Upcoming Events, Programs, and Field Trips

Events, Programs, & Field Trips

Travels in Africa

Deb Essman

Thursday, August 25th, Program begins at 7pm, Doors open at 6:30, in person at the Yakima Area Arboretum

Image - Golden Eagle - Deb Essman
Golden Eagle - Deb Essman

Please join me, Deb Essman, as I share my photo safari of South Africa and Botswana. The vast numbers of African wildlife were amazing to me, and I hope I can impart the same awe I felt as I speak about the diverse habitats I got to explore. It's a magical place facing many challenges; the national parks and private reserves I visited all have stories to tell of resilience and adaptation for both the wildlife and local human populations. 

Image - Lapped-Faced and White-Backed Vultures - Deb Essman
Lapped-Faced and White-Backed Vultures - Deb Essman
Image - Lilac-Breasted Roller - Deb Essman
Lilac-Breasted Roller - Deb Essman

Deb considers herself an avid amateur naturalist with a special love for birds. She majored in Natural Resources Mgmt. at Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo and was a seasonal naturalist at Morro Bay State Park while attending college; co-founded and ran a raptor rehabilitation center in California for almost a decade; was a veterinary technician at the Woodland Park Zoo and ran their Earthwatch program releasing bald eagles on the San Juan Island; worked for the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife as a Game Warden (the only woman in that position at the time). She taught pursuit driving for the WA State Patrol and ended up in banking prior to retirement. She has been volunteering at Ellensburg School District's 5th Grade Camp for over 30 years teaching wildlife classes and led many birding and "wildlife tracking" field trips for various organizations including Kittitas Environmental Education Network and the Teanaway Community Forest. She is past-President of the Kittitas County Field and Stream Club, with them doing lots of volunteer work doing various habitat restoration and other projects for WDFW and DNR. She has been teaching Hunter Education classes for WDFW for almost 20 years.

Image - Young Lions - Deb Essman
Young Lions - Deb Essman
Image - Maribou Stork on Acacia Tree - Deb Essman
Maribou Stork on Acacia Tree - Deb Essman

This will be a hybrid program. We will be gathering with Deb Essman at the Yakima Arboretum for this monthly program. Though we hope to see you all there, for those unable to attend, we will attempt to also have a simultaneous Zoom version available and a recording of the program on the YVAS website.

The link for the zoom version will be:

Webinar Viewing tips for YVAS Webinars

Would you like to enjoy Yakima Valley Audubon presentations with the whole family? You can now watch our programs whenever it is convenient for you! Our monthly programs are now available as webinars for viewing both in real time (so you can ask questions) and as recordings from a link on our website.

To view the live presentation on your laptop, tablet, or smart phone, click on the link in that month’s Calliope Crier or go to https://yakimaaudubon.org about five minutes before the program is scheduled to start and click on the Zoom webinar link. If you have never attended a Zoom meeting, you will be asked to download the app this first time. (You do not have to have your own Zoom account to join the webinar.) Be sure to answer ‘yes’ to the questions about joining with video and audio. You can always mute yourself for privacy, but you will need to answer yes to view and hear the presentation.

To better enjoy the beautiful photos in the presentation, you have the option of viewing it on a larger screen, such as your smart TV. To do this, you will need to connect your device to the TV with an HDMI cable. If your device does not have an HDMI port, there are inexpensive multiport adaptors available to enable this. (Try Office Depot or buy one online.)

It is even easier to view a recorded seminar once it has been posted on our website! You can watch the recording through your Internet browser, or, if your smartTV allows you to connect to an internet browser, you can simply go directly to our website and click on the seminar link. Video and sound will automatically be displayed and controlled on your Smart TV. Alternatively, you can pull up the webinar on your computer as above and connect your computer with an HDMI cable to your Smart TV.

Even in these challenging times, Yakima Audubon is committed to bringing you information about our natural world. Please let us know at info@yakimaaudubon.org what you think and what we can do to improve this experience for you.

Previous Programs

Additional programs and videos can be found on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/watch/yakimaaudubon/

Field Trips and Events Calendar

2023 YVAS Field Trips PDF

August:

September:

October:

December: