifer Moonjian
 
We had such a great turn out at the first Beginner’s Bird Walk that we thought we’d offer another one.  This field trip is for all levels of beginning birding; for those who are just starting out and for those who may want some additional tips or hints that will improve their birding experiences.  This will be a great opportunity to get familiar with binoculars (MCAS will have binoculars and field guides to loan out), to identify birds using a field guide, and to ask LOTS of questions. 

Meet at the MCAS Office and Outreach Center at 601 Embarcadero in Morro Bay.  It is located upstairs in the Marina Square.  We will meet at 8am for a brief indoor lecture.  Then we will head out to Morro Rock and Morro Bay, enjoying waterfowl, seabirds, shorebirds, possible peregrine falcons, and others along the bay.  Please bring comfortable, warm clothing and walking shoes.  If you plan to come, please be sure to sign up with Jennifer Moonjian at jmoonjia@gmail.com.  This will help ensure that we have an adequate number of leaders and so that we can provide binocular/fieldguide loans to anyone that may need one

There will be other field trips over the summer in July and August: to San Simeon State Park and to several hummingbird locations. They will be announced via the MCAS Alert system. To be placed on this email notification system, please email Mike Stiles at mstiles@calpoly.edu . In addition, we will list these trips under Field Trips on <www.morrocoastaudubon.org>as they are confirmed.

 

 

A Hearty “Thanks!” to the Youth Mentors!

The world of TV and computers has the very real potential of luring the youth of today indoors and away from the amazing world of nature. It is hard to love what you do not appreciate or understand. And it is hard to conserve what you do not love nor understand.
Who then will be the stewards of wild and natural places in the generation of today’s youth?
As a very small step toward encouraging kids to feel the beauty of nature, last year I made a challenge to MCAS members to be a birding/nature mentor to a young person. At the Morro Bay CBC dinner we had the honor of recognizing three mentors who accepted the challenge: Marie Moore who sponsored Aelen Stairs of Los Osos, Maggie Smith who sponsored Eric Brunschwiler of Cambria, and Jim Royer who sponsored Ross Schaeffer of Atascadero. Each was presented with a bird photograph as a token of thanks for their efforts. Thanks to you all!
Please take a few minutes out of your life to share your love of nature with a young person. Take them birding, have them help you with a nature project like a survey or bird banding, take them on a wildflower walk, do a tide pool thing, accompany them on an MCAS Field Trip, etc. The youth might be a child, a grandchild, a motivated student, a neighbor. Share a part of nature that you are passionate about, and they will be sparked by that passion!
ALAN SCHMIERER

Donate your wood scraps! The MCAS bird nest box program uses all re-cycled / scrap lumber to build its bird nest boxes. 100% of the revenue from this program directly benefits the MCAS general fund. The program provides much-needed nest cavities for our breeding birds and much-needed funding for our Audubon programs. We need donations of one inch boards / wood scraps, at least 5 inches wide. Scraps from fence building are a common source of these scraps. Please let me know if you can help. Email Alan at aaschmierer@yahoo.com or call at 772-2026. Thanks!

 

Broad-winged Hawk by Brad Schram