We’re all winners when SFVAS has the funding to support its mission.
Birdathon has long been the major support for our Sepulveda Basin Environmental Education Program (SBEEP), carried out in partnership with the Resource Conservation District of Santa Monica Mountains (RCDSMM). Together, we provide teacher training and field trips to the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve for sixty classes and nearly 2000 children from the Los Angeles Unified School District. Last year, the pandemic shut down almost all such field trips. We were able to divert much of this resource to providing an online experience for our students.
Now, we are pleased to announce that in-person SBEEP field trips have resumed. We are excited to continue building on this SFVAS tradition — and, of course, on the tradition of members and non-members alike supporting it through Birdathon.
As always, we have a dedicated team of leaders who will ask for our pledges of support based on the number of individual bird species they can spot during their outing — not the number of birds, just the species. The schedule of SFVAS Birdathon outings is shown below.
If an outing shows an email address, feel free to contact the leader with questions or concerns. If no email address is showing, the leader has chosen to do their outing alone, but those walks are every bit as worthy of your support.
April 3 – Kris Ohlenkamp @ Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve, starting at 8 AM, expects to see 60 species.
April 10 — Paula Orlovich leads @ Franklin Canyon starting at 8 AM, expects to see 30 species.
April 19 — Carolyn Oppenheimer leads at O’Melveny Park, expecting to see 35 species. Email her at c.oppenheimer@sfvaudubon.org
April 23 — Pat Bates leads at Hansen Dam, 8:15 AM, expecting to see 40 species. Email her at batesbird@gmail.com
May 15 — Kathy & David Barton will count @ Malibu Creek State Park, expecting to see 35-40 species.
Art Langton (Highway 33 from the Ocean to the Mountains) at a date TBD, expecting 80 species.
Luisa Bergeron & Rebecca Marschall (Young Birders Group) — date and location TBD, expecting 20 species. Youngbirders@sfvaudubon.org
Alan and Muriel Kotin will count at a date TBD in Malibu and its environs, expecting 40 species
John and Andrew Willis will count in the San Pedro/Rancho Palos Verdes area in early May, for the Lori Willis Memorial Fund.
If you’d like to be a part of Birdathon, you have two options: You can support one of our bird walks with a pledge. It’s easy: you tell us how much you’re pledging, per individual bird species sighted on a given walk. When the Birdathon events are all over, we’ll tell you how many species your chosen walk saw (unless, ideally, you were there yourself) and you can remit your pledged amount quickly and easily.
If you can’t stand the suspense of waiting to see how your favorite team does, you can make a direct donation to it. Or you can simply donate to Birdathon. Right here, right now.
Please consider supporting Birdathon. We really do put your money to good use.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email Richard Davis at birdathon@sfvaudubon.org
If you want to make your pledge donation by check, please mail it to the address at the bottom of this page.
All donations to SFVAS and your membership dues are tax deductible to the full extent provided by law unless you are notified otherwise. SFVAS is a §501(c)(3) organization.