• Vote!

    By Pam Young, Executive Director

     

    You are the most important person in the world.

    Because this is the year that you decide the future of your planet.

    You are reading this because you love our Bay area birds, wildlife, wilderness, and all that they represent. So, please, act to protect what you love. Please. Please. Please. Vote!

    Male Greater Sage-Grouse by Bob Gunderson

    Did you know that new science says that all living creatures are genetically related?

    Yes, really! …except for viruses.

    So, think of all biota (sans viruses) as your family.

    As a family, we sustain each other.

    This holds true for life in the air, life on land, and life in the sea.

    And this year, with this most important election of your life, we all sink or swim.  VOTE!

    Here are some facts.

    Fact: Even though voters’ concerns about our climate crisis ranked higher than ever before, over 10 million environmentalists did not vote in 2016. Look how that turned out…

    Fact: Since 2016, over 30 environmental laws, regulations, and measures have been removed, rolled back, or set aside. Without these protections, the climate crisis will escalate to a climate catastrophe and one million wildlife species will go extinct.

    Fact: If all – or even most – environmentalists vote this year, we will have the best chance at restoring all the environmental laws, regulations, and measures.

    Protect our favorite wild places and species, their habitats, and the clean air, soil, and water that sustain all life!

    Vote!

    Fact: Earth Overshoot Day fell on August 22, 2020.

    What is that?

    It’s “the day when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that period.”  Yes. We seriously overshot….

    What can we do? Plenty!! Advocate! Educate! Activate!

    Roll up your sleeves and here we go….

    1. Vote
    2. Show up for public decisions and tell your leaders that you are an environmentalist and you want to protect our natural resources first and always.
    Western Burrowing Owl by John Ehrenfield
    1. Study and learn about the leading technologies that replace environmentally harmful extractive industries with sustainable and regenerative practices. Advocate for these new beneficial practices!
    2. Support your favorite conservation and environmental organization. Support GGBA and… VOTE!
    3. Do one thing every day that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion.
    4. Ask yourself, What can I do to help save my favorite wild place? Do the research and find your answer.
    …

  • Learn about the Artists of GGBA’s Bird Art and Holiday Sale

    By Daryl Goldman

     

    The GGBA Bird Art and Holiday Gift Sale is taking place right now in our online store (click here to go to our store) and runs until 9 pm Sunday, November 1. This sale is serving as a fundraiser for GGBA as well as a way to help artists make a living during these difficult times. We’re hoping that this fundraiser helps make up for some of the revenue GGBA lost when we had to cancel this April’s Birdathon fundraiser.

    I am so grateful that these amazing artists have agreed to participate and are sharing 50%, (in some cases more!) of the proceeds of their sales with GGBA. Many of them have been affected by the closure of the galleries and stores due to the pandemic so please help us support them while they support us.

    I wanted to share with you a little about each of the 15 artists that are participating in this sale.

    Each of these artists were chosen because they include birds in their high quality work. Some of these artists are very well established and highly recognized. Others are artists that are just now starting a business. All of them bring immeasurable talent to GGBA. We are immensely grateful that we can collaborate with these talented folks.

    So without further ado…

    Rigel Stuhmiller

    Rigel Stuhmiller’s Roadrunner wall art.

    Rigel Stuhmiller – one of the very popular artists from the GGBA Bird Art Auction last May – has enthusiastically agreed to participate in this fundraising sale.

    This time, rather than offering a limited number of options, Rigel has very generously offered to open up almost her entire inventory for our fundraiser. Our members will be able to click on a link to her website and shop to their hearts’ content.  GGBA will get 50% of the the proceeds from almost all her items when the code “GGBA” is used. If you would like to shop on Rigel’s website, please click here.

    Rigel is a Berkeley-based printmaker and illustrator. Her line of notecards, wall art, scarves and home goods featuring her artwork can be found online and in over 500 museums, botanical gardens and boutiques across the country. When designing her products she chooses environmentally friendly options sourced as locally as possible.

    Rigel believes in giving back to the community so she donates 5 cents for every item sold to the Alameda County Community Food Bank. …

  • Smoke, Water and Birds: 10 Hours at Sea on a Pelagic

    By Elliot Janca

     

    Editor’s Note: Toward the end of September, when the skies were dense with smoke and fog, teenage birder Elliot (accompanied by his father, John) took a Pelagic tour to see as many birds as they could. This tour was part of a prize Elliot won in GGBA’s Young Birders Contest (a feature of this year’s truncated Birdathon event).

     

    Because my dad and I live in San Francisco, we had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning to get to the dock on time.

    As tired as we were, we somehow made it to Monterey in one piece. It was a foggy day, and both the night and the orangish-yellow smoke amplified it so that everything had a slight haziness to it.  The boat was medium-sized and was pretty stable.

    Boat on the water by John Janca

    As we boarded, we could hear Belted Kingfishers rattling and terns squawking around us. A Peregrine Falcon watched from its post, overseeing our journey out to the ocean. As we left the port’s safety, the smog closed in and shadowed our boat in a shroud out of which we could not see.  However, as our vessel slowly moved farther offshore, into deeper waters with faster winds, the fog started to lift, and with it, the birds came in.

    Small rafts of Sooty Shearwaters flowed past us while Common Murre parents with their young attempted to swim away from the boat.

    Common Murre by Elliot Janca

     

    Common Murre by John Janca

     

    Flock of Sooty Shearwaters by Elliot Janca

    There was a profound difference in their method of swimming. While the shearwaters looked like they were hurriedly walking away from the ship, their little bodies swaying side-to-side, the murres preferred to rapidly foot-peddle with the occasional wing stroke. Most of the time, the murres ended up flying, but once we had a murre who was quite adamant in its belief of being bound to the water. Probably too fat to take to the air, it loudly butterfly-swam 50 yards, its tiny wings pushing it up and forward over and over again like a little windmill.

    Sooty Shearwater taking off from the water by Elliot Janca

    Tiny phalaropes made their way among the waves, fishing for shrimp.  Distinguished from the sooties with their mostly white underside, larger size, and bi-colored bill, Pink-footed Shearwaters soared around the boat, watching it careen through the water.…

  • Learn more about GGBA’s upcoming Bird Art and Holiday Sale!

    By Daryl Goldman

    There were many challenges this past spring, but while sheltering in place, I found some unexpected joy: the silencing of the traffic allowed me, despite a hearing deficit, to awaken to an overwhelming dawn chorus outside my urban window.

    Another joy: my work on the GGBA Bird Art Auction we held in May. It was so much fun to search for and discover artists who love birds and incorporate birds into their art! I loved talking to the artists, and learning about them, and the challenges the pandemic has posed for them. Working as part of a team with the other auction volunteers, and our members’ enthusiasm for the art was so gratifying. We raised over $20,000 through the auction to benefit Golden Gate Bird Alliance and the 22 artists who shared their work with us.

    This fall, GGBA would like to once again combine fundraising for all Eco-Education and habitat restoration programs with shopping for beautiful bird-themed art. You can do your holiday shopping from the comfort and safety of your home, and support GGBA and these wonderful artists at the same time. As with our online auction, we will split the proceeds 50/50 between artists and GGBA.

    This Holiday Art and Gift Sale will be a fixed-price online sale with multiples of most of the items; that way more people can shop and find gifts to give for the winter holidays and not worry about competing against others in an auction.

    I have to admit I felt a little bit of a let-down after the auction ended. It was a rush to monitor the auction and watch our members bid so generously. Once I started the search for new artists for this fixed-price online sale, I felt a sense of purpose and excitement return.

    We will have 11 new artists and 6 returning artists, and a much wider range of art mediums. Here’s an overview of some items for sale: giclee art prints; ceramic bowls, vases, canisters, and cups; decorative art tiles; hand sewn messenger bags; tote bags; potholders, tea towels, scarves and pillows; bird-friendly single source chocolate; prints on wood blocks; wallets, pins, coasters, and magnets; bird sculptures; needled felted bird figures and ornaments; toddler’s clothing; and cards and calendars! Each item will all have a bird on it.

    Below are some of the beautiful pieces available for this sale.

    Laura Zindel of Vermont: “Wren Mug”

    John Beasley of Medicine Bluff Studio: “Flying Barn Owl”

     

    Casey Riley of Laterzees: “Black-necked Stilt Bag”

    Sylvia Gonzalez from Petaluma: “Silver Barn Owl”

                                                

    Amy Rose Moore: “California Quail”

     

    Rigel Stuhmiller: “Varied Thrush”

     

    Maggie Hurley: “Belted Kingfisher”

    My job, for the past few Birdathons, has been to find prizes for our highest fundraisers.…

  • Refuge Takes Flight

    By Mark Lipman

    Editor’s Note: We are happy to offer GGBA members the opportunity to watch Refuge, a beautiful new film portrait of a wildlife refuge in California’s Central Valley that was recorded over the past three winters by director Mark Lipman. Mark has kindly extended free viewing for GGBA members through October 4th. This blog piece details Mark’s development of the project. Links to the film are included in Mark’s bio.

    It’s been really gratifying to offer my new film, Refuge, to GGBA members during the month of September and to see that so many of you have watched it! The filming and sound recording have been a labor of love over many winters and slowly evolved into this dawn-to-dusk portrait of the Gray Lodge Wildlife Area in Gridley.


    Ironically, I didn’t set out to make a film. I had been making social issue documentaries for many years when a friend introduced me to Gray Lodge in 2011. I wasn’t a birder at the time, but the beauty of the place and the symphony of bird sounds touched me very deeply. On subsequent visits I did a bit of filming and some of that early footage made its way into States of Grace, a documentary I was making with my wife, Helen Cohen, about a friend’s recovery process after narrowly surviving a head-on crash on the Golden Gate Bridge. The bird imagery became a reflective respite in the film and a metaphor for freedom and mobility.

    We were consumed with the distribution of States of Grace for several years after its release in 2014 and it’s only in retrospect that that I can see the germination of Refuge during that time. In late 2015 I visited the Fort Mason Center for the Arts to see its exhibition of Janet Cardiff’s sound installation, The Forty-Part Motet. It’s a magnificent recording of a 16th-century motet in which each of the 40 singers is miked separately and each voice is played back through one of 40 speakers that are arranged in a large oval. You can stand in the center and be engulfed by the entire chorus or go up to a speaker to hear an individual who is singing.

    This picture doesn’t show it, but when I was there people were so moved by the piece that many had tears in their eyes and couples were holding each other closely.…