SBAS is actively working on many projects related to our three main focus areas: conservation and science, recently combined into a single committee, and education. This column will be updated regularly with an overview of selected current projects and goals (project list is not all-inclusive). The goals summarize what each SBAS committee is working toward with occasional opportunities for member involvement.
From the desk of Katherine Emery, Executive Director
Current Projects
Goals
Education
- Celebrating Great Backyard Bird Count, Feb. 18-21
- Providing SBAS outreach at local retirement communities. (Contact Dotti Pak.)
- Bringing Eyes in the Sky raptor ambassadors at local schools (Contact Hannah Atkinson.)
- Collaborating with Goleta Coast Audubon (UCSB Campus Chapter)
- Presenting monthly Evening Programs via Zoom. Recorded programs are available here: https://santabarbaraaudubon.org/additional-resources/videos/
- Host our 8th 2022 Winter Bird Count 4 Kids event.
- Celebrate new “Bird Month” collaboration with the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden in May
- Create new SBAS outreach film to increase awareness about the importance of birds at Lake Los Carneros (LLC), promote the need to protect this open space for birds and other species, and empower environmental stewardship
- Teach Meet Your Wild Neighbor curriculum to local kindergarten through 3rd grade classrooms
- Participate in the SB County Science Fair and present SBAS Joy Parkinson Award to local student
Conservation/Science
- Meeting with agency decision-makers, providing public comments, and authoring conservation letters to promote bird, habitat, and biodiversity protections
- Using science to advocate for bird and habitat protections for Goleta creeks and watersheds and proposed wind turbine energy projects offshore of the Central Coast
- Increasing Breeding Bird Study records for 7th year
- Assisting UCSB Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration as they now process SBAS aquatic invertebrate data for Coal Oil Point Reserve and North Campus Open Space to understand and evaluate ecosystem health important to birdlife
- In collaboration with SB County Parks create new educational signage at Nojoqui Falls Park featuring information about the Purple Martin population that breeds in and around the Park
- Continue to build advocacy to protect local open spaces, wetlands, bird habitats, and ecosystems
- Outreach to key departments within the City of Goleta, City of Santa Barbara, and SB County to advocate for bird and bird habitat protections
- Looking for a SBAS member and volunteer who would like to burrow into the worlds of Nest Box monitoring of breeding Tree Swallows and Western Bluebirds at LLC. This will be our 13th year of Nest Box monitoring. (Contact Steve Senesac via the Contact Us link)
