Sarah Allen has studied marine birds and mammals of California for some 30 years and has been affiliated with both PRBO Conservation Science and Point Reyes National Seashore. She has authored  scientific papers on harbor seals and other topics and is currently the senior science advisor with the Seashore.

Scot Anderson has studied great white sharks in the Gulf of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary for more than 20 years. In that period, he has authored more than 20 papers on white sharks and salmon sharks. One of his studies included equipping a surfboard with a camera. From underwater, the surfboard’s silhouette resembles the Great White’s normal pinniped prey which might partially explain shark attacks on humans.

Len Blumin is a retired physician and avid birder. In the course of digiscoping over the past six years, he has taken more 30,000 images of birds. Preview some of his favorite images at www.flickriver.com/photos/lenblumin.

Josiah Clark Josiah grew up steeped in the natural history of the Bay Area, where he has been birding for more than 20 years. Defining moments of birding experiences include: observation and mist-netting on Southeast Farallon Island; extensive travel, study, and tour-leading in Latin America; and a 24-hour birding and bicycling marathon in Marin County during which he spotted 158 species. Josiah owns Habitat Potential, an ecological consulting firm dedicated to interpreting, preserving, and creating habitat for wildlife in human settings. He recently started a nursery growing plants for habitat installations.

Emiko Condeso is a biologist and GIS specialist for Audubon Canyon Ranch. At the Cypress Grove Research Center, she manages ACR’s long-term biological monitoring projects and collaborates with staff and partners in conservation research. Her own research interests include understanding how spatial patterns, particularly in human-altered landscapes, influence biological communities. Her graduate work focused on Sudden Oak Death and examined the role of the spatial pattern of host woodland on disease dynamics.

Rigdon Currie A long-time birder, Rigdon has led a local birding group for five years. He took up video photography in 2000 as a way to keep a record of his many international birding trips. He has created 25 videos of these foreign excursions which illuminate his goal of seeing a representative of every bird family in the world.

Dave DeSante founded The Institute for Bird Populations which is located in Point Reyes Station in 1988. He currently serves as its president. Prior to that, Dave served as Director of Terrestrial Research at PRBO (1978–1988) and as Assistant Professor of Biology at Reed College (1975–1978), and at Stanford University (1974–1975). He received his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1973.

Barbara Deutsch Barbara has been studying, writing on, and teaching about gardening for butterflies for more than 25 years. In multiple ways, she has attempted to awaken and enliven awareness of what she calls “the other world that is in this one.” She organized a day-long symposium, “Insect Diversity: The Missing Component in Ecological Restoration” for the 1998 Society for Ecological Restoration conference.

Wendy Dreskin Wendy teaches nature education to pre-school and elementary- age students, including the Junior Bird Watcher Program for Marin Audubon and the Junior Botanist program for Wildcare. She also provides nature education through the College of Marin Community Education program and leads Point Reyes National Seashore Association Field Seminars on butterflies, tidepools, and wildflowers. In 2003, she was awarded the Terwilliger Environmental Award for her work inspiring both children and adults.

A Consulting Biologist, Daniel Edelstein has led birding tours for more than 25 years and presented public birding presentations in more than 20 states. Daniel has several blogs and websites about northern California birds on the WorldWideWeb and is currently conducting songbird and raptor surveys for two projects.

Jules Evens, naturalist and writer, has been living and birding in the Point Reyes area for more than three decades. He is the founder and Principal of Avocet Research Associates and a long-time research associate with PRBO Conservation Science and Audubon Canyon Ranch. His primary research focuses on tidal wetlands and avian population trends. He is the author of The Natural History of the Point Reyes Peninsula and An Introduction to California Birdlife (both University of California Press), as well as various scientific papers and natural history articles.

Allen Fish has been the director of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory since 1985. He leads its Hawkwatch Program and oversees hawk-nesting studies in the Presidio and Berkeley. A northern California native, he is particularly interested in bird population responses to urban development, climate change, and other human pressures. He has taught an upper-division Raptor Biology class at UC Davis since 2003, the same year he was awarded the Maurice Braun Award by the Hawk Migration Association of North America for his contributions to hawk migration study and conservation.

Mary Anne Flett is a native northern Californian who has been birding for more than 30 years. As a local wildlife biologist, she studies birds in Marin and elsewhere in California. She identifies birds by their songs and calls and tunes into them to find local species as well as unexpected avian visitors. Listening to bird vocalizations not only also helps her gain clues to their behavior, it also makes her incredibly happy.

Harry Fuller is a trip leader for Partnership for International Birding and works as trip host for Neblina Forest Tours. He leads numerous birding trips along the Pacific Coast and teaches classes for Point Reyes Field Seminars.

Tom Gaman is a naturalist and consulting forester who lives in Inverness. His environmental consulting firm, East-West Forestry Associates, Inc., uses GIS-based technology to conduct field assessments in California and in communities around the world. He has been involved in numerous projects focused on conserving and regenerating bishop pine forests, preserving and enhancing wildlife habitats, managing fire impacts, and monitoring biological and vegetation changes.

Keith Hansen had a childhood interest in birds that has developed into a lifelong passion. He is a wildlife illustrator specializing in birds, and he leads birding tours to Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, and the Yucatan. He is currently illustrating a field guide to the birds of the Sierra Nevada to be published by the Yosemite Association. He works from his gallery in Bolinas.

David Herlocker is the Marin County Open Space District Interpretive Naturalist. He has been guiding nature walks in Marin County on a full-time basis for 10 years and leads 2–3 walks each week for MCOSD. Dave can teach you about birds, insects, trees, snakes, salamanders, and birds. You name it, and David knows something about it.

Alan Hopkins has been leading field trips in the Bay Area for more than 30 years. Alan was one of the founders of the San Francisco Christmas Bird Count, and he has lead the Home Ranch area of the Point Reyes Count for more than 20 years. As president of Golden Gate Audubon Society he started the Save the Quail Campaign in San Francisco. An avid photographer, Alan’s photographs have been published in many books and journals.

Steve N. G. Howell is an international bird tour leader with WINGS, a Research Associate at PRBO Conservation Science, and a widely published author. He recently finished the Peterson Reference Guide to Molt in North American Birds (to be published in spring 2010 by Houghton Mifflin) and is working on a photographic guide to North American albatrosses and petrels. Steve has kept lists, taught numerous workshops, led many tours around the world, worked with young birders, puzzled over the molting strategies of pelicans, spent three years of his life at sea, and he still enjoys watching House Sparrows. He has been watching birds for as long as he can remember – of course, this may simply mean that his memory is not very good! The common thread to his life is that birding should be fun. When not in the field he tries to be in the field.

Lisa Hug is a freelance naturalist and contract biologist. An experienced birder in the North Bay, her haunts include Bolinas Lagoon, Point Reyes National Seashore, and Bodega Bay. She teaches bird identification classes for the community education program at the College of Marin. She is also an energetic co-leader for Shearwater Journeys Pelagic Tours. She loves to share her knowledge of and enthusiasm for the natural world with others.

Megan Isadore is lead watershed naturalist for SPAWN (Salmon Protection and Watershed Network). She has been walking the creeks, observing, studying, learning, teaching and writing about the critically endangered Lagunitas population of coho salmon and their ecology for 10 years. Megan is a wildlife rehabilitator with Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue/Rancho Raccoon and owns a wildlife exclusions business, Good Riddance! Wildlife Exclusions.

Rick Johnson loves nature and sharing its wonders with others. Recording the sounds of nature bridges his love of the outdoors with his previous career in the software industry. He has used his recordings to develop an interactive “Introduction to Bird Songs,” available at his website, Hearbirds.com. Rick also volunteers as a winter wildlife docent at Point Reyes National Seashore and leads tidepooling trips.

John Kelly is the Director of Conservation Science and Habitat Protection for Audubon Canyon Ranch. He develops programs on ACR lands and associated systems such as Tomales Bay. His scientific interests focus on habitat relationships, foraging, and energetics of coastal and estuarine birds, and on the breeding biology of herons and egrets in the San Francisco Bay Area. He also works on local and regional conservation issues, and serves on the Tomales Bay Watershed Council and the Tomales Bay Advisory Committee.

John (Jack) Muir Laws is a naturalist, educator, author, and artist who delights in exploring the natural world and sharing this love with others. His books include: the Laws Guide to the Sierra Nevada, a pocket guide to over 1,700 species found there; and Sierra Birds: A Hiker’s Guide. He is trained as a wildlife biologist and is an associate of the California Academy of Sciences. In 2009, he received the Terwilliger Environmental Award for outstanding service in Environmental Education.

Galen Leeds has been photographing birds on Tomales Bay for many years, and his work has appeared in several publications. He regularly assists Audubon Canyon Ranch with bird wetland shorebird counts, and he counts and bands raptors with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. Born and raised in West Marin, he is an avid kayaker and a guide for Blue Waters Kayaking.

Ron LeValley is a professional nature and wildlife photographer with 40 years experience and an enthusiasm for sharing his knowledge with others. He owned an ecotourism business and is also the founder and Senior Biologist at Mad River Biologists, a biological consulting firm in Eureka, California. He serves as Treasurer of the Pacific Seabird Group and is Associate Editor of “Western Birds, the Quarterly Journal of Western Field Ornithologists.”

Susan Cochrane Levitsky served as Manager of the California Natural Diversity Data Base at the California Department of Fish and Game, and is a recognized expert on California native plants. She produced “California’s Wild Gardens” at the Department of Fish and Game.

Carolyn Longstreth is president of the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin (EAC). She is an avid birder and the creator of the CD, Birding By Ear at Point Reyes. She previously has taught classes on birdsong at an Audubon Center in Connecticut.

Mia Monroe is the Site Supervisor at Muir Woods National Monument where she has been a ranger for 25 years, finding her niche among the non-flowering plants from tall to small.

Joe Mueller has taught biology at College of Marin for 20 years, and was instrumental in developing the Environmental Science Program there. In his work as a local naturalist, he leads field courses on ornithology, marine biology, ecology, and mammalogy for Point Reyes Field Seminars and other natural history groups. He was the recipient of the 2008 Terwilliger Environmental Education Award.

Xavier Muñoz has been guiding for nearly 15 years and has been a tour leader and/or guide for Naturetreks, Wings, and other major tour companies. His guiding experience covers Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. He is the co-founder of Neblina Forest birding tours. Xavier participates in a number of conservation efforts and is currently serviing on the Board and Executive Committee of the Jocotoco Conservation Foundation (Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco).

The Jocotoco Conservation Foundation is an Ecuadorian organization established in 1998 to protect land of critical importance to the conservation of Ecuador’s endangered birds and associated biodiversity. The Foundation achieves this by purchasing lands and managing them as private ecological reserves. It also carries out habitat restoration for this purpose, by replanting deforested areas with native trees and shrubs.

Don Neubacher has been the Superintendent of the Point Reyes National Seashore for the past ten years. He previously worked in the Presidio of San Francisco and at Glacier Bay National Park.

Terry Nordbye has lived in West Marin for 40 years. He is an avid birder and has collected census data for PRBO, Audubon Canyon Ranch, and the Christmas Bird Count. Besides West Marin, he has birded in Costa Rica, Texas, Cape May, Minnesota, and spots between.

Gary Page is Wetlands Ecology Division Director. Gary came to PRBO in 1971 from his native Canada, where he had studied shorebirds as part of his job as warden of Long Point Bird Observatory. His work has included an ecological study, focused on shorebirds, of Bolinas Lagoon; a long-term study of the geographic distribution, status, life history, and population ecology of the Snowy Plover in central California; waterbird surveys of Point Reyes wetlands; the assessment of the effects of several major oil spills on marine bird populations; a large study of the distribution and abundance of shorebirds in wetlands west of the Rocky Mountains; and currently with other researchers at PRBO, an intensive study of bird use of San Francisco Bay wetlands.

Ed Pandolfino keeps busy with local conservation work, bird-related research, and birding all over California. He leads field trips and teaches birdwatching classes for Sierra Foothills Audubon and gives presentations on habitat conservation and basic bird identification. Ed is on the boards of Western Field Ornithologists and Sierra Foothills Audubon Society and serves as a Regional Editor for the publication “North American Birds.”

Lorraine Parsons is a Vegetation/Wetlands Ecologist for Point Reyes National Seashore, and she was the Project Manager for the Giacomini Wetlands Restoration Project. She has been with the park since 2001. Prior to that, she worked for local county agencies and consulting firms managing wetland and riparian mitigation/restoration projects and conducting monitoring of wetland and riparian systems.

Claire Peaslee is a naturalist, auctioneer, writer, editor, theatre artist, and radio programmer. She leads custom nature tours from Point Reyes and speaks on topics from “nature-laughter” to sustainable living.

Melissa Pitkin is the Education and Outreach Director for PRBO Conservation Science where she has worked since 1997. Melissa has been a field biologist on the Farallons and also develops and implements projects that focus on translating the science of bird and ecosystem conservation to a wide variety of audiences, including adults and youths. She holds an M.S. in Environmental Science from Southern Oregon University.

Bob Power is the Executive Director for Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society (SCVAS), a birding instructor at Palo Alto Adult School for five years, a day leader for 5 years for the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory’s HawkWatch Program, and a field trip leader for SCVAS, GGAS, SFBBO, and the Mono Lake Chautauqua.

Peter Pyle has lived and birded in the area for 30 years and spent 24 years as a biologist on the Farallon Islands. As an expert on molt, Pyle is perhaps most renowned as the author of the two-volume Identification Guide to North American Birds, an essential reference for the advanced birder and bird banders. He currently works for the Institute for Bird Populations in Point Reyes Station.

Bill Sandoval is the owner of Bear Basin Outfitters in Pleasant Hill CA and has been in the optics business for over 10 years.

Nat Seavy is the Research Director of the Terrestrial Ecology Division at PRBO Conservation Science. Nat has worked on ornithological research projects in North America, Central America, Africa, and Hawaii. These projects have included research on the breeding biology of raptors and owls, habitat associations of passerine birds, population ecology and monitoring of Pacific seabirds, and the impacts of environmental change on bird communities.

Dave Shuford has been a senior scientist in the Wetlands Ecology Division at PRBO since 1975. Primary interests include the status, distribution, trends, and conservation of birds in California and the West. Major research projects have focused on: shorebird distribution and abundance throughout the Pacific Flyway; colonial breeding waterbirds in California; reconnaissance surveys at the Salton Sea and Klamath Basin; and long-term trends and reproductive success of California Gulls at Mono Lake relative to concerns over water diversions.

Doreen Smith is the rare plant information coordinator for the Marin Chapter of the California Native Plant Society and has led field trips and native plant hikes for various groups and organizations since 1980. For more information about CNPS, visit www.marin.cc.ca.us/cnps.

SonomaBirding.org is a conservation organization founded in 2004 by Tom Rusert and Darren Peterie and based in Sonoma, CA. It sustains the two annual Sonoma Valley Audubon Christmas Bird Counts for adults and kids, bird camps, seasonal bird lists, a nature lecture series, classes, and other bird- and nature-related educational collaborations for all ages. For more information call 707-939-8007 or visit sonomabirding.org.

Rich Stallcup has been studying birds around Point Reyes for over 30 years. He is a founder of and current naturalist at PRBO Conservation Science, a Field Associate of the California Academy of Science, and a Research Associate at Audubon Canyon Ranch on its Scientific Advisory Panel. Rich has authored numerous publications, including: Field List of Birds at Point Reyes National Seashore, Ocean Birds of the Nearshore Pacific and the Nature Company’s Birding. In June 2002, Rich was presented with the Ludlow Griscom Award for Outstanding Contributions to American Ornithology, the nation’s highest award in the field.

Lynn Stenzel started as a intern at PRBO in 1971. Her mission was to identify the invertebrate prey of shorebirds, as well as their digested parts in shorebird pellets and droppings from Bolinas Lagoon. Since those early days, her work has included ongoing participation in the Wetlands research program; serving as the Observatory’s volunteer librarian in the 70s; managing and analyzing the Beached Bird Project data from 1977 to 1988; and analyzing the data from studies of Clapper Rails, Black Rails, and Double-crested Cormorants on San Francisco Bay. From the beginning, her primary interest has been estuarine and shorebird research, particularly the population ecology and life history of Snowy Plovers in the west, monitoring shorebird populations, and restoration of wetland habitat for birds and other wildlife.

Jenny Stock is the outreach coordinator for Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary and regularly guides trips to the area. She coordinates all education and outreach activities for the sanctuary, which includes developing teacher and student materials, hosting education workshops, creating outreach opportunities and publications, exhibits, signage, website content, and being the local “ocean DJ” as the host for her monthly radio show called “Ocean Currents” on community radio for West Marin, KWMR-FM.

Brian Sullivan has conducted fieldwork on birds throughout North America for 17 years. Birding travels, photography, and field projects have taken him to Central and South America, Antarctica, the Arctic, and across North America. He has written and consulted on books, and popular and scientific literature on North American birds. Research interests include closing the gap between science and birding. He is currently project leader for www.ebird.org and the Avian Knowledge Network, photographic editor of the “Birds of North America Online” at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, and photographic editor for the journal “North American Birds.”

Richard Vacha has been studying tracking since he was a Cub Scout. He attended Tom Brown’s Tracking School and Jon Young’s Integral Awareness Series. Out of that the Marin Tracking Club was born; it has been meeting every month since its founding three years ago. Richard writes a monthly column on tracking for the West Marin Citizen. He lectures on the subject and leads tracking walks for Point Reyes Field Seminars and for private groups.

Jim White is an avid birder. He graduated as a chemical engineer from Iowa State University in 1962 , and has worked in the field of general contracting. He also enjoys hiking, camping, biking, and skiing.

Ken Wilson, a native New Zealander, is the owner of Talon Tours, a birding and nature guiding company. Since 1995, Ken has been designing and leading trips to numerous locations in Central and South America, Asia, and Australia. Ken has a passion for photographing birds and other animals whenever the opportunity presents itself. He also is active in birding and conservation activities in Sonoma County and has participated in the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory Hawk Watch Census for the past 12 years.

Will Wilson has years of experience birding in Point Reyes National Seashore, and he co-leads a local birding group with Rigdon Currie.

David Wimpfheimer is a biologist and naturalist who calls Point Reyes home. For 25 years, his seasoned focus and wide expertise have enriched nature excursions in Marin and other parts of the Bay Area. He has guided programs for Point Reyes Field Seminars, Elderhostel, Oceanic Society, California Academy of Sciences, Wild Wings, Marin Agricultural Land Trust, and other groups throughout California, Alaska, Baja, Scotland, and many other locations.

Missy Wipf is PRBO’s Conservation Educator. She has worked as a field biologist in the organization’s Terrestrial Ecology Division, managed the Palomarin Field Station, and worked in Membership, Development, Education, and Outreach. She helps provide bird science opportunities to diverse communities in the Bay Area and leads monthly public bird walks for the organization.

Bill Yeates describes himself as an opportunistic, but patient birder, who is always up for an excuse to walk to Chimney Rock. He an attorney specializing in land use, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), California Endangered Species Act (CESA), and election law and the former President of the Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society.

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Artwork on Schedule page by Keith Hansen. Color illustrations from the forthcoming book, A Guide to the Birds of the Sierra Nevada, by Ted Beedy, David Lukas and Keith Hansen. Copyright on all pictures by Keith Hansen 1997-2009.

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The Point Reyes Birding Festival is a project of the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin, a dedicated and hard-working grassroots group founded in 1971 to protect West Marin’s natural environment and rural character. Please join us by supporting EAC.

Greening the Festival. To help save important bird habitat on the wintering grounds of neotropical migrants as well as to offset the energy used by people driving to the festival, we are making a donation to the reforestation program of the nonprofit Monteverde Conservation League in Costa Rica. Read about them and make your own additional donation if you wish.