PROGRAM, WORKSHOP, AND SPEAKER PROFILES

Please come and help us kick off this year’s Central Valley Birding Symposium! Come meet the CVBS board & staff members! Reconnect with old friends! Meet new ones! Enjoy the delicious Hors D’oeuvres & No Host Bar!

During this time, we will cover Friday’s field trips and make any special announcements and additions/or changes to the Symposium schedule.

Birds of the Air

Birds in flight offer an endless source of mystery, fascination, and biological wonder. As we marvel over the aerial exploits of birds, we find those thoughts enrich our lives in both spiritual and aesthetic ways as they connect us to something larger than ourselves. Drawing from his thousands of images of birds in flight, Ed Harper will present a program of delightful imagery along with a wealth of information. Some birds will be from other parts of the world, but many will be of local interest along with helpful hints of identification.

An esteemed birder, photographer and presenter, Ed Harper was a long-time educator before taking up bird photography. He and his wife travel extensively, viewing and photographing the world’s wildlife and scenery. Ed also spends much of his time in his beloved home state of Montana. Ed traditionally kicks off the Symposium with one of his stunning photography presentations. He also creates and directs the challenging Bird ID workshops at the Symposium and at Western Field Ornithologists conferences.

Bird Photography: Part One, Capturing Images in the Field

Part one of a two-part class. Join professional bird photographer Bob Steele as we explore digital bird photography in the field. At a local park, we will look for easy-to-photograph subjects to allow the primary focus to be on technique and fundamentals. Topics discussed and explained will include camera setup, equipment, exposure techniques, composition, flash use, digital field evaluation of images, and approaching subjects. Later in the day, we hope to work on birds in flight, dealing with tricky light, getting close to difficult birds, and more. If you have just switched to mirrorless, or are seriously considering it, Bob will discuss the latest in mirrorless technology and the advantages in the field. Minimum equipment requirements for the workshop are: digital SLR body (or mirrorless); 300mm lens; teleconverters (optional), and tripod (optional). For more information about Bob, and to see more of his photography, check out his website: bobsteelephoto.com. Workshop fee ($25) includes Introduction to Photo Editing on Saturday. Limit 10. This workshop is FULL. Contact Registrar to be placed on the waitlist.

Bob Steele is a retired engineer and professional bird photographer from Inyokern, CA. He has been involved in birding and bird photography for over 30 years. Inyokern is in the bird-rich Kern County, an area centrally located at the convergence of multiple bioregions, providing the opportunity to photograph many avian subjects. Bob has also traveled around the country, to Central and South America, Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, the Southern Ocean and more, photographing birds along the way. Bob’s photos can be seen in many publications: Birding, Wild Bird, Birder’s World, Ducks Unlimited, National Geographic Traveler, and National Wildlife magazines; books include: multiple National Geographic field guides, the Smithsonian Field Guide to Birds of North America, the American Museum of Natural History Birds of North America, and the Stokes Field Guide to Birds of North America.

This program has become an annual favorite. What better way to learn about the finer points of bird identification than by listening to the experts go through the process! Our illustrious panel will include Jon Dunn, Joe Morlan, Keith Hansen,and Lynette Williams Duman. They will be presented with photos of difficult-to-identify bird groups (golden plovers, female goldeneyes, etc.), then each will mention what features they use to aid in clinching an ID.

Ed Harper, an esteemed birder, photographer, and presenter, was a long-time educator before taking up bird photography. He and his wife travel extensively, viewing and photographing the world’s wildlife and scenery. Ed spends much of his time in his beloved home state of Montana. He creates and directs the challenging Bird ID workshops at the Symposium and at Western Field Ornithologists conferences.

The Secret Perfume of Birds

Smell has been called the most ancient sense, and songbirds are no exception in their use of it. The primary source of odors in most birds is preen oil, secreted by the uropygial gland, and used by birds in grooming and maintaining their feathers. By smelling odors from this oil, birds can recognize and assess potential mates and rivals. Recent evidence suggests that the birds do not produce these odors themselves, but by symbiotic microbes associated with the uropygial gland. Furthermore, bird social behavior affects the composition of these microbial communities, which results in birds from the same group having a similar odor. Dr. Whittaker will discuss a range of studies that have contributed to debunking the long-standing myth that birds have no sense of smell and will describe the many ways that scent enhances avian life.

Danielle J. Whittaker is the author of The Secret Perfume of Birds: Uncovering the Science of Avian Scent, a book that has been described as “part science, part intellectual history, and part memoir,” published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2022. Dr. Whittaker is an evolutionary biologist who has studied chemical communication in songbirds for over a decade. She completed her Ph.D. in Physical Anthropology at the City University of New York, a postdoc in Biology at Indiana University, and served as the Managing Director of the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action at Michigan State University. Dr. Whittaker is now the Managing Director of the COLDEX Center for Oldest Ice Exploration at Oregon State University, where she is learning about Antarctic ice cores and the study of paleoclimate.

Bird Photography Workshop: Part 2, Photo Editing

Using photos taken in the field on Friday, we will continue Saturday morning with the editing workshop where Bob will provide further techniques to really allow your photos to pop.

Bird Illustration: A Focus on Anatomy, Form, and Pattern

Join bird artist Keith Hansen, for a clear and demystified look into bird illustration. With a step-by-step process, Keith will share his tips and techniques for capturing the bird on paper, how to rough out its form, and render basic patterns. We will focus on structural and feather anatomy, as well as color, pattern, and shape.

Participants are asked to bring their own:
- Drawing Pad
- Eraser
- Several pencils with a range of different hardness
- Sharpener, knife, or sandpaper.

Keith Hansen grew up in a family where nature and art were a pivotal part of his becoming a Bird Artist. Keith has illustrated birds since he was a teenager. His works have included over a dozen bird books and countless illustrations for various scientific organizations, publications, and logos. Keith and his wife Patricia enjoy leading tours to various countries from Mexico to Panama. His studio, “The Wildlife Gallery”, is in Bolinas California.

Bird Carving Seminar for Beginners

Join Master Carvers from the Pacific Flyway Decoy Association for a four-hour carving seminar. All the necessary materials, including a study guide and the best knives on the market, will be provided for this seminar. Short lectures with lots of hands-on carving will enable you to complete a feeding Sanderling. Topics include where to get your supplies, how to use reference material, wood selection, and how to use hand tools and power tools. There is a $25 fee for materials. The price includes a one-year membership in the Pacific Flyway Decoy Association and a club directory, so you will know who is carving in your area. Must be fifteen years old or older. Pre-registration necessary.

Join us as we hear from some of the brightest young minds in ornithology! Undergraduates and graduate students from nearby UC Davis are excited to present their research in the Central Valley Bird Symposium’s first-ever student research session. Students will present their research in a series of short presentations ranging from Black Phoebe vocal plasticity in urban environments to waterbird usage of rice fields to bird responses in relation to foliage insect densities in the intermountain West, plus much more!

The CVBS serves as the annual meeting of the Central Valley Bird Club. We will conduct a brief meeting to give members (if you attend the Symposium, you are an automatic member) an update on the club, and to take care of any business that requires the approval by the membership.

Join Andy and his students for an up-close look at Central Valley birds. Specimens from the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology will be set up at stations so you can hone your identification skills. This workshop is one of the highlights for many at the Symposium and is very well structured.

Andy Engilis is the Museum Curator, has been a senior biologist for Ducks Unlimited, and has a passion for bird conservation in his native Central Valley.

This is a time to have fun and visit with one another. Additionally many friends of the CVBC have recently authored books that may be in your library, so remember to bring yours if you want it signed. Some books will be available for purchase. Closer to the event in an email update, we will include a list of authors available for signing at the reception.

North American Warblers: A Celebration

In addition to warbler identification and natural history, we will focus on the beauty and charm of one of many birder’s favorite families. Joe will share original photos taken in California, Texas, and Ohio illustrating the great diversity of North American warblers. Join us for this entertaining and informative presentation.

Joe Morlan taught Field Ornithology at City College in San Francisco for forty years. He was awarded the ABA’s Ludlow Griscom Award for outstanding contributions to regional ornithology in 2010 and served on the California Bird Records Committee for thirty years, most recently as chair. Joe co-authored two books on birds and published numerous scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Winter Sparrows of the Central Valley Workshop

Jon Dunn will be offering a workshop on wintering sparrows in the Central Valley. The Central Valley is renowned not only for the impressive number of wintering sparrow species and subspecies that occur, but also for the amazing overall numbers that can be found nearly everywhere. At least a dozen species winter with regularity and another six to eight species are rare but annual. Of equal significance are the number of identifiable races of many of these species that occur. The splitting of many of these races into separate species is constantly being considered and are always of big interest to birders. This would include White-crowned, Fox and Song sparrows, as well as Dark-eyed Junco. Jon is extremely well versed on the identification as well as the taxonomic status of these races of sparrows.

Jon will first give an hour-long in-class presentation on what to expect. Then he will head out into the field to known spots where large numbers of sparrows are known to congregate.

The field trip portion will be limited to 15 participants, but the in-class portion will be open to the max number the classroom will hold, which is 40 participants. So, folks not attending the field trip portion can still attend the in-class portion if they desire.
Field trip fee ($50) is a donation to the CVBC and will help to sponsor student participation at the Symposium. The field trip is FULL. Please contact the Registrar to be placed on the waitlist.

Jon L. Dunn  has authored or co-authored many papers on status, distribution, and identification of birds. He was chief consultant or co-author on all seven extant editions of the National Geographic’s Field Guide to the Birds of North America (from the 3rd to the 7th with Jonathan Alderfer) as well as Birding Essentials (2007) and co-authored with Kimball L. Garrett, Warblers (1997) and Birds of Southern California, Status and Distribution (1981). Jon has been a member of the AOU’s (now AOS) Committee on Classification and Nomenclature (NACC) since 2000. Jon has led tours for Wings since 1977. Jon was a charter member for Western Field Ornithologists and has served for nearly two decades on their board, currently as Past President.