By Kathryn West, President, RRAS
Welcome to the first exclusively digital issue of The Sandpiper. As many of you may know, The Sandpiper has experienced several plumages over the recent months, as our traditional habitat of EcoNews has experienced their own changes and restoration during the restructuring of the Northcoast Environmental Center. The March and April issues of The Sandpiper will be digital only, with the hope of resuming print copies by May. We welcome all member input, especially member preferences for digital or print issues.
You can now use our new and improved rras.org website to communicate with us. Just click on the big blue Contact Us! button on the top of the home page and you will come to a list of the board officers responsible for specific functions, along with a form you can fill out and submit. For example, to be sure you receive The Sandpiper digitally via email and (hopefully soon) print via mail, you can check with Ralph Bucher, who manages membership, to confirm your local membership status and update your contact information.
Last month RRAS held our annual banquet, a major fund-raising opportunity for our chapter. Thanks to everyone who attended or otherwise supported us in this event, which featured international birding guide and podcaster Ivan Phillipson as keynote speaker. RRAS would like to especially thank an anonymous donor who allowed up to twenty Cal-Poly Humboldt students to attend the banquet at a steeply discounted price. Additionally, the banquet celebrated a record voting turnout. (Nearly 50 percent of members submitted votes this year!) Jolian Kangas was re-elected secretary, Kathryn West (that’s me) was re-elected president, Hal Genger is re-assuming the role of vice-president as CJ Ralph leaves the board (but remains on many of our committees). Directors continuing on the board also include Ralph Bucher, membership chair; Jim Clark, conservation chair; Eric Nelson, program coordinator; and Chet Ogan.
Redwood Region Audubon Society is pleased to announce joining the California Bird Atlas as a Founding Member. The sponsored species representing our chapter will be the Marbled Murrelet, naturally! Please be sure to check their website, californiabirdatlas.org, to join in this major effort to atlas all the breeding birds of California. If you haven’t already linked your eBird account to the California Bird Atlas project, please do so! It’s free, and more details can be found in Ken Burton’s article in this issue. And, a big Thank You to everyone who has contributed to the funding enabling us to join this historic effort. We are still raising funds for this project, so if you would like to support RRAS with a tax-deductible contribution, please contact me (president@rras.org).
And finally, March is Women’s History Month, and the Redwood Region is proud to have many expert women birders as part of our community. Several women are among the Top Ten county birders tracked by eBird, and women birders also form a large portion of our volunteer base—leading guided field trips, restoring bird habitat, supporting conservation, and spreading awareness of birds. Many of the coordinators and board members for the Godwit Days Bird Festival are women. Nationally, women form the largest growing demographic of birders as well. Both Godwit Days and RRAS are always looking for more women birders to lead trips, so please join the growing movement to represent women in the field by volunteering!
JOIN US! RRAS is a community of volunteers committed to protecting and advocating for birds and wildlife and their habitat. Your membership/donation allows us to offer a variety of free guided field trips every month, programs and events exploring birds and nature’s wonders, and our newsletter, The Sandpiper. You can learn more about our chapter and how to become a member by going to rras.org.