The Valley Habitat

October 2013
A Joint Publication of the Stanislaus Audubon Society and the Yokuts Group of the Sierra Club

Yokuts Program, Friday October 18: Patrick Kelly, Ph.D, -The Endangered Species Recovery Program at California State University, Stanislaus
Patrick is a professor of Zoology in the Department of Biological Sciences at California State University, Stanislaus and Coordinator of the Endangered Species Recovery Program. He will describe this program to us and tell us a little about its history, the people who work there, the work they do and how it impacts our communities. He will also talk about possible ways Sierra Club members might contribute to that work.
College Avenue Congregational Church 1341 College Avenue Refreshments and socializing begin at 6:45 p.m. and the meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. Non-members are always welcome! The program is free and open to the public.

Paradise Lost
--View from the Chair - Anita Young, Chair, Yokuts Group of the Sierra Club

Rim Fire and the campaign to restore the watershed. This is truly an opportunity for all of us to act locally, and here are our suggestions for what you can do to help: donate money directly to the Rim Fire Recovery Campaign: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/ rimfire?code=Rim%20Fire%20page donate your used, non-clothing, household and sports items to the Yokuts annual yard sale, which will be held on Saturday, October 12 this year. See the Habitat for details. participate in fundraising events we will sponsor during the year - dates and times to be announced give a little extra when we "pass the hat" at each of our 3rd Friday Yokuts program meetings, at our annual Christmas party and our June potluck picnic. This money will go to the campaign. While we will continue to be committed to acting locally on issues like farmland preservation and measures to prevent hydraulic fracturing, our attention is on the Tuolumne and our efforts to make it Paradise Regained. Valley Habitat 1

We've all read and seen the news coverage of the Rim Fire that has devastated our closest national forests and parts of Yosemite National Park. Many of us have family and friends who live in the affected area, or perhaps own vacation homes there. Certainly we have all visited the forests and park. Some of my favorite hikes and backpack trips are in places that are now destroyed. The Tuolumne River watershed provides the water we drink. In my first View from the Chair column for the new program year, I would like to make an extreme proposal to our Yokuts and Stanislaus Audubon members to help repair this extreme damage. With the approval of the Executive Committee of the Yokuts Group of the Sierra Club, I propose donating a portion of our current year fundraising to the Rim Fire Recovery Campaign, which is operated by the Tuolumne River Trust. The Tuolumne River Trust lobbied Congress to have the Tuolumne designated a wild and scenic river and is now the watchdog for all things related to the Tuolumne. The organization's website, tuolumne.org, provides a link to information about the

Stanislaus Audubon Society

RECENT SIGHTINGS OF RARE OR UNCOMMON BIRDS STANISLAUS COUNTY On September 13, John Harris had an immature female CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD at his feeders by his house four miles east of Oakdale. If this bird passes review by the Stanislaus Bird Records Committee, it would be only the fourth county record of this species, and the first from the eastern foothills of the county.

CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD (female) John Harris

HAVE YOU SEEN ME?

NUTMEG MANNIKIN

The Nutmeg Mannikin is a finch native to Asia that has been introduced into America, and escapees have formed flocks in some counties in California. The California Bird Records Committee has recently added this bird as an established countable species. On June 23, Tom and Beth Hamel saw this single bird at Frank Raines Park in Del Puerto Canyon. This is the first confirmed sighting of a Nutmeg Mannikin in Stanislaus County. The bird is more than likely an escaped cage bird than part of a breeding population. If you see any of these birds, take a photo if possible, record the time and location of your sighting, and contact any of the following members of the Stanislaus Bird Records Committee: Bill Amundsen, Eric Caine, Jim Gain, Harold Reeve, or Sal Salerno.
ONLINE NEWSLETTER REQUEST PERSEVERES

Stanislaus Audubon Society is still collecting email addresses from those who wish to receive Valley Habitat online. You can email phalarope@sbcglobal.net with Online Newsletter as the subject. Put your membership name in the body of the text WITH YOUR POSTAL ZIP CODE. NOTE: If you are receiving a mailed copy as well as an online one, please email Jim Gain and John Harris. It may be that you are receiving duplicates because you are also a member of Sierra Club, in which case you would notify Anita Young. Valley Habitat 2

Stanislaus Audubon Society

IN THE DANCE by Salvatore Salerno
Identifying birds can be fun, but further enjoyment awaits those who take the time to observe their behaviors. Mating season enlivens their activities, as males seek to fulfill their need to mate with females, to make more birds as they were made. Their breeding plumages provide a visual show, but males dont rely on color alone. Songbirds also sing to prove their fitness for parenting. Many families of birds are not songbirds, however, so instead they may engage in a type of dance. Several species of grouse are among the best of these dancers; for them, when Spring is in the air, competition is on the ground. The word lek describes a group of male birds that gather and perform elaborate competitive displays to entice females. Lek also defines the display and mating area. There are two kinds of leks, each proscribed by the habitat in which these displays occur. The exploded lek is enacted by forest grouse, in which male territories are scattered in the woods, so the males are out of sight of each other. The classical lek is performed upon exposed knolls and ridges, where male territories are in visual and auditory range of their neighbors. There are two species of forest grouse in California that use exploded leks. The Sooty Grouse of the Sierra will perch in a tree and deliver five to seven lowfrequency, tremulous hoots that can be detected from thousands of yards away. In addition, the male can create a loud noise at the end of a short flight. When the female finds the male, he will display by enlarging his yellow air sacs and fanning his tail feathers. The Ruffed Grouse of northwestern California will stand on a log and perform a rapid wing beating, producing a muffled thumping that up to eight females. Before any mating occurs, though, the males must prove themselves. The Greater Sage-Grouse struts, swells its chest, inflates its orange throat sacs, and emits popping sounds as it fans its spiky tail feathers. Its wings swish as they are dropped against the body. The Gunnison Sage-Grouse also shows off its chest, but its display includes thick head plumes, and both its wing display and bubble pops are distinctive from those of its cousin species. Greater (and Lesser) Prairie Chickens also inflate their colorful throat sacs and emit booming sounds as they pound the ground, extend their tufts of ear-like feathers, and fan their tails while fighting off other prospective suitors. Sharp-tailed Grouse provide arguably the most energetic dancing, made more vivid by their colorful eye combs extended, tails twitching, wings spread, and purple throat sacs puffing. These complex rituals may be viewed in Internet videos, but those are shallow substitutes for witnessing them in person. Birders who travel should consider visiting a lek. You may find one of these on your own, or take a birding tour designed for that purpose. Being just that curious, I arrived (Continued on page 6)

GREATER PRAIRIE-CHICKENS photo by Mike Flieg

reverberates through the forest. When the male has attracted a female, it will drop its wings, fan its tail, and expose its neck ruff. The classical lek is used by several grouse species of the sagebrush plains and open prairies. These leks may be used by generations of birds over several decades. There is a hierarchy in the mating arena, which may include up to thirty birds. At the center, the alpha male guards its territory, and dominant males may attract

Valley Habitat 3

Stanislaus Audubon Society

AUDUBON FIELD TRIPS
October 5, Point Reyes National Seashore. Leader, Jim Gain, 209-5516343, phalarope@sbcglobal.net. October is the best time to find vagrant migrants, the ones who are late because they are migrating outside the limits of their customary range, the rarest of the rare. And the location is the world-class birding site in Bolinas. Meet at the County Library parking lot at 5:45 a.m. We will be stopping at the McDonald's at the Santa Rita exit in Livermore at 7:00 or you can meet us at the entrance visitor's center at 8:30. Bring a lunch as we will not be back until 6:00 p.m. October 19 and November 17, San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge is huge and offers the most diverse habitats in the area, including mixed species transitional savannas, riparian forest, oak woodlands, grassland, and seasonal wetlands. Trip leader, Bill Amundsen ( 521-8256, birdscouter@prodigy.net), chooses the particular habitats to visit each month based on conditions and season. Meet at the Stanislaus Library parking lot at 1500 I Street. at 7:00 a.m. We'll be back early afternoon. October 26, San Luis National Wildlife Refuge. Near Los Banos. This area has many habitats, including forests, grasslands, and several kinds of wetlands. This diversity should produce a long list of bird species. In addition, all the wintering species should have returned. Trip leader Sal Salerno (526-9832, bees2@sbcglobal.net) will guide your eyes and ears to the birds. Meet at the Stanislaus Library parking lot at 1500 I Street at 7:00 a.m. We'll be back mid afternoon. November 9, Consumes River Preserve. Near Lodi. If you count on one hand the best birding sites in Northern California, this would be one of the fingers. Especially at this time of the year as the wintering birds have all settled in. It has excellent wetlands which are managed especially for birders and make you easily accessible to the birds. There are also a number of other wonderful habitats, all also easily accessible. Leader, Dan Gilman, 7659481, spiderdan1974@att.net. Meet at the Stanislaus Library parking lot at 1500 I Street at 7:00 a.m. We'll be back mid afternoon.

Audubon Field Trip Email List If you would like to be on a group email to advise you of all Audubon field trips, please email: Dave Froba at froba@comcast.net. Stanislaus Audubon Society
Board of Directors: Bill Amundsen, Ralph Baker, Eric Caine, Lori Franzman, Jody Hallstrom, David Froba, Jim Gain, Daniel Gilman, John Harris, Harold Reeve, Salvatore Salerno. Officers & Committee Chairs President: Sal Salerno 985-1232 (bees2@sbcglobal.net)

Vice President: Eric Caine 968-1302 (ericcaine@sbcglobal.net) Treasurer: David Froba Secretary: John Harris Membership: Revolving San Joaquin River Refuge Field Trips: Bill Amundsen 521-8256 (birdscouter@prodigy.net) Other Field Trips: David Froba 521-7265 (froba@comcast.net) Christmas Bird Counts Coordinator; Secretary, Stanislaus Birds Records Committee:
Harold Reeve 538-0885

521-7265 (froba@comcast.net) 848-1518 (johnh@mills.edu)

How to Join Audubon To become a member of the National Audubon Society, which entitles you to receive Valley Habitat and Audubon Magazine, send your check for $20.00 to: National Audubon Society Membership Data Center P.O. Box 422250 Palm Coast, FL 32142 Visit our web site: www.stanislausbirds.org

Caswell State Park, 9/14/13

photo by J.V. Clevenger

Valley Habitat 4

Yokuts Group of the Sierra Club

Saturday, Nov 2nd Dayhike 2B Annual Yokuts end-of-daylightsavings-time hike: Tenaya Lake to Polly Dome Lakes and beyond (postponed in fall 2012 due to weather). The hike will be loop of approximately 10 miles total, with about 2 miles of off-trail hiking. The off-trail section will be along Cathedral Creek and will take us back across Tioga Pass Rd to the trail paralleling the road west to Tenaya Lake. Elev gain = about 1,000 feet. For further information, including the meetup time and place, please contact Yokuts trip leader Randall Brown at 209 632-5994. Online Valley Habitat for Yokuts Yokuts Group of the Sierra Club members who want to receive the color version of the Valley Habitat online can sent an email to this address to opt-in: Listserv@lists.sierraclub.org Type SUBSCRIBE MOTHERLODE-YOKUTS-NEWS first name last name in the body of the mesage. Recycle
Recycle receptacles will be at the October 18 program tocapture your contributions of used household batteries, used CFL Lightbulbs, old eyeglasses, and old cellphones. Lets all do our bit to keep hazardous stuff out of the trash. Eyeglasses are turned in to The Lions Club for distribution to those who can use them. Used Cellphones are converted to Telephone Calling Cards for overseas military personnel. If you have too many magazines and books, you can bring those, too. They are distributed to local homebound Veterans.

Salmon Festival, Saturday October 26, 2013 This year's Stanislaus River Salmon Festival to be held on Saturday, October 26 from 10am-3pm at the Knights Ferry Recreation Area. There are lots of events taking place including live music, live river critters, fish print T- shirts and more. The event is free to attend and will emphasize exhibitors providng interactive, educational, kid-focused activities. Yokuts will have a booth there with activities for children and will need helpers. Milt will bring a sign up sheet to our management and club meetings. Solar Fair
Modestos Solar Fair, Saturday, Sept. 28, 9 am to 1 pm., Church of the Brethren on 2301 Woodland Ave. It is free and open to the public. Local solar companies, financial institutions with special loan programs for solar, MIDs Mike Zweifel and PG&Es Pete Shoemaker will be there to advise homeowers and small business owners on whether solar can work for them. Individual homowners will also be on hand to report their personal experiences with solar. If interested residents bring their last years electric bills, and data on their roof like shading and pitch, they can get a clear idea of the costs and benefits of tapping their rooftops solar potential. Modesto has over 29,000 residential rooftops that could accommodate Solar panels and the surrounding communities have thousands more! said Frank Ploof, one of the event organizers.

Sponsors: Solar Everywhere and MJCs Project Green www.mjc.edu/community/resources/ cep/projgreen/

Brief tours of the Churchs 200 panel solar array will be offered throughout the morning. It is expected to have generated about 100 Megawatt-hours of electricity by the end of its first year. For further information: www.solareverywhere.org Or contact: Frank Ploof, 556-2376; Richard Anderson 529-5182

Valley Habitat 5

Yokuts Group of the Sierra Club & Stanislaus Audubon Society

IN THE DANCE (Continued from page 3)
in Denver in April 2010, joining up with four other birders to tour with Ornifolks, led by the late Mike Flieg. During a road trip through Colorado, we saw seven species of grouse, including close-up looks of four leks. The grouse gather before sunrise, so we had to awake before 4:00 a.m. daily and pile into Michaels van. He would drive slowly in the dark near the mating arena, and we would park and watch as these birds performed these incredible displays all around us. For the rare and protected Gunnison Sage -Grouse, we had to sit in a freezing bunker and look through wooden slats at the lek. The rangers didnt permit us to exit the blind until every grouse had left. If you have neither the means nor inclination to go on a tour, you may scour Stanislaus County in spring in hopes of seeing Wild Turkeys in display. Youll have to travel around a while before you hear the gobbling of the male, and youll have to lie low to see any part of their display, but any special experience is worth the effort. The purposeful behaviors of birds are fascinating to watch. In a deeper sense, such behaviors comprise part of the moving pageantry on the earth. As Havelock Ellis has observed, Dancing is the loftiestthe most beautiful of the arts, because it is no mere translation or abstraction from life; it is life itself.

Mother-Caring for 7 Billion

The film "Mother-Caring for 7 Billion" will be shown at the Modesto Junior College Film and Lecture series on Thursday, October 10. Where: Forum Building Room 110 When: Thursday, Oct.10 from 7 pm to 9 pm The film will be followed by a panel discussion. The showing is free and open to the public.

MAPS (Modesto Area Partners in Science): free presentation by California's "fracking regulator," Dr. Mark Nechodom, on Friday, Sept. 27, at 7:30 in the MJC West Campus Mary Stuart Rogers Student Center. Entitled Hydraulic Fracturing in California, Dr. Nechodom (Director of Calif. Dept. of Conservation and husband of Calif. Secretary of State Debra Bowen) will talk about the drafting of fracking regulations and his priority to put protection of public health, safety and the environment first. Achieving energy independence, the impact on ground water quality and climate change both short term and long term are just some of the issues that need to be evaluated. For more information on Dr. Nechodom, please see: http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ EnvironmentalStewardship/Panel/ Mark_Nechodom.html

Coming conservation events:

9/27 -- CA Fracking "Czar" Mark Nechodom speaks at MJC West, 7:30 PM -- http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ EnvironmentalStewardship/Panel/Mark_Nechodom.html 10/10 -- CA Climate Change Adaptation Strategy meeting at UC Merced, 10 AM -- 3 PM 10/10 -- Population movie, Mother-Caring for 7 Billion and panel at MJC East, Forum 110, 7 PM 11/5 -- Election Day with many important local races 11/5 -- Smart Valley Places Conference in Visalia, CA 2/1/2014 -- "Water for Life" -- Planning & Conservation League's annual symposium at UC Davis

Valley Habitat 6

Yokuts Group of the Sierra Club

Sierra Club Membership Enrollment Form
Yes, I want to be a member of the Sierra Club! Yes, I want to give a gift membership! ______________________________________________________________________

Yokuts Sierra Club Joins Meetup

The Yokuts Sierra Club group, along with the Delta Sierra and Tuolumne groups have formed a StocktonModesto-Sonora Meetup group that includes Sierra Club outings and events. Its easy and free to join this Meetup, just go to the link below and sign up. Its not necessary to be a Sierra Club member to join. Once you sign up, you will automatically be sent announcements of new and upcoming Meetup events. Join the fun and get active in the Sierra Club. http://www.meetup.com/StocktonModesto-Sonora-Sierra-Club/

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Yokuts Group of the Sierra Club Management Committee

Chair Treasurer Secretary Programs servation Membership Hospitality Anita Young 529-2300 (ayyoungbooks2@gmail.com) Steve Tomlinson 544-1617 (steve.tomlinson97@gmail,com) Maryann Hight 417-9114 (mhight@csustan.edu) Linda Lagace 863-9137 (linda.lagace@att.net) ConBrad Barker 526-5281 (braddbarker@gmail.com) Anita Young 529-2300 (ayyoungbooks2@gmail.com) Candy Klaschus 632-5473 (cklaschus@gmail.com) Dorothy Griggs 549-9155 (dorothygriggs@att.net) Randall Brown 632-5994 (rbrown@csustan.edu) Nancy Jewett 664-9422 (njewett@sbcglobal.net) Kathy Weise 545-5948 (kweise@ssica.com) Milt Trieweiler 535-1274 (magictrain@aol.com) Leonard Choate 524-3659 Jason Tyree (jason.tyree@gmail.com)

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Check out our Website: http://motherlode.sierraclub.org/yokuts To send stories to the Habitat, e-mail: njewett@sbcglobal.net

Valley Habitat 7

Yokuts Group Mother Lode Chapter Sierra Club P.O. Box 855 Modesto, CA 95353

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Modesto, CA Permit No. 139

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YOKUTS ANNUAL GARAGE SALE

The Garage Sale will be held on October 12, 2013 at the Jackmans house - 704 Tokay, Modesto.
PLEASE CHECK ALL YOUR CLOSETS, ATTICS, AND GARAGES FOR ITEMS TO DONATE TO OUR GARAGE SALES THIS SEPTEMBER. YOUR GENEROSITY HELPS THE GROUP BY SUPPORTING OUR MAILING COSTS AND ABILITY TO SUPPORT THE CAUSES OF INTEREST TO OUR YOKUTS GROUP. If you have things to donate, please contact Jerry for times to drop off AT 577-5616. Early items accepted after 10/06/13. The Pricing Party will be held the Friday before, October 11. BE SURE TO COME BY ON OCTOBER 12 TO SEE WHAT TREASURES WE HAVE FOR SALE. WE ALWAYS NEED HELP..The PLEASE JOIN US IN MAKING THIS THE BEST SALE YET!

The Valley Habitat

http://motherlode.sierraclub.org/yokuts

October 2013
http://stanislausbirds.org