By Kathy Kramer

2018 is Year of the Bird.  Noreen Weeden, Volunteer Director at Golden Gate Bird Alliance said “A positive action you can take is to learn more about the connection between native plants and native birds.An even bigger step is to plant native plants in your yard, patio or balcony or join Golden Gate Bird Alliance in lending a hand in active habitat restoration at a local park.”

In The Chickadee’s Guide to Gardening, a charming New York Times Op Ed article, Douglas Tellamy wrote, “Chances are, you have never thought of your garden… as a wildlife preserve that represents the last chance we have for sustaining plants and animals that were once common throughout the U.S. But that is exactly the role our suburban landscapes are now playing and will play even more in the near future.

“What will it take to give our local animals what they need to survive and reproduce on our properties? NATIVE PLANTS, and lots of them.”

In fact, it takes 350 to 570 caterpillars every day for sixteen days for a pair of chickadees to raise a family, according to Tellemy! And it’s native plants that provide this kind of food source, while most non-natives do not.

Here in the Bay Area, we have an outstanding resource for people who want to create bird-friendly gardens—the annual Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour.

Coming up on Sunday, May 6th, the tour will showcase a number of  East Bay gardens that have excelled at attracting birds. This award-winning, self-guided tour features 37 beautiful Alameda and Contra Costa County gardens that are pesticide-free, water-conserving, provide habitat for wildlife, and contain sixty percent or more native plants.

Below are descriptions of some of the gardens that have been particularly successful at attracting birds, along with a tip from each host for attracting our winged friends.

Delia and John Taylor’s garden, Berkeley

Tip: Include a diversity of plant heights, from trees to shrubs, groundcovers, and vines.

Cedar Waxwing by Rick Lewis

The coast live oaks, bays, and big leaf maple that were on-site and native to this area set the stage for the beautiful mostly-local native plant garden that Delia and John designed around them.

 The local native plants in this garden attract numerous types of birds, including Western bluebirds, lesser and American goldfinches, golden- and white-crowned sparrows, dark-eyed juncos, Townsend’s, yellow-rumped, and orange-crowned warblers, cedar waxwings, hermit thrushes, ruby-crowned kinglets, wrentits, Bewick’s wrens, chestnut-backed chickadees, oak titmice, black phoebes, Anna’s and Allen’s hummingbirds, and Cooper’s hawks.…

By Eric James Schroeder

As I drove into the Maxwell Cemetery, I was doubtful. As birding habitat goes, this small country cemetery in the middle of California’s Central Valley didn’t look very promising. Grass, a few scattered shrubs and trees, and many weathered upright grave markers. I parked my car on a narrow gravel road in the center of the small cemetery and got out. Perched on a tall headstone about 25 feet away from me was a bright red bird that was about 350 miles north of its extended range—a Vermilion Flycatcher.

Vermillion Flycatcher by Miya Lucas

This was Day Two of the GGBA weekend field trip for the Migrant Treasure Hunt class, and we were exploring California’s Central Valley. The field trip had begun the day before in the northeast corner of the California Delta at Staten Island on a cold, clear morning. The fields around us were packed with Tundra Swans, Snow Geese, Ross’s Geese and some Canada Geese. Looking south towards Mt. Diablo we could see a spectacular sight—thousands of birds flying in long chains in the early morning light. After a couple of hours, though, 16 birders plus leader Juan-Carlos Solis were all glad to get back in our cars to warm up.

A short drive took us to Consumnes River Preserve, where big numbers of geese again greeted us, with the majority being Greater White-Fronted Geese. Joining them on the ground was a small number of Sandhill Cranes with lots more overhead. The ponds were full of ducks—good numbers of Northern Shovelers, Gadwalls, Northern Pintails, Green-winged Teal, joined by some Cinnamon Teal, American Wigeons, Canvasbacks, Ring-necked Ducks, Buffleheads, and a single Common Goldeneye and a single Eurasian Wigeon. Consumnes is also great for woodland birds, and even though we did not walk any of the woodland trails, we saw a number of them from the porch of the Visitor’s Center where we stopped to eat lunch. Juan-Carlos’s count for Consumnes was 66 bird species in 2 hours.

Ross’s Goose by Miya Lucas

After lunch we drove Riley Road southeast of Sacramento, looking for large flocks of cranes (they were seemingly intent on avoiding us) and raptors (these we found—White-tailed Kites, Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks, Northern Harriers, American Kestrels, and a single Turkey Vulture). Then another wetlands stop—this time at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area for more ducks and geese. In addition to these, there were a few species of waders, notably Black-bellied Plovers, Dunlin, and Least Sandpipers.…

By Eddie Bartley and Noreen Weeden

Ari Dalfen, an “almost” 9-year-old and a 3rd grader, hails from the Richmond District in San Francisco. Recently, along with his moms, Ari visited the California Raptor Center in Davis, CA. The facility is part of the U.C. Davis Veterinary Medicine which treats over 300 hawks and raptors each year for a wide variety of medical needs and also provides information to the public.  Ari has always been fascinated by hawks and owls so, after witnessing injured birds being rehabilitated at the Center, he became inspired to do something to help hawks or owls.

For his Jewish Studies class at Brandeis School of San Francisco Ari has been asked to develop a tzedakah project (tzedakah means “justice” in Hebrew) which serves the community and also something that is personally meaningful to him. Ari asked the good folks at California Raptor Center about volunteering but, on discovering he is not yet old enough to volunteer there, realized he had to think outside of the box, so to speak. The Center’s fine website describes how raptors play a critical role in our environment. Owls, particularly Barn Owls, provide significant ecosystem services keeping rodent numbers in check by consuming huge numbers of mice, voles and rats especially during the breeding season.

Perhaps this fellow is looking for a home? Photo by Bob Lewis

Reduction of vegetated habitat due to human development pressures in California has depressed wildlife numbers and biodiversity generally and this has had a negative impact on both diurnal (those active dawn and dusk) and nocturnal (those active mostly at night) raptors. A more recent double-whammy to eagles, falcons, hawks, owls and other predators is that powerful modern rodenticides used to poison rodents also causes secondary poisoning to any animal who selects that compromised rodent (an easy target) for prey. A third modern problem for cavity nesting birds, including many owl species and songbirds, is a general lack of natural nest cavities due in part to people’s proclivity to cut dead trees that may otherwise be used for nesting. For many animals the lack of an appropriate nesting cavity is a primary population limiting factor. Fortunately for Barn Owls, people have discovered that installing a specifically designed nest box in an area where rodenticides are not used and in appropriate habitat is a great way to provide a safe nesting place that may not exist otherwise.…

By Holly Bern
The Salton Sea, in the Imperial Valley of southern California, is a critical stop for many birds on the Pacific Flyway, and I had been hearing about it for years from a number of birding friends.  The north end of the sea is about 7 – 8 hours away from the Bay Area, or more depending on traffic, so it takes a little planning and at least a few days to do it right.  When tour leaders Eddie Bartley and Noreen Weeden offered the trip through GGBA I jumped at the chance to experience the Salton Sea with folks who have been exploring the area for many years and know its birds, natural history and geology.
The trip from the Bay Area to the Salton Sea roughly follows the path of the San Andreas Fault as I-5 parallels the fault line down into the Los Angeles area.  When I think of the San Andreas Fault, I immediately think of earthquakes and San Francisco, I don’t think of southern California birds.  But, the San Andreas Fault provides a very literal connection from the Bay Area to this wonderful birding habitat. It is the movement of the plates at the borders of the San Andreas fault line that have crushed the alluvial deposits at  certain points within the greater Imperial and Coachella Valleys leaving an impervious layer that keeps under
California Fan Palm – Photo: Noreen Weeden
ground springs from reaching farther down.  Palms and other plants are able to tap into these areas, creating oases.  The Dos Palmas Preserve, along the northeastern side of the Salton Sea, where our trip officially began, is one such spot. It is home to the California fan palm, or Washingtonia filifera, the only palm native to the western US.  The fruits, seeds, and leaves of the palms provided many uses for Native Americans, and the oasis provides habitat for birds and other desert animals.  We were treated to southern desert specialties:  Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Phainopepla, Verdin, Abert’s Towhee, and a surprise appearance of a couple of Sage Thrashers, which were new trip birds.       

                                                                                                                     

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher – Photo: Eddie Bartley
 
Salton Sea – Photo: Noreen Weeden
Salton Sea – Photo: Noreen Weeden
From Dos Palmas we headed to the North Shore Marina.  Eddie and Noreen indicated that the composition of the bird species has been changing and may be due to the increasing salinity of the sea and the subsequent alteration in fish species. …