Summary
The father and daughter team of Dennis and Jessica Beebe love everything thing about the natural world available in Santa Barbara County and beyond. Both serve as docents for the UC Sedgwick Reserve in Santa Ynez and the non-profit educational organization NatureTrack based in Los Olivos. Dennis and Jessica also volunteer at the UC Coal Oil Point Reserve located on campus.
After completing a career in the United States Air Force and later as a consultant to the aerospace industry, Dennis has devoted himself to his love of the outdoors and nature education. In this, his latest career, he considers himself as a “generalist” and a work-in-progress. In preparing this presentation he has relied exclusively on his older daughter Jessica both for her birding knowledge, her research tenacity, and her computer expertise.
Jessica’s consuming passion is birds and birding. She reads bird guides for pastime—and remembers everything she reads. With her parents support, Jessica has traveled extensively to birding hot spots in the US and elsewhere, including New Mexico, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, England, Ireland, Tanzania, Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands and Costa Rica.
Dennis and Jess have prepared their presentation from a slightly different perspective. Knowing that the majority of their audiences would already know the standard bird guide summaries, they have chosen to delve into the fascination that man has held for these birds from the beginning of history and some of the reasons why. Theirs is a multi-media presentation, complete with slides, videos and hands-on bird skins.
Doors open at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History’s Farrand Hall at 7 PM, with the presentation starting at 7:30.