Conejo Valley Audubon

Mugu Lagoon and Sycamore Canyon
2021-09-18 08:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Mugu Lagoon Turnout, 5735 CA-1, Oxnard, California, 93033
Meet at the big lagoon turnout on PCH. There should be water birds, ducks and raptors. Then to lower Sycamore Canyon, famous for vagrants, warblers and raptors.
Photo by Don Klabunde

California Thrasher
Trip Leader: Matthew Page
Please bring water, a snack, bug repellant and a jacket. YOU MUST WEAR A MASK! RAIN CANCELS
Everyone is welcome to attend any Conejo Valley Audubon field trip, but Conejo Valley Audubon assumes no responsibility for injuries, personal or otherwise, incurred while attending a CVAS sponsored activity and in order to attend, all attendees agree that CVAS is not liable for such accidents. Everyone attends at their own risk.

Monthly Program - September 2021
2021-09-13 19:30 - 21:00 | CA
Each September, our first meeting of the season is dedicated to the birding trips and adventures of our members, so you are invited to submit your recent, or not-so-recent photos. As has become our habit, this year’s Show & Tell will be again conducted over Zoom. Those of you who wish to share your photos, please contact Don Klabunde for instructions and the link where you can upload your files. You will be able to narrate your show during the Zoom meeting.
To attend this meeting, use this link: https://zoom.us/j/6155249106

Laguna Tams
2021-09-12 08:00 - 10:00 | Laguna Road Tamarisk Trees, 3690 Laguna Rd., Oxnard, CA, 93033, United States
We will visit the renowned tamarisk trees along Laguna Road in the Oxnard Plain. Previous October visits have yielded views of Black-and-White, Tenessee, Orange-crowned, Lucy’s, Nashville, MacGillivray’s, Magnolia, Bay-breasted, Blackburnian, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Blackpoll, Palm, Yellow-rumped, Prairie, Black-throated Gray, Townsend’s, Hermit, and Wilson’s Warblers. We might also encounter Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and White-breasted Nuthatch. Meet on Laguna Road, about a quarter mile east of Pleasant Valley Road.
Trip Leader: Frank DeMartino
Please bring water, a snack, bug repellant and a jacket. YOU MUST WEAR A MASK! RAIN CANCELS
Everyone is welcome to attend any Conejo Valley Audubon field trip, but Conejo Valley Audubon assumes no responsibility for injuries, personal or otherwise, incurred while attending a CVAS sponsored activity and in order to attend, all attendees agree that CVAS is not liable for such accidents. Everyone attends at their own risk.

Beginner Bird Walk - Rancho Sierra Vista / Satwiwa
2021-09-08 08:00 - 09:30, 2021-08-11 08:00 - 09:30, 2021-07-14 08:00 - 09:30, 2021-06-09 08:00 - 09:30, 2021-05-12 08:00 - 09:30, 2021-04-14 08:00 - 09:30, 2021-03-10 08:00 - 09:30, 2021-02-10 08:00 - 09:30 | Rancho Sierra Vista / Satwiwa, 4803 Lynn Rd, Newbury Park, CA, 91320
Conejo Valley Audubon invites birders of all experience levels to attend our monthly Beginner Bird Walks at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa. These walks are held on the second Wednesday of each month. We will meet at 8:00 am at the main parking lot, which is accessible off Lynn Road at Via Goleta in Newbury Park.
Rancho Sierra Vista is an excellent place to see many of the oak woodlands birds that are common in the Conejo Valley area. We will take time to introduce beginning birders to these species and will teach the best techniques for locating and identifying them. Wear comfortable walking shoes.
Please register in advance by contacting walk leader Richard Armerding at (310) 701-3878 (texting is OK).

Santa Clara River Estuary
2021-09-04 08:00 - 11:00 | Surfer’s Knoll, 1600 Spinnaker Dr, Ventura, CA, 93001
The Santa Clara River Estuary produces some of the most diverse observations of ducks, sandpipers, terns, gulls, plovers and other shorebirds in the county. We’ll meet at Surfer’s Knoll at 9 am and walk down to the estuary after peeking over the fence into the Ventura Settling Ponds. The estuary should be a great place to see Elegant, Forster’s and Caspian Terns, Brown Pelicans, Western, California, and Ring-billed Gulls, Ruddy Ducks, Whimbrels, Long-billed Curlews, American Avocets, and Western & Least Sandpipers. We may even spot a Peregrine Falcon.

Directions: from the 101 freeway, exit Seaward Ave. and proceed south to Harbor Blvd. Turn left and continue to Spinnaker Dr., turning right to enter the harbor area. Drive past the Surfer’s Knoll parking area on the left and make a U-turn to double back and enter the parking lot.
Walk leader: Kay Regester.
Please bring water, a snack, bug repellant and a jacket. YOU MUST WEAR A MASK! RAIN CANCELS
Everyone is welcome to attend any Conejo Valley Audubon field trip, but Conejo Valley Audubon assumes no responsibility for injuries, personal or otherwise, incurred while attending a CVAS sponsored activity and in order to attend, all attendees agree that CVAS is not liable for such accidents. Everyone attends at their own risk.

Monthly Program - May 2021
2021-05-03 19:30 - 21:00 | CVAS Monthly Program Zoom Meeting
We’ll Always Have Parrots: The Past, Present, and Future of Amazona Parrots in Los Angeles
John McCormack
Dr. John McCormack will speak on the history of Los Angeles’ Amazona parrots (Red-crowned and Lilac-crowned Parrots) and what DNA from museum specimens can tell us about their origins, adaptation to city life, hybridization, and future as distinct species. Dr. McCormack is Director and Curator of the Bird and Mammal Collection at the Moore Laboratory of Zoology and an Assistant Professor of Biology at Occidental College. The Moore Lab holds the largest collection of Mexican birds in the world and over 65,000 specimens in total, which researchers from around the world study to understand avian biodiversity and how it originated. Dr. McCormack has pioneered the use of new DNA sequencing technologies to collect DNA from museum
Amazon Parrot
specimens. He received his undergraduate degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona and his PhD from UCLA. After postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan and Louisiana State University, he arrived at Occidental College as Moore Lab Director in 2011. He recently oversaw the completion of a major remodel to the Moore Lab’s facilities and collection space.
This will be an online meeting by way of Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/6155249106

Monthly Program - April 2021
2021-04-05 19:30 - 21:00 | CVAS Monthly Program Zoom Meeting
Everything There Is To Know About Catios

Cats kill billions of birds and small animals annually. The outdoors are also perilous for cats. But relegating cats to the indoors can lead to unhappy felines with behavioral issues. Catios – cat patios or enclosures – are the most humane way to allow feline family members to experience the outdoors safely. This presentation will cover nearly everything there is to know about catios — including best practices, tips, and types of recommended materials. There will also be time for questions at the end.

Alan Breslauer

Alan Breslauer, AKA Catio Guy on social media, launched Custom Catios in 2017 to serve cat guardians throughout Los Angeles, Orange County, and the surrounding areas. Catio Guy has worked with cat world luminaries Jackson Galaxy and Kitten Lady, rescues including CatCafe Lounge and Lange Foundation, and hundreds of feline families. An industry innovator, he relishes the opportunity to share his knowledge and expertise so that more fur-balls can experience the joy of the outdoors safely.

This will be an online meeting by way of Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/6155249106

Monthly Program - March 2021
2021-03-01 19:30 - 21:00 | CVAS Monthly Program Zoom Meeting
An Evening With Rosemary Mosco
Rosemary Mosco
Rosemary Mosco blends science, humor and heart to create books and comics about wildlife. BirdWatching Magazine says: “She is the rare humorist who understands nature and biology well enough to make even the most cranky birder crack a smile.” Her Bird and Moon comics are collected in the book, Birding Is My Favorite Video Game, a 2019 ALA Great Graphic Novel for Teens. The Bird and Moon comics have also appeared in publications from Audubon to Ranger Rick.
This will be an online meeting by way of Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/6155249106

Monthly Program - February 2021
2021-02-01 19:30 - 21:00 | CVAS Monthly Program Zoom Meeting
A “DO-IT-YOURSELF” BIRDING TOUR THROUGH SPAIN
Photo by Bonnie Clarfield-Bylin
What do you do when your precious camera breaks halfway through a five-week adventure? When in Spain, you drown your sorrows with red wine and lift your spirits with tapas and sangria. You continue with one less thing to carry during outings, but with the reflection of how glad you are that your trip plan included some of the best birding in Europe.
CVAS member, naturalist and world birder Bonnie Clarfield-Bylin will take you on a bird-centric journey though the interesting regions of Spain she and her husband Stephen encountered as they journeyed in a clockwise circuit along the perimeter of the country from Catalonia through Andalusia to the Extremadura before the camera failed. The northern perimeter of Spain will need a do-over!
Since her retirement as a National Park Service Park Ranger, Bonnie has become an experienced travel planner. She has arranged do-it-yourself nature-oriented trips to Columbia, Vietnam, Brazil, Ireland, Scotland, Florida, Arizona and Texas among others, and looks forward to traveling in search of birds and wild-places again.
This will be an online meeting by way of Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/6155249106

Monthly Program - January 2021
2021-01-04 19:30 - 21:00 | CVAS Monthly Program Zoom Meeting
Learn About Bats of Southern California
Jill Carpenter has been working with and studying bats for 16 years. She currently works as a biological consultant throughout Southern California on projects (such as bridge widening, seismic retrofits, and culvert replacement) where there is potential for impacts to bats and bat habitat. Over the past several years she has expanded her experience to include surveying abandoned mines for bats. She also works on research projects studying the ecology of Southern California bats, with an emphasis on bats in urban settings and along the urban-wildland interface. In addition to her work in California, she has also studied bats in other parts of the world including spending three summers studying the bats of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, and participating in a research study on fish-eating bats in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Finally, her background in outdoor education helps her to promote bat knowledge to the public through educational programs, public talks, and workshops.
This will be an online meeting by way of Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/6155249106

Christmas Bird Count 2020
2020-12-20 | CA
Please join us for the National Audubon Society’s 121st annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) on Sunday December 20, 2020, and help cover the Conejo Valley Audubon Society’s “Thousand Oaks” CBC circle.
See this page for more details

Beginner Bird Walk - Rancho Sierra Vista / Satwiwa: CANCELED
2020-12-09 08:00 - 09:30 | Rancho Sierra Vista / Satwiwa, 4803 Lynn Rd, Newbury Park, CA, 91320
Due to the current Stay-at-Home restrictions in California, this month’s Beginner Bird Walk has been cancelled. We hope to resume these walks in January.
Conejo Valley Audubon invites birders of all experience levels to attend our monthly Beginner Bird Walks at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa. These walks are held on the second Wednesday of each month. We will meet at 8:00 am at the main parking lot, which is accessible off Lynn Road at Via Goleta in Newbury Park.
Rancho Sierra Vista is an excellent place to see many of the oak woodlands birds that are common in the Conejo Valley area. We will take time to introduce beginning birders to these species and will teach the best techniques for locating and identifying them. Wear comfortable walking shoes.
Please register in advance by contacting walk leader Richard Armerding at (310) 701-3878 (texting is OK).

Monthly Program - December 2020
2020-12-07 19:30 - 21:00 | CVAS Monthly Program Zoom Meeting
Join us for an enjoyable photo experience that celebrates the beauty in Nature. You’ll see uncommon views of birds, learn a bit about birds, and discover how you make a difference. Professional photographer Steve Kaye will show his photos and tell provocative stories about the photos. This is an excellent program for anyone who wants to know more about birds. And it’s a wonderful reminder of the extraordinary beauty that we have outdoors. So bring a friend. If you have yet to attend a meeting, this program is for you.
Steve Kaye has been taking photos casually since 1965 and professionally since 2010. Now he uses his photos in presentations and articles to inspire respect for Nature. He has spoken at photo clubs, judged photo contests, and conducted classes on Nature Photography. Two of his photos appear in Woodpeckers of North America, by Stephen A. Shunk (published May 2016).Find more than 600 photos, 138 blog posts, and dozens of articles at: www.stevekaye.com
This will be an online meeting by way of Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/6155249106

Arroyo Simi Field Trip
2020-11-14 08:00 - 11:00 | Arroyo Simi (Madera), 20 E Easy St, Simi Valley, CA, 93065, United States
Arroyo Simi has a great assortment of shorebirds, ducks, herons and gulls. It is easily accessed via a level bike path that runs from Madera Street to First Street and on through most of Simi Valley. We will walk slowly along the mostly natural bottomed channel scanning for birds and taking our time to better learn identification skills. Expected species include Green Heron, Black-necked Stilt, Belted Kingfisher, and White-faced Ibis. Possible birds include Hooded Merganser and Blue-winged Teal. Meet at the entrance to the bike path at Easy Street in Simi Valley, just east of Madera Road.
Please register in advance by contacting walk leader Don Klabunde at (805) 522-8023.

Beginner Bird Walk - Rancho Sierra Vista / Satwiwa
2020-11-11 08:00 - 09:30, 2020-10-14 08:00 - 09:30, 2020-09-09 08:00 - 09:30 | Rancho Sierra Vista / Satwiwa, 4803 Lynn Rd, Newbury Park, CA, 91320
Conejo Valley Audubon invites birders of all experience levels to attend our monthly Beginner Bird Walks at Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa. These walks are held on the second Wednesday of each month. We will meet at 8:00 am at the main parking lot, which is accessible off Lynn Road at Via Goleta in Newbury Park.
Rancho Sierra Vista is an excellent place to see many of the oak woodlands birds that are common in the Conejo Valley area. We will take time to introduce beginning birders to these species and will teach the best techniques for locating and identifying them. Wear comfortable walking shoes.
Please register in advance by contacting walk leader Richard Armerding at (310) 701-3878.

Monthly Program - November 2020
2020-11-02 19:30 - 21:00 | CVAS Monthly Program Zoom Meeting
THE BIRDS YOU MAY BE MISIDENTIFYING AND OTHER RANTINGS OF A GRUMPY EBIRD REVIEWER
This will be an online meeting by way of Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/6155249106
While long regulated by the honor system, birding has gone through a significant change recently with the rise in popularity of eBird. This citizen science database created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is used by 600,000 birders who have entered 48,000,000 checklists worldwide.
However, with the need for quality control of the data and a review process for rare or unusual observations, we cannot trust the honor system to validate publicly entered records. Data entry in eBird, often supplemented with photos, has helped illuminate the birds that many birders have trouble identifying. This in conjunction with the now common practice of birders and photographers submitting photos to Facebook pages or websites for identification advice shows just how little
many people know about identifying birds. Most misidentifications are rooted in innocent ignorance, but others result from more insidious motivations.
As an active birder in Ventura County for over 26 years and now a local eBird reviewer, David Pereksta has seen it all and then some. He likens entering data in eBird to birding in one’s underwear because everything is available for all to see. He will discuss why eBird review makes him grumpy and what some of the common pitfalls are across users. He will discuss how and why birders misidentify birds, what the worst eBird user habits are, and what the most commonly misidentified birds are locally. While he has no intention of making anyone feel good about their birding abilities, he will provide tips and pointers for developing better skills, how to be a better eBirder, and how to identify the birds that give birders the most troubles. You may be surprised at some of the species you are likely misidentifying. This talk will make you laugh, squirm, and maybe even cry if you are sensitive or harboring a lot of birding guilt. Dave was hoping to see all your faces in person as the blood rushes to them, so you are lucky that we are still in a social lockdown.
David Pereksta is an avian biologist with the Pacific OCS Region of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in Camarillo, California. His primary duties are studying and analyzing the effects of offshore energy development on birds and bats off the Pacific coast of the U.S. and Hawaii. Before coming to BOEM in March 2010, he spent 16 years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service working on the conservation and recovery of threatened and endangered species along the Pacific coast, and 3 years with the U.S. Forest Service surveying, monitoring and managing late seral stage forest species in the Sierra Nevada. Throughout his 30-year career, he has studied a number of imperiled bird species including Snowy Plovers, Piping Plovers, Least Terns, Ospreys, Northern Goshawks, Brown Pelicans, Spotted Owls, and Ivory-billed Woodpeckers. An avid birder for 45 years, Dave has traveled throughout North America, Central America, South America, the South Pacific, and East Asia including leading trips to Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, and Peru. David is the top lister in Ventura County (449 species) and he also holds the big year (346 species) and big day (190 species) records for the county. He has seen 2,100 species of birds in his travels; photographing more than 1,500 species along the way.

Bob Kildee Community Park Tams
2020-10-24 08:00 - 10:00 | Bob Kildee Community Park – Tamarisk Trees, 1051 Eston St., Camarillo, CA, 93010, United States
We will visit the renowned tamarisk trees along the east edge of Bob Kildee Community Park. Previous October visits have yielded views of Black-and-White, Tenessee, Orange-crowned, Lucy’s, Nashville, MacGillivray’s, Magnolia, Bay-breasted, Blackburnian, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Blackpoll, Palm, Yellow-rumped, Prairie, Black-throated Gray, Townsend’s, Hermit, and Wilson’s Warblers. We might also encounter Downy Woodpecker,
Western Wood-Pewee, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglet, Red- and White-breasted Nuthatch, Cedar Waxwing, and Western Meadowlark. Meet at the southeast corner of the tennis courts (along Eston Street).
Please register in advance by contacting walk leader Matthew Page at (805) 990-6534

Monthly Program - October 2020
2020-10-05 19:30 - 21:00 | CVAS Monthly Program Zoom Meeting
Photo by Don Klabunde
In 2014, developers and their lawyers filed a lawsuit to remove the coastal California Gnatcatcher from the Endangered Species List in a move to open thousands of acres to development in Southern California. The case was based on a flawed study that combined scientific errors with a hidden conflict of interest. In his talk, Dr. John McCormack, a Biology professor at Occidental College, will discuss the scientific kerfuffle that ensued and expose the hidden benefactors behind the flawed science. Counter-intuitively, the ordeal demonstrates that science, as a process that gets us ever-closing to the truth, works, but only when it is given the time to self-correct.
Dr. McCormack is Director and Curator of the Moore Laboratory of Zoology, a renowned bird and mammal collection at Occidental College. He studies how evolution causes birds to diversify on the landscape. His work has appeared in Science, Nature, The Auk and other leading journals.
This will be an online meeting by way of Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/6155249106

Santa Clara River Estuary
2020-09-19 09:00 - 11:00 | Surfer’s Knoll, 1600 Spinnaker Dr, Ventura, CA, 93001
The Santa Clara River Estuary produces some of the most diverse observations of ducks, sandpipers, terns, gulls, plovers and other shorebirds in the county. We’ll meet at Surfer’s Knoll at 9 am and walk down to the estuary after peeking over the fence into the Ventura Settling Ponds. The estuary should be a great place to see Elegant, Forster’s and Caspian Terns, Brown Pelicans, Western, California, and Ring-billed Gulls, Ruddy Ducks, Whimbrels, Long-billed Curlews, American Avocets, and Western & Least Sandpipers. We may even spot a Peregrine Falcon.

Directions: from the 101 freeway, exit Seaward Ave. and proceed south to Harbor Blvd. Turn left and continue to Spinnaker Dr., turning right to enter the harbor area. Drive past the Surfer’s Knoll parking area on the left and make a U-turn to double back and enter the parking lot.
Please register in advance by contacting walk leader Frank DeMartino at (856) 906-8733.

Board Meeting - September 2020
2020-09-15 19:00 - 20:00 | CA
Monthly meeting of the CVAS Board of Directors. Current members of CVAS are welcome to attend. Meeting will be held via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/96805184692

Monthly Program - September 2020
2020-09-14 19:30 - 21:00 | CA
Traditionally, our first program after our Summer hiatus is a “Show and Tell” event, where our members can share photos and stories from their birding adventures in the prior year. This year’s program will feature our fantastic David Pereksta and other members in the order that they are submitted. This meeting will be held online via Zoom. To attend this meeting, use this link: https://zoom.us/j/6155249106
