Audubon California
A Brief History of Audubon in California
Audubon California was established in 1996 as a field program of the National Audubon Society, overseeing the organization’s properties and leading conservation efforts. But our work in California goes back to the earliest days of the national organization, even before its formal founding. Audubon’s legacy of conservation and activism in the Golden State establishes it as a force for conservation along the Pacific Flyway. Audubon California has a network of 49 local chapters throughout the State of California where Audubon members and their families can enjoy and protect local birds and nature.
Global warming is a serious threat to California birds. A seven-year study from the National Audubon Society released in September 2014 finds that global warming threatens the survival of 170 California species in the coming decades. This includes iconic California birds such as the Brown Pelican, Allen’s Hummingbird, Yellow-billed Magpie, and many others. These are birds that all of us know well from our backyards and from our own experiences in California’s beautiful outdoors.
Audubon analyzed more than 40 years of historical North American climate data and millions of historical bird records from the U.S. Geological Survey’s North American Breeding Bird Survey and the Audubon Christmas Bird Count to understand the links between where birds live and the climatic conditions that support them. Of 588 bird species examined in the study, 314 species are considered at-risk. Hundreds of species not previously considered at risk will be challenged to survive in a climate-changed future. Understanding those links then allows scientists to project where birds are likely to be able to survive – and not survive – in the future.
Audubon California is addressing this challenge by protecting the habitats that we know birds will need now and into the future, and doing what we can to lessen the severity of global warming. We’ll do this work with a variety of partners on the ground and in the halls of the State Capitol and Washington, D.C.
Currently listed birds by California Department of Fish and Wildlife
DFW California Fully Protected Birds
DFG Special Status birds
Yellow-breasted chat (Icteria virens)
Key Audubon California Watch List birds
Audubon WatchList 2007
Family Groups
Swans, Geese, Ducks Crane Gallinaceous Birds Plovers Loons, Grebes Snipe, Sandpipers, Phalaropes, allies Albatrosses Gulls, Terns, Skimmers Shearwaters, Fulmars, Petrels Auks, Murres, Puffins, Guillemots Storm-Petrels Pigeons, Doves Boobies, Gannets Parrots Cormorants Cuckoos Frigatebirds Owls, Nightjars Herons, Bitterns, Egrets Swifts, Hummingbirds, Trogon Condor Woodpeckers Hawks, Kites, Osprey, Eagles Songbirds Coots, Rails
Swans, Geese, Ducks
Emperor Goose, Trumpeter Swan, Mottled Duck, Steller’s Eider, Spectacled Eider, Hawaiian Duck, Hawaiian Goose, Laysan Duck
Gallinaceous Birds
Greater Sage-Grouse, Gunnison Sage-Grouse, Sooty Grouse, Greater Prairie-Chicken, Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Mountain Quail, Scaled Quail, Montezuma Quail
Loons, Grebes
Yellow-billed Loon, Clark’s Grebe
Albatrosses
Laysan Albatross, Black-footed Albatross, Short-tailed Albatross
Shearwaters, Fulmars, Petrels
Bermuda Petrel, Black-capped Petrel, Hawaiian Petrel, Cory’s Shearwater, Pink-footed Shearwater, Greater Shearwater ,Buller’s Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, Manx Shearwater, Newell’s Shearwater, Black-vented Shearwater, Audubon’s Shearwater
Storm-Petrels
Ashy Storm-Petrel, Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, Black Storm-Petrel, Tristram’s Storm-Petrel, Least Storm-Petrel
Boobies, Gannets
Masked Booby
Cormorants
Red-faced Cormorant
Frigatebirds
Magnificent Frigatebird
Herons, Bitterns, Egrets
Reddish Egret
Condor
California Condor
Hawks, Kites, Osprey, Eagles
Swallow-tailed Kite, Swainson’s Hawk, Hawaiian Hawk
Coots, Rails
Yellow Rail, Black Rail, Clapper Rail, King Rail, Hawaiian Coot
Cranes
Whooping Crane
Plovers
American Golden-Plover, Snowy Plover, Wilson’s Plover, Piping Plover, Mountain Plover
Snipe, Sandpipers, Phalaropes, Allies
Wandering Tattler, Eskimo Curlew, Bristle-thighed Curlew, Long-billed Curlew, Hudsonian Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Marbled Godwit, Black Turnstone, Surfbird, Red Knot, Sanderling, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Rock Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Gulls, Terns, Skimmers
Heermann’s Gull, Thayer’s Gull, Iceland Gull, Yellow-footed Gull, Red-legged Kittiwake, Ross’s Gull, Ivory Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Elegant Tern, Roseate Tern, Least Tern, Aleutian Tern, Bridled Tern, Black Skimmer
Auks, Murres, Puffins, Guillemots
Razorbill Marbled Murrelet, Kittlitz’s Murrelet, Xantus’s Murrelet, Craveri’s Murrelet, Ancient Murrelet, Whiskered Auklet
Pigeons, Doves
White-crowned Pigeon
Parrots
Green Parakeet, Thick-billed Parrot, Red-crowned Parrot
Cuckoos
Anis Mangrove Cuckoo
Owls, Nightjars
Flammulated Owl, Elf Owl, Spotted Owl, Short-eared Owl, Antillean Nighthawk
Swifts, Hummingbirds, Trogon
Black Swift, Blue-throated Hummingbird, Costa’s Hummingbird, Calliope Hummingbird, Allen’s Hummingbird, Elegant Trogon
Woodpeckers
Lewis’s Woodpecker, Red-headed Woodpecker, Williamson’s Sapsucker, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Arizona Woodpecker, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, White-headed Woodpecker, Gilded Flicker, Ivory-billed Woodpecker
Songbirds
Olive-sided Flycatcher, Willow Flycatcher, Thick-billed Kingbird, Bell’s Vireo, Gray Vireo, Black-capped Vireo, Florida Scrub-Jay, Island Scrub-Jay, Pinyon Jay, Yellow-billed Magpie, Hawaiian Crow, Elepaio Mexican Chickadee, Oak Titmouse, Millerbird, California Gnatcatcher, Kamao, Olomao, Omao, Puaiohi, Bicknell’s Thrush, Wood Thrush, Varied Thrush, Wrentit, Bendire’s Thrasher, California Thrasher, Le Conte’s Thrasher, Sprague’s Pipit, Bachman’s Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, Virginia’s Warbler, Colima Warbler, Lucy’s Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Golden-cheeked Warbler, Hermit Warbler, Grace’s Warbler, Kirtland’s Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Swainson’s Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Canada Warbler, Red-faced Warbler, Abert’s Towhee, Rufous-winged Sparrow, Bachman’s Sparrow, Five-striped Sparrow, Brewer’s Sparrow, Black-chinned Sparrow, Sage Sparrow, Lark Bunting, Baird’s Sparrow, Henslow’s Sparrow, Le Conte’s Sparrow, Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow, Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow, Seaside Sparrow, Smith’s Longspur, Chestnut-collared Longspur, McKay’s Bunting, Varied Bunting, Painted Bunting, Tricolored Blackbird, Rusty Blackbird, Audubon’s Oriole, Black Rosy-Finch, Brown-capped Rosy-Finch, Lawrence’s Goldfinch, Laysan Finch, Nihoa Finch, Ou, Palila, Maui Parrotbill, Oahu Amakihi, Kauai Amakihi, Anianiau, Nukupuu, Akiapolaau, Akikiki, Hawaii Creeper, Oahu Alauahio, Maui Alauahio, Akekee, Akepa, Iiwi, Akohekohe, Poo-uli