Blog Posts Archive - Page 28 of 138 - Golden Gate Bird Alliance

Fall is the New Spring

By Liam O’Brien

It’s almost a cliche – comes the Spring comes the butterflies! Since they coevolved with flowering plants for the most part it’s true. But did you know that fall is actually the best time to see them? Females disperse far beyond their known ranges to mix up the genetic pool and one has an opportunity to see species they don’t usually get to see in the spring. Of course the opposite is true as well. Spring butterflies are normally done by mid May.

Nectar sources were just about spent when I started the second half of this year-long inventory (which has now been extended another three years up here – yippee!) I was pleased to see Field Crescents (Phyciodes puchella) had found the Pacific Aster they need to host on.

Field Crescent (Phyciodes puchella) by Liam O’Brien

This pretty little butterfly patrols in and out of the aster all day and takes advantage of the Coyote brush just coming into bloom. Small butterflies visiting smallish flowers. The girls have a different pattern than the boys and it took me awhile when I first began this mania that I wasn’t looking at a different species. This butterfly is bivoltine (two distinct flights in the year) in the city but this fall flight seems to be easier to see for folks. There was no spring flight up here as far as I could see.

My regulars were present in good numbers up here. There is one particular bush where the Anise Swallowtails (Papilio zelicaon) perch waiting for a mate. Aside from early visits in the spring I’d seen at least one there on every visit. Umber Skippers (Poanes melane): these two, along with Red Admirals, Cabbage Whites and Painted Ladies make up the rarified group of butterflies that can be observed 12 months a year here in San Francisco – one has the ability to see them all on the wing in any month. All the other 30 species have briefer flights. The Umbers by early September were easily becoming the most ubiquitous butterfly on the summit of Sutro.

It was this time of the year that the first Monarch (Danaus plexippus) floated out of a clearing before me.

Monarch (Danaus plexippus) by Liam O’Brien

I have had a strange relationship with this species since my butterfly mania kicked in years back that I’ll go into briefly here.…

A World Exposed Volume 2: The (humming)birds and the bees

By Tara McIntire

Here we are, over six months of sheltering in place and my birding has forever been changed. First, it was adjusted to include jumping spiders, but now I’ve found another new world and focus.

Don’t worry, I’m still always looking for birds, and thankfully there seems to be a fairly consistent brigade of hummingbirds with sounds of wing-whirs and chirps, as they zoom about the yard feeding on various plants and at my feeder. Always a fan favorite, these fierce and thoroughly entertaining avian acrobats are territorial wings of terror. In this small yard, sometimes you have to actually get out of their way! Thank goodness they are small!

A male Anna’s hummingbird keeps a watchful eye out for intruders at ‘his’ feeder.

Between seemingly endless Zoom meetings, I have continued to skulk around my tiny yard, camera in hand. One day, I heard a sound that made me look for the hummingbirds, but soon realized it was emanating from the blooming purple basil that I found covered with bees! The shutter clicking began and the images I captured revealed yet another amazing world.

As with so many infatuations and love affairs, it started with they eyes. My first few macro images exposed these remarkable honeybee eyes. They looked ‘hairy’ and with a little ‘googling’ revealed, honeybees indeed have hairs on the largest two of their five eyes (yes, you read that correctly) and it is believed these hairs aid in navigating windy conditions. It gives new meaning to the term ‘hairy eyeball’!

A European Honeybee feeding on a purple basil bloom.

A closer look reveals the literally ‘hairy’ eyeball.

I spent the next few days during ‘micro-breaks’ with my camera (who really needs a bio-break or food?) taking an even closer look at these prolific pollinators when I realized there wasn’t just one ‘type’ of bee. What we know as the common and familiar honeybee is actually an introduced species of European honeybee (Apis mellifera) and one of approximately 90 identified species of bees found in the Bay Area. Who knew? I most definitely did not. Utilizing iNaturalist (a fantastic tool for identification and listing), I have been able to recognize 10 species in my yard, so far. Of those, I have become quite enamored with one in particular. The Wool Carder bee, which is also an introduced European species, (a topic for another time), stood out not only in its physical make-up, but also because of its behavior.…

Pelagic Rookie

By Michael Stevens

I have been birding fairly seriously for the last two years and found myself tempted to try a pelagic trip, an offshore boat tour meant to discover ocean-going birds. When I saw that Alvaro Jaramillo, Bay Area birder extraordinaire, was organizing a series of Covid-sensitive pelagic outings this past summer I took the plunge and signed up. Thus I found myself on the dock at Half Moon Bay one calm morning this August. The other birders were a serious lot, carrying serious-looking cameras, and decked out in serious cold-weather field gear.

I had an unserious camera, wore a hoodie over a sweatshirt, and was the only pelagic rookie in the bunch. Off we went.

We traveled slowly though the harbor, a riot of friendly species – hundreds of terns, pelicans, and cormorants plus the occasional Common Murre hinting at the exotica to come. I was concerned that the task of sorting out the birds we encountered offshore would be complicated, but it turned out to be simplicity itself: they all looked like gulls and there was no way in hell I could even begin to identify them.

It was a good day for pelagic birding with lots of gull-like birds to stare at confusedly, but gradually, I noticed one species that seemed a bit larger than the others. With my keen eye I noticed these specimens wore white on the front of the face – you know, the part that’s right where that big hooked bill connects. And voilà – I could recognize a pelagic species, Black-footed Albatross. With that building block, the rest of the pelagic taxonomy quickly fell into… well, no; it didn’t help at all, but hey! I saw an Albatross!

Black-footed Albatross by Eric Ellingson

And then there’s the photography thing.

My keys to a good bird photo are to be very close to a subject that’s standing still. When you’re bouncing around on the ocean, this turns out to be difficult. My picture roll ended up with a lot of views of empty ocean and a lot of views of small black dots on otherwise empty ocean. And one good picture of – what else? – a gull. But Sabine’s Gull, a pelagic species with a very distinctive wing pattern. So, that’s 2!

Sabine’s Gull by Michael Stevens

When things settled down in the afternoon, one of the spotters who accompany Alvaro on these trips, the superb birder Malia DeFelice, took things in hand and made sure I had seen a Pink-footed Shearwater and knew that the little ones were Storm-Petrels.…

An Online Bird Art Show: “Wild Things”

By Rita Sklar

I have been a member of Golden Gate Bird Alliance since 2004. I have gone on many guided bird walks, attended meetings in the East Bay, and occasionally participated in overnight events such as Dan Lassen’s park adventure. One very memorable overnight trip was one to Yosemite, where our group had a night time search for the Great Horned Owl (we found the owl, by the way). I’ve learned so much from the devoted leaders of GGBA. My love of birds ties into my work as a painter. I am an artist who explores the dimensionality of vanishing species and traditions. I depict wildlife and people reverently, using maps in unique ways to convey the importance of place.

My paintings speak to the fundamental dichotomy of the beauty and value of wildlife as well as the longing to remove the things that threaten them. I hope to reflect balance between the reality of representational shapes, forms and abstract backgrounds. My affection for wildlife often reveals the dual violence and tenderness of our times. I search for new ways to express the singularity and diversity of our fragile world.

I have been very lucky to showcase my work at many galleries and art spaces over the years. Earlier this year, I was scheduled to have a solo show at the Hayward Interpretive Center. The show was called “Wild Things.” But like many events this year, the in-person event was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The good news is that the Hayward Arts Council offered me an online showing of ten of my bird paintings. I am pleased to share this with you all. Sharing my work is my little way of giving back to GGBA.

You can see these paintings by clicking here.

I will tell you more about my show and share some personal stories and observations behind the birds I have painted.

“Wild Things” features an exploration of the wonders of nature and the decline of many of our beautiful creatures, especially birds. My paintings are a mix of abstraction and realism. My goal is to capture the subtle mood of the mystery of nature. Compositions resonate with color and vibrant shadows, and my unique style imparts a sense of weight and structure to the paintings, not usually associated with watercolor pieces.

The goal of my show was to highlight the birds of the Bay Area and underline the importance of paying attention to their environmental needs. …

The Secret Lives of Turkeys

By Alan Krakauer

Editor’s Note: Alan is a biologist living in Richmond. He is broadly interested in evolution, ecology, and natural history. Most of his research has focused on the behavioral ecology of birds. To learn more about Alan’s life and work, you can go to his WEBSITE. Alan also has a Nature PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE, complete with his lovely photographs. Through the end of December he is offering 10% off purchases to friends of GGBA at his online store and donating 5% of his sales to GGBA during this period.

Everyone thinks of November as Turkey Time, but if you are a wild turkey (or turkey watcher), spring is when much of the action happens. Males are still gobbling for attention and fanning their tails to woo females. Meanwhile, hens that have already nested are cautiously chaperoning their broods of adorable fluffy poults. Spring provides a glimpse into the secret social lives of Meleagris gallopavo. In reality, although turkeys are often considered avian simpletons, they actually sport one of the most complex societies of all birds!

Wild turkeys, El Cerrito by Alan Krakauer

PART 1: Mating System: How males and females are organized

Let’s start with the dating life of a wild turkey. Turkeys are an odd bird in the spring. The vast majority of bird species grow up in some variation of a nuclear family– a mother and a father tending a nest and raising their offspring together. Raising hungry kids is hard and fraught with danger, so dual-parenting usually makes sense as a strategy to ensure those chicks survive and get out of the nest as quickly as possible.

Not so with turkeys. The hen can incubate on her own and the poults can feed themselves once they hatch. Over the period of a day or so, they hatch and leave the nest site for good. Male turkeys have one job (standing in the street blocking traffic is more of a hobby, ha!), and that’s to mate with hens. As far as we know they aren’t aware of where the nests are located and don’t hang out with the moms before or after the poults leave the nest.

Especially in areas with lots of turkeys, the ways that males and females get together for courtship can be a complex affair. Their mating system is a unique blend of several breeding strategies and hard to put under one specific label.…