San Francisco photographer Sharon Beals will be a guest exhibitor at our Birdathon Awards Dinner on Sunday May 19th. Sharon is the author of Nests: Fifty Nests and the Birds that Built Them, published by Chronicle Books. For the nests in her book, she turned to the collections of the California Academy of Sciences, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, and the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology. Join us at the Birdathon dinner to meet Sharon and see some more of her work! (Note: Registration deadline for the dinner is Tuesday May 7th.)

The following is an excerpt of an interview with Sharon Beals by Chuck Hagner, from BirdWatchingDaily.com.

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BirdWatching: Where did the idea for the book come from? 

Beals: The idea evolved over a 10-year trajectory that began after reading Scott Weidensaul’s amazing book Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds. Besides explaining how birds manage to find their way — navigating by stars, magnetic fields, polarized light, or even what might be some inherited instinct — he also talks about what they encounter along the way, and at either end of these journeys.

Pine Siskin nest / Photo by Sharon Beals

And as most of your readers may already know, migratory hazards and habitat loss are affecting so many birds around the world. I had already been interested in native plants and habitat restoration, but this book was the inspiration to learn as much as I could about what birds need to survive and about what I do in my own life that affects the welfare of birds, even at a distance.

BirdWatching: What made you ask, in 2007, to see the collection of nests and eggs at the California Academy of Sciences?

Beals: I wanted to share what I was learning, and to reach a larger audience than the already-converted choir of birders and native-plant aficionados. How to do that with my skill and artistry eluded me. It was only after photo-ing some of a friend’s innocently but, as it turned out, illegally collected nests (now either returned to the wild or donated to the Academy for use in nature education) that I felt that I had found a subject matter that would engage a wider public and, hopefully, engender their interest in birds.

California Towhee nest / Photo by Sharon Beals

BirdWatching: Are nests more of scientific or artistic interest to you?…

 By Ilana DeBare

For the past two years, we’ve been fighting plans by the city of San Francisco to create artificial-turf soccer fields with stadium-style lighting in western Golden Gate Park, an area that was intended in city plans to remain more natural and less developed.

We lost a round in this battle last summer before the city’s planning and parks commissions.

But next week, the issue goes before a different body — the California Coastal Commission.

And there are (fingers crossed!) some signs of hope.

The Coastal Commission staff report, which was released last Friday, concludes that the Beach Chalet soccer field project may conflict with the city’s Local Coastal Plan.

The “project will modify the Beach Chalet fields in a way that will alter its naturalistic character, including through the introduction of elements that would significantly change its spatial organization and setting (e.g. artificial turf, field lights, seating areas, fencing,  concrete paths, etc.),” the commission staff wrote.

The report recommends modifying the project along the lines suggested by GGBA and our allies —  improving the grass fields, rather than replacing them with artificial turf, and eliminating or reducing the proposed 60-foot-tall lighting towers.

The staff report noted that:

Such a project would be a significant improvement to the Beach Chalet fields area that would both enhance its pastoral naturalistic character and its utility for recreation consistent with the LCP [Local Coastal Plan].

So that’s good news! But the commission is by no means required to follow the recommendation of staff. And the same powerful interests that pushed the city for an artificial turf “solution” will also be trying to influence the Coastal Commission.

Together with our allies in S.F. Ocean’s Edge, we’re asking people to come to the hearing on May 9th, to support an alternative that would meet the needs of both recreation and wildlife.

Beach Chalet now, with natural grass fields What Beach Chalet would look like with lights

If you can’t attend the hearing, you can send the commission a letter. But it would need to be a postal letter (no email!), and they would need to receive it by May 3rd. Click here for information on what to say and where to send a letter.

Email us at ggas@goldengatebirdalliance.orgif you can attend the hearing. If enough people are coming, we can try to arrange carpools. The hearing will be at the Marin Board of Supervisors chamber, 3501 Civic Center Drive in San Rafael. …

By Bob Lewis

Eleven friends of Golden Gate Bird Alliance did a Birdathon trip near Monterey on April 15 aboard the Elkhorn Slough Safari boat, finding about 43 species in two hours, and photographing many.  Although the weather report promised high winds and cold temperatures, the elements held off and the morning was pleasant.  Captain Yohn is expert at maneuvering close to animals without spooking them, and we got great looks at quite a few.

It was a grand time to see birds in their alternate (breeding) plumage, and we found all three cormorants – Brandt’s on nests with their bright blue gular pouches, Pelagic with bright red faces, and Double-crested sporting bright yellow pouches.

Brandt's Cormorants nesting / Photo by Bob Lewis Pelagic Cormorant / Photo by Bob Lewis Double-crested Cormorant / Photo by Bob Lewis

American White Pelicans flew by showing off their “nuptial knobs,” strange protuberances on their bill that are only present during breeding time.

White Pelicans with breeding "bump" on bill / Photo by Bob Lewis

The most interesting bird was a Red-throated Loon in alternate plumage.  It’s a plumage seldom seen south of the arctic nesting grounds, so exciting to find.  Some of the Common Loons were also in striking black and white breeding plumage, Eared Grebes showed off golden ear tufts, Black-bellied Plovers had black bellies, Greater Yellowlegs were strikingly speckled, and a Pigeon Guillemot showed off his bright red feet.

Red-throated Loon / Photo by Bob Lewis

Best mammal award was a tie between the always adorable Sea Otters and the Harbor Seals with their newborn pups.  Sea Lions will probably dispute the judging – they had a lot to say as we cruised by their overcrowded dock.

Newborn harbor seal and mother / Photo by Bob Lewis

Many thanks to all the participants and others who contributed to our Birdathon efforts.

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Even if you didn’t go on a Birdathon field trip, please join us at the Birdathon Awards Dinner on Sunday afternoon May 19th! There will be good food, good friends, boutique wines, and birding opportunities at a beautiful private hillside home next to Redwood Regional Park. Info and registration at https://goldengatebirdalliance.org/donate/birdathon-2013/birdathon-2013-dinner/.

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By Ilana DeBare

There has been so much deeply horrific news this week — the Boston bombings, the spineless Senate, the Texas fertilizer fire. It might seem hard to care about two dead goslings.

But these goslings were in our backyard, so to speak, swimming in the bay a few feet offshore of San Francisco’s Crissy Field on Wednesday.

And they died a completely gratuitous death in the jaws of several unleashed dogs — a graphic illustration of why we need stricter regulation of dogs in the Presidio and other parts of Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

San Francisco resident Mikiye Nakanishi was walking her own chihuahua and saw the killings unfold. Two adult Canada Geese were leading six goslings into the bay from the inlet near the Crissy Field lagoon. The adults were swimming easily out, and the youngsters were working hard to get past the bay’s tiny waves.

Canada Goose family before dog attack / Photo by Mikiye Nakanishi Goslings before dog attack / Photo by Mikiye Nakanishi

A crowd of teenage French tourists were gathered nearby, watching the cute bird family. Other passersby stopped to see what was drawing everyone’s attention. Nakanishi herself stopped to snap some photos. Suddenly an off-leash dog came running at the birds. Its owner called it off.

“Then another dog came running and grabbed one,” Nakanishi recounted. “A second dog grabbed another one. A third dog came and pushed them all out. The geese had no place to go. People were surrounding them. The dog owners were saying, ‘Oh, they’ re not going to hurt them.’ ”

No, the dogs did not hurt the goslings.

They killed them.

Gosling killed by dogs / Photo by Mikiye Nakanishi

Nakanishi was horrified, both by the sudden killings and by the irresponsibility of the dogs’ owners, who fled the scene before park personnel could arrive.

The pointless death of the two young geese highlights something we have been saying for a long time — there need to be stricter controls on unleashed dogs in the GGNRA.

Most U.S. national parks allow NO unleashed dogs at all, and allow leashed dogs only on paved surfaces like parking lots. Yet dogs roam free throughout almost all of the GGNRA, despite the fact that it is home to more endangered species than Yosemite, Sequoia, Death Valley and Kings Canyon National Parks combined.

We understand that dog owners cherish the ability to let their pets run free.…

By Ilana DeBare

Dozens of Cliff Swallows are being killed each week by a Caltrans contractor in Petaluma — even though alternative technologies are available that would keep the swallows safe.

Sonoma County bird lovers are up in arms over the killings, in which swallows are being trapped in netting installed on a Highway 101 bridge by contractor C.C. Myers.

They’re asking other wildlife lovers to sign petitions and write letters asking Caltrans to remove the netting.

“This is the wrong material for the wrong structure in the wrong environment for the wrong purpose,” said Veronica Bowers of Native Songbird Care and Conservation, a Sonoma County wildlife rehabilitation group that is leading the fight against the netting.

The issue involves construction work to widen Highway 101, including a bridge where the highway crosses the Petaluma River. Cliff Swallows have nested under that bridge for decades, returning to the area each spring from their wintering grounds 6000 miles away in South America.

Petaluma River bridge / Photo courtesy of Native Songbird Care & Conservation Swallows in netting / Photo by Scott Manchester, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Federal law makes it illegal to interfere with nests of migratory birds. So to prevent the swallows from building nests on the bridge, Caltrans contractor C.C. Myers installed netting. But the netting is hardly bird-proof. The swallows — which have very strong fidelity to their previous nesting sites — fly into the netting and get trapped.

The irony is that — in supposed compliance with a law aimed at protecting birds’ nests — Caltrans is now killing birds.

In six visits between April 7 and 13, Native Songbird Care volunteers documented 87 dead Cliff Swallows, one dead Barn Swallow, and one dead European Starling. They estimate that the total death toll so far is in the hundreds.

Swallows in netting / Photo by Sheri Cardo

In response to complaints about the deaths, the contractor now has workers removing bird carcasses and repairing holes in the netting each night. But new birds continue to get trapped every day, dying slow deaths from suffocation or dehydration.

Meanwhile, there’s an alternate technology that would prevent nesting during construction while also saving birds’ lives. Teflon (HDPE) sheeting can be wrapped on the bridge to deny the birds a foothold without entrapping them.

But Caltrans and C.C. Myers have so far refused to back off the deadly netting strategy. And U.S.…