An interview with Debi Shearwater, founder of Shearwater Journeys and recipient of the Ludlow Griscom Award at the 2018 Monterey Birding Festival

By Taylor Crisologo

Debi Shearwater received the Ludlow Griscom Award at the 2018 Monterey Birding Festival held in Monterey, California. The award is given by the American Birding Association to an individual who has made significant contributions to our understanding of a region’s birds.

Debi Shearwater, famous for her incredible knowledge of seabirds, is the founder of Shearwater Journeys, Inc. Shearwater Journeys offers birdwatchers and nature enthusiasts the opportunity to venture out from California’s central coast to see seabirds and other marine life.

Mark Rauzon, Seabird Biologist, noted author, and Professor of Geography, offered this about Debi Shearwater, “Debi is a true visionary- a self made legend of the birding community, famously portrayed by Anjelica Huston in the movie The Big Year.  She was a pioneer of sea birding on the West Coast, developed a business, Shearwater Journeys, and carried it on for 43 years. Since 1976 more than 67,000 birders from every state in the USA and more than 30 countries worldwide have had an opportunity to appreciate seabirds and the phenomena of Monterey Bay oceanography. One of the first women birders to achieve national recognition, she has many firsts, including discovering new North American species like the Jouanin’s Petrel.”

Debi came to California in 1976. “I thought I was only going to be here for about 18 months,” she exclaimed. Within 10 days of arriving in the Golden State, she arranged to go on her first pelagic trip from Monterey. After a great experience, she booked another Monterey trip for that September – just six months later.

“In those days, there were no field guides to whales. They didn’t exist. There were really no good field guides to seabirds at that time either,” Debi explained. She spent the night before reading books about blue whales – an IUCN Red List endangered species whose global population was driven to drastically low numbers by commercial whaling. “I just thought, man, if I see a whale – that’s going to be amazing.”

Blue Whale tail by Beth Hamel

On her trip in September, Debi encountered a blue whale: the first whale species she’d ever seen. The following year, she spotted a Streaked Shearwater – a rare sight in California, since its native range is the western Pacific Ocean. “That’s how it began – with a blue whale and a Streaked Shearwater,” she said.…

By Marjorie Powell and Linda Carloni

It all started with a comment at a GGBA Centennial Celebration in spring 2017.
Photographs of birds in Alameda were on display. A member of the Board of an Alameda sailing camp mused about the variety of birds that might be seen at the camp and wondered if a birding class for the sailing students might be possible. It was late to set something up for that summer, but persistence and networking paid off and Marjorie made contact with Emily Zugnoni, the camp’s director in the spring of 2018.

Yes, the Alameda Community Sailing Center operates a sailing camp in Alameda, at
the Encinal boat ramp, and yes, they would be interested in volunteers teaching a lesson about birds during each of their 5 2-week sessions in the summer. After collecting more details about the students, how they are grouped for the sailing lessons, dates, where the presentations would occur, and other details, we brainstormed topics for possible sessions.

We thought it was important to focus on our Bay and its birds, to give the young sailors the
chance to learn about the birds that share the waters with them, the challenges those birds face,
and ways the sailors and the rest of us can steward the environment to give those birds a better
chance.

 

Photo of campers starting a birding project by Emily Zugnoni

Challenges abounded – only a 30 minute time for each session, a student age range from 8 to
18, presentation outdoors with no screen, and the request that each group “do” something
rather than just listen. Working around busy travel schedules, Marjorie, GGBA Executive Director Cindy Margulis, and Sharol Nelson-Embry brainstormed ideas for sessions. Over several weeks, ideas for each
of the four different sailing groups slowly came together.

More volunteers were needed. Some of the people designing the sessions couldn’t teach the
sessions; other volunteers could teach the sessions but were not available for the brainstorming
and design session. Our volunteer teaching crew was terrific: Leora Feeney, Jerry and Michelle
Harrison, Dawn Lemoine and the two of us.

Campers making bird whirligigs by Emily Zugnoni

For the beginners, called Discovery Sailors, the sessions focused on two birds of the Bay, Least
Terns and Osprey. These younger students focused on hands-on activities – a wooden model
of a Least Tern, a transparency of an osprey wing (against which students could measure
themselves) and making whirligigs with a flying Osprey or Least Tern.…

NOTE: Updated post with additional photos.

By Taylor Crisologo

The pelican moved slowly, stretching out its great wings in one fluid motion. It lifted its long bill to the sky and opened it briefly, then quickly snapped it shut. Our boat continued to move parallel to the pelican’s resting place, our movement causing me to crane my neck to keep sight of the individual.

As the pelican drifted away from my binocular’s view, I turned my attention to another individual and scanned its legs for bands. The only sounds that could be heard were the hum of our boat’s engine and the long calls of gulls from the breakwater’s rocks.

“140 total,” called a voice behind a pair of binoculars. The voice belonged to John Luther, who was in charge of keeping the total count of pelicans per section for our count.

“14 brown heads,” followed Emilie Strauss, who was counting the total number of younger birds per section. The younger birds have brown heads – as opposed to the adult birds’ light golden heads – making them discernible in the group.

First Light by Deborah Jacques

Breaking my focus on watching the pelicans momentarily, I wrote the numbers on my record sheet and repeated the data back to our team for confirmation. Leaning my head into the ship’s main cabin where Judy Irving stood recording behaviors, I alerted her of the start for the count of the subsequent section. Beside me, Jennifer Walton stood diligently, recording any banded individuals we witnessed. (The next morning by daylight, biologist Debora Jaques re-sighted 15 pelicans wearing bands at the Breakwater!)

All 4 BRPE Band Programs represented at Alameda Breakwater Band Collage by Deborah Jaques

It was a breezy September evening. The vessel Sparky, captained by Jim Labbe, slowly moved parallel to the Alameda Wildlife Reserve Breakwater Island, allowing us a clear view of the roosting pelicans without disturbing them. Leora Feeney, along with Deborah Jaques, assessed the pelicans coming and going to the breakwater from shore.

Leora counting from shore by Deborah Jacques

Leora, our team’s organizer, was instrumental in orchestrating our efforts for the task at hand: counting the thousands of pelicans currently roosting at Alameda Wildlife Reserve Breakwater Island. Luckily, our team’s local knowledge of the area is vast. Since 2004, Leora and John have coordinated their own efforts to monitor the breakwater’s pelicans twice a month as part of the All Bird Surveys done at Alameda Wildlife Reserve.…

 

Text and photos by Gerry Traucht

“Once almost hunted into extinction for the value of their feathers – an ounce of feathers surpassed the value of an ounce of gold – these birds were saved by the landmark Migratory Bird Treaty Act passed in 1918. In celebration of the MBTA centenary, 2018 has been named the Year of the Bird.”

 

 

 

A Great Egret, a majestic white bird with a five-foot wingspan, takes to the air. One might imagine that this elegant large creature inhabits only exotic settings, but in fact this egret lives at the heart of the extremely urban San Francisco Bay Area. This bird belongs to an egret colony on Bay Farm Island off the southern tip of Alameda.

 

 

A Monterey pine leans over the lagoon on Bay Farm Island in Alameda, home to a San Francisco Bay Area egret breeding colony. Nesting begins as early as February and continues through August. The egrets and the tree are almost hidden. After the chicks are born and they begin to grow, the tree will resound with the rhythmic clacking of egrets.

 

 

Due in large part to Golden Gate Bird Alliance, the removal of a dying tree is postponed until after the egrets’ breeding season.

 

 

In March 2018, ten Great Egrets arrive. Soon they are joined by another four. Two weeks later, a pair of Snowy Egrets arrive.

 

 

By June the colony is noisy and full of life. But the tree is not as healthy as its inhabitants.

 

 

A Great Egret brings a gift of a branch to woo his mate and repair their nest.

 

 

And then there are chicks!

 

 

It is feeding time for the chicks. The parent’s bill and most of the head are inserted into the chick’s mouth and down the throat.

 

 

Chicks build biting strength and coordination, as they nip the parent’s beak.

 

 

Fledgling egrets, now as large as their parents, experience quick changes between harmony and raucous battles in the nest. They are stretching their wings and learning to fly.

 

 

New egret life abounds in the dying tree. By summer the pine’s green needles have disappeared leaving a clear view of the abundant breeding season.

 

 

Now in September the egrets are gone. The Monterey pine is dead and scheduled for removal soon.…

by Alisa Golden

When San Francisco Center for the Book asked me to submit a design for Roadworks, their annual steamroller printing festival, it didn’t take long to choose a subject. What could be better than an Osprey three-feet high? I was smitten with Rosie and Richmond, the Osprey pair visible on the GGBA web camera, so Osprey seemed a natural choice. I looked through screenshots I had taken from the camera and chose a dramatic image of Richmond with his wings up from May 15, 2018, 7:30pm.

 

The screenshot image

You can see Rosie behind him, keeping the days-old chicks warm. For the square format, it seemed best to focus just on Richmond, so I drew him on a nest of books. It had to be reversed for the carving. My rough drawing was accepted; Richmond it would be! I enlarged my drawing, divided it up, printed it out, and taped it together.

The drawing enlarged

After transferring the drawing to the large linoleum using artist’s carbon paper I began to carve, referring back to the screenshot for wing details. It was an exciting and terrifying process. There would be no undo.

Computer screen and work in progress

Before I began watching GGBA’s web camera I had never seen an Osprey, didn’t know about them, and last watched a web cam during the Shiba Inu craze of 2008. But I like a good story, and the daily bird behavior fascinated me. After two years of being captivated by the Ospreys, I feel they are family, and this family, like any other, has been through changes, joys and its sorrows. It was quite curious seeing the interaction among the siblings; we missed it last year when one of the two fledglings was injured and did not make it, even after excellent human intervention and treatment. This year we were surprised and amused when one of the fledglings commandeered another Osprey family’s nest at the Richmond Yacht Club; it was a short flight from her original home, a nest on the whirley crane by the Red Oak Victory ship.

Prior to beginning the large linoleum, as a test of some new carving tools, I made a small print of this year’s brood (currently exhibited at Piedmont Center for the Arts). The three chicks were banded with both silver and blue bands, after which we could identify them more easily: VW (named Roemer, who is the chick in front), VU (Victory) and VV (Brisa, in back).…