birdbling: OH, AND THAT SPIDER....

Friday, October 20, 2017

OH, AND THAT SPIDER....

The wolf spider! Volunteer Mary Muchowski found this lady on our way down to check the nets. Guest Dan Roskopf was with us to meet a NSWO, and took the spider's photo. She's a protective mother, carrying tens of babies on her back. Apparently this is rare spider behavior, only wolf spiders do it, so I feel very excited that we got to see her! Watch this video to see a live version of active young wolf spiders:

Wolf spider mother and hitch-hiking babies, Dan's photo

there is always something interesting in the night.... Come join us and see for yourself!

Dan and Mary with NSWO, Dan's first!

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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."

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Friday, October 20, 2017

OH, AND THAT SPIDER....

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