Marbled Godwit


Sanderling


California Thrasher


Vermillion Flycatcher


Redhead


Black-bellied Plover


Snowy Egret


Black-Crowned Night Heron


Ruddy Turnstone


Black-necked Stilt


Red-Tailed Hawk


California Gnatcatcher


Lewis's Woodpecker


Steller's Jay


Ring-Billed Gull


California Quail


Black-Tailed Gnatcatcher


Anna's Hummingbird


 


Conservation Matters

Check out the Conservation Page for BVAS conservation news

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May General Meeting

Wednesday, May 22

The Common,
and Not-So-Common,
Birds of San Diego County

with Gary Nunn

6:30 p.m. Social—7:00 p.m. Program
*Note: Our General Meeting will be on the 4th Wed. this month

Local birder and San Diego Field Ornithologists Vice President Gary Nunn takes us on a birding journey examining rare birds and discussing how to identify them in San Diego County. Rare birds can be found by anyone, but the observer needs to be armed with the right information and be in the right place at the right time. Today, digital photography can be of critical importance to bird identification. We’ll see how photographic images, captured at the time of sighting, have changed the skills needed for being a successful field ornithologist, and what lays ahead for those interested in finding the very rarest vagrant birds. Join us for a lesson in improving your “rare birding” skills.

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Spring Open House at
the Nature Center

Saturday, May 18—10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Spring Open House at the Nature Center is our annual celebration of birdsong and wildflowers. The free activities we have planned for the day are all designed with family fun in mind, and our playmate will be Mother Nature herself.
We’ll even supply the refreshments!
Fun Activities—We’ll have stories, nature crafts, and other special activities, many geared toward the younger crowd. There will be a session of Nature Storytime, an animal tracking workshop, and our popular Nature Treasure Hunt, with prizes for participants. Everyone will be fascinated with the “Lagoon Discovery Dip.” While we all gather around, a big scoop of lagoon critters will be emptied into a large tub for everyone to see up close. Last year we had lots of different things to discover and talk about, including baby bass and bluegill, dragonfly nymphs, midges, tiny little crawfish, diving beetles, and, of course, mosquito larvae.
Endangered Species Day—This year’s Open House coincides with National Endangered Species Day. Teaming up with our friends from Preserve Calavera, we’ll have student- built displays highlighting a number of endangered plant and animal species that can still be found within the lagoon and other nearby reserves. Everyone will learn a little more about these special plants and animals.
Wildflowers—The timing will be just right this year to showcase the native plant gardens around the Nature Center and the plants along the lagoon trail. Aromatic scents and colorful flowers will be in abundance.
Everyone’s Welcome!

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Joey’s and Johnny’s Clubhouse

BVAS Nature Center
1-4 p.m. on the third Sunday of each month

Joey and Johnny DiMento have been entertaining their young friends at the Nature Center on the third Sunday of each month. Seven-year-old Joey and her younger brother Johnny (age 4) have always enjoyed hanging out at the Nature Center, investigating the exhibits, reading the children’s books, doing nature-oriented crafts, and exploring the trail. Their parents, Danny and C.J., are long-time members and highly involved volunteers at BVAS. The monthly gathering of kids began when the DiMento family signed up to host the Nature Center from 1-4 p.m. on the third Sunday of each month. Joey quickly took on the role of “kid’s greeter,” welcoming each youngster who entered the Nature Center with special walks around the exhibits and suggestions of fun activities. She then began inviting her friends from school to drop by to join her and Johnny for fun and games at the Nature Center. It’s now become a much-anticipated nature play day for a growing number of young children, as well as their accompanying parents. As attendance has grown, so has the fun and excitement. The adults provide a few ideas and help oversee things in general, but the kids themselves invent many of the games and choose their activities.

Visitors to the Nature Center can always tell when Joey’s and Johnny’s Clubhouse has had another “meeting”. For several days following each session, the sidewalk at the entrance to the Nature Center is adorned with colorful chalk art featuring birds, flowers, and other designs, usually accompanied with the hand-written sentiment “We Love the Nature Center!”.

Do you have a bored youngster looking for a little fun this summer? Drop by the Nature Center from 1-4 p.m. on the third Sunday of each month and join the kids (and parents) at Joey’s and Johnny’s Clubhouse.

Everyone’s welcome.

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Estate Planning and BVAS

Just before the summer break, the BVAS Board received word that Joni Ciarletta had generously included BVAS in her estate plan. Joni established a future bequest in her will to help ensure the chapter would have the funds needed in the years ahead to continue to maintain the Nature Center and support its nature education programs. Joni is an active birder and naturalist and a regular contributor to BVAS. She has previously volunteered her expertise to help BVAS prepare grant requests for various projects.

The Board gives Joni its heartfelt thanks for joining the BVAS Legacy Circle, and for helping us call attention to this special program. The Legacy Circle is comprised of friends and members who have provided for BVAS in their estate plans, whether by provisions included in their wills or trusts, or by several other means now available. Joni follows the grand tradition set by a number of our early “charter” members who chose to remember BVAS in their estate plans.

How important is this to BVAS? As a result of bequests that BVAS has received over the last ten years, the Nature Center Endowment Fund has now grown to approximately $500,000. A portion of the annual investment earnings from this fund now help augment the chapter’s annual operating budget, allowing BVAS to maintain and upgrade its facilities and offer a wider variety of exciting new programs.

BVAS has prepared a guide to planned giving that provides basic information regarding establishing an estate gift to BVAS. The guide can be read and downloaded by following this link.

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Alger Hiss and the
Prothonotary Warbler

A first-person connection between the infamous Alger Hiss, our very own Dennis Huckabay, and birding in New York’s Central Park is explored in a story by Dennis.

Click here to read his fascinating account.

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Dancing With Owls

Shanti Mayberry has an interesting story to tell. It’s about a special encounter she had over several months with a great horned owl that still lives in Crest Canyon, adjacent to her home in Del Mar. This is a story about an interspecies relationship that was born in innocent communion but quickly grew in intensity and passion. Something finally had to give, and the natural order of things has now been restored. But, the poignant and somewhat bittersweet memories persist . Read Shanti's story HERE.

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Looking for Birding Optics?

For unbiased advice, reviews and ratings of binoculars & spotting scopes, check out this new website:

http://allbestbinoculars.com/

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BVAS is on Facebook

CLICK HERE

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Support our Ruddy Duck Club members
Click on the above picture for a list of all current members

Ruddy Duck Club

This special group of local businesses and organizations support the nature education and recreation programs offered at the Buena Vista Audubon Nature Center with an annual donation of $100 or more. To request your “no obligation” Ruddy Duck Club packet of membership information and benefits, please call Kelly Deveney at 760-721-2441.

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Sign Up Now!

Summer Nature Camp

The very popular BVAS Summer Nature Camp is now accepting applications for its June sessions. We’ll learn all about the lagoon, from the days of its early inhabitants to the present day natural world of plants and animals. The camp will feature stories, songs, crafts, and walks along the lagoon trail. We’ll catch bugs, examine things with our magnifying glasses, and even have some live animals for the kids to visit up close. It’s all about exploration, discovery, and fun!

Our first week (June 17-21) will be for children who are ready to enter grades 1 through 3. The next week (June 24-28) is designed to cover a wider age span, and will be for children ready to enter grades 1 through 5. We’re sorry, but the level of activities planned require that all campers will need to have already finished kindergarten. Each week-long session will run from Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon.

The cost is $110 per camper per session. You do not need to be a member of BVAS to enroll your child in Summer Nature Camp.

Camp applications can be picked up and turned in at the Nature Center. The application is also available by clicking HERE. Print it, fill it out, and drop it off at the Nature Center.

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Volunteer!

There are plenty of volunteer opportunities at BVAS for people of all ages. You can volunteer with the Native Plant Club and help maintain the Nature Center gardens and trail. Perhaps you’d like to share your interest in nature by becoming a Nature Guide? Many of our volunteers start out by signing up to be host at the Nature Center for just a few hours a month. BVAS will give you the training you need. Just call Bob Crowell at 760-207-3884, or e-mail kbcrowell@cox.net, and we’ll get you started. More info HERE.

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NestWatch Invites You to Watch!

NestWatch is a nest-monitoring project developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center aimed to provide a unified nest-monitoring scheme to track reproductive success for all North American breeding birds. NestWatch invites people who are interested in the natural world to help monitor the success of nesting birds and better understand the threats they face. These data will provide a wealth of information about breeding birds and the factors that influence their success across different landscapes. For more info, go to www.nestwatch.org.

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San Diego Birding Info

BVAS members interested in the birding scene in San Diego County might want to investigate SDBIRDS. Over 1,000 area birders currently participate in this free listserv. Subscribers post their interesting bird observations via e-mail to SDBIRDS, and receive the daily postings of other members. It’s a great way to learn which birds are being seen locally, and where to see them. Interesting birding questions and observations are also discussed. Check out the rules and learn how to subscribe by clicking here.

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Donate that Old Clunker to BVAS

BVAS is now participating in the Cars 4 Causes donation program. Tax-deductible donations of any car, running or not, can be made through the Cars 4 Causes organization, for the benefit of BVAS. Avoid the hassle of trading in or selling that old car and help support the Nature Center. Just call 1-800-766-2273 and say you’d like to donate your vehicle to benefit BVAS. Cars 4 Causes will pick up your vehicle at your home, fill out the necessary paperwork, and provide the receipt for your tax deduction. Or click the below link to sign-up online.

cars4causes.net

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New BVAS Birding Guide Now Available

Birding Hotspots of
North County

In response to repeated requests, BVAS has produced a full-color brochure highlighting some of the best birding spots in North County. The brochure profiles 14 different coastal and inland birding sites that promise a varied bird list in a range of habitats. A detailed site map and directions are included, along with notes about visitor services at each site. Award-winning photographer Chris Mayne contributed the dramatic bird photos that illustrate the brochure.

The brochure was partially funded by a San Diego County grant. A committee headed by Judi Wilson oversaw the project, with graphic design services provided by Daniel Sanchez. The brochure is being distributed free of charge at the BVAS Nature Center and at several other North County sites. Stop by to pick up your copy today, and go birding!

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May Calendar

Fri May 3 Board Meeting 9am
Sat May 4 BVAS 12-Hour Pelagic Birding Trip
Sat May 4 Whelan Lake Bird Walk 8am
Fri May 10 Nature Guides Meeting 10am
Sun May 12 Oak Riparian Park Bird Walk 8am
Sat May 18 Spring Open House 10am-3pm
Sun May 19 Joey’s and Johnny’s Clubhouse 1pm
Sun May 19 Native Plant Club 2pm
Mon May 20 Preschool Nature Storytime 10am
Wed May 22 General Meeting 6:30pm
Sat May 25 Basic Birding & Lagoon Bird Count 8am

Nature Center: 2202 S. Coast Highway
Oceanside, CA 92054

Contact Info

760-439-BIRD (760-439-2473)
email: bvaudubon@sbcglobal.net

 

BVAS Mailing Address:

Buena Vista Audubon
PO Box 480
Oceanside, CA 92049-0480

 

 

Carlsbad Lagoons and Wetlands

The three Carlsbad lagoon foundations - Buena Vista, Agua Hedionda and Batiquitos - together with Buena Vista Audubon have started coordinating their activities and working more closely together with the City of Carlsbad under a new umbrella group, Carlsbad Lagoons and Wetlands (CLAW).Click on logos below to check out activities and common interests of all of our lagoon foundations.

 

 

 
 
 
Webmaster: Larry Spann

The contents of this website are copyrighted by BVAS Audubon
All photos are copyrighted by Suzann and Larry Spann, unless otherwise indicated. Please do not use without permission.