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Needles-V039-08-1991 • nee Bulletin of the Sequoia Audubon Society San Mateo County May, 1991 Vol.39,#8 THIS MONTH'S PROGRAM FROM THE PRESIDENT Dr. Luis Baptista of the California ACfiON ALERT! Audubon Canyon Ranch needs your help! The 52 acre Academy of Science, a well-known Dunn property surrounding the Cypress Grove Preserve on Tomales Bay has ornithologist and birder with a skill for been put onto the market. Commercially, this parcel is extremely attractive shm:ing his knowledge with the general to developers, who would put up expensive houses on two acre lots. This public will present our May program. would be disastrous for the Preserve. The program will concentrate on Dr. There is no way that ACR can afford to buy the property and there is not Baptista's recent work to protect rare enough time to raise the necessary funds. However the property is a number birds in Mexico, where he is involved one priority on the National Park Service acquisition list. What is needed is in a new center for the preservation an appropriation by Congress from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and breeding of endangered species. momes. Current efforts concentrate on the This is where you can help. On page seven you'll find an example of a letter Socorro dove, which is extinct in the and a list of your Representatives and their addresses and phone numbers. wild; the Socorro mockingbird, with Please take time to call or write to them and let them know that this property only a few individuals left on Socorro should be added to the Golden Gate Recreation Area. Island; and a species of elf owl which has not been seen for several years . Time is of the essence. Please act NOW! He will also discuss the behavior, THE BIRDSEED SALE. It is a pleasure to report the success of our recent • origin and biology of these birds and SAS Spring Birdseed Sale: a net profit of $5% was reported by our other rare birds of Mexico. Treasurer, Fred McElhany; at our last Board meeting. Meetings are held at the San Mateo Many thanks to all of our members and friends who assisted us in this worthy Garden Center on the second event and special thanks to our fine customers for their patronage. Thursday of each month. The Garden Center is just off the Alameda de las It would take too much space to list everyone who helped, but major Pulgas on Parkside Way. The meeting contributions were made by Office Coordinator Peter Cross, Chairperson begins at 7:30 PM with a social mixer; Louise fletcher and Linda Kypta: by Sally Benson who took all the coastside the general meeting and program orders to her home and arranged for pickups: by Joyce Walkers family -her begin at 8:00. The public is invited. father and brother and Andy Brown - who carried seed bags: by Jeff Cross and Pat Williamson who squeezed two pallets of seed weighing 3, 770 pounds NEXT MONTH'S PROGRAM into our office. And finally, a special thanks to Lynn Jepson at Volkman Seed Company who counseled and encouraged the venture. With this enthusiastic Craig Benkman, an ecologist and support we are planning the next sale for September. ornithologist, and a member of Sequoia Audubon, will present the THE 1991 CALIFORNIA AUDUBON LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE June Potluck Program on the Ecology will be held May 17-19 at the Red Lion Hotel in Modesto. The theme is of North American Coniferous "Challenges Facing the California Environment", with emphasis on wildlife Forests and concentrate on two of their habitat protection in a growing state. Rick Baird and I will represent SAS. major avian inhabitants - the white­ winged and red crossbills. (Just how BAAC: Last month I attended the Bay Area Audubon Council's Chapter many species of red crossbills are Effectiveness Workshop at the Richardson Bay Audubon Center in Tiburon. there anyway?) Anyone who is It was an exciting experience and we will be adopting some of the ideas that interested in our northern forests as were discussed. well as birds will enjoy his program. CONSERVATION COMMITTEE: Following a directive from the National WE'VE MOVED! Audubon Society, the Conservation Committee has broadened its scope of active participation in San Mateo County environmental issues and is giving Our new address is 30 West 39th equal effort to issues of concern to other regions and states. Bob Wilkinson is • Avenue, Suite #202, San Mateo, CA directing a phone-alert subcommittee that will channel communications on 94403. Our new phone number is 345-3724. see inside for details. (Continued on Page Seven) Sequoia Audubon Society Page THESASCALENDAR NEWS FROM THE RANCH MAY WRITE NOW! The property adjoining Audubon Canyon Ranch's Cypress Grove Preserve to the south is for sale.• THURSDAY, MAY 2 Needless to say, its eventual development poses a threat SAS BOARD MEETING, 7:30 PM. Place to be announced. Tomales Bay and to our sanctuary. This parcel, known a e ALL MEMBERS ARE WELCOME - Please contact the Dunn Property, is first on the list for acquisition by the Golde Sequoia Office (345-3724) for details. Gate National Recreation Area. It's purchase will help preserve the Tomales Bay Estuary as a critical environmental SATURDAY, MAY 4 community on the central California coast. We urge you to SAN BRUNO MOUNTAIN FIELD TRIP write letters to your Congressional Representatives and to San Bruno Mountain stands in isolation, looking a bit out of Senators Seymour and Cranston. Let them know that you place alongside the skyscrapers of San Francisco. Yet it is support the purchase of the Dunn Property for inclusion in the home to a wealth of wildlife, hidden in pockets of woodland GGNRA. It is not likely this beautiful{lroperty will remain and in sheltered canyons. We will be exploring its unique available for another year, so please wnte now to help assure flora and fauna during this half-day trip. We will meet at the appropriations are made for this vital addition to the GGNRA. San Bruno Mountain Park ranger station at 9:00 AM. To (See Page Seven for a sample letter and the names and reach the ranger station: From northbound U.S. 101, take the addresses of your representatives. ---The Editor) Bayshore Blvd./Brisbane exit, and go north on Bayshore Blvd. about 1YS miles to Guadalupe Canyon Parkway. Turn left on GROVE OF HONOR DEDICATION: On Saturday, March Guadalupe Canyon Parkway and follow the road about two 9, a group of about 125 of our most generous donors gathered miles to the station. in Pitcher Canyon to dedicate the Grove of Honor. Designed 1 LEADER: AI Seubert by Art Carpenter, the grove is composed of three, clear red cedar slabs, each featuring the names of those benefactors and THURSDAY, MAY 9 friends whose generosity has enabled ACR to become the SAS GENERAL MEETING - Dr. Luis Baptista will present a very special sanctuary it is. We wish also to thank Clerin program concentrating on the RARE AND ENDANGERED "Zumie" Zumwalt, Suzie Coleman and the Recognition Com­ BIRDS OF MEXICO and on the efforts to preserve those mittee for their efforts in establishing the Grove of Honor species. At the San Mateo Garden Center on the Alameda at and in making its dedication another marvelous ACR event. Parkside. Social Mixer at 7:30 PM, General Meeting at 8:00. "WE'VE GOT BIRDS!•, said Nancy Angelesco when I called SATURDAY, MAY 11 to see if there was any "News From the Ranch". Seven pairs THE BIRDS OF FILOLI- We regret that this trip has had to of great blue herons finally got busy and established nests be cancelled. during the last week of March. It's about time! By the end of the week the first eight pairs of great egrets had arrived. SATURDAY, SUNDAY & MONDAY, MAY 25,26,27 claimed prime nesting sites. More were arriving daily. TIOGA PASS AND THE MONO LAKE BASIN. least these guys are about on schedule. Those sneaky snowies This trip will cover some of the best birding areas of the returned too. This is their third consecutive year, but it seems Sierra passes, Mono Lake, the Mono Basin plateau, its they are regulars now. Still, I can never seem to find them no canyons and its marshes. Rosy finches, great gray owls and matter how hard I look. You'll have to check it out to see if pinon jays were seen last year and we expect to try again for your luck and skills are better than mine. the resident sage grouse, broad-tailed hummingbirds and Virginia's warblers. Almost any species can be found as a You have until July 14 to enjoy the Ranch this year, so don't vagrant. Advance notification is required for motel and miss it. Although the Stinson Beach route (Hwy. 1) remains transport arrangements, since the opening of Tioga Pass can out, the Mt. Tam route is o~n. Or just take the extra 20 be a delaying factor affecting the itmerary. We must have minutes and take Sir Francts Drake Blvd. to Olema, then drive firm reservations by May 7. Call the leader for details, for south about 12 miles to the Ranch. reservations or for an itinerary and checklist. LEADER: Cliff Richer (355-4058) WHOOPS! I almost forgot to tell you Ken Browning has returned for his second year as Weekend Coordinator. Ken's (The above trip replaces the originally scheduled Modoc a great guy who has the touch to make our weekends go County trip. Additional scouting trips will be required before smoothly.
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