Volunteer

NSAS volunteers demonstrating assembly of a bird box.

Get Involved

NSAS is an all-volunteer organization. To make our programs successful, we need membership involvement in all of our activities. Donating even a few hours of time can help a lot. There are all sorts of fun ways to get involved – from helping out with a bird walk, classroom visit,  or special event, to monitoring your own area for breeding birds, to helping find new and better ways for our Audubon chapter to make a difference. Check any box in an activity in which you’d like to volunteer time.

Why Volunteer?

There are lots of good reasons, including:

• Meet new people and make new friends
• Give back to your community
• Try something new
• Share your skills
• HAVE FUN
• LEARN
• GROW

Current Volunteer Needs

Opportunities abound. We will keep the list below up-to-date with our current volunteer needs. Contact Mark Stephenson () or any Board member about these and other opportunities.

Beginning Bird Walks: Are you familiar with your neighborhood birds? We are in need of 1 or 2 volunteers to team up with our Beginning Bird Watching Team to help lead our local bird walks at American Canyon Wetlands. This is a flexible commitment for an occasional Sunday morning from 9:00 a.m. – Noon. Come join our team!

Weekly Bird Walks with Andrew Ford: Andrew can always use a hand to support the birders who attend his weekly walks alternating between Napa & Solano Counties. Andrews walks are open to birders of all levels and takes place from 8:00 a.m. to 12 Noon on Saturdays or occasionally on a Sunday. Andrew uses eBird and recent sightings to determine where he goes each week and sends out an eBlast with walk details. You will visit our many great birding locations in Napa and Solano while helping Andrew out with participants who are learning about birding.

Education in our Schools: We present lessons in classrooms in both Napa and Solano counties. Our Birding Program consists of four to five 45-minute lessons over a 4-5 week period including a Powerpoint presentation and hands-on activity. Topics include Bird Diversity and Adaptations, Bird Song, Migration, The Amazing Feather, Habitat Conservation and culminate with binocular training and a Bird Walk on the school campus or neighboring park. We try to visit 10 or more schools and work with 500 or more students with our 4-5 week program from 3rd grade through High School. If you’re interested in working with students and would like to help us present or just assist with a school bird walk come join one of our teams.

Citizen Science: We are always searching for volunteer birders to support our many Citizen Science Projects.

• CA Breeding Bird Atlas Project: We are in the midst of a 5-year Breeding Bird Atlas Monitoring Project. We have many blocks that need to be surveyed in both Napa & Solano Counties during the breeding season from as early as January (for Hawks and Owls) and March through July. We are using eBird and identifying any of  a number of behaviors that indicate the possibility or confirm breeding birds in our area. Participants will need to have an eBird account. We can provide the training, assign you to areas to bird, and if desired match you with other Breeding Bird Atlas participants. You can even record breeding birds in your neighborhood.
• Christmas Bird Counts: We sponsor 2 Christmas Bird Counts (CBC) where teams count birds within a 15 mile circle centered around Benicia and Angwin. We need volunteers of all levels. If you are a beginner birder you can join a team with seasoned leaders or if you are experienced you can help us lead a team.
• Bluebird Nest Box Monitoring: from March – July. Join a partner to monitor Bluebird nesting boxes once a week during nesting season in one of 8 parks or open spaces in Napa and Solano Counties. Having partners allows flexibility with coverage dates and times and provides support for new monitors. Data collected is submitted to the California Bluebird Recovery Program.
• Bird Seasons Surveys: We have teams that monitor American Canyon Wetlands and Benicia Community Park throughout the year. If you would like to join a team and go on a weekly morning walk to survey birds in these locations, this is a perfect activity for you.
• Climate Research: Join a team to complete Point Counts in one of 7 locations in Napa County. This Project is led by seasoned birders who can identify birds visually and by ear. If you’re an experienced birder you can help out with one of our locations or if you’re a  beginner or intermediate birder you can join a team with experienced birders. Data is submitted to National Audubon.
• Endangered Bird Surveys: We survey a number of endangered bird species in Napa & Solano Counties from Burrowing Owls, Tricolored Blackbirds, and Swainson’s Hawks, as well as monitoring nesting Heron and Egret Colonies and surveying migrating Shorebirds.

Outreach & tabling at various community events: Volunteers are needed to help with setting up, designing exhibits, and volunteering at our welcome tables during a number of community events from Earth Day to Mare Island’s Winged Migration Festival. This activity usually only requires a couple of hours per volunteer and is always great fun sharing our activities and meeting others.

Hospitality Chair: We need folks to help with sign-ins and refreshments for our Monthly Speaker Meetings, held on the 2nd Thursday of each month from September – May currently held in alternating months at the Napa Valley Lutheran Church or the Benicia Public Library.

Consider a Board Position: Our Board positions have annual turn-over. Officer elections are held in May for President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary, and we have Chairperson’s for Membership, Program, Education, Communication, Conservation Advocacy as well as Directors-at-Large. Board Meetings are usually held five times a year  in August, October, January, March and May. All members are welcome to attend and participate.

For more information on Volunteering in our organization, please complete this form by checking boxes for activities in which you have an interest in volunteering.  If you have questions, feel free to contact a Board Member.