About Us

A Bird’s Eye View By Amanda Preece, MAS Environmental Advocate (c. Dec 2023 Annual Report) Dear friends, 2023 flew by, and in reflecting back, I see in my jam-packed calendar the multitude of ways our organization is celebrating and conserving birds in the region. We celebrate birds by leading recurring beginner friendly trips, plus classic birding field trips to exciting locations, striving for high counts, rare birds, and a welcoming community. Throughout 2023, we partnered with local organizations like the Big Sur Land Trust, Monterey Peninsula Regional Parks District, and the Bird School Project to celebrate birds through outreach, field trips, and events like California Wildlife Day and the Monterey Bay Festival of Birds. I ran a marathon of Earth Day events in April - three Saturdays in a row! My idea of celebrating is sharing the love, sparking the curiosity, encouraging the wonder. Setting up a spotting scope and having a kid lock eyes with a screeching juvenile Cooper’s Hawk is the best way to celebrate birds - get someone else hooked! To fulfill the second half of our mission, Monterey Audubon conserves birds through direct action. We monitor the seasonal nesting success of the Black Oystercatcher, and speak up on their behalf, using the information we’ve collected to steer policy and land management. We conduct bird banding at Fort Ord National Monument to help contribute to continent-spanning datasets related to songbird populations and gather baseline information on the health of the Toro Creek riparian corridor. We have been financially and logistically supporting the ongoing volunteer-driven restoration work in the Monterey Pine forest of George Washington Park in Pacific Grove, home to at least 124 bird species. Our Conservation Committee keeps an eye on local and county policy issues, submitting comment letters that encourage decision makers to make choices that are good for their human and non-human constituents. These choices often overlap. But the work is never over, and as our world gets hotter and weather gets more extreme, populations struggle to adapt to these rapid changes. It’s not easy to have hope when our brains program us to fear the worst, prepare for disaster. But I have hope. You all give me hope. I couldn’t do what I do, nor could Monterey Audubon have such a positive impact, without the many dedicated birders, naturalists, policy gurus, biologists and business owners who have monitored birds, sat on committees, donated funds, food, or equipment, volunteered at events, designed pamphlets, or organized people to better help us help birds. Thank you for the innumerable ways you are helping. With gratitude, Amanda