Pomona Valley Audubon Society

New Dates for the 2021 Audubon Virtual National Convention! Back on May 15th we invited you to consider attending this year's national convention. Since then the dates have changed. With gatherings and travel picking back up, the NAS wants everyone to enjoy their summer vacations. The convention will still be virtual and will take place on October 1-2, 2021. We look forward to gathering with you all online in October and reuniting in person in Tacoma, Washington in July 2022. Please save these new dates and sign up here to receive updates about the convention.

This Memorial Day we honor and remember those who gave their lives in active military service.

Just a reminder about Female Bird Day. How are you doing on your female bird observations this weekend? Don't forget to post your photos here and to fully participate and learn more, see the link in the post below.

May 29-31 is Female Bird Day. Learn to see, identify and appreciate female birds more! Join the Galbatross Project and help study the most misunderstood birds in North America. From May 29 to 31, focus solely on females as you bird and challenge yourself to use behavior, vocalizations, and other sex-specific clues to ID species. Then report the techniques you used with a simple Google form in the link below. It's time for all of us, birders and scientists, to no longer ignore female birds! #FemaleBirdDay https://femalebirdday.wordpress.com/

Just a few more days left in the California Botanic Garden's Bird Month Photo Contest. Follow this link for complete information and GOOD LUCK! https://www.calbg.org/event/bird-month-photo-contest

Did you participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count ? Did you see anything unexpected? Check out these unexpected sightings. https://www.birdingwire.com//2c3b9fa5-83f6-4828-bc4b-0b4ef

A wonderful read. Thank you Robin Ikeda for your beautiful insights in this article.

Burrowing Owl Preserve Workday This past Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021 (Suberb Owl Sunday) found 13 BUOW committee volunteers doing (socially distanced) maintenance on the artificial burrows at the Burrowing Owl Preserve in Chino. Burrow tunnels were inspected via a digital borescope on a flexible cable. Burrow entrances were reinforced with rocks to make them less likely to be dug up by coyotes and perches were added. When the work was done, we visited the nearby fields of the Chin...o campus of Chaffee College and saw several owls. AND news of our workday has been sent to International Space Station to astronaut Victor Glover, a former student of Robin Ikeda, a retired Chaffey College biology professor. Victor has been in space since Nov. 15, 2020 when he served as pilot and 2nd-in-command on the Crew-1 SpaceX Crew Dragon named Resilience. He’ll get to read about our Burrowing Owls while he hurtles through space! Thanks to all the volunteers for their hard work to help make the preserve more inviting to the owls. See more

It's Superb-OWL Sunday ...so here's a little information about "Boo" one of the Barn Owl foster parents for Wildwings of CA the raptor rehab in San Dimas. From the website: A deformed juvenile Barn Owl was delivered to Wild Wings of California in the Fall of 1991. This owl, who we later named Boo, was about 6 months of age. A compassionate person had rescued this recently hatched little Barn Owl from a dumpster full of tree trimmings. Then this kind person nurtured little Bo...o and fed her the most expensive cuts of meat from the grocery store. But this person became concerned when Boo wasn't able to fly very well after several months. You see, Boo instinctively knew something that the human didn't, that when you grab a mouse by the tail, you are holding a 100% balanced diet, (if you happen to be a bird of prey). Humans usually eat the least nutritious part of an animal and throw the other half away. But a growing raptor also needs calcium from the bones, all the B complex, A and D and other vitamins from the internal organs and other parts of the body. That is why raptors consume the entire prey, because its necessary for proper nutrition. And that is why Boo couldn't fly very well, she was suffering from an irreversible nutritional bone deformity called rickets. Since Boo was unfit to survive in the wild, she became a member of our foster parent team. Each year Boo takes at least 40 young barn owlets under her wing, feeds them, mothers them, and teaches them the skills they will need to survive in the wild. Boo was given her name because one of the common names for the Barn Owl is "ghost owl". During the Winter months when there are no youngsters for Boo to tend, she will occasionally agree to assist in an education program or two just so people can learn about just how beneficial and unique the Barn Owl is. See more

The Great Backyard Bird Count 2021 is coming February 12-15th. Every bird counts! For complete information go to https://www.birdcount.org/

https://www.outsideonline.com//ebird-online-platform-app-b

What was your first bird of the month?

Our zoom meeting for the month of December is coming up this Thursday, December 3, 2020 at 7 pm and features Dr. Jeff Burkhart, PhD speaking on Venomous and Noxious Creatures Nearby! Jeff Burkhart, Professor of Biology Emeritus from the University of La Verne, will discuss a variety of venomous and otherwise dangerous creatures which live in our local recreational areas. Here’s your chance to learn how to deal with creatures ranging from rattlesnakes to ticks and how some can harm us directly while others can transmit disease (such as Lyme disease or Salmonella.) Email us at [email protected] to receive a link to the meeting.

We at PVAS are thankful for each and every one of you! We are grateful that we have birds to enjoy and that we can share that joy with each other. Have you seen a Wild Turkey? Please tell us when and where in the comments below and share a photo if you'd like to.