Odd Fellows Hall, 1226 1/2 Lincoln Way, Auburn
Doors open at 6:30, program starts 7:00 pm
Check the SFAS website or Facebook page for last-minute updates
or call Program Chair Theresa Thomas at 530-264-6742
Program
Communal, Competitive, and Quirky: The Wild World of Acorn Woodpeckers
Naturalist Kate Marianchild, author of the bestseller Secrets of the Oak Woodlands: Plants and Animals among California’s Oaks, will give a rollicking presentation on acorn woodpeckers, the birds with a more extraordinary and complex social structure than any other vertebrate species in the world, including humans. She will tell of sisters and mothers who steal each other’s eggs, siblings who collectively battle for breeding vacancies in other clans, and bizarre bedtime shenanigans practiced by all members of the clan. She may even get audience members to help her act out some of the bizarre behaviors she describes.
Because acorn woodpeckers are balanophages (acorn eaters), Kate will also give an overview of the role of oaks as North America’s most life-giving trees and ways in which acorn woodpeckers, jays, woodrats and other balanophages have adapted to them.
A speaker and nature guide as well as author, Kate is known for the clarity of her teaching, her affection for her subject matter, and her contagious enthusiasm. When she is not leading nature walks, observing plants and animals, or giving talks, she likes to camp, swim, and sing.
Kate will bring copies of Secrets of the Oak Woodlands, which she will be able to sign and sell, plus her Guide to Identifying the Common Oaks of Northern and Central California, close-focus binoculars, and her acorn earrings and necklaces.