• Black Oystercatcher nesting success at Heron’s Head

    By Mary Betlach
    I’ve walked at Heron’s Head Park on San Francisco’s southeastern shoreline since 2005 and casually observed juvenile Black Oystercatchers there most years. One of our most distinctive shorebirds because of their bright orange bills, oystercatchers are at risk because of the dwindling amount of rocky shoreline they need for nesting. They’re already designated a Species of Special Concern by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and climate-related sea level rise will only heighten their breeding challenges.
    This year, Golden Gate Bird Alliance created a Heron’s Head Monitoring Group to gather data on the Black Oystercatchers there – myself, Annie Armstrong, Patricia Greene, and Tim and Alexia Tindol. We had the privilege of watching a pair raise a chick on a dilapidated pier about 65 yards from the shoreline in the center of Lashlighter Basin.
    (Another Golden Gate Bird Alliance member monitored Black Oystercatchers at Land’s End in San Francisco in 2015 as part of an ongoing Audubon California survey of the species: You can read about it here.) 
    The pier and the oystercatcher family / Photo by Tim Tindol
    Heron’s Head Park viewed from the air, showing how it got its name. Lashlighter Basin is the water below (north of) the Bay Trail
    We started our monitoring on March 31, observing the shoreline area twice a week in teams of two. We quickly realized that the old pier is an ideal location for a Black Oystercatcher nest. It is close to rich feeding grounds along the rocky shoreline and separated from ground predators by the surrounding water. It’s high enough above the water to avoid flooding, yet both remaining ends of the pier provide a gentle slope to the water. The height of the pier facilitates a 360-degree view of the surrounding area, giving the adult oystercatchers optimal surveillance against airborne predators. The pier has numerous cross beams and other decaying structural features that provide cover for the nest and hatchlings.
    There are several potential airborne predators at this site. A Western Gull colony nests nearby on the roof of the Recology building. (Fortunately, the gulls hatched at a point when the oystercatcher chick was most likely too big for dinner).
    Other predators were American Crows, which approached the pier fairly closely and were chased by the adult oystercatchers. There were also Common Raven, Osprey, and Peregrine Falcon flyovers. Rock Pigeons also walked the pier and were chased off by the Black Oystercatchers. …

  • Golden Gate Bird Alliance and the 1,300 acres

    By William Hudson & Ilana DeBare

    The new two-mile McCosker Loop Trail in Orinda is a short trail with a long story behind it – a story that could easily be called “Golden Gate Bird Alliance and the 1,300 acres.”

    The trail is part of Gateway Valley, an area now known as Wilder, located south of Highway 24 and just east of the Caldecott Tunnel. The area is critical wildlife habitat – a key link in the north-south wildlife corridor that runs from Wildcat Canyon to Lake Chabot. Thanks to GGBA’s expertise, counsel, and resources, over 1,300 strategically-located acres of Gateway Valley were added to our protected wildlands.

    The story began in the 1980s, as open spaces around the Bay Area came under increasing development pressure. The northern reaches of Gateway Valley — across Highway 24 from the California Shakespeare Theater — belonged to Ed Daly, owner of World Airways, known for its government contracts during the Vietnam war.

    Daly was supposedly in the process of donating his land to the East Bay Regional Park District when he passed away in 1984. His family then sold it to a development group, setting the stage for years of contention. With the later addition of land to the south owned by Daly’s financial officer, the total project area was 978 acres. Homes were the main focus but a 27-hole golf course was included in every proposal until a settlement was ultimately reached, driven by GGBA.

    Views from the McCosker Loop Trail, which covers some of the Gateway Valley land that has been preserved from development. Photo by William Hudson

    Despite its prime location, the valley had not been developed in prior decades for a good reason. The hillsides were unstable, and studies revealed problems even deeper than expected, with hidden landslides in the underlying bedrock. The extensive grading and drainage needed to support roads and construction could not be done without destroying existing creeks, wetlands, and seeps, and numerous old growth trees, a variety of habitats home to species including endangered California Red-legged Frogs and Alameda Whipsnakes, as well as majestic Golden Eagles.

    The valley’s natural attributes made it a resource of national importance. This was significant, because it meant that, in addition to obtaining approval by the City of Orinda, any development had to be also vetted by state and federal environmental agencies, a process coordinated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that provided numerous opportunities to advocate for the environment.…

  • Protect Ocean Beach and its habitat

    By Bill McLaughlin
    San Francisco’s western border is Ocean Beach, a fantastic open space for hiking, surfing, fishing, viewing wildlife, and more.  Sloat Boulevard is the southernmost access point, located right in front of the entrance to the San Francisco Zoo.
    Today, the Sloat area shoreline has become known as a flashpoint of coastal erosion and climate change. Over the years, the tidal boundary has advanced landward, washing away most of the sandy beach. During winter storms, waves collide against the base of the seaside parking lots, threatening the Great Highway coastal road as well as nearby wastewater infrastructure.
    In 1997, 1998, and 2010, El Niño storms triggered emergency-level threats for the infrastructure. This led the San Francisco Department of Public Works to construct large boulder revetment structures on the beach. Erosion has progressed so far that construction fill that comprises the road base routinely spills out onto the beach. Instead of cleaning up all this debris, the City leaves all the rock on the beach to protect the infrastructure. However, this crude form of protection degrades access to the water, covers what remains of the beach, and removes habitat for shoreline birds such as the threatened Western Snowy Plover.  The latest revetment of 2010 even covers part of the Fort Funston bluffs, which contain nesting sites for the threatened Bank Swallow.
    Ocean Beach in 2010, with virtually no beach left Ocean Beach in 2010, with virtually no beach left / Photo by Bill McLaughlin
    Rock revetment covering Bank Swallow nesting sites at Ocean beachRock revetment covering Bank Swallow nesting sites at Ocean beach. Photo by Bill McLaughlin.
    Since the late 1990s, Surfrider Foundation and others in the community have been fighting for a plan to clean up and restore this area of Ocean Beach.  To accomplish our goal, we are backing a plan of “managed retreat.” Managed retreat at Sloat would involve long-term planning to relocate threatened infrastructure away from the sea. Sand replenishment in front of the road has been attempted numerous times – with poor results. Recent sand replenishment projects were washed away within three years or less. We believe that managed retreat planning is the best option to effectively safeguard the infrastructure. The additional beach area gained through managed retreat also allows sand replenishment a much better chance to be effective, all while benefiting the near-shore ecosystem.
    The good news is that in 2012 representatives from key government agencies and community stakeholders (including Golden Gate Bird Alliance) came together to forge a strategy to solve the Sloat erosion crisis.…

  • Genetic mapping of Northern Spotted Owls

    Bay Area researchers have mapped the DNA of the Northern Spotted Owl, gaining information that could shed light on how this threatened Pacific Coast bird is interacting with non-native owls invading its habitat.
    The California Academy of Sciences — in collaboration with U.C. Berkeley, U.C. San Francisco, the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute —  extensively sequenced the bird’s genetic material and published their findings this month in Genome Biology and Evolution.
    “The Northern Spotted Owl is special because it’s our backyard bird here in the Bay Area—found from Marin County all the way north to British Columbia,” said Dr. Jack Dumbacher, curator of ornithology and mammalogy at Cal Academy and a member of the Golden Gate Bird Alliance Board of Directors
    Marked by white spots across a brown chest, the Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis carina) vocalizes two to three short hoots followed by a longerhooooo from its perch on centuries-old trees in old-growth forests. But standing at a foot-and-a-half tall, this top predator is now rarely seen or heard. The bird experienced a rapid decline and has been federally listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act since 1990.
    Northern Spotted owl in Marin County / Photo by Jack Dumbacher
    “We’ve really seen a perfect storm with many factors complicating the Northern Spotted Owl’s recovery,” Dumbacher said. But this storm is unprecedented, so researchers are working to track how it unfolds in forests across the West.

    Understanding a shifting power dynamic

    Over the past half-century, the Barred Owl (Strix varia)—a close relative formerly found east of the Rocky Mountains—has flown onto the scene. Notable for its larger size and more aggressive behavior, Barred Owls have vertical dark markings against a white belly and a hooting call birders mimic with the words, “Who cooks for you?”
    Barred and Northern Spotted Owls now have overlapping geographic ranges and compete with one another for prey and breeding territories. To complicate matters, timber harvest has reduced available habitat for both species. The Barred Owl is the scrappier of the two, enjoying a more varied diet and producing more young, more often—ultimately emerging as the super competitor.
    Barred Owl (left) and Spotted Owl (right) / Photo courtesy of CNN
    “We wanted to know how the Barred Owl’s range expansion will play out evolutionarily,” said Zachary Hanna, lead author and an Academy-affiliated student who is currently a PhD candidate at U.C.…

  • Lake Merritt wildlife at risk from A’s stadium plan

    Editor’s Note: Golden Gate Bird Alliance came out in opposition last week to the proposal to relocate the Oakland A’s baseball stadium to a site adjacent to the Lake Merritt Channel, currently owned by the Peralta Community College District. We received prominent news coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as in the East Bay Times, KGO-TV, and KCBS radio, and we published an op-ed piece in the East Bay Times. The following is adapted from the press release we sent out.

    The large-scale ballpark proposed by the Oakland A’s for the Peralta Community College District site could be disastrous for the abundant birds, fish, and other animals that rely on Lake Merritt.
    Golden Gate Bird Alliance — which represents over 7,000 members in Oakland and nearby cities — opposes selection of the Peralta site because of the loud noise, intense light, trash, and harmful contaminants it would generate directly alongside the Lake Merritt channel, a narrow and vital waterway connecting the lake to the estuary and San Francisco Bay.
    Peralta is the smallest and densest of the three proposed stadium sites. It is ill-suited for the huge footprint of a stadium plus parking, and the additional planned housing and commercial development. (See map below.)
    Golden Gate Bird Alliance raises the following concerns over the site proposal:

    • Lake Merritt, the nation’s oldest wildlife refuge and a public asset, is home to nearly 200 species, including ducks, herons, songbirds, nesting cormorants, fish, and other species.

    Barrow’s Goldeneye pair at Lake Merritt / Photo by William Clark
    2012 Kids' Bird Count at Lake Merritt2012 Kids’ Bird Count at Lake Merritt organized by Golden Gate Bird Alliance / Photo by Ilana DeBare

    • Siting a ballpark at Peralta could jeopardize major improvements recently made to Lake Merritt through $198 million in Measure DD bond funding, including environmental cleanup, restoration of water quality, enhanced bird and fish habitat, and connection to the Bay ecosystem.
    • Restoration of the Lake Merritt Channel has helped connect Lake Merritt and its ecosystem to the surrounding communities and public institutions, such as the Oakland Museum, Oakland Main Library, and Laney College.
    • Tens of thousands of people would pour over the Lake Merritt Channel bridge at every home game to get to the stadium from the Lake Merritt BART station, dropping trash (including plastic) that is both unsightly and dangerous to wildlife.
    • Loud noise from PA systems, amplified music, traffic, and crowds can frighten birds away from their habitat and into roadways.
    …