http://www.sfvaudubon.org/">San Fernando Valley Audubon Society

The results of our annual Birdathon are now in! You have probably received your pledge letter for this annual fundraiser, a sponsored birding event, and returned it with your pledge. Please review the results below and return your pledged amount as indicated on the pledge form.

If you did not receive a pledge form and would like to be a donor, please click here or e-mail rose.leibowitz@sfvaudubon.org, who will be happy to send you a form.

Many donations have already been received and the Officers and Board of Directors want to thank all of our donors for their generosity and support of this effort.

The money raised helps support our educational programs for school children, including the Sepulveda Basin Environmental Educational Program (SBEEP) based at the Sepulveda Wildlife Bird Sanctuary.

BIRDATHON EVENT RESULTS
(Open Participation)

Kris Ohlenkamp – Sepulveda Basin, April 4 – 60 species
Art Langton – Malibu Creek State Park, April 18 – 51 species
Caroline Oppenheimer – O’Melveny Park,
April 20 – 34 species
Jim Moore – Butterbredt Springs, Galileo Hills, Piute Ponds,
April 21 – 115 species
Richard Barth – Morongo Basin, April 24 – 66 species
Nancy Herron Knode – Descanso Gardens,
May 9 – 44 species

BIRDATHON EVENT RESULTS
(Individual or Team Participation)

Art Langton – 76 species
Jim Hardesty – 105 species
Muriel & Allan Kotin – 111 species
John & Andrew Willis – 86 species

The “Mean” Team – 75 species

A limited number of Phainopepla readers are invited to attend a slide show/lecture on “Restoring Habitat, One Yard at a Time,” given by Alan Pollack, Audubon-at-Home Chair, followed by a tour of his garden.

Art Langton will also present a slide show/lecture on the birds one might expect to see in a San Fernando Valley garden, followed (hopefully) by a native plant landscaper speaking on the use of natives in the garden. Learn the basics for how to attract birds, butterflies, and other wildlife, how to conserve water, soil, and plant and animal life.

Please e-mail me at alan.pollack@sfvaudubon.org with any questions and to reserve a spot.

Everyone welcome. Come early for social hour.

Encino Community Center, 4935 Balboa Blvd., Encino. Located between Moorpark and Ventura Blvd., on the west side of Balboa, just south of the Presbyterian Church.

Our speaker, Jonathan S. Feenstra Ph.D., will talk about Tricolored Blackbirds in Southern California.

The Tricolored Blackbird is North America’s only colonial nesting landbird and is nearly endemic to the state of California. In the past century the statewide population has seen a precipitous decline, and for nearly 15 years state and federal agencies have been monitoring and trying to save major breeding colonies. For the past few years the population in Southern California has been attracting more attention. In this presentation Jon describes the latest results of how our local Tricoloreds are doing and what is on the horizon.

Jon Feenstra is a freelance ornithologist living in Los Angeles. He holds a Ph.D. in chemical physics from Caltech but now works as an ecological consultant and bird surveyor, and as a tour leader for WINGS. When he is not looking through binoculars, he cooks, reads, climbs, bikes, listens to music, and travels the world.

Saturday, April 10

8:30 AM – Noon

Photo by Rose Leibowitz, 2010

Come for the whole time or just a part of it.
Bring your friends and family.

Help us keep this lovely resource in prime condition
for the critters who rely on it for food and shelter.

Directions: Exit the San Diego Freeway (I-405) on Burbank Blvd. Go west about one-half mile to Woodley Avenue and turn right (north). Travel about one-half mile to the second possible right turn (at sign for the Water Reclamation Plant and Japanese Garden). Turn right and go east about one-half mile to Wildlife Area parking at the end of the road.

I encourage all to attend this community workshop on the updating of the Sepulveda Basin Master Plan on Saturday, February 20, 2010.  This is part of updating the master plan (land use plan) of the entire Sepulveda Basin for the first time in over 30 years and will be important in shaping changes to the Basin.

You may want to express support for some of the ideas that I and other members of the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Areas Steering Committee are promoting or have other suggestions.  Here is a rough description of what I hope the new Master Plan will include:

The former corn maize field immediately east of Woodley Avenue and between Woodley Park and the Wildlife Reserve should become part of the Wildlife Reserve, as an enhancement and link to both Woodley Section 2 and the Wildlife Reserve; the east bank of Haskell Creek and adjoining field along the stretch from the Reserve access road (“Wildlife Way”) to Victory Boulevard should be restored as riparian habitat;  the area north of the Reserve parking to the archery range and dam wall, which is currently but unclearly defined as Wildlife Reserve, should be protected and improved as part of the Wildlife Reserve; and all water courses within Sepulveda Basin, including those now treated as drainage channels, should be managed as riparian corridors, including Hayvenhurst, Woodley and Encino Channels/Creeks.

As meetings take place, these goals will be refined and improved.

I hope you will attend and actively participate in the meeting, including writing your own comments on what you want to keep as is and what changes you hope to see.

─Muriel Kotin, SFVAS Representative to Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Areas Steering Committee