• Looking up at the 2018 Audubon California Assembly

    by Clayton Anderson

    “Look Up”! was the slogan for this year’s California Assembly. There were some real positives to take away from the event. I spent some time with Marcos Trinidad, Director of the Audubon Center at Debs Park. After showing me around this beautiful center in the Montecito Heights area of Los Angeles, and meeting Natasha Khanna (Audubon California field organizer) and Estefania Palacio (Audubon California Communications and Development Associate) we had a delicious lunch and talked about the challenges of running a nature center.

    The weather was great, and after checking into the Plaza Marriott in downtown LA, I settled into two days of avian advocacy: Presentations ranged from bird ecology to political strategy for birds, to impacts of climate change on birds. I was able to assist in the “Peer Networking” event by chairing the educator’s discussion group. During the discussion some common themes came up. One theme was the need for support. After writing all of the curricula for her program, and even after paying from her own pocket to get her program started, one educator was not able to garner any additional financial assistance. A second theme appeared to be a lack of awareness of the need. A couple of educators who were members of chapters which contained urban and/or suburban areas felt there was a lack of awareness in their chapters, as well as, among teachers in the education systems?! They found it difficult to form partnerships. All of the educators at the table felt that outreach and education work was ‘challenging’ regardless of the situation.

    Clay with Marcos Trinidad Clay with Natasha Khanna

    On the 2nd day I was a speaker and member of the the discussion panel for “Conversations for a New Generation.” The event was well attended. It seemed the main concerns were: ‘How do we engage?’ And ‘Why Diversity?’ To the latter question I answered: “Nature, by its nature is Diverse”, which received warm applause. All of the presentations I attended were interactive, informative and well organized (Thanks Ariana!). And the food was great, particularly the squash soup, Yum!

    Audubon Center at Debs Park Audubon Center at Debs Park

    On our last day, I signed up for the birding trip to Bolsa Chica. Vic Liepzig was our leader from Sea and Sage Audubon. We saw over 70 species. Being the intrepid birders we are, Vic offered to take me, along with Kenneth Sobon and Matthew Forster (both from Altacal Audubon), over to the ‘birding hotspot’ Huntington Park.…

  • Keep Our Parks Healthy: Vote Yes on Measure FF

    By Pam Young

    In 2004, the East Bay Regional Park District won 72% approval from East Bay voters in Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, Alameda, San Pablo, El Cerrito, Albany, Emeryville and Piedmont to commit $12 per year as a parcel tax under Measure CC. This measure provided over $37.4 million dollars during the past 15 years and funds park infrastructure, maintenance, safety, and services.

    During 2017, the East Bay Regional Park District (the EBRPD) invited GGBA and other environmental groups to attend a series of meetings and review a range of projects and commitments that were considered for inclusion in a campaign to renew and continue Measure CC. After many long intensive examinations of possible projects, we identified a strong list of habitat restoration and wildlife protection projects that would strengthen the program for environmental stewardship. The updated commitments are in the renewed Measure CC and have the new name, Measure FF.

    Orange-crowned Warbler in Tilden by Pam Young

    Measure FF will continue this East Bay wide commitment to healthy parks by approving the same parcel tax for another twenty years. Measure FF commitments include park wide improvements throughout the western Alameda and Contra Costa counties and will fund habitat restoration, wildlfire hazard reduction, and public access enhancements that anticipate climate change impacts. Measure FF commitments will help restore our shorelines, marshes, wetlands, and urban creeks and protect sensitive habitat for endangered species.

    All these park improvements help protect the important services from our parks – clean air and clean water. The East Bay Regional Park District is a point of pride for East Bay outdoor enthusiasts. Without healthy parklands, we would not only lose our world famous reputation for accessible and affordable outdoor recreation, our enviably high quality air and water would degrade. It is easy to help keep our parks healthy. We will vote to support Measure FF.

    Cooper’s Hawk in Tilden by Pam Young

    If I may share a personal story, you should know that I visit the parks every day. After my daily run along my favorite fire road, I may return to go birding or hiking at one of my special destinations. This daily visit is not only enjoyable – it’s restorative. No visit is ever the same. The endless biodiversity promises a new experience, such as an unfamiliar call or a small overlooked spider web that sparkles with dew and then vanishes after just a few days.…

  • Reluctant No Longer

    By Eric Schroeder

    It was the first day of my month-long program teaching University of California students in South Africa. I was leading a three-hour walking tour of downtown Cape Town and decided I’d better begin with one of the tougher parts of the program—introducing my students to the local birds. We had begun our walking tour at the Castle of Good Hope—the original Dutch fort and oldest building in South Africa, completed in 1679. The moats had been dry on my last visit two years earlier but had recently been refilled. The first moat was full of garbage—the students were really disgusted. But the second moat looked healthy—reeds were growing and there was almost no garbage. A quick flash of bright blue—a Malachite Kingfisher! Wow.
    Never thought I’d see one of those in downtown Cape Town.

    The program, called “City to Safari,” is a UC Davis Summer Abroad offering for which
    students enroll in two 4-unit university courses. The first of these is African
    American & African Studies (AAS) 157, “Literature and Society in South Africa”; the
    second one is AAS 198, a group studies course that I design as a fieldwork course.
    When I first starting leading it in 2001, my idea was to teach an interdisciplinary
    program that would include not only South African literature and history (the focus
    of the first course and my own field of study), but also politics, some anthropology,
    and close observation of nature, such a key feature of South Africa.

    This last goal, I reasoned, would be important to attract students to the
    program—they would see lots of South African mammals and birds. In AAS 157, the
    “classroom” course, students learn about South African history and politics and
    literature, and their assessment would be based on three essays they would write
    and a midterm exam. In the “field work” course students visit many of the places
    they are reading about (like Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in
    prison) but they also explore several South Africa national parks and nature
    reserves. For this course they are required not only to keep field journals about the
    places they were seeing, but also to keep records of the mammals and birds they
    observe. Their final essay exam would draw upon their work in both courses.

    The mammals are an easy sell. All of the students want to see lions, leopards, rhinos,
    elephants, zebras, giraffes, baboons—you get the picture—and they do see these,
    and more (most students record between thirty and forty mammals for their month
    in South Africa).…

  • The Journeys of Debi Shearwater

    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.…

  • Birds and Beginning Sailors

    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.…