Bird Talk By Fred Emerson and Fred Machetanz

To celebrate the birds of our region, the Wildling offered a birding lecture with Fred Emerson and Fred Machetanz to expand public knowledge on Sunday April 8th. Santa Barbara County and the overall region is renowned for bird species diversity and is a hotspot for birders with the central coast a stop along the migratory Pacific Flyway. Both Freds have worked together weekly for more than 10 years at UCSB Sedgwick Reserve to monitor its diverse bird life. Their group of birders maintains the Reserve’s bird list, which is posted online on e-bird.  

About the Freds

Fred Emerson grew up in rural western New York state.  He majored in biology at Alfred University and received a Ph.D in conservation biology from Cornell University. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in marine biology at the University of Miami, he worked several years in wildlife management for the Tennessee Valley Authority and University of Tennessee.  After an M. D. from Vanderbilt and an internal medicine residency at the University of Colorado, he enjoyed a 20 year career in teaching and practice of emergency medicine.  

Since then he has focused on teaching birding along with the ecology, and natural history of Santa Barbara County for Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara City College Adult Education, the Wildling Art Museum and UCSB Sedgwick Reserve.

Fred Machetanz has been intensely interested in birds and nature in California since he was five years old.  He has led numerous bird walks for the Los Angeles Community College District and for interested birders in the Santa Barbara area. 

For thirty years, he taught mathematics and physics and held positions in research, testing and counseling at Los Angeles Valley College.  He taught Educational Measurement for UCLA Extension. He graduated from Cal Tech with a B.S. degree in mathematics and received an Ed.D. degree in Educational Psychology from UCLA.