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National Audubon Society Educational Program

Great Backyard Bird Count - February 12-15th - Free

The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is almost here! It starts this Friday, February 12, and continues through Monday, February 15. It's easy and fun to participate. Just watch birds for at least 15 minutes at any location on one or more days of the count and report the highest number of each species you see together at one time. There will be workshops on beginning bird watching each day at Audubon's Kern River Preserve during the GBBC.

Come on out to the Preserve Friday through Monday between 9am-11am and learn how to identify birds and how to set-up an online GBBC account. We will identify and count the birds in a discrete area (it doesn't just have to be a backyard). Then you will be taught how to will upload the results live onto the GBBC website. You can upload checklists from the preserve, your backyard or anyplace that you bird for at least 15 minutes in one day. You can upload multiple checklists from different locations each day.

For more information and birding tips visit the GBBC website and check out this year's great drawing prizes for GBBC participants. You must do your bird counts over the four days of the GBBC but you have until March 1 to enter your information through the GBBC website and to send them your entries for the GBBC photo contest.

Looking to find out about the birds in your area? Visit Audubon at Home’s Birds to Help website for some tips. Tips are organized according to setting—urban, suburban, or rural.

For more information Email

Student Conservation Association Helps KRP

For many years parts of the ranches Audubon has helped to protect in perpetuity had ranch-based dumps associated with them. This was common and accepted practice – although in retrospect a poor choice.

These eyesores have been a project that many volunteers and staff have tackled. We have made great progress since we purchased the property. We have removed tons of steel and had it recycled including wire, broken, equipment, appliances. Also hundreds of tires. Ag fertilized and pesticides, used oils, closed open ag well, and removed fuel storage tanks have also been removed and brought to appropriate facilities for disposal.) What was/is left is largely nuisance trash and plenty of it. We continue work with our staff and volunteers to finish up.

On Friday through Sunday, January 22-24 through a twist of fate, a five-person SCA crew  along with our own Sean Rowe and Katy Harvey helped to fill an entire pull-off dumpster. They worked on the dump and helped to haul off and recycle trash and helped with some other preserve projects over the weekend. They didn't finish clearing the dump, but they made a significant dent in ridding the preserve of this nuisance trash.

We thank: Jamie, Allison, Daniel, Alexandra, and Chris for their hard work and hope they can return to help on a more fun project in the future.

Geocaching on KRP

How many of you own a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) device? Many people use GPS in a competitive nature as an excuse to get outside and enjoy nature. Recently with the blessing of the preserve, some local geocachers started placing little caches on the preserve in the public areas. In order to place the hidden treasure troves, one must always secure permission from the landowner before placing the boxes.

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment.

A traditional cache is filled with swag (approximately 10 desirable items but of little value) and is hidden by the cache owner for other Geocachers to find. It is a Geocaching rule that that if a finder takes something he will leave something. For many Geocachers the value in the cache lies in the search rather than in the value of the swag and they prefer to take nothing and leave nothing.

So if you want to play the game search the geocaching website for birdland and then come on down. Be sure to sign the guestbook in the Visitor Center while you are here and let us know how many people are playing the game.

Snow Day

While it does get cold in the Kern River Valley, snow is a rare commodity especially when it sticks! On December 7th, we had an unusually early snow event that happened to fall during the day and stick! See this page for photos taken around the preserve! PHOTOS...

More Land Protected

It was a day we had waited for, on Friday 20 November 2009, escrow closed on an 80-acre ranch which was the only land along the South Fork Kern River between Fay Ranch Road and Sierra Way that Audubon had not permanently protected. READ MORE...

Wildlife Encounters on the Kern River Preserve - American Black Bear

by Reed Tollefson

On November 10, while doing stewardship work on Audubon’s Sprague Addition Sean Rowe and Jeff King saw this black bear ambling through the fields. It was moving from the riparian forest along the South Fork Valley toward Fay Canyon which leads up to the Kern Plateau. This helps to shows how protecting the river forest and connections to the surrounding public lands allows wildlife to move through this area.

Protecting wildlife movement corridors within the Southern Sierra Nevada will help wildlife meet their daily needs as well as improve their ability to respond to the stresses caused by future development and climate change.

Black bear are known to wake up during their winter sleep and move around but it is likely that his bear is heading to a place to resume its winter rest. From tracks and scat, we know that bears are common on the Kern River Preserve in the spring, summer and fall but they are very shy of people and seldom seen.

Sunrise to Sunset: A year on the Kern River Preserve

Some landscapes from winter through fall by our Outreach Director, Alison Sheehey. Photos from our Allen Sanctuary, Kelso Creek Sanctuary, Kern River Preserve and even one from the South Fork Kern near Kennedy Meadows.

Visit the Kern River Preserve in Weldon, California. Open every day of the year from dawn to dusk.