Monthly Presentations

Burrowing Owl. Photo by Lou Staunton/Audubon Photography Awards.

Join us for a presentation

View Our Calendar for Upcoming Presentations

Monthly Programs

We host a public program on a bird-related topic nine months of the year. We often arrange to have local birders share their favorite birding places or experiences, biologists talk about their research, and natural resource professionals update us on wildlife and land management strategies.

Over the last three decades an overwhelming scientific consensus has emerged: Birds are dinosaurs! But what exactly does this mean and how do we know this? In this talk, Dr. Dan Luna will explain where birds fit into the evolutionary tree of dinosaurs and how the characteristics that we associate with birds today (e.g., wishbones, feathers, flight) evolved during the age of dinosaurs. You’ll be introduced to some extraordinary fossils, and you’ll never look at our feathered friends the same way!
Dr. Luna grew up in South Florida, earned undergraduate degrees in biology and religious studies at Duke University, and completed a PhD in vertebrate paleontology at UC Santa Barbara. After teaching at UCSB for several years, Dr. Luna joined the Department of Geosciences at Boise State in 2019, where he now teaches several courses related to geology, evolution, and paleontology. In 2022, Dr. Luna was selected as Idaho's Science Teacher of the Year by the state's General Education Committee.
Join us on Tuesday, January 20 at 6:30 at the **Cole and Ustick Library**, 7557 W. Ustick Rd, Boise. This program is free and open to everyone.

Birds are visible, vocal sentinels that alert us to environmental harms through their declining numbers or their failure to thrive. In her book *Feather Trails—A Journey of Discovery Among Endangered Birds*, Sophie Osborn shares her personal experiences reintroducing endangered Peregrine Falcons, Hawaiian Crows, and California Condors to the wild. While immersing readers in the triumphs and tribulations of being a wildlife biologist, Sophie explores the threats that imperiled these birds, and reveals that what harmed them threatens us, too. She will discuss what led to the endangerment of these three captivating species, recount the efforts of biologists to recover their populations, and read a few excerpts from her book that describe what it was like to work with these magnificent birds.

Sophie A. H. Osborn is an award-winning environmental writer and wildlife biologist whose work has included the study and conservation of more than a dozen bird species in the Americas. She contributed to reintroduction efforts for several endangered birds and served as the field manager for the California Condor Recovery Program in Arizona for four years. Her first book, *Condors in Canyon Country*, won the 2007 National Outdoor Book Award for Nature and the Environment. Reviewers for the American Birding Association (ABA) chose her second book, *Feather Trails*, as their favorite bird book of 2024. Sophie has written articles for *Bird Conservation, BirdWatching, Wyoming Wildlife, and Sojourns* magazines. Her writings are also available on her website and her “Words for Birds” Substack blog.

This program will be on **Zoom** at 6:30 pm.
Zoom link for the presentation.

Burrowing Owl bird — Don’t be shy!

If there is a particular topic you are interested in learning more about, or would even like to give a presentation, please contact us at **info@goldeneagleaudubon.org**
*Burrowing Owl. Photo by Mick Thompson.*

Pileated Woodpeckers by Jan Nichols/Audubon Photography Awards

Black-capped Chickadee by Linda Scher/Audubon Photography Awards

Watch Past Presentations and Classes

May 2025

Prevent Window Collisions with American Bird Conservancy

January 2025

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers: A Personal Chronical of Vanished Birds with Christopher Cokinos, author

July 2024

Discover the Prairie Falcon with Zoe Bonerbo, BSU Raptor Researcher

June 2024

The State of the Great Salt Lake with Katie Newburn, Education & Outreach Director for FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake

May 2024

Camas National Wildlife Refuge with Tim Reynolds from Friends of Camas NWR and Lucian Davis, Intermountain Bird Observatory Lead Bander at Camas NWR