**Join us for Maria Ruth's presentation:**
# The Joys of One-Bird Birding
Whidbey Audubon members are no strangers to Pigeon Guillemots. Since 2003, these lively, charming seabirds have gained a wide and devoted following on the island as the focal species of the Salish Sea Guillemot Network. There are now 250 volunteer community scientists in this ever-expanding network of “guillemoteers” and Maria Mudd Ruth is one of them. Though her first encounters with the guillemots on Puget Sound were centered on data collection, Maria’s hour-long surveys led to a curiosity-fueled, multi-year exploration of the guillemots and the lives they live beyond the data sheets. Maria’s new book, *The Bird with the Flaming Red Feet*, is informed by her thirteen years among the guillemots on an inlet near her home in Olympia. Her slide presentation is a celebration of the Pigeon Guillemot, the Salish Sea Network, community science, and the joys of “one-bird birding.”
## Maria Mudd Ruth
Maria Mudd Ruth is the author of more than a dozen books on natural history topics for general audiences, young readers, birders and non-birders alike. Her recent books include critically acclaimed *Rare Bird: Pursuing the Mystery of the Marbled Murrelet* and award-winning *A Sideways Look at Clouds*. Since 2013, she has been a volunteer community scientist with the Salish Sea Guillemot Network and is the team lead at a raucous guillemot colony on Eld Inlet. To learn more about Maria visit [her website.](www.mariaruthbooks.net)
Registration not required to attend.
Doors open at 7 PM
Audubon meeting at 7:15 PM
Presentation at 7:30 PM
Photo: James DeForrest
