Date: 4/6/26 5:44 pm From: Chuck & Lillian via groups.io <misclists...> Subject: [LACoBirds] SMBAS program Tues. 4/7/26, 7:30 pm:
Birders:
Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society invites you to
our monthly program Tuesday evening.
Building California's First Statewide Breeding
Bird Atlas, with Van Pierszalowski.
Zoom Evening Meeting, Tuesday, 7 April, 7:30 p.m.
Zoom waiting room opens 7:15 p.m.
From the ocean to the deserts to the highest
mountains, California is home to tens of millions
of birds. But there’s no one definitive resource
laying out exactly where the more than 700 bird
species that live and breed in California can be
found. The California Bird Atlas project aims to
change that, by doing the first comprehensive,
detailed bird survey of the entire state all 58
counties, all 163,000 square miles. By the end of
February over 100 breeding species had been
confirmed, and by mid-March over 50,000 trip
lists had been recorded by birders statewide. The
leader of the project, Van Pierszalowski, tells
us what’s involved in doing one of the most
ambitious bird science projects ever, and how
everyday birders can contribute to the effort.
Van Pierszalowski is the Executive Director of
the California Bird Atlas. Van’s childhood was
split between Cambria, CA, and Kodiak Island, AK,
where he worked on his father’s commercial salmon
fishing boat for eight years. After earning a
degree in Anthropology at UC Berkeley, he
embarked on a successful career as a songwriter
and musician, appearing on TV shows like Late
Night with Conan O’Brien and CBS News Sunday
Morning. Now living in LA, he’s fallen in love
with the area’s varied habitats and stunning
vagrant birds, and is continually inspired by its
diverse birding community. In 2023, Van completed
a California Big Year, recording 503 species,
becoming only the second birder to surpass 500 in
a single year in the state. He is an eBird
Regional Reviewer for Los Angeles County, and
leads trips for several local organizations,
including Los Angeles Birders and the Pasadena Audubon Society.
