Young Ancient Murrelets

RROS’s Youth Adventure

It all started when…

A few years ago, I received a request from an adult student at Petaluma Adult School to allow her 14-year-old daughter to join the class. This is how I met mother and daughter Beverly and Danielle Dube. All the other class members and I fell in love with 14-year-old Danielle immediately. Her love of birds and her expressive drawings of birds impressed us all.

This inspired me to start a birding club for youth. So, I went on a search for young people with birding interests. It didn’t take me long to find Mario Balitbit, birding with his dad and Rob O’Donnell at Bodega Bay. I ran the idea by him, and I couldn’t get a more enthusiastic response. Bill Doyle recommended Luke Campbell, who regularly came to RROS field trips, notebook in hand, writing down all observations with his grandfather, Glenn.

So, on September, 2014, we had our first youth group birding field trip at the Laguna de Santa Rosa Trail. I was a member of the Point Blue Bird-a-thon Committee at the time. I decided that Point Blue needed more youth teams and I invited Mike Parmeter to co-lead this youth team. I wanted to connect the birding generations. I also drafted Nicole Bardon to help out as she does a fantastic job through the environmental education program at Pepperwood Preserve.

We did our first Bird-a-thon as the Sonoma County Youth Team on October 25, 2014. We had 3 youths – Mario, Luke and Danielle and several adults. We had a blast that day. We saw 121 species, and raised about $500 for Point Blue Conservation Science. We were all beaming at the end of the day. One of the highlights of the day was finding Gabriel Tarantino on Bodega Head, birding with his family friend Scott Sorby. The instant we met, I wanted to just throw Gabe in the car and have him join us the rest of the day. I got his contact information instead.

On our next field trip, we added Will Anderson (recommended by Sonoma County naturalist Dave Barry) to the group. We went to Bodega Bay. While we were on Bodega Head, we all observed Ancient Murrelets. It was a life bird for all of the youth members. As we were having lunch that day, we brainstormed different names to call ourselves. Names like "Sonoma County Youth Birders" and "Passerine Penetrators" were tossed around. Then, we all settled on "Young Ancient Murrelets". It was perfect. And "YAMS" was born.

Not long after, we added Lucas Stephenson. I met Mark (Lucas’ dad) and Lucas at Ellis Creek one day while I was teaching an adult birding class. Lucas was timid at first, but curiosity overpowered his shyness and he was soon asking dozens of questions about birds, and he just had to be invited into the group.

Since then, we have added Morganna, Beatrice, Aiden, Junco, and our newest members Nolan and Clayton.

Of course, the downside of forming a youth group is that youth don’t stay "youth" forever. It’s hard to let go of YAMS members as they grow out of our group. But I am so proud of each one of them. Stay tuned in the future to meet our YAMS individually.

Lisa Hug
YAMS Coordinator

Join YAMS by emailing Liz Lewis at elewis227@gmail.com or Lisa Hug at lisahug@sonic.net. Open to 8-18 year olds.

What Have the YAMS Been up to?

YAMs 2025 Area 10 CBC

In the misty, chilling air of early Sunday morning, December 14, the YAMs group led by Liz and Lisa met at the gates of the Laguna Treatment Center. Shivering from excitement (or cold), Elliott, Milly, Townes, Aubrey, Nolan, and Clayton piled into two cars. We started off the morning by slowly driving around the ponds. Although foggy, the ponds were bustling with waterfowl and shorebird activity. We quickly picked up a few dozen species, points of interest being: Common Merganser, Spotted Sandpiper, Ruddy Duck, Canvasback, and Eared Grebe. Over on the South side of the treatment plant, we added Lincoln’s Sparrow and a Merlin to our already impressive checklist of 75 species. We ate a quick lunch and then split up, to cover more territory. Elliott, Townes, and Aubrey, headed by Liz, took the west side of our territory, while Milly, Thomas, Nolan, and Clayton took the east with Lisa. In Liz’s car, we began by skirting the lane behind the treatment center, where we observed a White-throated Sparrow amidst a flock of Golden- and White-crowned. Our next stop was to check out the old Cheese Factory driveway, in hopes of snipe or curious blackbirds; however, two ranch dogs had a very different motive and lunged bravely towards the car, barking shrilly and jumping alongside. We then headed over to Twig Ave in hopes of better prospects. Here, we were graced by Acorn Woodpeckers, a Red-breasted Sapsucker, and Anna’s Hummingbird: all new birds for the day. A few roads later, we reached Daywalt Road; highlights included a Cooper’s Hawk and American Kestrel. Liz’s friends kindly welcomed us into their house with hot cocoa, which was a warm reprieve from the cold day outside. Over on Stony Point Road, we encountered a dapper flock of twenty or so Lark Sparrows, a fantastic find for the day! Around the same farmyard, thousands of Red-winged Blackbirds and Brewer’s Blackbirds alighted, pecked at the grain in the fields, and flew up again, but amidst the constant shifting we picked up several dozen Brown-headed Cowbirds and a few Tricolored Blackbirds as well. In the meantime, Lisa’s car group was having quite the adventure. Soon after we split up, they came across a flock of 91 Wild Turkeys! Later, they had a Peregrine Falcon flyover on Sunland Ave, a Wilson’s Snipe at Graton Casino, and to top it off, two White-throated Swifts, a Short-eared Owl, and an Orange-crowned Warbler by Hinebaugh Creek. We reconvened at three at the Botanica Nursery on Azalea Lane. As many members commented, passing over the wooden bridge was like going through a portal; suddenly we were in a swampy habitat of cedar knobs and hanging mosses. While there, we heard and caught glimpses of squeaky Brown Creepers and added Steller’s Jay to the list. Our last stop was Woodworth Outlook, and then we piled back into the cars and headed to Mary’s Pizza. After a long but rewarding day, our tally ended up being 99 species, an impressive count!

-Aubrey Parnay, YAMs Field Columnist

Upcoming YAMs Events

2/7 Tolay Regional Park 1:30pm-5:30 pm

The Tolay Valley is a good spot for Short-eared Owls, Northern Harrier, White-tailed Kites and other raptors. We will meet at the Caltrans Lakeville Park and Ride in Petaluma at 1:30pm. This is a half-day afternoon trip.  Bring layered clothing, lunch, snacks, water and of course binoculars and field guide.

2/21 Owling Drive (time and location TBD)

We will start at sunset and drive Sonoma County roads listening for owls.

3/28 Ellis Creek Treatment Ponds and Wetlands

We will meet in the Ellis Creek Parking Lot at 8:30am for an easy walk around the ponds.  If there is time and interest, we may also visit Shollenberger Park.  Half-day field trip ending at 12:30pm.  Be sure to bring lunch, water and snacks.          

 5/2 Geysers Road  7am-2:30pm (Meeting Location TBD)

Geysers Road runs along the little Sulphur Creek and up into the Mayacamas mountains where we have opportunities to see or hear Mountain Quail, White-throated Swift, Blue gray Gnatcatcher, and California Thrasher and much more. This is a full-day trip. Bring layered clothing, lunch, snacks, water and of course binoculars and field guide. 

 6/1 Pine Mountain Rd, Fairfax 7am – 2:30 pm (meet at Caltrans Lakeville Park and Ride at 7am)

We will hike up Pine Mountain Rd looking for Bell’s Sparrow, White-throated Swift, Western Wood Pewee, Cliff Swallow, and Chipping Sparrow

This is a full-day trip. Bring layered clothing, lunch, snacks, water and of course binoculars and field guide