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| OHCC LIVING | JANUARY 2020 | 13 Birdwatchers Happy New Year! I hope you will all go to Do Dues Day on Sat., Jan. 4 and stop by our Birdwatchers table. Please consider joining us. We have some great walks planned for this year as well as an overnight trip to Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve in Huntington Beach in November. Our next walk will be on Jan. 17 and we will be going to Lake Dixon in Escondido. This will be a great walk for beginners. We expect to see chaparral species: towhees, thrushes, Wrentits, California thrashers, and fox sparrows, as well as waterfowl: ring-necked ducks, black crowned night herons, pelicans, and hopefully buffleheads. The walk is easy and restrooms are available. Wear layers because it will be chilly but warm up as the morning progresses. Meet at the overflow parking lot at 7:45 am for an 8 am departure. The drive is about 30 minutes. We will arrange carpools and get directions before heading out. Remember to help your driver with gas money. Lunch will be at J & M's Family Restaurant. Our next club meeting is Tues., Jan. 28, in the Ladies Club Room beginning at 12:30 pm with snacks and socializing followed by a 1 pm meeting. We will have an informative presentation and slideshow by our own Ann Baldwin on "Our Local Birds." She will be giving us tips for recognizing the birds in our gardens, seasons they will appear, their natural habitat, and food they prefer both in the wild and in our own backyards. You don't want to miss this one! I recently received my Living Bird magazine and was surprised and dismayed to read that according to research by the journal Science, wild bird populations in the continental US and Canada have declined by almost 30 percent since 1970. That adds up to a loss of 2.9 billion breeding adult birds! It is a strong signal that our human-altered landscapes are losing their ability to support birdlife. What can we do to help stop this? The author, Gustave Axelson, has suggested seven simple actions we can take: 1. Make windows safer with screens or stickers so birds won't slam into them. 2. Keep cats indoors. 3. Reduce lawns and plant native species so birds will have a source of food. 4. Avoid pesticides by not using them around your house and by buying organic food. 5. Drink coffee that helps birds. Coffee farms destroy bird habitat. Look for shade grown coffee. 6. Avoid single-use disposable plastics. Seabird species ingest plastic and die. 7. Join a citizen-science project such as eBird, Project FeederWatch, or our Bluebird program.