The Valley Habitat

July/August2019

WANTED:

The Energy of Youth

By Kent Mitchell, Political

Chair

Recently a Modes-

to High freshman, Rana

Banankah, wrote an arti-

cle in the Modesto Bee on

Climate Change

(“Modesto’s rising genera-

tion pushes for climate

change solutions” Page

9A, May 17). It is wonder-

ful to see the energy and

talent of youth directed

toward such a worthy en-

deavor. In her piece, Ra-

na asks of the older gen-

erations, "What have you

done with our planet?”

and “Politicians, why isn’t

this problem solved al-

ready?”

In his book, “The

Uninhabitable Earth”, au-

thor David Wallace-Wells

writes that the vast majori-

ty of damage done to our

planet resulting in climate

change has been done

since the 1980s when we

already knew about the

problem.

(continued on page 6)

A joint publication of the Stanislaus Audubon Society and the Yokuts Group of the

Sierra Club

Recent Sightings 2

Field Trips 4

Natural Garden 5

Keep Reading 6

Inside this issue:

Sierra Club Monthly Programs will resume again in September

Check back with us in the next newsletter.

Electric Vehicle Love!

By Sandra Wilson

My husband, Jerry, has a new love in his

life, a 2018 Chevrolet Bolt. Fun to drive,

low maintenance, and money sav-

ing. The car is peppy and the fast accel-

eration makes merging onto freeways a

breeze. Jerry likes to surprise his passen-

gers by flooring the Bolt in sport mode. It is not as fast as a Tesla but accelerates

to 60MPH in 6.8 seconds. My Camry is no match.

When we picked up the car at the dealership, they said, “We will see

you at 150,000 miles for service”. Why? There is less wear and tear on an electric

motor with 20 moving parts compared to a gasoline car with 2000. There is no

oil, gas, spark plugs, valves, mufflers, smog checks, fancy transmission, etc.

Refueling is easy. Park, plug it in and forget it. Initially, we charged on a

standard 110V outlet, up to 12 hours or overnight charging. Later we installed a

240V charger near the garage door to charge faster (4-5 hours) and use less

electricity. It is near the door so we can charge inside the garage or on the

driveway. Typically, it charges faster because the battery is not fully run down.

We haven’t used a public charging station yet but we will get around to it.

Phone apps can direct you the location of charging stations.

The EPA estimates a gasoline car owner will spend $4250 more on gas

than an EV driver on electricity over a 5 year period. That estimate doesn’t in-

clude the California gas tax. You can cut the cost further if you get solar panels.

When you purchase an EV, there are also some incentives: a Federal Tax Credit

($2500-$7500), a California EV rebate (up to $7000) and a San Joaquin Valley Air

Pollution Credit (up to $3000). Research the incentives at https://

www.energy.gov/eere/electricvehicles/electric-vehicles-tax-credits-and-other-

incentives.

The new Chevy Bolt, Kia Kona, Tesla Model 3, and a number of other

cars all exceed 240 miles per charge which eliminates range anxiety., and gen-

erate electricity when driving downhill . If you are concerned about a long dis-

tance trip and don’t want to deal with charging stations, rent a car with all your

savings from buying electric.

Zero emissions, zero fossil fuels, saving money, never going to a gas sta-

tion, and having fun feels good. There are 40 models of electric cars on the

market including an SUV from KIA, the new AUDI, and an electric Pickup coming

soon.

Trade in your gas pedal for an electric accelerator and feel the love!

If you’ve read my col-

umns regularly, you may have

noticed that I have an avid

interest in American pioneer

naturalists. I have written be-

fore about such 19th-century

figures as Andrew Jackson

Grayson, William Gambel, and

Louis Agassiz Fuertes. Their

physical courage, dogged de-

termination, and boundless

curiosity are fascinating to me.

Over the course of reading

about that era, I’ve inevitably

come across accounts of the

most famous overland journey

of pioneers in American histo-

ry—namely, the Corps of Dis-

covery Expedition of 1804-06,

better known as the Lewis and

Clark Expedition.

Soon after the Louisiana

Purchase of 1803, President

Thomas Jefferson commis-

sioned Meriwether Lewis and

William Clark to accomplish

four main objectives. The chief

among them, he wrote, was to

establish a trade route from

the settled United States to the

vast unknown regions to the

West: “The object of your mis-

sion is to explore the Missouri

river, & such principal streams

of it, as, by it’s course & com-

munication with the waters of

the Pacific Ocean, may offer

the most direct & practicable

water communication across

this continent, for the purposes

of commerce..."

Of second emphasis,

Jefferson charged them with

discovering “the names of

[native] nations & their num-

bers.” He expected Lewis and

Clark to chronicle what they

could of the languages, meth-

ods of food gathering and of

war, and the domestic lives of

those tribes. Thirdly, Jefferson

expected his explorers to be

meteorologists and surveyors,

to chart the climates and ter-

rain that future settlers would

encounter when heading into

that wilderness.

The fourth and lesser

known objective, however, is

the one that I intend to explore

here. Jefferson charged them

with observing “the animals of

the country generally, & espe-

cially those not known in the

U.S….” I decided to find out

what kinds of birds Lewis dis-

covered and described for

Western science. That search

led me to the tragic dead-

ends that Meriwether Lewis

and his work encountered. The

movers of this tragedy are the

usual ones—fate, the vagaries

of chance, the implacable

grindstone of time—all of which

conspired to render Meriweth-

er Lewis virtually forgotten for

his seminal contributions to field

ornithology.

Lewis was not, of course,

the first man to “discover”

these birds. The first peoples,

who migrated 24,000-14,000

years ago from Asia to the Ameri-

cas, truly discovered these bird

populations and species. Native

Americans had an immersive,

holistic relationship with wild

birds, for their value as sources of

food and decorative feathers.

There was an aesthetic dimen-

sion to birds, too, that manifested

itself in myth and folklore. The na-

tive tribes were aware of the life

histories of birds, but they did not

undertake a written record of

such matters. Mainly, birds were

there to be eaten, not studied.

In this sense, Meriwether

Lewis was a more unique pio-

neer. Along with William Clark, he

practiced the skills of a naturalist

in the wild, using European scien-

tific methods of investigation. He

and his men collected many bird

species, from large game birds to

songbirds, and saved their skins

as specimens. He’d note the

dates and locations of where he

found the birds. He took field

measurements and wrote physi-

cal descriptions of their plum-

ages, calls, nests and eggs. Less

frequently, he’d record their diets

and behavior. He even drew a

few sketches of birds directly into

his journals. All of this material

was supposed to return from the

expedition, to be pored over by

trained naturalists back East.

Lewis had not been aca-

demically educated as a

“natural philosopher,” but then

again neither were many other

men of that era, most of whom

practiced this burgeoning sci-

ence as an avocation. Meri-

wether’s mother Lucy was an

herbalist,, and her son learned

(continued on next page)

MERIWETHER LEWIS, THE FORGOTTEN ORNITHOLOGIST by Salvatore Salerno

PAGE 2 THE VALLEY HABITAT

LEWIS'S TANAGER? © Tom Grey

Stanislaus Audubon Society Recent Sightings of Rare or Uncommon Birds

PAGE 3 THE VALLEY HABITAT

botany at her side. When

Lewis took over the Virginia

family estate of Locust Hill, he

undertook studies on his own

of the flora and fauna there.

After Jefferson hired Lewis as

his secretary and assistant,

the president introduced the

youth to the Linnaean system

of classification and nomen-

clature.

Once Lewis agreed

to lead the Corps of Discov-

ery, Jefferson sent him to the

American Philosophical Soci-

ety in Philadelphia, where he

studied natural history, bota-

ny, astronomy, and geology.

Meriwether Lewis may not

have been an expert in

those sciences, but he was

better trained in them than

were most other army cap-

tains.

Meriwether Lewis, Wil-

liam Clark, and their hand-

picked men left Camp Du-

Bois on May 14, 1804 to fulfill

the multiple obligations of

Jefferson’s commission. Nu-

merous books, besides Lew-

is’s journals, recount their full

adventures during the two-

year journey to the Pacific

Ocean and back. My view

here, however, is more nar-

rowly focused, so let’s look at

some of the birds that Lewis

found in the service of sci-

ence. (For the rest of this sto-

ry, go to “Sal’s Articles” at

stanislausbirds.org.)

STANISLAUS COUNTY

(*committee review)

Oscar Moss and two other bird-

ers had a GREATER SCAUP and a

MARBLED GODWIT at the Modes-

to Wastewater Treatment Facility

on April 13. Oscar and Adrian

Hinkle had a HAMMOND’S FLY-

CATCHER in Del Puerto Canyon

later that day. Eric Hopson had

seventeen MARBLED GODWITS

on April 16 at the San Joaquin

River N.W.R. Sal Salerno saw a

GRASSHOPPER SPARROW in Del

Puerto Canyon on April 20. Dan-

iel Gilman and Sal had a GRAY

FLYCATCHER at Del Puerto Can-

yon on May 1. Harold Reeve

and other birders had a MAR-

BLED GODWIT and a FRANKLIN’S

GULL at the Modesto

Wastewater Treatment Facility

on April 28. Emilie Straus heard

and recorded a NORTHERN PA-

RULA* singing at the San Joaquin

River N.W.R. on May 8. Ralph

Baker had two OLIVE-SIDED FLY-

CATCHERS and eight SWAIN-

SON’S THRUSHES on May 17 at

Dry Creek. Eric Hopson had a

MARBLED GODWIT on May 20 at

the San Joaquin River N.W.R.

Ralph Baker and participants of

an Audubon field trip saw a

HOODED ORIOLE near Patterson

on May 26.

MERCED COUNTY

There were numerous sightings of

HAMMOND’S and GRAY FLY-

CATCHERS migrating through this

county: Pete Dunten, one Gray

at Basalt Campground (4/7); Da-

vid Weber, one Gray at San Luis

N.W.R. (4/13); Pete Dunten, one

Gray (4/23), also two Gray

and one Hammond’s at Bas-

alt (4/25); Richard Jeffers and

other birders, three Gray and

two Hammond’s at Basalt

(4/25); Dale Swanberg, one

Gray at Basalt (4/27); Pete

Dunten, two Hammond’s

and two Grays at Basalt (5-4);

Doug Krajnovic, one Gray at

Lake Yosemite (5/7).

On April 14, John Harris and

several participants of an

Audubon trip into Basalt

Campground on April 14 had

three NASHVILLE WARBLERS.

Candice Davis and Jeffrey

reported seeing a LEAST BIT-

TERN on April 23 at San Luis

N.W.R. Dale Swanberg had

two BREWER’S SPARROWS on

May 6 along Fields Road.

Chris Johnson saw two BLACK

SWIFTS at Los Baños Wildlife

Area on May 19.

GRAY FLYCATCHER

© Pete Dunten

PAGE 4 THE VALLEY HABITAT

Audubon Field Trips

SUNDAY, JULY 21 & SATURDAY,

AUGUST 17 - SAN JOAQUIN RIV-

ER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

This refuge near Modesto offers

diverse habitats, including

mixed species transitional are-

as, riparian forest, oak wood-

lands, grassland and seasonal

wetlands. On these field trips

we are allowed to go into are-

as of the refuge that are nor-

mally closed to the public. Bird-

ing may be on foot or by car

and we may walk anywhere

from 2-6 miles on mostly level

dirt roads and trails. Meet at

the Stanislaus County Library

parking lot (1500 I Street, Mod-

esto) at 7:00 a.m. We will return

to Modesto early-to-mid-

afternoon. Trip leader: Ralph

Baker

(SASFieldTrips@yahoo.com).

SUNDAY JULY 14 - YOSEMITE

We will search meadow and

wood for resident breeding

birds and whatever else we can

find. Woodpeckers, flycatchers,

vireos and warblers are all possi-

ble. Maybe we'll even be lucky

enough to find Mountain Quail,

Black-backed or Pileated Wood-

pecker or ? Some of the loca-

tions we may visit include

Hodgdon Meadow

Campground, Merced Grove

Trail, Crane Flat Fire Lookout

Road, Crane Flat Meadow and

Foresta. Dale Swanberg will be

our trip leader. We will meet in

front of the closed garden cen-

ter of the Riverbank Target, 2425

Claribel Road, at 7:00am. Bring

water, lunch and insect repel-

lent. We will return to Riverbank

late afternoon/early evening.

Email Ralph Baker at sas-

fieldtrips@yahoo.com if you

have any questions.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 10 - RIPON

WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT

AND RIPON OAK GROVE PARK

We’ll visit the Ripon wastewater

ponds to look for early migrating

shorebirds, then retreat to the

shade of Ripon Oak Grove Park

to look for resident oak wood-

land and riparian birds, as well as

any early migrants. We’ll meet at

the parking lot at the south end

of Jack Tone Road at 7:30 a.m.,

and be done by noon. Contact

John Harris for questions:

johnh@mills.edu 510-504-2427

Directions: From the north on 99,

take the Jack Tone Road exit

(exit 237), turn right (south) and

go 1.8 miles to the end. The park-

ing lot will be on your left.

From the south on 99, take the

Main Street exit (exit 236) then

turn left onto South Stockton Ave

(third stop sign). After about .4

miles, the road curves to the right

and becomes Doak Blvd. Take

Doak to Jack Tone Road (about

1 mile), turn left, and proceed to

the dirt parking lot as described

above.

Lalayna Hablutzel and Cece Hunt are the

recipients of the 3rd Annual Audubon /

Grayson Scholarship, presented by Stani-

slaus Audubon Society President Salvatore

Salerno at Stanislaus State on May 8.

Websites to explore:

What is your ecological footprint? How

many planets do we need if everybody

lives like you?

http://www.footprintcalculator.org/

Learn how you can improve habitat for

birds in California—Working Lands, Land-

owner Resources:

http://ca.audubon.org/landowner-

resources-1

Think you know all about water in Califor-

nia? Think again! Check out the Water

Education Foundation:

https://www.watereducation.org/

PAGE 5 THE VALLEY HABITAT

Restore Nature, One Garden at a time

By Sandra Wilson

I replaced my lackluster lawn with native

plants, drought tolerant plants, and bark. Within a

year, birds, bees and butterflies began to vis-

it. Now a few years later, the yard is alive with

activity and fun to watch. Right now, the hum-

mingbirds like the sage, hummingbird mint, and

Red Yucca plants. People call me a gardener!

The truth is, I spend much less time gardening,

less money on water, and more time enjoying the

flowers in the native part of my yard. My plan is

to continue to phase out the high maintenance

plants with more natives.

Native plants attract birds, bees, and but-

terflies to your yard. They also use less water, re-

quire less maintenance and often don’t require

amending the soil. Visit the website Calscape.org

to see how many plants will grow in your

yard. The website sorts plants by sun, shade,

vines, trees, etc. so you can find the plant for the

tough spot in your yard. The fall is the best time to

plant native plants. Now is a good time to plan

for change. Visit the La Loma Native Plant gar-

den on Encina Drive in Modesto for ideas. Look

for plants in the fall when the California Native

Plant Society sponsors plant sales. Many local

nurseries have some native plants, even Home

Depot carries a few. Check with your city, Mod-

esto will pay you to remove the lawn to reduce

your water usage. Go native and restore nature.

Please join Yokuts members and the neigh-

borhood group for the monthly clean-up

along the Helen White Memorial Trail :

Wednesday, July 31

Wednesday, August 14

The group starts the cleanup at 8:00 AM.

Meet us at the King Kennedy Center, 601

Martin Luther King Dr., Modesto. We finish

by 9:00 AM. For more information about

this activity, contact Elaine Gorman at 209-

300-4253. You can also sign up on S-M-S

Sierra Club Meetup. Rain will cancel this

activity.

Bring gloves and a trash bag!

Buckets and trash grabbers are helpful too.

Helen White Memorial Trail

Clean Up

Recycle at the Yokuts

Monthly program!

Yokuts member Ray Nichols will accept

these materials for recycling at our

monthly programs:

Magazines and books

Household batteries

Button batteries

Burned out light bulbs, CFLs

Eye-glasses

Old cell phones

Please tape over the contacts on 9 volt bat-

teries.

THE VALLEY HABITAT PAGE 6

Stanislaus Audubon Society Board of Directors, 2018-2019

President: Salvatore Salerno bees2@sbcglobal.net

Vice President & Conservation: Jody Hallstrom ponydr@pacbell.net

Treasurer: David Froba froba@comcast.net

Secretary: Daniel Gilman Website: Jim Gain

Field Trips: Ralph Baker sharks_hockey_maniac@yahoo.com

Christmas Bird Counts: Harold Reeve birder@sbcglobal.net

Online Newsletter: Jodi Smith; Events: Chris Magaña, Ralph Baker, Kathy Rasmussen;

Education: Daniel Gilman, Jim Gain, Harold Reeve, John Harris, Xavier Sandoval.

Visit our website: www.stanislausbirds.org

Join our Meetup Group and/or Like us on Facebook.

New or renewing members $20 From National Audubon Society: www.audubon.org/renew

Chapter Code C 36. Membership expiration date is printed on newsletter labels.

Continued from page one:

This is sobering and embarrassing. The author also points out that what is crucial,

however, is what we do in the next thirty years. Rana

is right when she states, “Instead of simply dreading

our future we must actively work together to prevent

disaster.”

We learned in kindergarten that if we make a

mess we need to clean it up. Well, this is a big one,

folks. The younger generation knows this, and we

who are older need to stop being comfortably numb

and take actions to address their concerns. How will

we want to be remembered by our children and

grandchildren?

A fifteen year-old girl, Greta Thunberg,

captured the world’s attention with her advocacy to

combat climate change. Rana is doing the same

thing locally. The Sierra Club is graying, and is finding

it difficult attracting younger members. Students like

Rana offer an opportunity for the club to revitalize

and widen our message of climate change advoca-

cy. We should align ourselves as responsible elders

with the younger generation in working together to

help save our planet.

Summer Reading, at the LIBRARY!

As some of the readers of this newsletter know,

the editor is currently an academic librarian, and one

of the previous editors is a retired public librarian.

So given an empty box this month, my inclina-

tion is to recommend specific books. However, I feel

bound by librarian duty to encourage all readers of

this newsletter to make an effort to renew your bond

with your local public libraries. There you will find

many fascinating books—free to all holders of a li-

brary card.

If you haven’t been to the library lately, please

do visit. If getting over there to a library building

seems difficult—go to the library website. There you

will find many resources available to you online—

books, newspaper and journal articles, language pro-

grams, and more.

Don’t feel limited by just what can be found

on the shelves in your small public library. After all, this

is the 21st century, and libraries have agreements be-

tween each other to lend books to wide geographic

areas. Just ask your librarian about these services.

If you are reading this online—go to your local

public library site, (most library catalogs are free for

the public to search). Type in keywords to represent

things about which you would like to know more—

building communities, alternative energy, downsizing,

birding, and of course, the Sierra Club and Audubon!

Peruse, borrow, read, and enjoy!

Yokuts Group of the Sierra Club

Management Committee

Chair: Rick Delvin: rick.delvin@gmail.com

Vice Chair: Elaine Gorman

Political Chair: Kent Mitchell

Secretary: Sandra Wilson

Treasurer: Steve Tomlinson

Hospitality: Candy Klaschus

Program Chair: Elaine Gorman

Membership: Anita Young

Mailing: Kathy Weise

Publicity: Dorothy Griggs

Sustainability Chair: Milt Trieweiler

Population Chair: Milt Trieweiler

Calendar Sales: Doug Hardie

Outings Chair: Randall Brown

Outings Leaders:

Sandra Wilson

Randall Brown

Elaine Gorman; , vevado@yahoo.com

Newsletter: Maryann Hight

To send stories to the Habitat, email

mhight@csustan.edu

Website:

http://www.sierraclub.org/mother-lode/yokuts

For hikes and other outings

http://www.meetup.com/S-M-S-

SierraClub

PAGE 7 THE VALLEY HABITAT

Fun Read:

All Aboard the Electric Bus:

Modern Public Transportation Powered by

Electricity is Coming Back

Yokuts Group Non-Profit Organization

Mother Lode Chapter U.S. Postage PAID

Sierra Club Permit Number 139

P.O. Box 855 Modesto, CA

Modesto, CA 95353

CURRENT RESIDENT OR