Tracking data reveals egret's 98-mile nighttime flight to Sierra Nevada foothills
August 16, 2017
Map above shows GPS location points gathered from a female Great Egret from 8/14/17 through 8/17/17.
 

Since outfitted with GPS tracking devices in mid June, the three Great Egrets (one male and two females) tagged near Toms Point on Tomales Bay have remained in northern Marin and southern Sonoma counties. But on the evening of August 14, at around 7:20 p.m., a female identified as GREG 3 lifted off from Chileno Valley and started flying east. She stopped for about a half hour in some cypress trees southeast of Petaluma, then, just as darkness fell, she took flight again. She flew east through pre-moon darkness,...

Read the whole post...

Mountain lion kittens learning new 'big cat' skills
July 31, 2017

This past weekend, ACR Mountain Lion Project lead Dr. Quinton Martins noticed GPS cluster points in the Glen Ellen - Sonoma area that indicated a potential feeding site for one of our research subjects, P1, a female adult lion who had a litter of three kittens in April. Excited to know how the kittens were doing, Quinton raced out to set up a camera to document mom and kittens on the kill. On arrival, he found an adult buck neatly cached in a thicket of manzanita, poison oak and blackberry bushes. Footage retrieved the following day revealed that two of the three kittens had survived to the 4-month mark. In this video, one of the kittens...

Read the whole post...

Heron and Egret Telemetry Project takes flight
June 19, 2017

After months of planning and preparation, ACR’s Heron and Egret Telemetry Project has literally taken flight! ACR Avian Ecologists Scott Jennings and David Lumpkin and Director of Conservation Science Dr. John Kelly spent an exciting eight days with collaborators Drs. John Brzorad and Alan Maccarone, who travelled from North Carolina and Kansas, respectively, to train us in capturing Great Egrets and outfitting them with tiny GPS transmitters. So far, we’ve tagged three Great Egrets, all at ACR’s Toms Point in northern Tomales Bay.

...
Read the whole post...

Congratulations 2017 Terwilliger Environmental Award Winner, Gwen Heistand
June 16, 2017

WildCare, a Bay Area leader in wildlife rehabilitation and environmental education, has recognized ACR Director of Education Gwen Heistand as an environmental educator of the highest caliber.

Named for nationally renowned naturalist and educator, Elizabeth Terwilliger (known affectionately as Mrs. T), the award annually honors an educator who 

  • Is actively involved in teaching the public to appreciate and protect the natural environment 
  • Has made a significant difference and a real impact on the Bay Area 
  • Inspires children and adults to love nature by making the study of nature interesting, fun...
Read the whole post...

Springtime antics of colorful songbirds fill Sonoma County
June 16, 2017

Jeanne Wirka for THE PRESS DEMOCRAT 

It’s Spring Madness out there as Sonoma County’s songbirds swoop into the full-court press of their breeding season. Bird song and other breeding behavior is as astonishingly complex as it is beautiful to behold. Fortunately, one need not be an ornithologist or even an amateur birder to appreciate this annual avian spectacle. Becoming familiar with just a few of our local feathered friends makes any outdoor adventure that much more meaningful and even mind-blowing. 

Two birds that are easy to recognize, fun to watch, and fairly ubiquitous in our local parks and open space areas right now are western bluebirds (Sialia mexicana) and tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor...

Read the whole post...

Bouverie's blackened acres signal a healthy, actively managed landscape
June 15, 2017

On May 30 Audubon Canyon Ranch accomplished its first major controlled burn event of its Fire Ecology Program when roughly 17.5 acres of grassland and oak savannah on the Bouverie Preserve in the Sonoma Valley were targeted. The event served to further ACR's goals of addressing hazardous fuel loads and declining ecosystem health through the coordination of cooperative, ecologically planned, scientifically monitored, and safely implemented controlled burns. The burns could not have gone better!

A cooperative event

A...

Read the whole post...

Walk through to a new era
June 14, 2017

For the past several months, ACR’s Quinton Martins and Keysight’s Neil Martin have been developing a new walk-through cage trap that utilizes ultrasonic electronic sensors and has become ACR’s main safe-capture method. Because of trapping restrictions in California, or as an additional “tool” for biologists in other states or around the world, this cage design should be very useful. Some of the benefits include: no bait is necessary; researchers can trap all-year round with no seasonal limitations due to bait degradation; set electronic timer to have cage active only when capture teams are on standby; and researchers can set the ultrasonic electronic sensors to target size-specific animals, avoiding capture on non-target species.

The two presented the cage trap at the 12th...

Read the whole post...

Tipping our ball caps for ACR's newest Nature Guide graduates!
May 02, 2017

The ACR Nature Guide class of 2017 includes 14 graduates with ages ranging from 7 years-old through retirement. Our newest volunteers received 8 weeks of training, learning about plants, birds, reptiles, pond critters, nature connection, interpretation, and more! These folks will now go on to share their knowledge and love for nature with the public at the Martin Griffin Preserve.

The Nature Guide program (previously called Ranch Guides) has existed since 1986 and plays an important role in introducing visitors to the range of hiking and learning opportunities at Martin Griffin Preserve.

Join us through spring and summer for engaging Conservation Talks by regional...

Read the whole post...

10-day old mountain lion kittens documented by research team

April 08, 2017
10-day-old mountain lion kittens - copyright Audubon Canyon Ranch egret.org

4/7/17: Team discovers 10-day old mountain lion kittens belonging to P1.
On April 7 our mountain lion research team announced the discovery of three 10-day old mountain lion kittens belonging to P1, a female mountain lion enlisted in our research study. The den was located the Glen Ellen / Kenwood vicinity of Sonoma County. The team was able to capture photos and video of the tiny lions from a distance. The kittens were not touched or handled at all.

This marks the first offspring born to a subject of the study and was especially exciting for lead researcher Dr. Quinton Martins...

Read the whole post...

ACR's Fire Ecologist conducts pile burns to reduce fuel load
April 05, 2017

On March 13th, ACR’s Fire Ecology Program successfully conducted its planned pile burns for the year. The burns significantly reduced hazardous fuel loads near our southern property boundary, reducing wildfire risk, improving public safety, and preparing for a successful, low-intensity controlled burn in the future. During pre-burn preparation of the area, 30 young oak saplings were found within a patch of decadent coyote brush. In order to protect these saplings, the coyote brush was removed from the immediate vicinity of the saplings, and the decadent brush patch was burned amidst the piles. 

...
Read the whole post...

Pages