• A Bird Class Student for 16 Years

    By Linda Swanson

    You’re thinking no, that can’t be possible, sixteen years? But yes, I was a student in Joe Morlan’s weekly Bird Class beginning in the fall of 2003, and was continually enrolled through the spring 2019 semester. Technically speaking, that took place in 17 calendar years with CCSF’s Continuing Education Field Ornithology course. I’m used to the looks of bewilderment, wonder, and disbelief when I share this. Was it that I failed each semester, or was it something else?

    It was the something else.

    There were actually two ornithology courses taught by Joe, a semester’s Introduction to Field Ornithology, an overview of birding, the basics of ornithology, and perusal and study of the entire National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, the course text. The second course was Topics in Field Ornithology, an in-depth study of the birds in the Nat Geo Field Guide, covering the three or four species represented on one page during each weekly class session. Joe presented and instructed us with every field mark, range, history, and nuance of each species accompanied by the slides from his vast teaching collection. These slides are not all stellar bird poses, but instead represent what is encountered in the field: partial views of birds, various plumages, and ages from juvenile to adult. I wasn’t the only long-term student as it took ~ eight years to complete every page of the field guide and to “graduate.” But it never failed that a new edition of the Nat Geo was released with an updated reordering of the species, so it was nearly impossible not to miss some species or other in your education. And yes, there were the legendary quizzes each week, but my favorite part of Bird Class was the discussion that began class.

    Joe Morlan and Robbie Fischer, Jigokudani Hot Springs, Honshu, Japan, February 14, 2019. Photo by Linda.

    At 7:00 PM sharp, Joe would ask, “Does anyone have anything to report?” We were always a little hesitant to go first, but if no one brought anything up, the slides and instruction would begin, and we all knew this time had the potential to be the most exciting part of class. You never knew where it would go, what we might learn, and which stories Joe would recall from his legendary experiences as an ornithologist beginning here in the early 1970’s, that are at once captivating and priceless.…

  • New Bluebird in Central Alameda

    By Linda Carloni

    Western Bluebirds are favorites of many, with the male’s brilliant royal-blue colors and rusty breast.

    The species has long been seen on Alameda Point perching near the soccer fields and using the nest boxes installed for them near Crab Cove. They’ve been expanding through Alameda neighborhoods, and a particularly large and colorful male just stopped by on my driveway.

    Male Western Bluebird by Allen Hirsch

    Westy, as I’ve named him, is the chalk-art rendering I won at Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s recent Online Bird Art Auction.

    The auction had its start this spring, when the COVID-19 shelter-in-place caused GGBA to cancel all in-person events of Birdathon, GGBA’s principal annual fundraising event. A group of volunteers seized on the idea of transforming our regular auction of experiences and items into all-art auction, sharing the proceeds with the artists, who are all suffering from the pandemic shutdown as well. The auction was a big success, generating a lot of spirited bidding and about $20,000 in sales.

    Westy is the work of Clayton Anderson, a talented artist, accomplished naturalist, and head of GGBA’ Youth Education Program. Nature study and art have always gone together for Anderson – his mother saved a piece of his art from kindergarten, a picture of many kinds of plants, and his childhood was filled with aquariums with fish, frogs, a turtle and other creatures.

    Socially distanced and masked, Clay gets to work on bringing Westy to life. Photo by Linda.

    Anderson’s degree is in art, but his career has focused on nature education.

    At GGBA, he’s been able to blend the two at various chalk art events, including one that was part of the campaign to protect the Black-crowned Night-Herons in Oakland and one in Richmond, celebrating their selection of the Osprey as the City Bird.

    Westy. Photo by Anna Carloni.

    I selected the Western Bluebird for my drawing because I love its rich colors, because it’s my “bluebird of happiness,” and because I saw the first Western Bluebirds in my immediate neighborhood early in the pandemic shutdown.

    You’re welcome to come (masked) to visit him on the east side of Paru Street, between Lincoln and Santa Clara. Come soon before he fades!

    Linda Carloni is a member of the Board of Golden Gate Bird Alliance, and co-chair of its Friends of the Alameda Wildlife Reserve committee. To find out more about helping to protect birds in Alameda, email fawr@goldengatebirdalliance.org…

  • Birds of the Future

    By Paloma MacKenzie

     

    During the winter, I always seem to notice crows in the neighborhood more often. It’s become a common occurrence to see them in groups in the late afternoon. The caw of the crow is not what some would call a mellifluous bird song, but I find it endearing anyway. Almost as if they are crying for the sunset, I can see the birds atop the bare branches where their nests can be seen until springtime brings back their foliage.

     

    A murder of Crows by Ingrid Taylor

     

    It seems that they’ve become more numerous in recent years. Previously I’d always considered the urban bird to be the pigeon. And if you’re near the ocean, you know that seagulls rule the beaches and wharfs. I can’t think of anyone who hasn’t had a picnic interrupted when they unknowingly left their snacks out of view and in the vicinity of a curious gull. But crows are beginning to take up these spaces, too. Culture has dictated for so long that the presence of these birds is a curse—that they bring bad omens with them. For instance, their flocks have been referred to as “murders.” And for ravens, “conspiracies.”

     

    Photo by Stefon Linton

     

    Crows are cunning. Corvidae—the crow family, which includes ravens and scrub jays—have proven themselves to be some of the smartest birds because of their strong memories. In the PBS documentary, A Murder of Crows, I’ve seen scientists teach a group of birds the face of a predator (in this case, a masked man), who then pass on the information to their offspring. In this instance, a young crow sounds the alarm when he sees the masked figure he was warned about but had never personally seen. They show complexity in their communication with the variety of calls they make. They function as a family for years after they’ve grown up. They hold funerals for lost ones in which they all participate in a choir.

    It’s believed that human development has cleared the way for them to flourish. It’s easy to see why: they’re intelligent and adaptable. And any creature with a penchant for picking food out of human garbage will find more opportunities the further we spread into what was once the wilderness. Still, I often see crows picking wild food from trees and bushes, unlike pigeons, who seem to only go for human food scraps.…

  • Palm Springs and the Salton Sea: Reflections

    By Marjorie Powell

     

    If you’d like to begin planning your 2021 outings or want to jump-start next year’s eBird list, consider joining the GGBA birding trip to Palm Springs and the Salton Sea, by Nature Trip. This past January, eight birders (including me!) joined the two guides, Eddie Bartley and Noreen Weeden, to look for birds in this area east of Los Angeles. Eddie and Noreen planned 5 days of birding, including the afternoon of our arrival day and the morning of our departure day.

    We visited varied habitats, upland forest, desert, shoreline, and saw many of the birds that nest there, or visit for all or part of the winter, as well as one rarity. Several of us saw life birds during the week.  

    California Gulls and Bonaparte’s Gulls on the waterway. Photo by Noreen Weeden

    The Salton Sea is California’s largest inland lake and one of the important saline lake ecosystems, supporting large portions of some bird species in the winter. Audubon California is heavily involved in efforts to restore habitat and improve the environment at and around the Salton Sea for birds and humans.

    As the Sea gets less and less water from the Colorado River and agricultural run-off, the lake is drying up and getting saltier. It’s now too salty to support many fish, so fewer fish-eating birds like American White Pelicans winter there. Currently bird species that eat insects that can survive in saltier water, such as Bonaparte’s Gulls, are wintering at the Sea. As marshlands at the edge of the Sea are created or restored, they support increasing numbers of birds for all or a portion of the winter and in migration. 

    Bonaparte’s Gulls by Harley Mac

    Eddie Bartley, of Nature Trip, described how they came to run this tour for GGBA: “We began visiting Palm Springs area in the late 80s when a friend moved there, then a couple of more friends moved to Joshua Tree in the late ‘90s. Soon we were going each winter for a week or two to visit and bird -especially the Sea. We did several birding tours for out of state and international Nature Trip guests and quite a few Bay Area friends asked about birding down there so, starting about 2014 we offered GGBA field trips in non-consecutive years. It was long way to go for folks for a few days though so we would share a list of favorite places and routes.…

  • Passage of Emeryville Bird-Safe Building Standards

    By Noreen Weeden

    The Emeryville City Council and Mayor evaluated, and by a 5-0 vote, unanimously approved, Bird-Safe Building Standards. These standards will become effective in August 2020. The standards will greatly reduce bird deaths and injuries resulting from collisions with buildings in the city. Bird building strikes are one of the main causes of bird mortality in the U.S. Reasonable, affordable measures can prevent these bird deaths. The City of Emeryville has taken positive action by adopting the Bird-Safe Building Standards to protect birds into the future.

    The Emeryville Planning Commission had considered and unanimously approved the standards on May 26, 2020 and forwarded the “Bird-Safe Building Standards” to the City Council. The standards address building design and reducing night lighting.

    Mayor Christian Patz said of the approval, “I’m really excited about a bird safe Emeryville.”

    Reduction of bird strikes in new or remodeled buildings and glass structures can be achieved in a variety of simple and cost-effective means. For example, fritting – the use of ceramic lines or dots on glass – is often used to lower heat gain or loss from windows. Fritting applied in patterns increases the visibility of the window to birds and reduces the likelihood of impacts with little effect on the transparency of the glass. It does not affect views or light passing through the window for people. Insect screens are another option and are also considered bird safe.

    The standards also cover the effects of light pollution, which disrupt birds’ ability to navigate by the stars during migration.  Artificial light at night can draw birds off course, where they land in unfamiliar areas, then building collisions pose a threat. The standards reduce unnecessary interior and exterior lighting, reducing these risks to birds.

    Photo by Bridget Cogley

    Bird-safe measures can provide benefits for building owners and operators. Bird safe design can result in savings on heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and cooling costs. Turning off unnecessary lights saves money and natural resources, while reducing risks to birds.

    A US Fish and Wildlife study found over 46 million people are actively bird watching, spending $80 billion annually in this activity. Another US FWS study reported over 1 million bird-building collisions per day in the US.

    The Emeryville Bird Safe Building Standards is ordinance number 20-002. City Councilmember John Bauters said, “The Emeryville Crescent is a hidden jewel which is important for birds and people. The Emeryville Bird-Safe Building Standards are a big step forward in support of the city’s sustainability goals and ecological stewardship.”…