Hummingbird Feeders
Feeding hummingbirds can be simple and inexpensive. Here’s a time- and hummer-tested recipe. Use a 1-to-4 ratio of white table sugar to water (for example, ¼ cup of sugar to 1 cup of water). Don’t use honey, brown sugar, organic cane sugar, artificial sweeteners—just table sugar. Heat the water in the microwave; in my microwave,…
Read MoreEndangered Species Day – Design a Bookmark Contest
BVAS is excited to announce our Design-a-Bookmark Contest for this year’s Endangered Species Day. Please see this flyer for complete information. Age groups: 12 and under, 12-17 years, and over 18. Sizes should be between 2”x 7” and 2.75”x 8.5”. Bookmark should feature one or more of California’s endangered and/or threatened plant or animals (see…
Read MoreIt Takes a Village: San Diego’s Acorn Woodpecker
In the 1920s, an American ornithologist called this bird “our native aristocrat—unruffled by the operations of the human plebs…” In that same decade, an avian researcher proclaimed that these birds practiced communism. More recently, their social behavior has been likened to a noisy avian Keystone Cops routine, featuring loud calling, bobbing, wing displaying, and jockeying…
Read MoreiNaturalist Training
Mosquito Presentation at the Nature Center
In Living Color: Black-headed Grosbeaks are Back in Town
Just before my shift started, I walked into the baby bird room at the wildlife rehabilitation center. A distinctive sound ringing through the room—”WEE-urrr, WEE-urrr”—transported me back more than five years and 1,000 miles. The soundtrack of late summer in the pinyon-juniper habitat of our previous home in the Colorado mountains—baby Black-headed Grosbeaks were in…
Read MoreBuena Vista Audubon 9th Annual Birdhouse & Nature Art Auction
The Buena Vista Audubon Society hosts its 9th annual Birdhouse Auction Fundraiser and Open House on Saturday, March 16th, from 5-8 pm at its nature center (2202 S. Coast Hwy, Oceanside, 92054). Both a silent and live auction will feature unique birdhouses and other nature-themed art handcrafted by local artists. Festivities include music from CJ…
Read MoreAvian Architects Setting Up Shop
They typically nest in large colonies, occasionally numbering in the thousands. Within these noisy, chattering colonies, they push “neighborliness” to the limit, laying eggs in or even moving their eggs into their neighbors’ nests. They recognize the voices of their offspring even among thousands of other kids squawking to be fed. They spy on their…
Read MoreMelrose Drive Link Meeting
What ever name you know this project by, it’s been resurrected by the Oceanside City Council. The plan is to connect Melrose, from Santa Fe through the south end of Guajome County Park to Spur Avenue. This ineffective link is environmentally unsound. Wetlands and endangered species habitat will be destroyed.The City’s value engineered conceptual plan…
Read MoreFamiliar Friend The Lesser Goldfinch
Naming a species a “least” this-or-that or a “lesser” such-and-such smacks a bit of disparagement. The bird exists only in relationship to a larger/greater/“better” bird. The Lesser Goldfinch’s comparator is its Spinus congener, the American Goldfinch. In this context, the Lesser Goldfinch comes up short in several ways. It measures ½” (10%) shorter and weighs…
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