Madrone Audubon Society

MARCH 2008
Events and News
PEE WEE PROGRAM: Ragle Ranch Park, Nest Box Building and Bird Walk Saturday, March 22 9:30 to 11:30 AM Our morning will begin by building and installing some new nest boxes for cavity nesting songbirds at Ragle Ranch Park. We will learn about a few of the birds who will inhabit the boxes, such as bluebirds and swallows, and then take a short bird walk through the park. The park is located at 500 Ragle Road in Sebastopol. For reservations, please call Veronica Bowers at 829-2955. 2006 Bird Art Competition And the Winners Are… Thank you to all entrants in this year's PeeWee Bird Art Competition. All the pictures were wonderful, and it was very hard to choose the winners. The artwork is available for you to view on the PeeWee page of the Madrone Audubon website . Claire Shurvinton, Chairperson, Pee Wee Audubon Grand Prize Winner: Nicholas Campbell, Oak Grove School. Winners: Age 10 and up - Nicholas Campbell and Larissa Birthelmer, Oak Grove School. Age 9 - Rowan Todd, McNear Elementary, and Charlotte Molinari, Oak Grove School. Ages 6-8 - Esmeralda Lopez, Mcnear Elementary. Honorable mention: Age 10 and up - Zoe Alfaro, Pathways Charter School; Louise Bradley, Olivet School; Claudia Carmona, Oak Grove School; Saul Diaz, Roseland School; Isai Mata, Diaz Oak Grove School; Travis McClintock, Oak Grove School; Maclovio Millan, Oak Grove School; and Patryce Perry-Zamora, Roseland Accelerated Middle School. Age 9 - Joey Hedlund, Angelica Lezama-Garcia, Mariana Lopez, Hayley Murphy, Makenna Nordby, all from Oak Grove School. Ages 6-8 - Lauren Cramer, Proctor Terrace Elementary, and Jason Gregory Vantighem.

See the Winners of the 2005 Pee Wee Bird Art Contest See the Winners of the 2004 Pee Wee Bird Art Contest See the Winners of the 2003 Pee Wee Audubon Bird Art Contest

A PEE WEE SPECIAL REPORT "Batty" at the Topolos 2005 By Alexandra and Melissa Carlson Cadettes, Girl Scout Troop 413 Saturday, April 23, was perfect for bat viewing (it did not rain!). The location at the Topolos Restaurant and surrounding grounds was spectacular, and we had the best group of folks-58 kids and adults, all very enthusiastic about seeing bats at the Topolos! The event began out in the green and white grapevine and jasmine covered courtyard as we introduced the evening by describing how Jerry Topolos and his family purchased the property over 20 years ago and immediately took steps to protect the small family of Mexican Free-tail bats that roosted there in the wood slats of the main house. These bat roosts have grown significantly over the years, now representing somewhere between 2,000 to 3,000 bats including the Mexican Free Tail, the California Myotis, the Pallet, and the Brown Bat. After an hour of fun crafts and stories in the restaurant, Patricia Winters, Bat Expert from the Bat Conservation Fund, gave a fantastic presentation including a very informative slide show. Her presentation of "Live Bats" was really just the thing to bond us all with these small, tiny, endearing bats. Then it was time to head out to the garden courtyard just next to the main house to wait for the bats. It was just getting dark when Patricia Winters held up her bat echo-locator, indicating that if we were quiet and still they might come. And she was right… The first of the Mexican Free Tails came out flying right through the courtyard towards the vineyard. More bats followed and we eventually all migrated to the parking lot, joining Claire Shurvinton where she pointed out dozens of bats at a time flying out from the side of the old house. It really was the grand finale of the evening. Soon it was dark and the guests drove off into the night, some of the youngest already heavy-eyed and dreaming about bats. Although the Topolos family has just recently sold the property we have continued hope for many evenings to come with the Topolos Bats. Please write your good wishes and support for continued protection of the bats and their bat roosts to: New Owners, Topolos Restaurant, 5700 Gravenstein Highway, Forestville, 95436, 887-1562 OR 887-1575. We want to thank Diane Hichwa so much for connecting us to this event as part of our Cadette Girl Scout Silver Award Project and also thank the others who helped make it a great success: Claire Shurvinton, Jerry and Christine Topolos, Barbara Carlson, Phyllis Schmidt, Beth MacDonald and Joyce Carlson.

These kids went batty over Pee Wee's 2004 Bat Program.

Scenes from "Owls of Sonoma County" at the bird Rescue Center. Sat., January 25, 2003. Featuring "Wowl the great-horned Owl, "Blinken the Screech Owl & Quinn the Pygmy Owl.

Pee Wee Audubon went to Fairfield Osborn preserve on Saturday, October 26th, 2002 a glorious fall day.

Trip leader Becky Olsen can be seen here showing participants a cricket.
	Explaining how to turn rocks over safely to look for scorpions

Teaching us how animals use camouflage to avoid being seen. Despite looking very carefully for the various objects she had hidden along the trail, none of us, adults, included, found all 16 objects.

In May, 3003, Wade Belew took Pee Wee Audubon to Laguna Farms to view eggs and nestlings. We learned which kinds of birds make which types of nests and watched moms and dads flying in to feed newborns.

In June, 2003, Pee Wee Audubon explores the mudflats at Bodega harbor with retired SRJC Biology professor Peter Leveque

Among the anemones, sea stars, worms and crabs, the highlights of the day were several moon snails, whose shells can grow up to 13cm across.
	The moon snail takes seawater into its foot (the muscular part it moves with) until the foot is several times bigger than the shell. The group greatly enjoyed watching the moon snails perform. Photos by: Phyllis Schmidt

Photos from the Pee Wee Owl Program - November, 2006

Visit the U.S. EPA kid's website
and learn about environmental protection.

PEE WEE REPORT
(From the November 30th bird box building and tour of
the biology labs at Santa Rosa Junior College.)

Kayla - I enjoyed looking at the dissected animals. I want to do that sometime.

Obi - I liked making the birdhouses and doing the screws. The lizards were funny when they stepped on each other.

Xanthia - I liked doing the birdhouses and looking at the lizards.

Matthew - I liked everything.

We Hope to See YOU at Our Next Program.

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