You are all invited to the next ZOOM meeting
of Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society

Building California’s First Statewide Breeding Bird Atlas, with Van Pierszalowski.
Zoom Evening Meeting, Tuesday, 7 April, 7:30 p.m.
Zoom waiting room opens 7:15 p.m.

From the ocean to the deserts to the highest mountains, California is home to tens of millions of birds. But there’s no one definitive resource laying out exactly where the more than 700 bird species that live and breed in California can be found. The California Bird Atlas project aims to change that, by doing the first comprehensive, detailed bird survey of the entire state — all 58 counties, all 163,000 square miles. By the end of February over 100 breeding species had been confirmed, and by mid-March over 50,000 trip lists had been recorded by birders statewide. [CBA news link] The leader of the project, Van Pierszalowski, tells us what’s involved in doing one of the most ambitious bird science projects ever, and how everyday birders can contribute to the effort. 

Thousands of community members building
a lasting resource to protect biodiversity.
• • • • • • •
California’s first statewide Breeding Bird Atlas.
• • • • • • •
Forty-four states have completed Breeding Bird Atlases—
globally recognized tools that guide conservation efforts
and strengthen biodiversity.
California isn’t one of them. That’s about to change.
• • • • • • •
“Breeding Bird Atlases are large-scale efforts that tell us not just where birds are, but how birds actually use our landscapes. This initiative is critical to understanding the current status of birds in our state.”
— Morgan W. Tingley, Professor, Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCLA

Van Pierszalowski is the Executive Director of the California Bird Atlas. Van’s childhood was split between Cambria, CA, and Kodiak Island, AK, where he worked on his father’s commercial salmon fishing boat for eight years. After earning a degree in Anthropology at UC Berkeley, he embarked on a successful career as a songwriter and musician, appearing on TV shows like Late Night with Conan O’Brien and CBS News Sunday Morning. Now living in LA, he’s fallen in love with the area’s varied habitats and stunning vagrant birds, and is continually inspired by its diverse birding community. In 2023, Van completed a California Big Year, recording 503 species, becoming only the second birder to surpass 500 in a single year in the state. He is an eBird Regional Reviewer for Los Angeles County, and leads trips for several local organizations, including Los Angeles Birders and the Pasadena Audubon Society.

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Meeting ID: 881 3364 9408
Passcode: 442920

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