LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Thursday, Jan. 15, Redbud Audubon Society program meeting will be presented by Dr. Floyd Hayes, professor of biology at Pacific Union College.

Dr. Hayes will present his work on grebe conservation at Clear Lake.

All are invited to attend this meeting at the group's new location, Lower Lake Community United Methodist Church Social Hall, 16255 Second St.

Refreshments will be served at 7 p.m., with the meeting beginning at 7:15 p.m.

During the past five summers, from 2010 to 2014, the Redbud Audubon Society has joined two other chapters of California Audubon in a cooperative project promoting the conservation of Western Grebes and Clark’s Grebes on several lakes in northern California.

Financed by oil spill mitigation funds administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Fish and Wildlife Federation, the project has focused on monitoring the breeding success of grebes, documenting nesting disturbances, deploying warning signs and buoys around the perimeter of nesting colonies, and educating the public about various threats to the grebes’ reproductive success and how the threats may be reduced.

The Redbud Audubon Society has focused on the grebes of Clear Lake, which supports one of the largest breeding populations of grebes in California.

Dr. Hayes, an ornithologist, has been contracted by Redbud Audubon to work on this project, studying the grebes of Clear Lake.

“Each summer I have been monitoring their breeding activities with the assistance of several students from Pacific Union College and a few local birders. We usually visit the lake twice a week and canoe five to 15 miles in search of active grebe nests, which we count and monitor for disturbances,” Dr. Hayes explained.

Join Redbud Audubon Jan. 15 to learn about grebes, how they are monitored, their colonies, and where they nest in Clear Lake, Rodman Slough, Manning Creek, Rumsey Slough, Long Tule Point and Anderson Marsh.

Redbud Audubon meetings through April will be held at the Lower Lake Community United Methodist Church Social Hall.

The hall is across the parking lot from the Methodist Church; if you are coming through Lower Lake, turn left on Lake Street and then right on Second Street. The church is on the right.

The move to Lower Lake is a way to accommodate Audubon members countywide.