PB&J Birders Event for Kids – Sept. 29

PB&J Birders Event for Kids – Sept. 29

ByGGBA

Join us on Sunday morning September 29th for our third PB&J Birders walk for kids and families!

Share fall migration with the kids in your life! Little birders and their parents/guardians are invited on this easy walk at Land’s End in San Francisco, where we will look for shorebirds, ducks and more.

Bring snacks and binoculars/scopes if you have them. PB&J Birders will bring extra binoculars, birding books, coloring projects/pages and crayons, cameras, and of course peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to share! (Please let us know if you or your kids have allergies.) Meet at 10 a.m. near the Visitors Center in the parking lot of Land’s End (680 Point Lobos Avenue).

PB&J Birders walks are led by a dad (Tom) and his two daughters (Maire and Emma, one of whom designed the PB&J Birders logo). PB&J Birders events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Tom at tommacbarbc@aol.com.

 

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Breakneck Birding in Oakland magazine

Breakneck Birding in Oakland magazine

ByGGBA

What’s it like to sight one hundred birds in six hours — all within Oakland city limits? Oakland magazine provides a vivid account of the Oaktown Ouzels team’s “big six hours” during our April 2013 Birdathon.

Click here to read the online version of the story. And then start planning your own 2014 Birdathon trip!

Oaktown Ouzels at Sibley Regional Park / Photo by Ilana DeBare One of 105 species / Photo by Ilana DeBare Oaktown Ouzels at Lake Merritt / Photo by Ilana DeBare

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Share your love of nature

Share your love of nature

ByGGBA

Love birds? Want to share your love with others? As fall approaches, we need volunteers to work with kids in our Eco-Education program and to serve as docents along the East Bay shoreline.

No prior experience needed — just a love of birds and nature. We are offering several training sessions in September. Here are the opportunities:

Birding the Bay Trail Docents. Help walkers, bikers and others using the Bay Trail to identify and appreciate the birds of the Richmond shoreline!  Docents are asked to commit to volunteering once a month for two hours from October through March. Docent training will be held on Tuesday, September 24 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. For questions or RSVP, contact Noreen Weeden at nweeden@goldengatebirdalliance.org.

Burrowing Owl Docents. The Burrowing Owls of Cesar Chavez Park are avian celebrities. Help park users sight  and understand these winter visitors. Docents are asked to commit two hours every two weeks. Training will take place on Saturday, September 28 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For questions or RSVP, contact Noreen Weeden at nweeden@goldengatebirdalliance.org.

Eco-Education Volunteers. Accompany our award-winning Eco-Ed staff as they lead 3rd through 5th grade classes on field trips to creeks and the bay. Help kids observe local birdlife, collect and study plankton and invertebrates, plant native plants, and learn about our Bay Area environment. No extended commitments necessary — every effort helps!

Eco-Ed trainings will take place on Thursday Sept 12 and Saturday Sept 14 in San Francisco, and Thursday Sept. 19 and Saturday Sept 21 in the East Bay. (Your choice.) Each session runs from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Bring a lunch! For information and RSVP, email Eco-Education Director Anthony DeCicco at adecicco@goldengatebirdalliance.org.

Eco-Education program in the field / Photo by Anthony DeCicco…
Speak up for Peregrine Falcon rescues!

Speak up for Peregrine Falcon rescues!

ByGGBA

Please sign our online petition to prevent the unnecessary drowning of young Peregrine Falcons!

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service recently revoked permission for the rescue and relocation of peregrine chicks from bridge nest sites ion Northern California.

Peregrine Falcons were threatened with extinction in the 1960s and ’70s due to DDT, and remain on the state of California list of Protected species.

Because we have destroyed so much of peregrines’ habitat, they sometimes turn to man-made bridges for nesting. But the chicks then face a risk of drowning as they learn to fly.

The U.C. Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group has been working to support this once-endangered species for decades. They are willing to continue rescuing and relocating falcon chicks from Northern California bridges for free — at no cost to taxpayers.

The Fish & Wildlife Service says the rescues are no longer necessary, that peregrines prey upon other at-risk species such as California Least Terns, and we should “let nature take its course” with falcon fledglings on bridges.

We’re not talking about large numbers here — maybe three or four peregrine chicks each year on bridges in Northern California. The impact of three or four additional falcons on species such as Least Terns is dwarfed by other, larger threats such as human disturbance and habitat loss.

Peregrines bring a bit of wild beauty into our urban lives. They are only recently off the endangered species list, and continue to face man-made hazards such as shooting. We have depleted their traditional nesting sites and built the bridges that seem like attractive replacements — shouldn’t we allow skilled wildlife experts like the PRBG to help them survive?

Click here to sign our petition. Add your comments. And take a minute to read the eloquent comments on the petition site by other people who have signed!…

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