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

GET INVOLVED AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

The Nominations Committee is pleased to announce the following slate of candidates to serve on the Board of Directors of the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society for the 2010–2011 program year. The election will be held at the May 27 General Membership meeting at the Encino Community Center and installation of the officers will take place at the June 24 meeting.

President:……………………. Dave Weeshoff
1st VP:…………………… Mike Van Norman
2nd VP:………………………. Rose Leibowitz
Treasurer:…………………. Ann Ohlenkamp
Corresponding Sec:…… Heather Medvitz
Recording Sec:………………. Diana Keeney
3rd Year Board:……………. Mark Osokow
2nd Year Board:……………. Donna Timlin
1st Year Board:…………… Aurelio Albaisa
1st Year Board:…………….. Lynn Maddox

The committee would like to thank all SFVAS members who have served the chapter in any capacity. We invite those of you with an interest in becoming more active in chapter activities to let us know.

Respectfully Submitted,

The Nominations Committee

The May issue of the Phainopepla newsletter is now online.

Hi SFVASers, Please read and respond to this appeal from Pasadena Audubon Society.

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Birders,

As you know, the City of Pasadena is about to go ahead with its seven-year-old plan to dig up the willow habitat in Hahamongna to create a level spot to build two new soccer fields and a parking lot. They already have the funding to do this. The Hahamongna Watershed Advisory Committee has asked the City Council if this plan should be reconsidered, but this is not enough.

We need to shut down this insanity.

Many of you have already signed the petition that Tim Brick has started at http://www.savehahamongna.org, and I thank you for that. We need more people to sign it. Only 200 have signed so far. Though we know that the people who desire the athletic fields are outnumbered by the people who want to keep Hahamongna natural, they are much better organized and funded than we are. So, we have to be more organized than we’ve been in the past.

If you have not signed the petition yet, please visit the website and do so as soon as you can. Once you have signed, please send the link to as many people as you can. Ask them to sign it too.

You do not have to live in Pasadena to sign, and you do not have to donate any money. I have not received any emails from the site since I signed last week.

By the way, the website keeps getting better, and now has a page on the birds of Hahamongna, with PAS getting full credit for our list of the birds there and with a link to our website.

Besides signing the petition, I encourage you to write to your City Councilmember and ask them to put an end to this terrible idea. If you don’t live in Pasadena, you can write to the Mayor. Their information is at http://www.ci.pasadena.ca.us.

If these fields are built, this will be the Hetch-Hetchy of Pasadena.

Thanks for all that you do,

Laura Garrett
Conservation Chair
Pasadena Audubon Society

Dave Weeshoff, 1st Vice-President of SFVAS, will be the featured speaker at the Woodland Hills Community Town Hall meeting on Earth Day, Thursday, April 22nd, at the Woodland Hills Academy. See the flyer for meeting details and join him at the gathering.

The San Fernando Valley Audubon Society has established a Bird Observatory (The San Fernando Valley Bird Observatory). Organized by biologist and master bird-bander, Mark Osokow, its purpose is to conduct research on birds in and around the San Fernando Valley.

Anyone interested in becoming involved in research on birds, including bird banding, contact Mark and the SFVBO at SFVBirdObservatory@sfvaudubon.org. Watch for more information on this effort in the near future.

The photos here show two male House Finches.  The House Finch is California’s most numerous bird species and is also the most variable in color.  Males range from having bright strawberry colored breasts and throats to those with dull yellowish color so restricted that they are barely distinguishable from females — even when held in the hand!  The function of this color variation in House Finches, and other species as well, remains an active area of ornithological research.