Written by Scarlett Bullock – OAKHURST – Fisheries biologist Yos will discuss the history of golden trout and California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s effort to conserve this special species of concern during the May Yosemite Area Audubon (YAAS) Program. Golden trout are native to select high elevation streams and lakes in the Kern River drainage of the southern Sierra. ...

Written by Scarlett Bullock – AHWAHNEE – The Yosemite Area Audubon Association (YAAS) is sponsoring a birding walk on Saturday, Apr. 13, from 8 to 10 a.m. at Ahwahnee Hills Regional Park. Some of the birds we may encounter are western blue birds, phoebes, kingbirds, red winged blackbirds, killdeers, ruby crowned kinglets, nuthatches, finches, creepers, towhees, sparrows, titmice, wild turkeys, ...

MARIPOSA – The Yosemite Area Audubon Society (YAAS) will present a program entitled “Bean Meadow Restoration: Trials, Triumphs, and Turtles,” on Thursday, Apr. 11, from 7 to 8 p.m. at the United Methodist Church in Mariposa. Join Melissa Odell of Sierra Foothill Conservancy (SFC) to learn about the trials and tribulations of a large-scale Sierra meadow restoration. Located in northern ...

Written by Scarlett Bullock – OAKHURST – The Yosemite Area Audubon Society (YAAS) will present a program entitled “Bird Migration: The More We Learn, The Less We Know,” in Oakhurst on Thursday, Mar. 14, from 7 to 8 p.m. at the New Community Methodist Church. Join Ed Pandolfino to learn about bird migrations and their mind-boggling feats of flight. Pandolfino ...

Written by Scarlett Bullock – MARIPOSA – The Yosemite Area Audubon Society (YAAS) meeting on Thursday, Feb. 14, will feature a presentation by Carl Casey on “Big Tree Hunting,” an exciting and adventure-filled hobby. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the United Methodist Church in Mariposa (see map below). Casey is a local big tree hunting enthusiast ...

Written by Scarlett Bullock – MARIPOSA – The public is invited to attend a field trip to the Merced National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), hosted by the Yosemite Area Audubon Society, on Saturday, Feb. 9 (postponed from Feb. 2 due to weather). The trip will include viewing thousands of visiting waterfowl, shorebirds, sandhill cranes, Ross/snow geese, hawks, owls and a multitude ...

Contributed by Len McKenzie, YAAS – MOUNTAIN AREA – The Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) continues this week, as intrepid observers in Oakhurst and Merced take to the field for one day to make a record of all the birds they see and hear. Organized by ornithologist Frank Chapman of the American Museum of Natural History in 1900 as an ...

Written by Scarlett Bullock – MARIPOSA – The Yosemite Area Audubon Association (YAAS) invites the public to attend their next meeting on Thursday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m. at the United Methodist Church in Mariposa. Beth Pratt, California’s Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation, will be presenting a program on how Los Angeles residents embraced living with the ...

AHWAHNEE — Yosemite Area Audubon Society invites the community to attend a free, hands-on Mammal Workshop, covering mammals of the foothills. Topics for discussion during the workshop include: Kinds of mammals present in our area Techniques for sampling small mammals with live traps Setting up camera traps Examining bats and recording their echolocation calls This is a two-part workshop that ...

Contributed by Len McKenzie – Birdwatching, or birding, has been soaring in popularity in recent years, becoming one of the fastest-growing pastimes in North America. Among the myriad reasons for its widespread appeal, across demographic as well as geographic boundaries, are the fascinating behaviors birds display in their daily habits, seasonal patterns and social inter-actions. Many of those behaviors, embedded ...