• Snowy Plovers arrive — and benefit from new fencing

    By Ilana DeBare

    Remember the line from Field of Dreams: Build it and they will come? 

    The East Bay Regional Park District built protective fencing this fall on Crown Beach in Alameda.

    And the Western Snowy Plovers came!

    We posted earlier this month about how Golden Gate Bird Alliance volunteers helped win protective signage and fencing for these small, threatened shorebirds at Crown Beach. Shortly after the fencing was installed, the first plovers of the season arrived and started roosting in and near the protected area.

    Not only that, the initial group of about a half-dozen plovers includes one young bird that is only four months old!

    Birder Bob Sikora managed to capture photos of some of the Alameda plovers on Wednesday, including one bird with colored leg bands. It turned out to have been banded this past summer by San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory at Ravenswood Slough in Palo Alto, shortly after its birth on June 21st.

    Last winter, GGBA volunteers spotted a banded adult plover at Alameda that also came from Ravenswood.

    “It’s possible they could be from the same family — that this young bird’s father led it over to Alameda,” said GGBA Executive Director Cindy Margulis. “The arrival of this bird shows that a new generation has come to the beach. Now that the plovers have a protected wintering area here, they will have an easier time maturing and getting used to life in the wild.”

    Western Snowy Plover at Crown BeachFour-month-old Western Snowy Plover with leg bands at Alameda’s Crown Beach / Photo by Bob Sikora, bobsikora.smugmug.com Western Snowy Plover at Alameda's Crown Beach / Photo by Bob SikoraWestern Snowy Plover at Alameda’s Crown Beach / Photo by Bob Sikora, bobsikora.smugmug.com

    The protected area on Crown Beach — only about two blocks long — is a small but important step in ensuring the survival of Western Snowy Plovers. Due to decades of urban development along western beaches and sand dunes, there are only about 2,000 of these birds left on the West Coast.

    Western Snowy Plovers were listed by the federal government as a threatened species in 1993. Beaches like Alameda provide winter roosting sites, where the birds feed and rest in preparation for summer breeding.

    But on busy urban beaches — where they are constantly flushed from the warm sand by joggers, dogs, and other passersby — it can be difficult for plovers to get the rest they need. Thus the importance of providing fenced-off protected areas like the one in Alameda!…

  • Alameda plovers win protective fencing

    By Ilana DeBare

    Alameda’s winter population of threatened Western Snowy Plovers will be a lot safer this year — thanks to new protective fencing installed after monitoring and advocacy by Golden Gate Bird Alliance members.

    The East Bay Regional Park District added the protective fencing and signage this month at Crown Memorial State Beach in Alameda, where up to 14 of the small shorebirds were sighted last winter.

    Due to decades of urban development along western beaches and sand dunes, there are only about 2,000 Western Snowy Plovers left on the West Coast. They were listed by the federal government as a threatened species in 1993.

    The plovers rely on Crown Beach for winter roosting, as they forage for small invertebrates along the water and rest in the warm dry sand above the tideline. Winter is critical for them to build up the energy and resources for spring and summer breeding. The birds use camouflage for protection so they don’t have to expend metabolic energy by constantly flushing.

    But on busy Crown Beach, people often don’t see them until they nearly step on them — sometimes flushing an entire flock.

    Well-camouflaged Western Snowy Plovers in Alameda in early 2014 / Photo by Cindy MargulisWell-camouflaged Western Snowy Plovers in Alameda in early 2014 / Photo by Cindy Margulis

    “With this new protection on their winter roost, these birds will have a better chance to conserve their energy and be in peak condition when it’s time to move on to their nesting sites in the spring,” said GGBA Executive Director Cindy Margulis.

    The protective fencing is a classic Audubon conservation success story — built on a combination of citizen-science monitoring, public education, and advocacy.

    And while some conservation victories take years to win, this one took less than a year!

    The story began in November 2013, when several GGBA members taking part in a Point Blue (formerly PRBO) shorebird survey discovered the roosting plover population.

    “We all fell in love with the birds as soon as we found them,” Margulis said. “After a week we all talked again and realized one of us had been out there looking for them every day. We had a de facto survey going on.”

    GGBA member Leora Feeney had been documenting the presence of plovers at Crown Beach for years. But the new, larger group of plover advocates made it easier to bring them to the attention of the East Bay Regional Park District, which manages Crown Beach.

    GGBA members Sue Morgan, Tom and Diane Bennett, and Margulis visited the beach almost daily to record the plovers’ presence and document incidents of disturbance.…

  • Why Audubon Supports Prop 1 (Water Bond)

    Audubon California is supporting Proposition 1, the $7 billion state water bond that will be on the California ballot in November. Here are the reasons, summed up by Mike Lynes, Policy Director for Audubon California and former Executive Director of Golden Gate Bird Alliance.

    Why Audubon California supports Proposition 1 (and you should, too)

    Even before California entered its third straight year of this brutal drought, California birds were suffering from poor water management and infrastructure.

    • Central Valley refuges, the last strongholds of wetland habitat in the valley, were not getting the water promised to them by Congress in the Central Valley Project Improvement Act.
    • Funding has decreased for the types of habitat restoration and wildlife conservation benefitting birds that have been provided by a series of parks and conservation bonds.
    • The state’s system for water delivery (including levees) is inadequate and crumbling. This puts habitat at risk, just as it threatens every other sector of the state.

    California’s $7.12 billion water bond (Prop. 1) contains numerous benefits for birds and habitat throughout California.

    • Explicitly allocates $475 million in funding for priority bird habitat in the Salton Sea, Klamath, and Central Valley refuges (funding for Central Valley Project Improvement Act refuge water).
    • Includes almost an additional $1 billion for watershed protection, restoration, and habitat improvements.
    • Includes funding for all of the conservancies throughout the state and the Wildlife Conservation Board — the principal land acquisition and restoration sponsors in the state.
    • Makes critical investments in Delta habitat, through the Department of Fish and Wildlife and Delta Conservancy, which will greatly benefit birds, and ensures that bond funds cannot be spent on projects such as tunnels or canals described in the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan.
    • Provides critical statewide watershed conservation funding in an environment where funds for conservation are diminishing.
    • Will improve water quality and make supply more reliable – which is critically important for the environment and for birds.

    With 170 California birds specifically threatened by global warming, the water bond provides critical funding for projects that will help our birds adapt to a warmer climate.

    Snow Geese (mostly) at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge / Photo by Ilana DeBareSnow Geese (mostly) at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge / Photo by Ilana DeBare

    Like many conservation groups, we are concerned about the $2.7 billion set aside for water storage, including potential new dams. However:

    • None of the funds are earmarked for specific projects and the funds can be spent on projects such as off-stream reservoirs and groundwater storage, which are much more environmentally sound and fiscally viable than new dams.
    …

  • A win for Berkeley’s squirrels — and Burrowing Owls

    By Ilana DeBare

    Do you recall the furor that erupted last spring when the City of Berkeley announced plans to exterminate thousands of ground squirrels at Cesar Chavez Park?

    The Regional Water Quality Control Board had told the city to reduce the ground squirrel population due to concerns that squirrel burrows could allow contaminants from the landfill under the park to leach into the Bay.

    But the plan would have been a disaster not just for the squirrels but for the park’s small winter population of Burrowing Owls, which rely on squirrel burrows for shelter. Over 80,000 people sent emails of protest to the city.

    Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s East Bay Conservation Committee sprang into action. Together with other wildlife advocates including WildCare and In Defense of Animals, GGBA volunteers worked with city officials over a four-month period to come up with a humane alternative to the killings.

    And this week marks the start of that new approach — one based on public education rather than mass extermination.

    Burrowing Owl and ground squirrel at Cesar Chavez Park / Photo by PenelopediaBurrowing Owl and ground squirrel at Cesar Chavez Park / Photo by Penelopedia

    The new approach aims to reduce the park’s large squirrel population naturally, by discouraging people from feeding the squirrels. Among the initiatives:

    • A new city law, passed in July and taking effect on October 1, that criminalizes the feeding of wildlife in city parks. Violators will face minimum fines of $100 after the initial “warning” period and up to $500 for multiple infractions within a year.
    • New signage that will warn people not to feed wildlife.
    • Brochures that explain why feeding squirrels may seem kind but is ultimately harmful. Wild animals that come to rely on human handouts risk malnutrition, spread of disease, and loss of fear of humans.

    Without human handouts, the Cesar Chavez ground squirrel population will gradually disperse and decline. And there is plenty of time for this  to happen. In the wake of last spring’s outcry, city officials determined that there is in fact no evidence of squirrel burrows currently causing toxics to leach into the bay. If it is a potential problem at all, it is a problem in the future — so there is time to reduce the squirrel population naturally.

    New signs for Cesar Chavez Park. "No feeding" is in the bottom left. The other signs clarify the on-leash and off-leash dog areas. Photo by Carla Din.New signs for Cesar Chavez Park. “No feeding” is in the bottom left. The other signs clarify the on-leash and off-leash dog areas. Photo by Carla Din.

    In a joint press release this week, GGBA, WildCare and In Defense of Animals praised Berkeley for moving away from its original lethal plan.…

  • Vaux’s Swifts in San Rafael, 2014

    By Cindy Margulis

    I absolutely love the energy associated with massive numbers of birds ingathering — especially at dusk.   So I was treated to a particularly breathtaking marvel on September 19 as migrating Vaux Swifts swirled in the sky above the historic smokestacks at McNear’s Brick & Block in San Rafael.

    As these astonishingly fast and acrobatic flyers awaited their moment to enter the roost, the sky was graced with a massive spiraling ribbon of birds. Breathtaking!

    Adding to my own enthusiasm that evening was the fact that our own Rusty Scalf was there leading the counting of the swifts and attempting to detect – via radio telemetry – any of the six Vaux outfitted in Washington State with transmitters for their arduous autumnal migration down the Pacific Coast.

    Rusty had discovered this Vaux roost for the birding community in 2010, when it occurred to him that the site’s dynamics matched those of other major collective migratory roost sites along the Pacific Flyway. This year Rusty marshaled several of GGBA’s dedicated volunteers — including participants in our Master Birder class — to help with the count.

    Faux's Swifts approach the chimney in 2014 / Photo by Michael HelmFaux’s Swifts approach the chimney in 2014 / Photo by Michael Helm Vaux's Swifts entering the chimney in 2014 / Photo by Michael HelmVaux’s Swifts entering the chimney in 2014 / Photo by Michael Helm American Kestrel perched on the McNear chimney / Photo by Miya LucasAmerican Kestrel perched on the McNear chimney / Photo by Miya Lucas

    It wasn’t easy to count them all, as the swifts kept arriving by the hundreds, even while an intrepid American Kestrel tried his best to pick one out of the crowd with no success. The kestrel astonished us all as he dove into a smokestack, either hoping to catch a swift inside or seeking refuge from the ones that had mobbed him when he brazenly chose to perch on the edge of their favorite chimney.

    There were so many swifts that evening that some had to seek roosting spots in the other smokestacks. Our keen-eyed volunteers were watching for that, and started clicking away on their counters, their thumbs getting quite a workout, as swifts were diving down into the chimneys at almost ten birds per second.

    Years ago, Vaux would seek roosts in large redwood snags but now they’ve adapted to use older brick chimneys, which give them a surface they can cling to for the night. Vaux don’t have feet for perching, just for clinging. (Think crampons like those used by mountaineers.) By gathering together in tight quarters, they not only escape the wind but conserve heat energy, especially important on a long migration through uncertain weather conditions.…