San Diego Audubon Speakers Series

San Diego Audubon offers speakers to groups of 20 adults or more. All equipment needed to facilitate that appearance will be provided by SDAS. These presentations are designed for civic and community service groups, garden clubs, and other volunteer organizations and seek to apprise the public about the work of SDAS, regional and world conservation issues, and on-going changes and challenges to local wildlife and habitats. These 30 to 60 minute presentations are ideal for weekly luncheon meetings or monthly evening meetings. They include images, sounds, engaging issues, and audience interaction and participation. There is no fee for our presentation, although donations are always appreciated.

If your organization is interested in scheduling a speaker, please contact our office at (858) 273-7800.

Masters of the Wind: San Diego Seabirds
The Amazing and Curious World of Our Far Ocean Flyers

Description

Just over the western horizon is an avian world that few San Diegans ever see: the realm of pelagic birds. Designed for a life in the far ocean, these flyers do not touch land for years, travel immense distances, and even circumnavigate the globe. Wave-skimming shearwaters, abyss-diving auklets, and storm-tossed albatrosses who glide for days without a single wing beat, are just a few of the radically different-looking bird families that thrive in that far-flung Spartan world. Switching hemispheres in search of the endless summer, diving hundreds of feet below the surface, out-swimming their fish prey, and walking on water are but a few of their adaptive advantages. Southern California waters are host to tens of millions of these birds annually, more than any other region in the Pacific Ocean north of the Equator. Why so many? Why here? How do pelagic birds go years without fresh water? And most importantly, what are their conservation prospects in the 21 st century as global warming changes the very ocean they depend on?

Speaker

Mike Matherly

Drawing the Line: Conservation and Wildlife in San Diego Saving Critical Habitats in America's Most Endangered County
Description	A sobering look at the effects of urban development on one of the world's most diverse ecosystems and how it still might be saved. Includes an explanation of the most pressing conservation issues confronting Southern California, their causes, impacts, and remedies as they affect the quality of life in San Diego. Of the world's 25 most endangered biodiversity zones, such as the Galapagos Islands and Amazon rainforest, only one is in North America: yes, our state and particularly its southernmost region. San Diego County alone has the dubious distinction of having more endangered species than any other county in the United States. How did it all come to this? A tripling of population in the last 40 years and massive suburbanization has filled in wetlands and scraped away the original vegetation and animals that once lived along our coast--more than half of California 's people now live along its southwestern ocean edge on just 9% of the state's land. Relentless urban development, and its pressure on natural resources, is now impacting distant ecosystems such as the Salton Sea, an impending disaster itself with continental consequences. Threats to remaining open space in urban canyons and planning policy decisions that imperil wildlife and birds in particular, such as urban sprawl, poorly thought out wildlife prevention strategies, and thoughtless placement of transmission lines and wind turbines, will also be reviewed. How can we better live in harmony with the remaining wild places and wildlife of our region? What are the planning, conservation, and restoration opportunities that remain? How might community service groups and the citizens of tomorrow, our children, become more involved in changing the fortunes of our local natural world?
Speaker	Jim Peugh

Healthy Backyard Habitat: The Native Plant Garden Cultivating a Natural World for Birds and Butterflies
Description	Tired of that sterile, motel landscape around your home? Bring life and song to your yard and garden by using native plants and a wildlife friendly design. This presentation demonstrates how you can make your California garden become a slice of our natural landscape that requires minimal maintenance, conserves water and attracts wildlife. The key lies in having the right mix of native plants coupled with the three things all birds need: food, water and shelter. By using native plants that are adapted to our climate you will have fewer insect and disease problems than with ornamentals and rarely will soil supplements be needed. Best of all, birds and butterflies are naturally drawn to these plants. This PowerPoint program, along with several informational handouts, will get you started on planning your own native plant garden - one that benefits both people and wildlife.
Speaker	Mel Hinton

Nature's Ambassadors: The Birds of Your Garden A Who's Who of Avian Angels and Devils
Description	This fast-paced and highly interactive program illustrates the most common birds in your garden, and how to keep them there to add color, song, and animation to your flowered slice of heaven. Because each community has its own ecological setting and peculiar mix of birds--think Alpine as opposed to Coronado, the program is tailored for the specific birds of your location. The audience is divided into competing groups who then try to guess the identity of more than two dozen birds, aided by images, avian calls, and a check-off sheet of bird names. See's Suckers are showered on the winning groups, which all will ultimately be. Some of the best bird photography in Southern California is the highlight of the show, along with natural history explanations of why each bird is special and why it was drawn to your home. Who is the most faithful bird that will never leave your garden? Who's the most fearless? Which relentless hunter uses your greenery to maximize stealth and chances for an easy meal? How do you attract the angels (phoebes and hummingbirds) and discourage the devils (starlings and crows)? It is an informative and entertaining glimpse at a world we often can't see because of the trees (and flowers and shrubs and ……).
Speaker	Mike Matherly

Turning Up the Heat: Global Climate Change and San Diego Effects, Remediation, and Changing Habitats
Description	This illustrates the possible effects of global climate change for the San Diego region, and the likely implications for our county's natural environment and regional economy. Significant changes will be caused by the gradual increase in ocean levels, such as the inundation of low-lying coastal portions, accelerated loss of beach sand, and the undercutting of bluffs and bluff-top structures. Rising sea level will also drown portions of local estuaries, thereby adversely affecting species that utilize coastal salt marshes, such as the Clapper Rail. Because most models of climate change suggest a drier Southwest, concerns for a reliable water supply will become paramount. San Diego is at the end of the water delivery pipeline from our principal sources in the Colorado River basin and northern California . Competition for dwindling supplies between urban and rural users and alternative sources of water re-use, conservation, and desalinization will be discussed. Finally, increasing warmth and aridity will affect the plant life and wildlife in all regional ecosystems, and wildfire potential will increase. In addition to loss of salt marshes, we may also lose our mountain conifer forests, already stressed by drought, bark beetles, and fire. Importantly for those creatures that feed in those plant communities, bird migration patterns and wintering locations will be affected, perhaps adversely, endangering the food supply for breeding birds.
Speaker	Dr. Phillip Pryde

Alternative Energy and the Environment: Choices and Crunch-time Advantages and Drawbacks to Renewable Sources
Description	A summary of the mechanics, advantages, and problems of alternative energy sources is presented and illustrated in layperson terms. Solar energy is emphasized, for both heating and electrical applications, such as passive heating, photovoltaic, and heat-cycle systems. One of the fastest growing forms of renewable energy, wind farms, will be reviewed, including its effects on bird and bat mortality. The positives and negatives of geothermal energy development in northern California and in Imperial County are analyzed. While hydroelectricity is controversial because of its adverse effects on rivers and fisheries, there are other types of hydro development that are less damaging to the environment. Finally, the oceans hold several potential methodologies for producing electrical energy, such as tidal power, wave energy, and thermal gradients; each is briefly described, and the reasons why wave energy might be the most promising are discussed. Current interest and development of non-conventional possibilities such as biofuels, oil shale, and nuclear fusion will receive attention.
Speaker	Dr. Phillip Pryde

San Diego 's Future Water Supply Choices and Trade-offs
Description	When Mark Twain famously said “Whiskey’s for drinking, water’s for fighting”, he was being both humorous and prophetic. The American Southwest is scenic and appealing, but also mostly arid. Its inhabitants have always lived on the brink of water shortages. A few thousand Anasazi probably learned this the hard way. Many millions of contemporary Californians most likely are going to, also. Why do water officials predict we will continually need water rationing? Doesn’t San Diego have its own source? Will we have enough water in the future? How big a factor will climate change be? What possible new sources of water are available? What are the downsides to developing those new sources? What can we as individuals do? In this illustrated presentation, you will get a wealth of information about what’s happening in Southern California with this most essential of all our natural resources. You will see where our water comes from, what has changed in recent years, the present realities that the region faces, and the possible future sources for our domestic and agricultural water supplies.
Speaker	Dr. Phillip Pryde

Rainforests on the Brink: Saving the Selva Last and Best Chance to Avert Tropical Armageddon
Description	One of the seminal events in the lives of our children will be the destruction of the last remnants of the world's rainforests, along with the effects of that disaster as they reach far beyond the tropics and into their very homes. Does it have to happen? Half of all these forests have been cleared since World War II; half of the remainder will disappear in another 12 years. Covering 14% of the world's land area in 1940, the selva (Spanish for “tropical forest”) occupies a mere 6% today, yet still contains 50% of all plant, animal, and insect species on earth. Its diversity of life is mind-boggling (Panama, for example, has more tree species than all of North America) and its influence reaches from the Arctic, to your local pharmacy, to the paper your printer will copy this on. Join us for an assessment of the fortunes of the world's most vital region, including the role of rainforest meteorology and ecology in global climate and international economics. An accounting of the causes and consequences of deforestation and a review of the best strategies to save what's left, promises to enliven the proceedings. Images and sounds of landscapes and animals, from boas, bell birds, and bullet ants, to ocellated turkeys, piranha, and howler monkeys, will remind us of what we stand to lose without concerted and immediate action.
Speaker	Mike Matherly