• Lessons from a Little Bird

    Text and photos by Joe Galkowski

    Well known to advertisers, safety specialists, and those who design road signs, is the psychological principle of habituation. In simple terms, if you see something enough times, and it is unchanging, it no longer gets your attention. It becomes invisible to you. Something similar happens in the wilderness.

    Hiking through our local wild places, animals you see every day hardly get noticed. Where I live, California Quail are very common, and although undeniably beautiful, I pretty much ignored them. They were never a subject of my photography, probably because they seemed to be everywhere.

    On a hike in June, I spotted a family of California Quail. Although these birds are very common where I live, this group caught my attention. It consisted of a male, a female, and a handful of chicks. As I walked down the trail towards them, they sprinted into the shadows of some heavily-branched shrubs, promptly disappeared from sight. Very typical behavior.

    California Quail family

    To my surprise, however, the male who was leading the group, the father of the chicks, suddenly re-emerged from the safety of the cover. This was unusual. He voiced a few warning calls and then walked further out into the sunlight in my direction. It was then that I noticed that one of the chicks had hunkered down before reaching the brush. All his/her siblings were crouching in the shadows and invisible amongst the leaves. This little guy, on the other hand, was still in the open.

    While keeping his eye on me, the father quail walked back over to the little chick, quietly made the warning peep sounds they so often make, and nudged the youngster with his beak. He continued with soft peeps until the chick stood up and hopped into the shadows disappearing from sight. Before the adult followed the chick into the brush, he made eye contact with me one more time. It was almost like he shrugged his shoulders, sighed, and whispered, “…kids…”

    Male California Quail Striking a Pose

    As this was right before Father’s Day, I couldn’t help but think of what a good father this quail was. Fathers, actually all parents, occasionally need to gently nudge their children if they have strayed, warn them when they are in danger, teach them by example how to survive as adults, or guide them by showing them what options they have. It is just what fathers do.…

  • Support Our Supporters

    By Daryl Anne Goldman

    Thanks to hard work and generous donations, 2019 Birdathon raised $65,000 for GGBA’s conservation, restoration, and education programs. We were fortunate to have help from local businesses in our Birdathon fundraising efforts and I’d like to share a few of them with you.

    I got involved with the Birdathon Committee 4 years ago and my role has been to solicit prizes for the highest fundraisers, and this year, to help arrange a couple of the prizes for the auction. I’m someone who absolutely hates to ask for free things or favors, so there must be a big reason that I endure this minor form of torture. One reason is that I really appreciate all the hard work of the GGBA members who raise money for Birdathon, and another is that I really appreciate the wonderful programs of GGBA. It is also a great feeling when another nonprofit or business appreciates the work of our organization and wants to support us by donating two nights at their Inn or a pair of binoculars.

    I want to share more about those that have been so generous in donating prizes for Birdathon because I think it is important that we, as birders and GGBA members, support the businesses that support us. Please mention GGBA if you do.

    Out of this World   Binoculars, Scopes and Cameras

    The first time I sent a solicitation letter to Out of this World Optics in Mendocino they called me back one day later and offered us a pair of binoculars worth $800. They have been donating a pair of binoculars every year since. I have bought binoculars at their store and each time they were so helpful and never pushed a sale; once they even suggested that I wait 2 months until Zeiss came out with their new model because the price was going down. For those of you who can’t make it to Mendocino they have a wonderful website and can answer your questions by phone. For me it was worth it to visit the store and try and compare all their makes and models of binoculars and scopes. Click here for more info: http://www.outofthisworldshop.com/

    Point Cabrillo Light Station Cottages – Mendocino

    For several years now the nonprofit, Point Cabrillo Light Station Foundation, has donated a two night stay in one of their cottages which is just a two minute walk from the lighthouse.…

  • To Etosha and Beyond

    Text and photos by Eric Schroeder

    When I began working with the GGBA Travel Program a year ago, I didn’t envision that one of the benefits might be designing programs that I’d want to go on myself. But when I began to talk with Chris Lotz, who runs Birding Ecotours, one of our GGBA travel partners, I realized that several trips he was proposing appealed to me. Most surprising was one in Namibia and Botswana. I was just getting ready to go to Namibia and I didn’t think I’d want to go back a year later. But Namibia is a special place, and Etosha National Park is one of the great national parks, not just in Africa but worldwide.

    White Rhinos in Namibia

    One of the things that I love about Etosha is that you have two different ways to experience the mammals and birds of the park. During the day, you can plan a route in the park that allows you to visit a series of waterholes—if things are slow at one waterhole, then you can move onto another and check for action there. But it can also be rewarding to sit at a waterhole—even if the action seems to have finished (or perhaps hasn’t yet begun!)

    Zebras at Etosha Waterhole

    My favorite example of this occurred on my first visit to Etosha in 2013. It was late in the afternoon and my wife Susan, friend Ian, and I decided to visit one last waterhole before returning to camp. It proved to be a good decision. When we pulled into the parking area, there were about 20 cars arrayed in an arc around the viewing area. In the middle of a muddy pond two old bull elephants seemed to be fighting. But after closer look, we realized they were actually playing—spraying mud on one another, locking trunks, each determined to make the other even muddier than he already was. An amazing display of what appeared to be affection between two old friends.

    Elephants in Etosha National Park – Photo by Susan Palo

    After about fifteen minutes, the elephants seemed to tire of their sport, and each ambled off in a different direction. At that point, almost all the cars in the viewing area started up at once—it was late and the rest camps lock their gates at sundown, and no one wanted to be locked out of camp. But we weren’t very far from camp and, besides, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye as the cars began streaming out—two young male lions trotting towards the waterhole.…

  • Rapidly Changing Images

    Text and Photos by Joe Galkowski

    One of the things that still surprises me as a wildlife photographer is how an individual animal can look so very different in a series of images.  The look of the animal can often change dramatically due to pose, color and quality of the light, lighting angle, and angle of view.

    Since I often shoot at sunrise and sunset, light is rapidly changing and the result is that images taken just minutes apart sometimes look as if the animal’s coloration is different.

    The below series of Great Horned Owl images were taken in a thirty minute period. They are all the same bird.  No extra photoshop processing was used here, other than cropping and a touch of dodging and burning. The eyes were not touched at all. The ground shot was taken after sunset whereas the fluffy image was taken about fifteen minutes before sunset. With the other two shots occurring in between.

    Hardly looks like the same bird!

    Joe Galkowski has been a wildlife photographer and a student of nature for over thirty years. As a retired, recovering engineer he can now spend more time in the wilderness watching how our local wildlife live their lives.

    Editors Note: Are you, too, out in the field with your lens noticing the changing images of the birds you see? Do you want to share some of your favorites? Consider submitting your photos for consideration for our 2020 Birds of the San Francisco Bay Area Calendar. For more information go to goldengatebirdalliance.org/calendar-photos-2020/…

  • Oakland’s Official Bird

    By Jeanine Harmon

    Everyone loves a good story, especially a story with a happy ending. This story, like many good stories, includes a journey and a group of dedicated and determined children. At the heart of this story is a “cool and funky bird” and the people who worked together to help protect it. This is the story of how the Black-crowned Night-Heron became the Official Bird of Oakland.

    Black-crowned Night-Heron by Cindy Margulis

    Birds are amazing animals. Watching them fly, waddle or perch on the highest branches is nothing short of magical. Their plumage, songs and nesting habits make them fascinating subjects to observe and study. For this reason, and many more, birds are at heart of the third grade science curriculum at Park Day School, a K-8 independent school in Oakland, California.

    3rd grade bird art from Park Day student

    When a mysterious goo spilled in San Francisco Bay in 2015, hundreds of birds covered with sticky gunk washed up on the east bay shoreline, including at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline, the same wetland where Park Day third graders were helping with bird habitat restoration. “When you see a problem, do something about it” is a common phrase that you hear throughout our classrooms, so it came as no surprise to see our third graders responding to this news with a call to action.

    Whenever we are faced with the news of a problem in the community, we teach our students to first identify who the “helpers” are. In the case of the “Mystery Goo”, it was the team from International Bird Rescue, a non-profit organization devoted to the care and rehabilitation of waterbirds. After doing some research, our students were shocked when they learned how much it cost to clean, house and rehabilitate the goo-covered birds. The students decided the best way to support the helpers was to do some quick fundraising. Students sold handmade jewelry and crafts along with gently used books at an after-school sale and raised $607.00 for the organization. A few weeks later, we were on the beach with a team from International Bird Rescue for a celebratory bird release event. It was an extraordinary opportunity for the students to see such a happy ending for the rehabilitated birds. One of the most enthusiastic guests we met that day was Cindy Margulis, the executive director of Golden Gate Bird Alliance.…