Speakers

Byron and Joanna Chin
San Francisco: Thursday, January 16, 2020
6:30 p.m. refreshments, 7 p.m. program

Heermann’s Gull pair bonding at Roberts Lake, by Byron Chin

Note new transit-friendly location! S.F. State University Downtown Campus, 835 Market Street (Westfield Shopping Center, at Powell Street BART station), 6th floor.

Heermann’s Gulls were thought to breed exclusively on small islands in the Gulf of California and off the Mexican coast, where their numbers are declining due to warming seas and overfishing. But in 1999, a few nested on a man-made island on Roberts Lake in Seaside, California—the only known nesting colony of Heermann’s Gulls in the United States. Learn about the natural history of Heermann’s Gulls, the Seaside colony’s growth to 100 individuals, its environmental challenges, and efforts by Monterey Audubon and others to help the colony by monitoring and deployment of a floating nesting island.

Byron and Joanna Chin have been avid birders for over a decade, with a particular love for gulls and other seabirds. They’ve spent the last two years studying the Heermann’s Gull colony in Seaside and have worked closely with Monterey Audubon to conserve them. When not involved in bird-related pursuits, Byron is a patent litigator and Joanna is a pediatrician.…

Marilyn Latta

Berkeley
Thursday, September 19, 2019
6:30 p.m. refreshments, 7 p.m. program

The San Francisco Estuary Invasive Spartina Project is led by the CA State Coastal Conservancy and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, in partnership with more than 150 landowners and resource agencies in all nine counties of the SF Bay Area.  The overarching goal is to eradicate invasive Spartina in order to enhance ecosystem functions and overall ecosystem health for the benefit of many other native tidal salt marsh dependent fish, migratory birds, wildlife. The project is a critical phase of a major landscape-scale tidal wetlands restoration effort in San Francisco Bay, a collaborative effort by the Coastal Conservancy, San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, San Francisco Bay Joint Venture, East Bay Regional Park District, and dozens of other partners to restore tidal wetlands over the past several decades. Monitoring and treating invasive Spartina is a key step in protecting native coastal wetland habitat for CA Ridgway’s Rail, salt marsh harvest mice, shorebirds and waterfowl, and many other native species in the bay.  The Project has conducted treatment of four species of invasive Spartina since 2005,  and has achieved a 95% reduction in invasive Spartina over the 70,000 acres of tidal wetland and mudflat habitats in the Estuary.  This is accomplished by mapping and treating invasive Spartina across 11 regions bay-wide, propagating and planting 450,000 native plants, and constructing restoration enhancements including 61 high tide refuge islands to date. This presentation will cover the planning and approach to eradicating Spartina while protecting CA Ridgway’s Rail and other native species. Marilyn Latta is a Project Manager at the California State Coastal Conservancy, managing the SF Estuary Invasive Spartina Project, SF Bay Living Shorelines Project, SF Bay Creosote Removal Projects, and additional regional projects and collaborative planning efforts in San Francisco Bay and statewide. She studied Marine Biology/Zoology at Humboldt State University, and prior to joining the Conservancy she worked for a variety of non-profit organizations to educate and involve the public in the protection and restoration of ocean and estuarine resources.  Marilyn manages the large network of local, state, and federal partners engaged in invasive Spartina treatment in San Francisco Bay.  …

JD Bergeron

San Francisco Thursday, August 15, 2019
6:30 p.m. refreshments, 7p.m. program

Please Note: New venue for San Francisco Speaker Series
Sports Basement 1590 Bryant Street San Francisco  94103

Midway Atoll is the site of the world’s largest albatross nesting colony as well as other globally important species such as the endangered Hawaiian monk seal and Laysan Duck. Midway Atoll is also the home of Wisdom, the oldest known wild bird in the Bird Banding Lab’s database. The work conducted by the census team, or “Bird Counters”, provides vital information found few places on Earth to researchers, managers, conservation groups, and the global community interested in preserving and protecting seabirds and their nesting habitats. Since 1991, the annual census of Mōlī (aka Laysan Albatrosses [Phoebastria immutabilis]) and Ka’upu (Black-footed Albatrosses [Phoebastria nigripes]) on Midway Atoll has provided precise and consistent information regarding the numbers of nesting albatross pairs there.

JD brings to his leadership a birder’s passion, a childlike delight in Nature, and a deep commitment to solving world challenges in unconventional ways. He has more than 20 years of experience in not-for-profit leadership, international development, and organizational change. JD is also the Co-Founder of Chooda, which puts on Bike Zambia, a weeklong bicycle ride that raises funds and awareness for HIV/AIDS prevention and economic empowerment for girls and women in Zambia. …

Bob Lewis

Berkeley
Thursday, July 18, 2019
6:30 p.m. annual membership meeting
6:30 p.m. refreshments
7p.m. program

Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania are all part of the Australian geological plate, or Sahul.  After a brief visit to O’Reilly’s, a wonderful jungle lodge near Brisbane, Australia, we’ll fly to Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea.  Our route in PNG will take us from the lowlands in the south of the island to the highlands on the western border, and then on to Mount Hagen, a 12,000’ extinct volcano.  New Guinea has 708 species of birds and 5 endemic families, and is home to most species of spectacular Birds of Paradise and fascinating Bowerbirds.  We’ll discuss a bit of geological history, a bit of taxonomy, and look at examples of many of PNG’s 70 bird families.

Bob’s second career is very avian.  He’s served on the GGBA board where he led the Adult Education Committee.  He’s an award-winning photographer and world traveler, and frequent public speaker on avian topics at libraries and Audubon Societies.  He co-teaches Master Birding, Avian Evolution and Bay Area Birds, and his bird life list stands at 4992. He is hoping to reach 5000 on GGBA’ Namibia tour in August.…

Jeffery R. Martin

San Francisco
Thursday, June 20
6:30 p.m. refreshments,
7p.m. program

Please Note: New venue for San Francisco Speaker Series

Sports Basement
1590 Bryant Street
San Francisco  94103

Woodpeckers have captured the human imagination for generations. The distant sounds of pecking, flashes of red plumage, and inevitable disappearance into the shadows of the forest evoke a sense of wonder about these extraordinary yet elusive creatures. Jeffery Martin’s lecture and close-up high definition video explore the foraging strategies of our eight North Bay woodpecker species. Insect excavation, acorn storage, the use of sap wells and other intriguing behaviors are our focus. Jeff’s video segments illustrate unique evolutionary adaptations. We examine the anatomy of feet, tail, tongue and head which enable agile vertical climbing, adept grabbing of prey, and protection from concussion and dust inhalation. From the exquisite green and rose- colored Lewis’s Woodpecker to the dazzling Northern Flicker, and more, we take a close-up look at the worlds of our eight North Bay Woodpeckers.

Videographer and naturalist, Jeffery Martin has filmed and produced “Bahia Wildlife Habitat” and “Birds of Las Gallinas Marsh” which can be viewed on the web sites of Marin Audubon and Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District. His films, “Woodpecker Haven” and “Birds of Lake Solano and Putah Creek” have been shown regularly at the Lake Solano Visitors Center. A number of years ago, Jeff presented “Foraging Behavior in Large Wading Birds” – a similar lecture and video program for the Golden Gate Bird Alliance Speakers Series. In the past, Jeff has contributed to the slide library, visitor literature and campfire talks for Pt. Reyes National Seashore, and natural history walks and lectures for adults and children. In another vein, he has lectured to college faculty, students, and National Park Service professionals on “visitor motivation” and the “psychology of nature” including on safari in East Africa. In his “day job” Jeff is a clinical psychologist and associate clinical professor at UCSF School of Medicine.…