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Help pull thistles at beautiful Burton Mesa Ecological Reserve. Saturday April 16, 2016. 9:00-noon with optional after-lunch walk. Join the SYVNHS for a morning of weed abatement followed by a short trek into the beautiful Burton Mesa Ecological Reserve.  Tim Matthews, SYVNHS board member, will lead us in removing noxious Milk Thistle, Silybum marianum, and Italian Thistle, Carduus pycnocephalus, that …

Field trip with Denis Kearns. TRIP CANCELLED DUE TO RAIN: See note below. Saturday, April 9, 9:00 a.m. to about 4:00 p.m. Participation is limited to 25. Advance registration required at synature@west.net or 693-5683. Members free/non-members $20. Note as of 8 April 2016: We are very sorry to have to cancel the Santa Ynez Valley Natural History Society field trip …

Free evening event. Saturday, April 23, 7:00 p.m. Tipton Meeting House. UC Sedgwick Reserve. 3566 Brinkerhoff Avenue, Santa Ynez. The Santa Ynez Valley Natural History Society and UC Sedgwick Reserve are pleased to host a poetry reading in honor of Earth Day with former Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara Paul Willis. The human relationship to the natural world and wild …

Field trip to Burton Mesa Ecological Reserve with Tim Matthews and Christine Thompson. Sunday, May 1, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Participation is limited to 20. Advance registration required at synature@west.net or 693-5683. Members free/nonmembers free. This trip will explore plants and birds of the unique ecosystem protected by Burton Mesa Ecological Reserve (BMER), and will include an account of …

Field trip with Chris Ryan Friday, July 15, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Participation is limited to 25. Advance registration required at synature@west.net or 693-5683. Members free/nonmembers free. South Vandenberg Air Force Base offers spectacular views of the Channel Islands and seldom-seen natural history displays. The base archeologist, Chris Ryan, will host our group to see the flora of Tranquillon …

Field Trip led by Larry Ballard. Reported by Larry Ballard and Len Fleckenstein. Photos and captions by John Evarts. THE DUNES OVERVIEW by Larry Ballard The Guadalupe dune sheet extends from Oso Flaco south to the Santa Maria River. It lies entirely on the Santa Maria River floodplain and represents two aeolian (wind-blown) Holocene dune-building episodes. The active dunes date from the present-day to about 2,000 …

We have an exciting series of field trips and lectures lined up for this fall. Save the dates! Further information, including registration information, will be sent soon via email, our Magpie Calls newsletter, and our website: www.syvnature.org. The featured image is of Devereux Slough, by Callie Bowdish Thursday, September 15, 7:00 p.m. Could Climate Change be Wrong? Free lecture and …

We have an exciting series of lectures and field trips lined up for Spring 2016. Save the dates! Details and registration information coming soon. The featured photograph is of the Carrizo Plain in spring, by John Evarts. Wednesday, January 20, 7:00 p.m. Rock Creek Wildflowers Free Lecture with Cathy Rose and Stephen Ingram Click here for details and description Saturday, February …

Free lecture with Hugh Ranson. Saturday, September 26, 1:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m. Tipton Meeting House and in the field, UC Sedgwick Reserve. Gates open at 11:30 a.m. for those who would like to picnic prior to the lecture. Join us for an eye-opening lecture about local dragonflies with Hugh Ranson, an authority on this unique life-form in Santa Barbara County. Dragonflies, …

Field Trip with Tim Matthews. Sunday, October 11, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Advance registration required at synature@west.net or 693-5683. Participation is limited to 15. Members free/nonmembers $20. Do you know the Northern Pygmy-Owl’s call? After this trip, you may. Come bird Figueroa Mountain with Tim Matthews for a listen and look at fall migrants, full-time residents, and perhaps some unusual …