RETURN OF THE NATIVES' ANNUAL BIRD COUNT SET FOR JAN. 16

Volunteers are needed starting at 7 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 16, to look for hawks, geese, ducks, wrens and a variety of other species at the Watershed Institute’s annual winter bird count at Upper Carr Lake in Salinas. Experienced birders and novices are welcome to help during the three-hour count.

The lake, on East Laurel Drive between Constitution Boulevard and Sanborn Road, is a resting stop for migratory birds. In 2015, volunteers from CSU Monterey Bay’s Return of the Natives project identified more than 70 species, including American coots, yellow-rumped warblers, a few egrets and several varieties of hawks. Participants will be provided with a data sheet on the birds of Monterey County, published by the Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society, and a pair of binoculars. After the bird count, volunteers are invited to help clean up the lake from 10 a.m. to noon. Tools, water and snacks will be provided.

Carr Lake has become an inviting habitat for birds, which emphasizes the purpose of the second half of the morning – to keep Upper Carr Lake clean and healthy so that the birds keep coming back.

The local bird survey is one of 2,100 similar counts over the last month. As many as 55,000 National Audubon Society volunteers from Guam to Labrador and from Alaska to Chile slog through the woods, find their way up mountains or look out their kitchen windows for the squawking, quacking and tweeting flocks.

Return of the Natives will submit the information it gathers to California eBird, the Audubon Society’s online database.

For more information, contact Lauren Krohmer at lkrohmer@csumb.edu or call 582-3686.