By Ilana DeBare

High drama is happening amidst San Francisco’s high rises as four Peregrine Falcon fledglings learn to fly – and as intrepid human volunteers help them recover from potentially-deadly missteps.

The four chicks – two male, two female — hatched at the end of March in a nest on the 33^rd floor of the downtown PG&E building. By the beginning of May, they had gained their flight feathers and were ready to take wing.

But first flights – never easy anywhere – are particularly dangerous in a downtown of concrete canyons and glass walls.

“San Francisco is an incredibly difficult place for babies to fledge,” said Mary Malec, one of about 20 volunteers who are monitoring the falcons from street level and from a donated suite in a nearby office building with a view of the nest.  “There are so many buildings to run into. Some are glass, which birds can’t see. It’s easy for them to end up on the ground, where they can run into trucks and buses and all sorts of hazards.”

Amelia, one of the female falcons, who will be the last to fledge. Photo by Jim Dikel.

Within the past week, both of the young male falcons have had close calls:

Sutro’s Tower

Sutro, one of the males, flew to a nearby building last Thursday. When he tried to return to the nest site, he missed and tried to land on another building. But it had a smooth façade and his talons couldn’t find a grip: He dropped off and fell, flew, tried to land again, and ended up on an architectural pillar only 15 feet above the street.

“Baby Peregrines fly well – it’s landing that they don’t know how to do yet,” Malec commented.

Sutro would have had a tough time regaining the 33^rd floor  or comparable heights – where the parent falcons continue feeding the young ones — from such a low launch spot. So the fledge watch crew called Glenn Stewart, director of the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group and a kind of fairy godfather to young Bay Area raptors. At 9:30 p.m., the volunteers managed to find a ladder and Glenn climbed the pillar, trapped Sutro in a rescue box, took him to a vet for an overnight check, and returned him to the PG&E nest ledge.

The Perils of Perry

Perry, the other male eyas (young falcon), had flown successfully a couple of times last week.…

By Ilana DeBare

Here in the Bay Area this spring, we’ve had the privilege of spying by video camera on two Peregrine Falcon nests in downtown San Francisco and San Jose. Incredible images of cute chicks and protective parents. Countless hours of productive work time lost to avian web watching!

So I got to wondering, How many other nest cams are there around the country? 

A lot, it turns out.

At the high-tech and well-organized end of the spectrum, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology operates several nest cams including one that is currently following a family of Great Blue Herons.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are countless private nest cams set up by individual bird lovers in their backyards. (Apparently you can buy nest cam equipment for as little as $90. But at that price, I wouldn’t count on Steven Spielberg  quality.)

Nest cams are a wholly new and personal way to relate to birds, made possible by the spread of broadband Internet and video streaming. The first video nest cam was created in 1998 by the midwest Raptor Resource Center to monitor a Peregrine Falcon nest in Iowa; today the center operates about 15 nest cams. Meanwhile, the folks at Cornell say that more than a million people have tuned in to watch their heron and Red-Tailed Hawk nest cams.

But nest cams are a transient medium. I tried to compile a list of good nest cams, and it’s tough. Fledglings grow up and leave the nest. Or disaster strikes and a nest is abandoned. A camera showing a busy nest in March may show an empty one by May.

That’s the flip side of all those cute chicks. We’re close at hand to watch the miracle of hatching and fledging, but we are also close at hand for death. Barely two weeks after an Allen’s Hummingbird nest cam in Orange County was profiled by Wired.com, all the eggs were eaten by a crow. And a midwest Bald Eagle nest cam site poignantly reported:

1st egg laid: 2/16/12

1st hatch: 3/25/12

Nest failed on 4/11/12
 Eaglets died of exposure following storm

So what’s the impact of all these nest cams? (Besides the lost work hours, of course.)

Cornell ornithologists say they’ve learned about some previously-undocumented heron courtship and nesting behaviors from their cam.

And that process of learning – as much as all the cuteness or drama – has the potential to deepen people’s ties to nature.…

By Phila Rogers

Though the terms “birdwatcher” or “birder” are often considered synonymous, don’t tell that to a birder.  A birder is apt to nurture a long bird list, and is willing to suffer inclement weather and travel distances to see that rare or possibly “life” bird.

The birdwatcher is frequently subject to snickers of amusement or even derision.  The prototype might be the “little old lady” wearing sensible shoes, seldom venturing beyond a local park, and most familiar with the birds that come and go from the garden feeders.

Natural history writer Joe Eaton, who sometimes refers to himself as a recovering birder (though he confessed to recently driving 75 miles to the Colusa National Wildlife Reserve to see a very rare Asian bird – the Falcated Duck), thinks of birders “as more compulsive, list-driven, probably younger and disproportionately male.” He concedes that more women are entering the ranks of birders.  Eaton points out that most American Birding Association members are “either birders or wannabe birders” and “may be willing to drive all night to the Salton Sea in search of a rare gull.”

Wikipedia — with something to say on almost every subject — says that the term “birdwatching” was first used in 1901 and that the verb “to bird” was recognized in 1918.  While the term birdwatching is widely understood, birding is not.  Some prefer the term “birding” because it includes recognizing birds by songs and calls.  But mostly it appears to be, according to Wikipedia, a matter of “scope, dedication, and intensity.”

And what am I?  By most reckonings I am a bird watcher.  I’m mostly content to watch the birds at my feeders with an occasional foray to Jewel Lake over the hill in nearby Tilden Park, or to one of the close-by botanic gardens where even if the birds are not active, there are always rewarding plants to look at.

But I am just as much or even more a bird listener, taking special pleasure in all bird vocalizations.  I often record in my notebook which bird I hear first upon arising.  These winter mornings it’s most likely to be a sharp flicker call or the soft round note of a Hermit Thrush.

Because I believe in writing about birds to enlarge and sustain my pleasure, I am also curious about the lives of birds. How are they being affected by climate change? Why are some species becoming more numerous, and others rarer?…

Welcome to Golden Gate Birder, the new blog of Golden Gate Bird Alliance!

We’re fortunate to live in an area that is rich with both natural beauty and birding activity.  Peregrine Falcons nesting on downtown skyscrapers… struggles to save precious wildlife habitat in our urban environment … sightings of rare birds like last year’s Falcated Duck … and of course the field trips, conservation campaigns, bird art, Big Years and other creative birding initiatives of our members and other local bird lovers.

It’s too much to fit into a monthly or bi-monthly newsletter!

Thus… this blog.

We look forward to bringing you bird-related news, insight and reflection one or two times each week – more often, of course, when there is Big Birding News.

Make sure you don’t miss any of it! Sign up to receive Golden Gate Birder posts by email. (LINK) You’ll get each new entry automatically delivered to your email inbox.

Meanwhile, want to get involved? We’re looking for people to write reviews of birding books, apps and equipment, as well as of their favorite local birding sites.

If you’d like to contribute a review or other writing, please email Communications Director Ilana DeBare at idebare@goldengatebirdalliance.org.

We look forward to celebrating the richness and beauty of Bay Area birding with you in this new format!

 

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