Kern Audubon Society
Tuesday September 7th, 2010 - 7:00pm
Location: Kern Sup't of Schools
17th & L Sts., Bakersfield
(Street parking or the KSS lot at 18th & K)

"Kern County and Southern Sierra Nevada Birds and Birding "

Bob Barnes

Willow Flycatcher by Tom Munson F&G

Bob Barnes has led over two hundred Kern River Valley and Southern Sierra Nevada birding tours. He has also guided numerous individuals, couples, and friends, and spent countless days independently birding the area. Bob wrote the Kern River Valley and Southern Sierra Nevada chapter for the latest edition of the American Birding Association's A Birder's Guide to Southern California (March, 2007).

Since 2004, Bob has worked on birding/wildlife tourism development project teams in Missouri, northwestern Nevada, and Pennsylvania. Currently, he is doing birding/wildlife tourism development work for the Southern Nevada Birding and Wildlife Trails Partnership. In 2008, he organized the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) Biennial Meeting that was held in the Kern River Valley; the first time this national meeting was held in California. He also organizes custom tours to Costa Rica and serves on the board of the Kern River Valley Heritage Foundation.

Bob heads up a small, non-profit foundation working to sustain the unique cultural and environmental character of rural communities facing rapid development, especially along California's Highway 178 Corridor from Death Valley National Park, through the Kern River Valley, to Bakersfield.

 

Kern Audubon Society

Sat. August 21 - Owens Lake

Field Trip

Led by Mike Prather - Birder, Conservationist & Owens Lake "hero"

and Jon L. Dunn, editor for the National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America

Owens Lake is one of Audubon's Important Bird Areas and Mike Prather, Eastern Sierra Audubon, will lead us on an exploration of this restored lake that attracts thousands of migrating birds. Plan to travel to Lone Pine Friday to camp or make own motel arrangements. Contact Ginny Dallas for details (587-6323) and website: kernaudubonsociety.org

An enormous wildlife resource has returned to Owens Lake, a migration stopover for tens of thousands of shorebirds and waterfowl that was lost nearly 100 years ago. The lake was dried as a result of water gathering by the City of Los Angeles, but now is receiving careful application of water to control the regional dust storms born with the lake's death.  Roughly 35 square miles of Owens Lake's surface are covered with shallow ponds or sheet flooding resulting in thousands of acres of rich feeding habitat for sandpipers, snowy plovers, ducks and geese, with 9 more square miles of ponds and sheet flooding currently under construction. 

In 2001 the National Audubon Society designated Owens Lake an Important Bird Area and in 2008 included it as one of ten IBA's in California that would receive staff time and resources from Audubon California. Creation of a collaborative lakewide conservation action plan is being led by Eastern Sierra Audubon and Audubon CA in partnership with LA Department of Water and Power, Department of Fish & Game and the State Lands Commission. 

Today hundreds of birders and wildlife watchers are visiting the lake on guided fieldtrips to see this amazing migratory spectacle. Nesting snowy plovers (the largest inland site in California), large flocks of least and western sandpipers, thousands of American avocets, peregrine falcon, white-faced ibis and more are watchable wildlife at Owens Lake. Now the challenge is to  determine how much of the rare resource can be protected in perpetuity. Can a balance be found between the need for water by Los Angeles and the need to protect wildlife, including its enjoyment by the citizens of California?

Mike Prather is a big part of the reason Owens Lake has been restored and we are fortunate to have Mike, who was honored by Audubon California as one of its top volunteers for 2008, lead this August 21st field trip. Mike has been residing in Inyo County since 1972 when he and wife Nancy moved to Death Valley to teach in a one room school house. He has actively been working on land and water issues in the Owens Valley since 1980 with the Owens Valley Committee (past president), Eastern Sierra Audubon (past president) and Sierra Club (past chapter chair). The re-watering of 62 miles of the Lower Owens River and the massive wildlife return to Owens Lake as a result of the Los Angeles Owens Lake Dust Control Project have been the center of Mike's conservation focus since the early 1980's. The enhancement and protection of the Owens River and Owens Lake Important Bird Areas attracts most of his current efforts and he invites everyone to join in the fun. Mike and Nancy live in Lone Pine and are retired (or 'real tired') from thirty years of teaching.

Mike has just informed us (Aug. 2010) that Jon L. Dunn will be joining us on this exciting field trip. The following intro. to Jon was from Birding Magazine: " A birding tour leader for more than 30 years and chief consultant for all five editions of the groundbreaking National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America , Jon L. Dunn is a major force in North American birding. Dunn coauthored Peterson Field Guides: Warblers , Gulls of the Americas , and Birding Essentials ; he has written numerous identification articles; and he acts as host for the Advanced Birding Video Series. He is considered one of the primary experts on the field identification and distribution of birds in North America, having served on the American Birding Association (ABA) Checklist Committee, the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) Committee on Classification and Nomenclature, and the California and Ohio Bird Records Committees. ... Noah K. Strycker"

Windmills and Birds   

The enXco company, based in Santa Monica, is in the process of applying for permission to construct a 8,300 acre wind farm, with 250  1 megawatt towers, to produce renewable energy. The Audubon Society is a strong proponent of wind farms and the concept that renewable energy is far better than a fossil fuel dependent generator of electricity. Our concern is the inevitable bird kills associated with 450 foot rotor blades. The company has done extensive surveys of the property that is directly west of Rosamond, noting migratory bird routes and raptor nests and foraging patterns. Even though the area is low is both categories, Audubon and the Kern County Planning Department are asking for a five year monitoring phase after construction to see how many birds and bats are killed. The key issue is that wind farm technology and siting formulas have improved in the past two decades and that future improvements will continue to reduce avian mortality. We are hoping that prescribed monitoring, by an independent biologist, will reduce bird kills and improve the technology. We know that global climate change is also a threat to our bird populations. Reduction of carbon dioxide in the air will help to reverse this change. A vote on the final EIR goes to the Planning Commission on September 7. Contact me (love3@bak.rr.com ) if you need additional information.

Harry Love, Conservation Chair

Summer Morning at the Panorama Preserve

 

On Saturday, June 5, from 8-10 AM, Kern Audubon will be having its monthly workday at the Panorama Vista Preserve. At last month's workday we planted many trees and bushes, from sycamores and valley oaks to roses and mule fat. With the weather getting warmer the new plantings are starting to look healthy as they like 'their new home'. Come out to help add new plants or to work in the nursery. It is a great way to Keep Kern Green! Contact Harry Love (805-1420 or love3@bak.rr.com) for more information.