San Joaquin Audubon Society

10/26/2026

🦉 Just a Few Spots Left on These Field Trips! 🦉

Ready for some great birding? A few of our field trips are almost full, and this is your chance to snag one of the remaining spots! Don’t miss out on these special outings during the 30th Annual Central Valley Birding Symposium.

🔭 Field trips with just a few spots left:

📍 Thursday: Fundraising Field Trip with Jon Dunn - Colusa National Wildlife Refuge (3)
📍 Friday: Eastern Stanislaus County (1!), San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge (2), Salt Spring Valley & Vicinity (3), Birding the UOP Campus and the John Muir Experience (4)
📍 Saturday: Cosumnes River Preserve (3), Lodi Lake Wilderness Area (5)
📍 Sunday: Lodi Lake Wilderness Area (1!)

Already have your eye on a sold-out trip? You can still join the waitlist while registering for other available trips, even if they take place on the same day.

📅 November 19–22, 2026 | Stockton, California

👉 Register today: https://cvbs.regfox.com/26 -trips

We hope to see you out in the field! 🐦

10/25/2026

10/25/2026

Great video comparing the very different feeding styles of our two pelican species.

Amazingly, the two pelican species in North America live totally di...

10/22/2026

Beginner Birding in Ripon this Saturday. Details under events.

10/08/2026

https://ebird.org/news/october-big-day-2026

Mark your calendars for October Big Day—10 Oct 2026! Together, we can make this the first October Big Day with more than a million people united to celebrate birds.

10/03/2026

Urgent Request for Support for Designation of the new Tesla State Park as a Natural Reserve!

For the past 20 years, the leadership of the San Joaquin Audubon Society Chapter has been supportive of the establishment of the Tesla State Park as a Natural Reserve. We are in danger of losing our fight for preservation of this as a Natural Reserve. State Parks plans to issue a draft EIR for the use of Tesla Park for uses other than as a Natural Reserve by the end of this year. The Natural Reserve designation would limit public use of the 3100-acre park area to low impact use such as hiking, bird and wildlife viewing, and educational and cultural programs. We believe all high impact activities such as camping and building infrastructure should be placed on the adjacent 300 acres of State Parks lands. We need every member, family member and friends to respond to our area elected officials to stop State Parks from proceeding against the overwhelming public support for Tesla to be a Natural Reserve.

Please send simple email statements to State Senator McNerney and to Legislative Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom stating simply that Tesla Park should be a Natural Reserve.

The email addresses for the two are:
[email protected]
[email protected]

Thank you for supporting the conservation efforts of our Audubon Chapter.

Please blind copy me on your emails so we can have a record of our response.
David Fries, Conservation Chair, San Joaquin Audubon
[email protected]

Extensive information on the project can be found at

Friends of Tesla Park is an alliance of individuals and organizations dedicated to protecting the unique and culturally significant landscape of Tesla Park. Once slated for development into an off-highway vehicle park, the goal is to establish it as a low-impact historic and natural resource reserve...

08/21/2026

2026-2027 Request for Proposals to promote Environmental Education and Citizen Science

To preserve birds and ecosystems for future generations in San Joaquin County, we must be willing to work toward a better future. San Joaquin Audubon Society (SJAS) provides grant funds for organizations and schools working to conserve our local environment. We encourage groups to apply that are interested in birding, conservation, habitat restoration, and environmental literacy. Grants are funded for projects located within San Joaquin County.

Grant Submission Period – August 15, 2026 – October 15, 2026

Complete the grant application and email it to, Donna Marciano ([email protected]), San Joaquin Audubon Society.

Click on the link to view/download the Grants Submission Form for 2026-2027

To preserve birds and ecosystems for future generations in San Joaquin County, we must be willing to work toward a better future. San Joaquin Audubon Society (SJAS) provides grant funds for organizations and schools working to conserve our local environment. We encourage groups to apply that are int...

08/01/2026

Fifteen people enjoyed the San Joaquin Audubon Society Full Moon Hike at Carnegie SVRA. The excellent Park Naturalist, Jen Shaw, led us on the approximate 2-mile hike along a loop trail that covered San Joaquin and Alameda Counties where we saw limited birds but good looks at several American kestrel, Barn owls and a Lesser nighthawk. The highlight of the hike seemed to be the several "glowing" scorpions we saw with the blacklight we brought for the occasion. Scorpions fluoresce when a blacklight beam finds them so they were amazing looking. It was a beautiful night with perfect weather and the full moon arrived just as we completed the hike. As always, it was a fantastic, magical night.

Text and photos by Kasey Foley.

06/24/2026

New Staten Island viewing platform planned.

A global environmental nonprofit with property in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta plans to improve the visitor experience for people viewing Sandhill cranes and other migratory birds.

06/12/2026

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/power-struggles-are-playing-out-at-your-feeder-heres-what-to-look-for/

Originally published March 2015; updated February 2025. When birds visit your feeder, they're doing a lot more than just feeding. They're coming and going, watching for openings or threats, and interacting with each other in a well-established social pecking order. At first it looks like ju