birdbling: IT'S FOR THE OWLS! 2 INCREDIBLE FUNDRAISING EXCURSIONS

Sunday, September 16, 2012

IT'S FOR THE OWLS! 2 INCREDIBLE FUNDRAISING EXCURSIONS

OWL Fans Unite!
Fundraiser to Support Altacal's Northern Saw-whet Owl Project!

Northern Saw-whet Owl nestling, photo by Marcel Holyoak

Two Unique Adventures at the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve

**for 4 Lucky Winners and 4 lucky guests!**

1) Northern Saw-whet Owl Mist Netting and Banding - a nocturnal excursion!

Saw-whet Owl release, photo by Steve King

Tune in to the forest night life under the Milky Way, listening to owls; hooting Great Horned, trilling Western Screech, and tooting Saw-whets, and the sounds of other nocturnal critters. You will learn about the migratory ecology of the Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) in the Sierra Nevada foothills with avian ecologist Dawn Garcia and her banding crew. Mist-netting and banding will be conducted at the Reserve where Dawn is researching owl migration, now in its 8th season. Guests will observe owl banding and data collection, and may have the rare opportunity to release one of the petite owls! It is an easy walk from the banding station to the nets. A specific date between October 30 and November 30, 2012 will be arranged with the raffle winners as the season approaches.

2) Tracking the Northern Saw-whet Owl - a diurnal excursion!

Enjoy beautiful fall foliage and avian species such as red-tailed hawks, California quail, wild turkey, sparrows, hermit and varied thrushes, American dippers, and possible western screech/northern pygmy owls while tracking radio-marked saw-whet owls. Bobcats, mule deer, and bears are often seen on the Reserve as well. Tracking may include crossing Big Chico Creek and hiking up steep slopes. The terrain can be strenuous depending on where the owls are. Be prepared for an adventure! A specific date between November through December 2012 will be arranged with raffle winners as the season approaches.

"Luna" Saw-whet Owl roosting, photo by Julie Shaw

How to Purchase Tickets!

Raffle tickets will sell for $3.00/ticket or 2 for $5.00 at our September 17 and October 15 programs at the Chico Creek Nature Center and events: The Oroville Salmon Festival on September 22,2012 and Sacramento Wildlife Refuge’s Birthday Bash on October 13, 2012. You can also email me at conservation@altacal.org. We will draw names for four winners on October 27, 2012. ** each winner can invite 1 guest for the excursion of their choice.**

1 comment:

UnknownOctober 28, 2012 at 6:32 AM
Hi there. So pleased to have just found your great website regarding the Northern Saw-Whet Owl. I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and this past Friday, my wife and I came upon an adult Saw-Whet Owl out in the bush. This was the first time as birders that we had ever seen a Saw-Whet Owl. Fortunately, we had our camera with us and got some good pictures and video. We have posted them for anyone interested at: http://frametoframe.ca/photo-essay-northern-saw-whet-owl-sighting
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Our Supporters

Every great program needs some great sponsors! Aside from abundant volunteer hours, annual funding is necessary for running the project, equipment, and maintenance of sites. Our partners include:

Altacal Audubon Society- Bander Support, Adopt an Owl and Adopt a Box program and some amazing volunteers (see below).

CSU Chico Research Foundation - funded the seasonal running of the program 2010-2012.

Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve - contributing to onsite maintenance of the owl stations and equipment needs.

Private sponsors whose contributions are necessary and appreciated include:

Butte Creek Foundation - $5000

Howard Wurlitzer - $3000

Mary Lou Martin - $300 to kick off the

Adopt-an-Owl program

Adopt an Owl Supporters - $2500(and increasing!)

Sacramento Audubon Society

Central Valley Bird Club members

Bob and Marilyn Alber

Katherine Garcia (thanks mom!)

Dorthy Davis and her fabulous painting donation

Wyatt Hersey and his great t-shirt design

Meet Ken Sobon

Ken is an avid birder, field trip leader and Vice President for Altacal Audubon Society. In 2020, he received his Master Bander Permit to have oversight of the all aspects of the project. He has volunteered with the owl project for seven seasons and beginning in fall 2017, he took on the program as Director with Julie Newman. In spring 2017 he added a new component to our program - nest boxes!, to determine if NSWO might be nesting on the Reserve. He will monitor the boxes each spring. Ken is also a science teacher for middle school kids in Oroville, California and enjoys sharing science and his love of birds with his students in the classroom and field since 1995.

NSWO Project Founder and Director 2005-2016, Birdbling Founder and Blogger!

Night Owl? Not really. But I am interested in feathered critters of the night ever since working my first job with the Northern Spotted Owl in Washington State - 1989! I am a birder, bird bander, biologist and conservationist; a complete fan of the avian taxa, love birds, especially songbirds. I am very concerned about the plight of birds and our anthropogenic impacts in the landscape (buildings, communication towers, habitat fragmentation, toxins, etc) and also the impacts that climate change will have. As a bird bander, I attempt to understand the demographics of local and migratory populations, productivity and survivorship of owls and songbirds. I always make sure that bird safety is top priority, striving to cause the least stress possible when handling birds. I have a phenomenal crew of volunteers whose philosophies agree with mine. We respect our nonhuman friends and endeavor to protect the habitats where they live on this earth.

Meet Julie Woodruff

Julie now runs her own station in the Oakland area, but prior: "Julie is an active volunteer in our banding program. We met when she joined the CSU Chico grad program in 2010 and was interested in studying Saw-whet Owls. We developed a great telemetry project based on the fall monitoring program: studying the winter roost selections and characteristics of the owls. She is also collecting pellets from the birds roosts and determining their winter prey. See more of Julie's project in our January 2011 blog posts."

Pages

Sunday, September 16, 2012

IT'S FOR THE OWLS! 2 INCREDIBLE FUNDRAISING EXCURSIONS

1 comment: