SB Audubon Evening Program: Conservation Adventures in Hotspots for Western Migratory Birds

Speaker, Dr. Sarah Otterstrom

Many of central California’s migratory birds winter in tropical areas where intensive agriculture and coastal development pose a threat to their survival. Paso Pacifico is a Ventura-based non-profit that works to protect these ecosystems in western Central America. Executive Director Sarah Otterstrom will share stories of the challenges and rewards of practicing conservation in the region. She’ll talk about Paso Pacifico’s migratory bird program (including its MoSI bird-banding stations and Willow Flycatcher monitoring), and the organization’s efforts to transform interactions between local people and birds through a slingshot-for-binoculars exchange and junior ranger programs.

Dr. Sarah Otterstrom founded the non-profit Paso Pacifico in 2005 in response to the urgent need to protect Nicaragua’s coastal dry tropical forests, where she did her graduate research. Today the organization works in both El Salvador and Nicaragua, two countries where conservation investments are otherwise very limited. Sarah holds a Ph.D. in ecology from UC Davis and an undergraduate biology degree from the Universidad Latina de Costa Rica. She first fell in love with birds when she worked as a naturalist tour guide in Costa Rica in the early 1990s. Sarah resides in Ojai, California where she enjoys backyard birding with her children.

Doors open at 7:00 pm – join us for refreshments

Sponsored By Santa Barbara Audubon Society