• Earth Day at 50

    By Maureen Lahiff

     

    I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, famous for the burning Cuyahoga River in summer 1969. There had been several fires on the water before that one, the largest in 1952. There were steel mills, chemical companies, and lots of other manufacturing in the Flats along the river.

    Here on the West Coast, more than three million gallons of oil spilled off Santa Barbara when a Union Oil well blew out. This disaster in January 1969 was a major catalyst for the first Earth Day. The US did keep President John F. Kennedy’s pledge to land a man on the moon and bring him safely back to Earth before the end of the 60s, but in 1969, our home planet was in dire straits.

    1970 is before the landmark environmental legislation, before there was an EPA, before DDT was banned. As I spend today in reflection, I am in awe at the power of what young people coming together can accomplish.

    The famous Apollo 17 image that John McConnell used for the Earth Day flag.

    The first Earth Day: April 22, 1970

    Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin usually gets the credit, but several legislators, including California’s Representative Pete McCloskey, and environmental activists made the first Earth Day happen. It is estimated that over 2,000 colleges and universities, over 10,000 high schools and elementary schools, and communities all over the country marked that first Earth Day. Mayor John Lindsay agreed to shut down 5th Avenue in New York City and made Central Park available for Earth lovers. Over 20 million people, one-tenth of the US population at the time, participated in Earth Day in some way.

    In February 1970, students at San Jose State held a Survival Faire and buried a new yellow Ford Maverick.

    University of Michigan students put the 1959 Ford Sedan on trial. Image courtesy of University of Michigan.

    In April 1970, I was a student at the University of Detroit. That’s close to Ann Arbor. As part of a four day teach-in in March, a “trial” (called, The American People vs. the American Sedan) was held. Of course, the trial was rigged, and the 1959 Ford sedan was executed. The April 2020 edition of the Smithsonian magazine has a story with more details.

    What happened soon afterwards

    President Nixon proposed the EPA in July 1970.

    The agency was up and running before the end of the year, with William Ruckelshaus as the first administrator.…

  • Now Is The Time To Garden For Birds

    By Kathy Kramer

     

    Birding from home has become more important than ever in our current sheltered situation. Many of us are learning that it is possible to bird from our windows, yards and sidewalks. There are easy ways to make your home (and surrounding areas) hospitable for birdlife, even while sheltering-at-home. When we learn to include in our gardens the plants that provide food, shelter, and nesting areas for birds, we can watch native wildlife thrive.

    California Swainson’s Thrush by Pam Young

    Gardening for birds is crucial to helping the birds we love. You have likely heard that bird populations have plummeted over the last five decades, with a decline of nearly three billion birds across North America in that time period. The causes of this decline are many but include habitat loss, non-native ornamental plants, outdoor cats, roadside mortality, climate change, and building lights (which disrupt bird migrations and reduce birds’ food supply when moths exhaust themselves on outdoor lights). The current shelter-at-home orders have allowed some local wildlife to flourish again, but there’s so much more we can do to continue to encourage native populations to grow. This is especially true for birds.

    Black-headed Grosbeak by Mark Rauzon

    The link between bird health and native plants is also becoming clearer. On the subject, wildlife ecologist Douglas Tallamy writes, “We must abandon the notion that humans and nature cannot live together… In order to have functioning ecosystems, we need to redesign residential landscapes to support diverse populations. Native plants support much more life than other [types of plants]. Choosing the best plants for your area is the key to [nature’s] success.”

    The backstory behind the native versus ornamental non-native plants issue is fairly simple: while in the nest, and even after they leave it, almost all baby birds feed primarily on caterpillars. Baby birds do not live on seeds, or berries, or sugar water. Caterpillars are not optional in a baby bird diet. Simply put, if we don’t have caterpillars, we won’t have baby birds.

    Female Red-winged Blackbird by Alan Kraukauer

    Here’s an example: it takes 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars, collected by both busy Chickadee parents over the course of sixteen days, to raise a clutch of Chickadee babies. And Chickadees are tiny birds; just a third of an ounce. How many caterpillars does it take to raise a Woodpecker, a bird about eight times heavier? Caterpillars come from the eggs of butterflies and moths, creatures who have specialized laying their eggs on just one or two types of host plants.…

  • Street Life: The San Francisco Edition

    By Richard Bradus

     

    One of the (few) benefits of this crisis is the marked reduction of traffic and the attendant noise, allowing us to hear so much more of what is going on along our neighborhood streets.

    I have been doing exercise walks around Western Addition, Pacific Heights, and Presidio Heights over the past week. Even without binoculars, I have been treated to some nice discoveries.

    All I’ve had to do is listen and investigate.

    California Towhee by John Sharpen

    The California Towhee are obviously common all over the city, but I was unaware that they were present (and active) outside of parks and natural areas. I have encountered several singing from street trees, including near Alamo Square. There’s one Towhee on Scott Street (a few blocks south of Alta Plaza Park) in tree that could be a potential nesting site as well.

    South of Alta Plaza, I have seen Bushtits putting the finishing touches on their nests in a tree. In the same area, I saw a White-crowned Sparrow in and about a probable nest site in dense shrubbery in front of the adjacent house.

    Bushtit by Angie Vogel

    Foraging in the street trees in multiple places are a good assortment of warblers (including a Black-throated Gray Warbler!), Bushtits, Chickadees and the oft skirmishing hummers and increasing numbers (ugh!) of Crows.

    Black-throated Gray Warbler by Daniel Cadieux

    It’s worthwhile to look up at the sky as we walk about, too.

    Yesterday, I was treated to a spectacle as a diminutive Sharp-shinned Hawk made a couple of unsuccessful attacks on a small flock of pigeons, whereupon the pigeons (which looked to be a bit larger than the hawk) turned the tables and actually went after the hawk, apparently chasing it off! Today, over the same California/Fillmore area, there was a Peregrine Falcon intermittently soaring and flapping as it made its way west, having apparently cleared the skies of any other birds.

    Sharp-shinned Hawk by Jerry McFarland

    So, when you get outside to do your necessary exercise or needed grocery runs, take your time and listen. Glance at the sky every so often.

    It is spring and, yes, we may be frustrated to be missing out on the hunt for migrants, but remember our local birds are setting up to breed. Those of you in the western half of San Francisco may find that White-crowned Sparrows, in particular, are nesting in a lot more front and backyards than we ever suspected.…

  • Sheltering in Place: Zuihitsu

    By Gerry Traucht

     

    Editor’s Note: Gerry offers us glimpses of what he sees on his Berkeley strolls. This unique collection embodies the qualities of the beloved Japanese poetic form, Zuihitsu. Zuihitsu is genre of Japanese literature (since adapted by many Western writers) consisting of loosely connected personal essays and fragmented ideas that typically respond to the author’s surroundings. Photos taken by Gerry. 

     

    1.

    For over a year a Black-crowned Night-Heron has claimed a dumpster on 4th Street behind Market Hall and Peet’s Coffee. Migration and hunting are not his thing, but possibly there is a better story to why he stays here.

    Black-crowned Night Heron.

    He’s a familiar sight. He has an audience, often photographing him. The dumpster is his stage.

    In a pose for the camera.

    Now that the nearby restaurants are closed, the dumpster is largely empty, the streets are empty.

    ~

    2.

    Nearby, the Great Blue Heron roams Cesar Chavez Park and the Berkeley Marina.

    Great Blue Heron, touching down.

    Blue skies, Bay views, San Francisco.

    ~

    3.

    California Gull at Cesar Chavez Park. Usually on the same shoreline rock opposite the Golden Gate Bridge.

    In observation.

    ~

    4.

    My backyard Raven greets me from his usual perch above the deck. It was my birthday. Nice timing.

    A birthday greeting.

    He comes for short visits most days. Because his beak isn’t especially heavy, I don’t know if he’s a Raven or a Crow. He does have the Raven ruffled collar feathers, but not much. He’s a bit brownish, not Crow-black.

    Perched.

    When he’s hungry, he brings his mate. They’re a twosome, as Ravens often are. He seems bigger than a Crow. Not by much.

    What do you think?

    Is my Raven a Crow?

    ~

    5.

    Early April at Aquatic Park, Berkeley.

    An unusual hunt.

    A Great Egret was side hunting with neck and head approaching parallel to the water. He circled, slowly. This side-ways neck technique is the first time I’ve seen it so quickly repeated in prolonged hunting.

    https://goldengatebirdalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/8_Traucht_Side-Hunt_video.m4v

     

     

    He high-stepped and leaned sideways until he spied his target. Every minute or two he had a fish.

    ~

    6.

    Recently, this stylish bird gave the backyard’s other plum tree a visit. Black Phoebe. 99%. That is what my iBird identifier says.

    The Phoebe.

    But he’s brown.

    In the bird books, he resembles an Eastern Phoebe by the color of his back feathers but not the chest pattern.…

  • Birding Through the Feelings

    By Megan Fradley-Smith

     

    One of my earliest childhood memories, one that brings me much joy, is of a moment in kindergarten on a class field trip. I cannot remember where we were, why we were out, or who was there with me, but I can remember looking high up at the sky, and becoming mesmerized by a swirling kettle of Turkey Vultures.

    I pointed this out to my teacher, who was stunned that I had noticed something so distant. Her praise made an impression, and I still feel that rush of pride when I manage to observe a soaring raptor, so graceful, so free.

    Cooper’s Hawk by Megan

    For me, birding has become a lifeline in many ways. During my first pregnancy over a decade ago, a Red-Shouldered Hawk would appear in my backyard, nearly every day, always when I most needed it. To me, it became a symbol of hope, and any time I felt uneasy, I unknowingly turned to the the skies for a Hawk. Usually, I found one.

    A Red-tailed Hawk takes off from its perch by Megan

    A few years later, I worked as a mental health therapist in Northern Florida, making a long commute to a rural facility each day. This was a tumultuous time in my life (I was a young mother, the breadwinner, the empath working with extremely high-risk clients). I felt the stress in every fiber of my being. However, now that I am so far removed from those days, what I remember most is seeing Swallow-Tailed Kites gliding above the trees as I drove, their carefree movements never failing to delight me, no matter the stress I carried.

    My final months in Florida were rife with hardship, but it is the Kites and Hawks that stay with me, all this time later.

    Spotted Towhee by Megan

    I fully leaned into birding last year, as my casual observations grew into more structured study. However, this ‘leaning in’ was more of a pulling myself out of the depths of postpartum anxiety, as the birth of my third child in early 2019, and the transition that followed, stretched me more than I have words to describe.

    One evening, weighed down by a long day of mothering and teaching and cleaning and breastfeeding and not sleeping, I set my children up with toys and stepped outside for 5 minutes alone. That evening air enveloped me, the wind brought the sounds of dozens of backyard birds, and I felt myself let out a breath that I had been holding for days, or weeks.…