In town for the weekend and learned of their bird walks two days before and it was totally booked. Emailed for backup options and Ellen actually emailed and called (!) for follow up. We got a spot and it was the highlight of the weekend.
Mayor Randy led an excellent excursion to Vons marsh. We tailed Matthew closely, he knew everything. What a great guy and local resource. We are as novice as you can get, but if you're a curious person and love to hear passionate people sharing their knowledge he is the man.
Wonderful early morning walk and we went back to the shop where we had coffee and donuts waiting! During which there was a sobering 5* presentation from Dr Mark about the current state of the bird population. One thing we can do is buy bird friendly coffee ... done! They also had raffles and the store was super nice. We got some coffee and stickers with our limited travel budget because it was such a tremendous memory and as Randy said, we wanted to vote with our dollars.
Honestly cannot say enough about the hospitality and thoughtfulness of the entire program. We went from not knowing if it's Ravens or Crows at our campsite (elevation!) to researching where we can get involved locally - and coming back next year for more of the coffee and to see our friends. Thanks Ellen, Matthew, Mark, Beth and Randy. What a gem.
