About Us
Founded in 1994, supported by National Audubon Society-California and affiliated with the North American Bluebird Society, CBRP is “for the encouragement and conservation of cavity-nesters—especially bluebirds—anywhere in the West.” We are pleased to acknowledge the support of the Mt. Diablo Audubon Society, Walnut Creek.
Aims
- enlist current bluebirders and recruit others who will help reestablish bluebirds in their normal habitat;
- find typical habitat for the placement of nestboxes suitable for use by bluebirds;
- secure monitors to care for the boxes and keep systematic records of the development of young birds during the nesting season;
- record and analyze all annual summaries of nestbox records;
- provide a forum (newsletter) through which fellow trail operators can exchange information and secure help in solving problems encountered in the field.
Board of Directors
Dick Blaine, Program Director
Since retiring Dick has become an avid bicyclist and bird watcher. His background is techinical with emphasis on computers. He participates with local, state wide and national environmental, bicycling, birding, ham radio and civic organizations. In recent years he has been volunteering to help several of these organizations with their data processing needs. Dick started participating in the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society’s Cavity Nesting Recovery Program (CNRP) in the late 1990’s and monitored the McClellan Ranch Park trail for ten years. He worked with the Santa Clara county coordinator to computerize data collection for Santa Clara County and then created the first CBRP web site in 2006. This web site was rewritten in 2020. When the founder of the California Bluebird Recovery Program, Don Yoder, retired in 2007 Dick took over as CBRP Director. He worked with a database programmer to develop an interactive, on-line data base for data collection and later created the current Google Drive based data collection spreadsheet. Dick continues to monitor home-based nest boxes and serving as the CBRP Program Director.
Georgette Howington, Assistant Director
Georgette has been a nest box monitor with the California Bluebird Recovery Program for 24 years. She is the Contra Costa and Alameda Counties Coordinator as well as State Assistant Program Director. Georgette stages community exhibits, is a speaker and works with Eagle Scout candidates and provides new monitor’s personal coaching. As a conservationist in the SF East Bay Area, for over thirty years, she’s been a contributing member and or supporter of organizations such as California Garden Clubs (Life Member), Mt. Diablo Audubon Society, Raptors Are The Solution, various Land Trusts, among others. Georgette is a Horticulturist and certified as a UC Davis Naturalist of the Mt. Diablo Region, published writer and poet. She lives with her husband Bruce, their cat Bodhi and two demanding Goldfish.
Mike Azevedo, Board Member
Mike Azevedo has been the County Coordinator for Santa Clara County with the California Bluebird Recovery Program since 2009. Mike has been a Science Camp naturalist, park ranger and merit badge counselor for nature related merit badges for years. Mike is compiler of the San Jose Audubon Christmas Bird Count and has worked with Santa Clara Audubon Society closely since becoming involved. Mike is working with Sequoia Audubon Society on a project to save the Western Purple Martin, a species of special concern that is battling habitat loss, deadly competition with the introduced European starling and food source crash due to the rampant use of neonicotinoid pesticides. Together with Georgette Howington, Mike is an editor of the CBRP Facebook Page and is currently working on books and videos encouraging the use of native plants and nest boxes and habitat improvement in general.
Leslie Handa, Board Member
Lesley has been the County Coordinator for San Diego County since 2023. She is an ornithologist and geographer who is passionate about the conservation of birds and habitats. She has invested time studying the unique composition of biodiversity and habitats in the San Diego region through participation in animal surveys, monitoring efforts, and habitat restoration, and strongly believes there is much to conserve across the State of California. Lesley is active with the San Diego Audubon Society serving as the Lead Ornithologist, Vice President of the Board, and a member of the Conservation Committee. She also serves as a board member of the Friends of Famosa Slough. She holds a BS in Biology, a BA in English, and an MS in GIScience. Lesley was awarded the 2020-21 top honor Parks and Recreation Champion Award for the County of San Diego in recognition of her outstanding contributions to local parks, preserves, and community programs across the county.