Current Projects and Goals is regularly published about once a quarter. Its purpose is to communicate to our membership about important issues that the board of directors and committee members are involved with.
Projects and Goals Winter 2024
From the desk of
Katherine Emery, Executive Director
Through our Education and Conservation/Science committees, Santa Barbara Audubon Society (SBAS) is actively working on several initiatives. This update provides an overview of selected current projects, goals, and opportunities for member engagement.
Dear SBAS Members and Supporters,
With gratitude, I write this update. Thank you to our legacy partner, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, who champions SBAS and supports our work to protect birds. Collaborating with the Museum broadens our reach, and through Program Chair Roman Baratiak’s orchestry, SBAS is creating more partnerships, such as with Friends of California Condors Wild and Free, to enhance public awareness to protect endangered bird species.
Thank you to the SBAS Board and staff who work tirelessly to further SBAS’ mission. At our September Board retreat, we shared ideas about passions and goals of our non-profit bird education and conservation organization. Three focuses are:
- Connecting people to birds by teaching about birdlife.
- Being a community where people can unite and be part of a birding conservation family.
- Protecting birds and their habitats.
Take home message. Please join us on a free bird walk this winter. Going in the field to learn about birds is invaluable. On a recent visit to the BayWa wind farm, I found it surreal and eye opening to see turbines poking through the fog. Local walks are also enlightening. One can study birds first-hand and reconnect with old friends or make a new one. Learning and working together, we can protect birds and our beautiful Santa Barbara open spaces, riparian zones, and coastal habitats.
Thank you, All, for your support.
P.S. SBAS welcomes chapter members to volunteer for an hour or two at our outreach events. If you are interested, please contact email hidden; JavaScript is required. (This email address is new and needs to be checked.)
Katherine Emery, PhD
Executive Director
Santa Barbara Audubon Society
Projects and Goals Fall 2024
From the desk of
Katherine Emery, Executive Director
Through our Education and Conservation/Science committees, Santa Barbara Audubon Society (SBAS) is actively working on several initiatives. This update provides an overview of selected current projects, goals, and opportunities for member engagement.
Dear SBAS Friends, Members, and Supporters,
This summer marks the start of another exciting year at SBAS. Reflecting on my five years as Executive Director, I remain amazed by the caliber and commitment of our volunteers, staff, and partners. It takes a community to protect birds and their habitats, and thanks to you, SBAS works determinedly to connect people with birds through education, conservation, and science.
Along those lines, SBAS welcomes two new staff members: Mary Zolkoski, Raptor Caretaker and Outreach Assistant at Eyes in the Sky, and Theo Patterson, SBAS Data Entry/Administrative Clerk.
Our partners’ environmental work also brims with fresh energy. I recently attended the opening of the new Conservation Hub at the Santa Barbara Zoo in recognition of the leadership of Rich Block, President and CEO. Rich and the Zoo team promote wildlife conservation, education and stewardship at the Zoo and beyond (think California Condors, etc.) Behind the scenes, the Zoo is part of a SoCal network to help save animals rescued from illegal wildlife trade. And the new SB Zoo – California State University Channel Islands educational partnership and campus conservation center will creatively engage students and enhance conservation, research, and outreach. Such an impact.
Thank you to our bird walk and field trip leaders, program organizers, and Education and Conservation/Science Committees for working this summer to plan the upcoming year’s activities.
With gratitude to you, members and readers, for your support.
Katherine Emery, Executive Director
Santa Barbara Audubon Society
Projects and Goals March 2024
From the desk of
Katherine Emery, Executive Director
Through our Education Committee and our Conservation/Science Committee, Santa Barbara Audubon Society (SBAS) is actively working on many projects. This update provides an overview of selected current projects, goals, and opportunities for member engagement.
Dear SBAS Friends, Members, and Supporters,
Hope this finds you well and that you are having a happy and healthy start to 2024. SBAS is bustling with fresh energy. We work determinedly to protect area birdlife and habitat and connect people with birds through education, conservation, and science.
We continue to have informative, fun, and free bird walks, field trips, and evening programs, such as the recent owl presentation “What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds” by Jennifer Ackerman. We thank the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History for partnership in hosting this and other events. We welcome two new staff members, Sarah Clement, who is helping with administrative work, and Hilary Peattie, an additional teacher for our popular and growing Meet Your Wild Neighbor (MYWN) three-week educational program in local elementary schools. This spring, we are expanding MYWN to reach 16 classrooms, incorporate more bird sounds and music, and integrate a bird walk around school campuses to teach children about the birds sharing their school grounds with them. Thank you, generous donors and grantors, for making this SBAS educational outreach possible.
Year after year, the SBAS Winter Bird Count for Kids thrives. Thank you to the team for making the 10th year a success: City of Goleta, SBAS volunteers, high school students, and bird-loving and nature-seeking families. One parent, Wim van Dam, wrote: “Thank you to the organizers of the Winter Bird Count for Kids at Lake Los Carneros. It brought back great memories of child-friendly bird walks that I enjoyed myself many decades ago. Despite the rain the birds were cooperative, with the best ones being a Summer Tanager near Stow House and a Violet-green Swallow over the lake.”
Thank you, also, to Christmas Bird Count leadership for masterly orchestrating another vibrant event, and to members for braving the rain, donning boots, and collecting meaningful data. On a side note, while the total count was lower than expected (likely due to the storm and lack of a boat survey), I feel like I’m hearing and seeing more birds than ever in our post-rain, very green yard.
Gratitude to the Conservation/ Science Committee for their time and expertise working to increase conservation-focused management of open spaces, riparian zones, and other important bird habitats, and advance habitat protection initiatives, such as advocating for educational signage plans for critical birding areas and advancing research and community science (e.g., the Breeding Bird Study).
We welcome new members to our Board. Please contact SBAS President Janice Levasheff if you’re interested in learning more about our open positions on the Board.
Thank you, all, for protecting birds and their habitats.
Katherine Emery, Executive Director
Santa Barbara Audubon Society
Projects and Goals December 2023
From the desk of
Katherine Emery, Executive Director
Through our Education and Conservation/Science committees, Santa Barbara Audubon Society (SBAS) is actively working on many initiatives. This update provides an overview of selected current projects, goals, and opportunities for member engagement.
Dear SBAS Friends, Members, and Supporters,
SBAS protects area birdlife and habitat and connects people with birds through education, conservation, and science. This fall, the SBAS Board and staff came together at the beautiful Leading from Within Convening Space to review our 2020-2025 Strategic Plan. It was uplifting to have so many knowledgeable and passionate SBAS leaders in one room share what excites them most about SBAS and prioritize actionable goals for the upcoming year, such as onboarding a Development Chair and Membership Chair to fill two very important seats on our Board. Please contact President Janice Levasheff if you’re interested in one of these Chair positions.
Our educational outreach continued to soar. We created a new SBAS Feather Box exhibit to share at local schools, public events, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (SBMNH), and made plans to expand our Meet Your Wild Neighbor program to more kindergarten through grade three classrooms in the new year. We were honored to collaborate with three local partners—SBMNH, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, and UCSB Bren School of Environmental Science and Management—to present “Bird Conservation around the World and in Our Own Backyards: From Awe to Action” by Lynn Scarlett. At the end of the program, a particular moment captured the evening’s optimism. Lynn was surrounded by a group of UCSB students listening intently to her words and one young woman remarked, “I want to be like her.”
Our bird walks and field trips resumed in full force: popular, educational, and inclusive of novice and expert birders. Thank you to Peter Thompson, Rob Lindsay, Jeff Hanson, Peggy Kearns, Nick Lethaby and Guy Tingos for their knowledge and time leading these trips. Our Conservation/Science Committee remained steadfast in its commitment to protect local birdlife.
In our 60th anniversary El Tecolote issue, we looked at our past, present, and future. While we mourned the loss of a few longtime SBAS members, we were inspired to forge ahead in our conservation efforts. Gib Lentz wrote, “…It is heartening to see the number of people who fondly remember Joan and have benefited by her enthusiasm and knowledge. Now, it is up to you and the Audubon Society to carry on her work. Thank you, again.”
Along those lines, we continue to highlight accomplishments of our young student birders. Recently, Lucy London, our high school SBAS Student Representative and a shining light in the birding community, gave her gift of art to SBAS with the design of a beautiful new Winter Bird Count for Kids T-shirt. We invite you to help bring kids into nature to learn about birds at our 10th annual WBC for Kids event on January 20, 2024. Learn more at SantaBarbaraAudubon.org.
With gratitude to our friends, members, volunteers, and grantors, thank you for all that you do to protect birds and their habitats.
Wishing you peace.
Katherine Emery, Executive Director
Santa Barbara Audubon Society
