MCAS Field Trip - OCT 5 - Morro Bay State Park Marina Falling Tide

Whimbrel [photo by Mark Muscat]

Morro Coast Audubon Society Presents  

FIELD TRIP:       Morro Bay State Park Marina Falling Tide  

DATE:                  Saturday, October 5, 2024  

TIME:                   3:00pm - 5:00pm  

LEADER:            Mark Mushkat  

Trip is limited to 15 participants - Signups will be taken for 24 hours. Participants will be randomly selected. The remainder will be put on standby status in case of cancellations. Only registered people may attend.

Mark is asking that everyone who wishes to go on a field trip with him to have an eBird account. It is free, easy, and serves a highly important role in global citizen science. The eBird data are critical for countless research projects that impact conservation and funding policies around the world. The website also has amazing resources that can help you become a better and more responsible birder. 

 

Follow the simple directions below. Your registration requires your eBird user name on the form.

 

To Create an eBird account

a. Go to ebird.org/home and click Get Started

b. Fill out the information requested

c. Start exploring eBird!

Description:

Enjoy a leisurely late afternoon stroll along the Boardwalk with Mark to view and identify shorebirds and migrants as they follow the ebbing tide, as well as the land birds occupying the coastal sage scrub habitat. This is a short walk of about one mile on a boardwalk and dirt path and is ADA accessible. Restrooms are available. Please bring binoculars, cameras and scopes!

ADA Accessible: Yes

Experience Level: Intermediate to Advanced

Registration and RSVP to confirmation Required! 

Registration will open on the morning of SEP 25^th. On that date, MCAS members will automatically receive an ALERT with the LINK to the Field Trip’s Registration Form.

Non-members can receive ALERTS from MCAS regarding Field Trips, Community Programs, and other MCAS activities. You will need to fill out the MCAS ALERT EMAIL LIST sign up form in the footer of theMCAS website. You can also join the SLOCOBIRDING email list to get ALERTs via Groups.io. (Field Trip alerts only)

Please consider becoming a member of MCAS to support MCAS’s mission and activities, including Field Trips.

Questions? Email Freddy Howell freddy@morrocoastaudubon.orgInse

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MCAS Field Trip - SEP 20 - Atascadero Lake

Atascadero Lake Park [photo courtesy of VisitAtascadero.com]

REGISTRATION CLOSED.

Morro Coast Audubon Society Presents  

FIELD TRIP:       Atascadero Lake  

DATE:                  Friday, September 20, 2024  

TIME:                   8:00am-10:30am  

LEADER:            Karen Watts  

CO-LEADER:     Freddy Howell  

Trip is limited to 12 participants - Signups will be taken for 24 hours. Participants will be randomly selected. The remainder will be put on standby status in case of cancellations. Only registered people may attend.

Description: Join leaders Karen and Freddy for this bird walk around Atascadero Lake which will be approximately one mile long, at a slow to moderate pace, depending on where and how often we’re seeing birds.  The terrain is gentle, over flat surfaces. Expect to see numerous species in a variety of habitats, with likely sightings of: Red-shouldered Hawk, California Quail, California Scrub-Jay, Woodpeckers and a variety of Waterfowl. Restrooms are available.

ADA Accessible: Yes

Experience Level: All Levels Welcome

Registration and RSVP to confirmation Required! 

Registration will open on the morning of SEP 10^TH. On that date, MCAS members will automatically receive an ALERT with the LINK to the Field Trip’s Registration Form.

Non-members can receive ALERTS from MCAS regarding Field Trips, Community Programs, and other MCAS activities. You will need to fill out the MCAS ALERT EMAIL LIST sign up form in the footer of theMCAS website. You can also join the SLOCOBIRDING email list to get Field Trip alerts only via Groups.io.

Please consider becoming a member of MCAS to support MCAS’s mission and activities, including Field Trips.

Questions? Email Freddy Howell freddy@morrocoastaudubon.org

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MCAS Virtual Community Program - SEP 16 - The Language of Birds

Great-tailed Grackle, Phillips County, CO [photo by Nathan Peiplow]

MCAS Virtual Community Program

When:             Monday, September 16th, 2024, 7:00 pm

Title:                The Language of Birds

Presenter:       Nathan Pieplow, author of the Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds

 

Join Zoom Meeting  Zoom Meeting ID: 994 6733 5823  Passcode: 912453

 

All MCAS Zoom Community Programs are free and open to the public. All ages are welcome. No signup/registration required to attend.

 

Description: All around us, the birds are constantly telling us who they are and what they are doing. In this talk, Nathan Pieplow unlocks the secrets of their language. You’ll listen in on the pillow talk of a pair of Red-winged Blackbirds, and learn the secret signals that Cliff Swallows use when they have found food. You’ll learn how one bird sound can have many meanings, and how one meaning can have many sounds—and how, sometimes, the meaning isn’t in the sounds at all. This talk from the author of the Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds is an accessible and entertaining introduction to a fascinating topic.

 

Bio: Nathan Pieplow is the author of the Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds, published in two volumes, one for Eastern and one for Western North America. An avid bird sound recordist and videographer, he is the author of the bird sound blog https://earbirding.com/blog/, a board member of the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, an author of the Colorado Birding Trail, and former editor of the journal Colorado Birds. He teaches writing and rhetoric at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

 

Please consider becoming a member of MCAS at https://www.morrocoastaudubon.org/p/become-mcas-member.html to support MCAS’s mission and activities, including Community Programs.

 

If you have questions, email Wendy McKeown, Community Programs Chair: wendy@morrocoastaudubon.org.

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MCAS Field Trip - SEP 28 - Beginning Birding Workshop

Table in MCAS Office With Workshop Materials

Morro Coast Audubon Society Presents  

WORKSHOP:     Beginning Birding Workshop  

LOCATION:        Morro Coast Audubon Office, Morro Bay  

DATE:                  Saturday, September 28, 2024  

TIME:                   8:30 am to 2:00 pm  

LEADER:            Karen Watts  

CO-LEADER:     Robbie Revel  

Trip is limited to 12 participants - Signups will be taken for 24 hours. Participants will be randomly selected. The remainder will be put on standby status in case of cancellations. Only registered people may attend.

Description: This program is especially designed for beginners. Learn about the skills needed to master birding as a hobby.  Practice making observations, learn to use binoculars, spotting scopes, and field guides. Learn about resources available for ongoing skill building. A discussion in the Morro Coast Audubon office will be followed by an outdoor walk at the Marina Boardwalk to practice skills. There will be a short break for lunch. Skills practice can be done indoors if it is raining. Bring binoculars if you have them. Restrooms are available. Children over 12 are welcome. 

ADA Accessible: Yes

Experience Level: All Levels Welcome

Registration and RSVP to confirmation Required! 

Registration will open on the morning of SEP 18^th. On that date, MCAS members will automatically receive an ALERT with the LINK to the Field Trip’s Registration Form.

Non-members can receive ALERTS from MCAS regarding Field Trips, Community Programs, and other MCAS activities. You will need to fill out the MCAS ALERT EMAIL LIST sign up form in the footer of theMCAS website. You can also join the SLOCOBIRDING email list to get ALERTs via Groups.io. (Field Trip alerts only)

Please consider becoming a member of MCAS to support MCAS’s mission and activities, including Field Trips.

Questions? Email Robbie Revel robbie@morrocoastaudubon.org

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MCAS Field Trip - SEP 28 - Santa Rita Ranch - MEMBERS ONLY

View of Lake at Santa Rita Ranch [photo by Judy Neuhauser]

Morro Coast Audubon Society Presents              **MEMBERS ONLY**  

FIELD TRIP:       Santa Rita Ranch  

DATE:                  Saturday, September 28. 2024  

TIME:                   8:00AM-11:30AM  

LEADER:            Daniel Elting  

CO-LEADER:     Michael Mulroy  

Trip is limited to 15 participants - Signups will be taken for 24 hours. Participants will be randomly selected. The remainder will be put on standby status in case of cancellations. Only registered people may attend.

Description: Come explore the rolling grass-covered foothills of the Santa Rita Ranch within the Santa Lucia Mountains. The crown jewel of this trip is the 234-acre foot lake, the fourth largest privately-owned lake in the county. This approximately one mile walk will be a loop around the hill with the lake house. Gentle hills, nothing steep, mostly dirt roads, mainly through grassland/oak savannah and overlooking the upper end of the lake. There is a porta-potty at the parking lot in the front of the ranch near the old house.

ADA Accessible: No

Experience Level: All Levels Welcome

Registration and RSVP to confirmation Required! 

Registration will open on the morning of SEP 19^th. On that date, MCAS members will automatically receive an ALERT with the LINK to the Field Trip’s Registration Form.

Our Member-Only field trips are a bonus for members. So you don’t miss out, JOIN MCAS NOW!

Questions? Email Freddy Howell freddy@morrocoastaudubon.org

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SEP 14 - SLO County Public Libraries - Family Fun Day - MCAS Sweet Springs Field Trip

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MCAS Field Trip - SEP 22 - Oso Flaco in the Fall

Boardwalk at Oso Flaco Lake [photo by Joanne Aasen]  

REGISTRATION CLOSED.  

Morro Coast Audubon Society Presents  

FIELD TRIP:       Oso Flaco in the Fall  

DATE:                  Sunday, September 22, 2024  

TIME:                   8:30am to 11:30am  

LEADER:            Jessica Griffiths  

Trip is limited to 15 participants - Signups will be taken for 24 hours. Participants will be randomly selected. The remainder will be put on standby status in case of cancellations. Only registered people may attend.

Description: Enjoy close views of waterfowl and occasional bitterns and rails from the boardwalk over Oso Flaco Lake and marsh. Bird two prime willow habitats for returning warblers and other migrants. Includes 2-3 miles of slow walking through riparian woodland, across the lake boardwalk, into the coastal sage scrub, and if time permits, we will continue to the beach in search of specialties there. Walking is on a level trail and wooden boardwalk, and possibly sand if continuing to the beach. Restrooms are available at the trailhead.

ADA Accessible: Yes, for walk-in trail and boardwalk.

Experience Level: All Levels Welcome

Registration and RSVP to confirmation Required! 

Registration will open on the morning of SEP 12^th. On that date, MCAS members will automatically receive an ALERT with the LINK to the Field Trip’s Registration Form.

Non-members can receive ALERTS from MCAS regarding Field Trips, Community Programs, and other MCAS activities. You will need to fill out the MCAS ALERT EMAIL LIST sign up form in the footer of the MCAS website. You can also join the SLOCOBIRDING email list to get ALERTs via Groups.io (Field Trip alerts only).

Please consider becoming a member of MCAS to support MCAS’s mission and activities, including Field Trips.

Questions? Email Robbie Revel robbie@morrocoastaudubon.org

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PACIFIC FLYWAY NEWSLETTER - September 2024

September 2024

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