Please join our 4rd Annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) on the Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve on Thursday, January 2, 2020 (7am-3pm). As part of the nation’s longest-running community science bird project (started in the year 1899!), the Audubon Society will be conducting bird counts between December 14, 2019 through January 5, 2020. Thousands of volunteers across the U.S., Canada, and many other countries in the western Hemisphere will be heading outside and tallying every bird that they see or hear. On the Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve, John Harris of the Stanislaus Audubon Society will be leading the CBC. All interested birders—experienced to beginners—are welcome! Please dress warmly and bring a lunch, water, binoculars, and a camera. We will meet at the corner of Ranchers Road and Ansel Adams Road on the UC Merced campus at 7am sharp. If you are interested in participating, please contact Monique Kolster (mokolster@ucmerced.edu). If you have a 4WD vehicle and could drive, please let me know. Come help us add to our local record of CBC bird sightings and be a part of a 120-year old national tradition!
Burrowing owl on the reserve. Photo by Vern Johnson with the Yosemite Area Audubon Society.
