Fresno Audubon Society

Field trips generally leave from the Fresno Ag Hardware parking lot, at the southeast corner of Blackstone and Gettysburg in Fresno. Unless otherwise noted, weekend trips leave at 7:00 a.m. and Wednesday Walks leave at 8:00. Contact the designated leader, however, to make sure this is the meeting place and departure time for specific trips. We generally arrange car-pooling at the parking lot to minimize the number of vehicles involved in the trip.

Most field trips end by early to late afternoon. Participants should bring binoculars, lunch and water, and wear good walking shoes.Walkie-talkies are very helpful on many of our trips. If you have some, please bring them along.

Dates, times, and destinations are subject to change, due to weather or other conditions. Be sure to contact the leader of your trip to confirm these details The Yellowbill also contains updated details for some trips.

All Fresno Audubon field trips are open to the public.

Weekend Field Trip coordinator: Frank Gibson (559-299-8452). All weekend trips are led by Frank, unless otherwise noted.
Wednesday Walk coordinators: Darby & Vicki Smith (559-787-2969) and Ken & Betty Cornelisen (559-439-2267).

Weekend Field Trips

• October 27, 2007: Tulare County.
• November 24, 2007: Fresno.
• December 1, 2007: Madera grasslands & Merced National Wildlife Refuge. Led by Jeff Seay.
• January 26, 2008: Fresno Wastewater Treatment Pland & Kearney Park.
• February 23, 2008: San Luis National Wildlife Refuge.
• March 1, 2008: Mendota Wildlife Management Area.
• April 12-13, 2008: Big Morongo Preserve.
• May 24, 2008: Shaver Lake.
• June 28-29, 2008: San Francisco Bay.

  We will meet at the end-of-the-road parking lot in Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Swan Way, Oakland at 7:00 A.M. Saturday. From the Nimitz Freeway, I-880, take exit 34--DAVIS ST. Turn left on Davis for .7 mile and turn right on Doolittle Dr. 1.5 miles on Doolittle brings you to Swan Way. Turn right on Swan, then left into the park entrance and continue to the end.

  We will bird Arrowhead Marsh and the adjacent waters of San Leandro Bay in the morning. After noon we will head for the east end of Lake Merritt to see what may be around the lake. Our main target bird for the day will be the endangered Least Tern, which nests in June on the old runways of the former Alameda Naval Air Station and feeds on the nearby waters.

  Sunday morning we will meet at 7:00 outside Alum Rock Park in San Jose. From I-680 take the ALUM ROCK AVENUE exit and turn right on Alum Rock. In 2.4 miles Alum Rock will turn left. Continue to the entrance. The park does not open until 8:00, so we will park on the street and bird the neighborhood trees. After the park opens we will work our way up the creek. American Dipper is not unknown here!

  About 10:00 we will head around the bottom of the bay to the Palo Alto Baylands in time to catch the high tide. From the Bayshore Freeway, U.S. 101, take exit 402--EMBARCADERO ROAD and turn to the right toward the bay. Continue to the duck pond on the left. Several species of gulls will be here, and there should be breeding plumaged shorebirds along the slough. We will walk out to the nature center building, where swallows may still be nesting, and on out across the marsh to the edge of the bay. The main draws here are rails. Clapper Rail is usually assured and Black Rail is here. The tide probably will not be high enough to bring it out, but you never know. Watch the bay closely; I have seen spawning rays from the observation platform.

  For information, or just to let me know you are coming, call Frank Gibson by Friday morning at 299-8452. My cell phone is (559) 593-2217.

• July 2008: TBA.
• August 2008: TBA.