By Ilana DeBare

The San Joaquin River is the second longest river completely contained within California, but I bet you’ve never gone white-water rafting on it.

You’ve probably never even gone birding alongside it.

That’s because for the last 70 years, much of the San Joaquin River has been completely dry — diverted above the Friant Dam for use by Central Valley farmers.

Consider the photo below, of a section of the San Joaquin “river.” The water in this picture is only there as part of a test release; otherwise, what used to be a river is now a flat, sandy field.

 

San Joaquin riverbed

But change is on the way.

In 2006, federal officials agreed to restore 60 miles of the San Joaquin River as part of a lawsuit settlement with environmental groups including the Audubon Society. The lawsuit was over the loss of habitat for Chinook salmon, and the settlement called for the river to be ready for the reintroduction of salmon by the end of 2012.

While the lawsuit and restoration plan centered on salmon, restoration of the San Joaquin will be good for a wide range of wildlife, including birds such as the Least Bell’s Vireo and the Yellow Warbler.

The Least Bell’s Vireo, an endangered neotropical migrant, was extirpated from the Central Valley in the 1970s. But in the last five years, individuals have been found at refuges where riparian habitat has been restored. Sixty miles of flowing river would mean a lot more habitat for them.

Least Bell's Vireo at nest / Photo by Moose Peterson, FWSThe Yellow Warbler, listed as a Species of Special Concern in California, today is found throughout its historic range — except in the Central Valley.  It relies on willows and shrubs, which don’t exist along a dried-up San Joaquin River but would flourish alongside a restored, flowing one.

Yellow Warbler / Photo by Bob Lewis

Sounds like with the restoration, the future is looking better for Central Valley salmon, birds and other wildlife, right?

But the project also faces some possible hurdles. It’s a couple of years behind schedule due to delays in getting the implementing legislation through Congress. And although the restoration plan guarantees a continued flow of water for agriculture, some Central Valley farmers feel it isn’t enough, especially in dry years.

Central Valley Republican congressmen have tried to derail the restoration, most recently through a bill (HR 1837)  that passed the House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate.…

By Ilana DeBare

About two weeks ago, there was a terrible incident in New York’s Central Park where a 73-year-old woman was raped while birding. I won’t go into the details except to say that the rapist was caught, and turned out to be a 42-year-old drifter with a history of felonies who had threatened other park goers too.

So the risk wasn’t specific to birding. The victim could have been anyone in the park. Still, the attack raised questions for me about personal safety and birding, particularly as a woman.

As an advanced-beginner birder, I typically go out with other people for help identifying the birds. I was curious about how other more experienced birders – especially women – feel about birding alone, and whether they worry about personal safety. So I emailed a few of Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s most proficient women birders, and posted the question on our Facebook page.

I quickly realized there are a variety of issues around birding safety, beyond the rape-on-a-secluded-trail that had been on my mind:

• Natural hazards – poison oak, mountain lions, rattlesnakes etc.
• Optics issues – carrying $2000 worth of cameras, scopes etc. can make birders a robbery target.
• Getting to birding sites, particularly if you need to take public transit through high-crime areas.

I received a variety of responses. Some women feel that birding is no riskier than daily life in a big city. Marissa Ortega-Welch, who helps run our Eco-Education program, wrote:

I am conscious of being a young woman and generally live my life trying to always be vigilant and aware of my surroundings and present an air of confidence…. I don’t give any more thought to my personal safety while birding than I do during any other activity in my life. I do bird and hike alone, and while occasionally my irrational fears will get the better of me and make me feel nervous, I remind myself that statistically I am actually much safer in the middle of the woods than in the city and certainly safer than being in a car.

But a couple of Facebook respondents said that safety concerns do affect their birding — in frustrating ways. One wrote:

As a woman, i am often concerned about my personal safety. If alone, I try to stay on traveled trails. Unfortunately, I never feel totally relaxed. And to be perfectly honest, it p—es me off!

…

By Ilana DeBare

Some weekends there are just TOO many things to do! And that goes double during fall migration season.

This past Saturday was Coastal Cleanup Day, and Golden Gate Bird Alliance sponsored volunteer clean-up sessions at three different sites – Pier 94 in San Francisco, Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline Park in Oakland, and Rheem Creek (Bayview Elementary School) in San Pablo.

On top of that, Dan Murphy led his annual fall migration field trip in western San Francisco. The Bay Area’s Audubon chapters were holding a meeting at the Richardson Bay Audubon Center in Tiburon. And countless GGBA members were outdoors on their own looking for visiting warblers, vireos, crossbills and who knows what else….

Because pictures do speak louder than words, here are a lot of pictures and a few words about the weekend’s adventures:

Adults and kids haul trash out of Rheem Creek in San Pablo / Photo by Karen Stout Young volunteers sort trash they pulled out of Rheem Creek in San Pablo / Photo by Anthony DeCicco

At Rheem Creek in San Pablo, GGBA Eco-Education staff and volunteers joined kids from Bayview Elementary School to clean up Rheem Creek, a tributary to the Bay. Thirty-two people picked up about 450 pounds of trash, including a shopping cart, fax machine, word processor, two bicycles and a sports trophy.

Meanwhile, at Pier 94 near Bayview/Hunter’s Point, twelve GGBA volunteers used recycled bags to remove 1,120 pounds of trash, including  one cubic yard of salsola soda, an invasive weed. Amidst the paint cans, PVC, styrofoam and razorwire, the most unusual piece of trash was a… plastic Santa.

At MLK Shoreline, eight GGBA volunteers picked up about 30 pounds of trash. (No shopping carts there… so they were focusing on small pieces.)

Across the Bay in San Francisco, Dan Murphy led about 30 birders on a field trip at the Chain of Lakes in Golden Gate Park, the East Wash and other coastal sites. “North Lake in GGP produced the day’s best birds,” he reported. “Hooded Merganser, Gadwall, Hermit Warbler 2, Orchard Oriole, Willow Flycatcher, Common Yellowthroat, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Cedar Waxwing 2.”

Dan Murphy & crew looking for shearwaters at East Wash / Photo by Ilana DeBare How many Audubon chapters get to bird with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background? / Photo by Ilana DeBare

And, lest you think we only have photos of people from the weekend, we’ll end with a couple of photos of goldfinches having as good a time as any of their human observers.…

By Ilana DeBare

John Muir “Jack” Laws, a Golden Gate Bird Alliance board member and author of several field guides, has a beautiful new book out this month, The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds. We sat down recently to speak with Jack about drawing birds — and why it is an activity not simply for “gifted artists” but for anyone who wants to heighten their appreciation of birds and nature.

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Q: This has nothing to do with the book, but where did you get your name? As a naturalist, did you decide to take the name of John Muir? 

A:  That’s really what my mom and dad named me. The middle name Muir came from my great-grandmother on my dad’s side. And John, with the nickname Jack, came from my grandfather on my mom’s side.  But they were very aware of the way those two things came together. My mom was a Sierra Club lawyer and the two of them had spent a lot of time romancing in the Sierra Nevada.

The whole time I was growing up, I thought I must be related to John Muir. I grew up reading his stories (of) climbing trees in windstorms and sliding down glaciers and all these other adventures. I definitely felt a connection.

Q: Most people feel, “I can’t draw.” Not just “I can’t draw birds,” but “I can’t draw anything.” Is that true? 

A: It is an incredibly powerful, pervasive myth. But it’s entirely false. The truth of the matter is that drawing is a skill, like learning how to make a bed. The more you do it, the better you get at it.

As adults, we don’t want to let ourselves do anything we’re not already good at. So we don’t give it a try. We don’t want to let ourselves stand briefly in that vulnerable place where we’re not already an expert. And so we miss out on a lot of really great opportunities.

Canada Warbler - sketch by Jack Laws

Q: But there are also differences in the level of potential. Wouldn’t you see a difference if you put Van Gogh and me in front of sketchpads?

 A: You listen to Mozart’s early stuff, and it’s not good. Then you look at what he does down the line, and wow! He’s put in his time.

If you start drawing on a regular basis for one year, at the end of that year, your friends will be turning to you and saying, “Oh my gosh, you’re so lucky to have that gift.…