By Ilana DeBare
The Audubon Christmas Bird Count has been called the grandparent of all citizen science events. That might make a BioBlitz the newest grandchild – young, tech-savvy, and inviting all ages to play.
Like a CBC, a BioBlitz mobilizes regular citizens to document their nature sightings during a 24-hour period of time. But it includes not just birds but all kinds of living things, from grasses and lichens to insects, mammals, and mollusks. Participants don’t need to have any prior expertise, so it’s a great event for people new to nature or to the area, or for families with children. And it invites people to capture their sightings on their cellphones, so they can be easily ID’d with help from scientists and naturalists at the end of the blitz.
On April 1, 2017, we were delighted to co-sponsor the first BioBlitz at Pier 94, a Port of San Francisco property along the city’s San Francisco’s southeastern waterfront that we are working to restore as wildlife habitat.
SF Bay makes a stunning backdrop for counting shoreline species, Photo by Liam O’Brien
American Avocets during the Pier 94 BioBlitz by Noreen Weeden
Thirty-three participants of all ages fanned out across the five-acre site. They made 683 observations of 168 species, including 40 bird species.
The most common bird sightings were Red-winged Blackbirds and American Avocets in breeding plumage, showing how birds have made themselves at home in both the wetlands and uplands sections of the site. Large numbers of Clark’s and Western Grebes, American Wigeons, Mew Gulls, Western Gulls, California Gulls, and Canada Geese were also found.
All ages took part in the BioBlitz / Photo by Eleanor Briccetti
Lincoln Sparrow during the Pier 94 BioBlitz by Liam O’Brien
Among the non-avian species were a harbor seal, common raccoon, black-tailed jackrabbit, Olympia oyster, and Western pygmy blue butterflies. Although the blitz took place in the morning, a few hardy souls returned that night to look for moths. Heavy winds meant that they missed all but one species of moth, the white-speck. But being there at night allowed them to hear the shorebirds chattering at dusk and to see one unidentified species of bat.
The Pier 94 BioBlitz was co-sponsored by Golden Gate Bird Alliance, California Academy of Sciences, the Port of San Francisco, and the EcoCenter at Heron’s Head Park. Liam O’Brien, San Francisco’s resident butterfly expert, helped with the planning and the event itself.…

By Kathy Kramer
In a charming New York Times article several years ago called The Chickadee’s Guide to Gardening, 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, a pair of chickadees needs 350 to 570 caterpillars every day for sixteen days 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.
The large, iridescent blueback pipevine swallowtail butterfly lays eggs on Dutchman’s pipeline — the only host plant for the caterpillars of this native butterfly —in Glen Schneider’s Berkeley garden. Photo by Glen Schneider.
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 7th, the tour will showcase how East Bay gardeners have attracted birds to their yards. This award-winning, self-guided tour features 40 beautiful Alameda and Contra Costa County gardens that are pesticide-free and water-conserving, provide habitat for wildlife, and contain 60 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.
 

Glen Schneider’s garden, Berkeley

Glen Schneider converted a former driveway to a berry and vegetable garden, providing food for his family. The local native plants have attracted forty-six species of birds, twelve species of butterflies, and more than two hundred types of insects and spiders. Photo by Kathy Kramer.
Tip: Garden with local native plants.
Berries, seeds, nuts, nectar, pollen, nesting areas, and shelter are amply provided, and there is no deadheading in this wildlife- and insect-friendly local native plant garden. More than 90 species of local native plants have attracted 46 species of birds, 12 species of butterflies, and over 200 species of insects and spiders to the garden.
Garden Talk at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.: How to create a wildlife habitat garden using local native plants, by Glen Schneider
 

Merle Norman and Curtis Beech’s garden, Richmond

The blossoms of the checkerbloom attract painted lady butterflies and skippers to Merle Norman’s garden.…

We’re delighted to launch a second year of rescuing young herons in downtown Oakland, together with our partners at Oakland Zoo and International Bird Rescue!

The busy streets of downtown Oakland are home to about 130 nests of Black-crowned Night-Herons and Snowy Egrets, making Oakland the largest night-heron rookery in the Bay Area.

But city streets are a dangerous place for young herons. If they fall from their nest or a branch before they can fly, there’s no understory or grassy ground to cushion their fall. They face broken bones, starvation, exposure, or injury by cars.

So last year we convened a three-way partnership to rescue fallen and injured young herons, a partnership that is now back in action for the 2017 nesting season. So far, six young birds have been rescued this spring and are in rehabilitative care at International Bird Rescue. Two of these birds are scheduled for release back into the wild later this week.

Young Black-crowned Night-Heron in care this month at Bird Rescue. Note the green and gold leg bandage. (Oakland A’s colors!) Photo by Isabel Luevano.

“Last year we learned how effective partnerships can be in protecting urban wildlife,” said Cindy Margulis, Executive Director of Golden Gate Bird Alliance.  “We’re so pleased that these three organizations are cooperating again to save the lives of young birds hatched in a less-than-ideal location.”

Trained volunteers from Golden Gate Bird Alliance check the streets surrounding the rookery daily for fallen and injured birds. Oakland Zoo staff also check the rookery each morning.

Zoo staff retrieve a fallen bird from its reported location, provide intermediary treatment, if necessary, and transport the bird to International Bird Rescue in Fairfield for long-term care. Having the Zoo’s experienced animal handlers serving as on-call rescue dispatch is a crucial component.

“We are thrilled to once again be part of this team effort to save these beautiful baby herons. The opportunity to take ‘Action for Wildlife,’ is important to us, around the world and right here in our city of Oakland,” said Amy Gotliffe, Conservation Director at Oakland Zoo.

Young night-herons in care at Bird Rescue in 2015. Photo by Cheryl Reynolds.

Once the birds are delivered to Bird Rescue, a world-leading wild waterbird rehabilitative care organization with two centers, the care provided will help them develop the full range of skills needed for survival, such as self-feeding and flight. Like last year, the rehabilitated birds will be released into safe and appropriate local habitat, including Oakland’s Bay shoreline.…

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By Ilana DeBare

Rigel Stuhmiller’s vibrant bird prints have an unlikely genesis… the sidelines of a soccer field.

Rigel, who will be the guest artist at our 2017 Birdathon Awards Celebration, spent a lot of time on the bench as a college soccer player at MIT. Bored, she started watching flocks moving over the open field.

“Not a great era for my soccer development, but it was the first time I had spent much time thinking about birds and observing their behavior,” said Rigel, now 39 and a Berkeley resident.

Rigel produces various kinds of prints – block prints, letterpress, and screen prints. Her products include wall art, note cards, tote bags, and tea towels. While her subjects range from fish and flowers to dinosaurs and cabbages, birds clearly occupy a central place in her artistic imagination.

We first encountered Rigel’s work through her lovely, small desktop letterpress bird calendar. Her birds are simple and colorful, often perched on flowers of a contrasting color.

Common Yellowthroats in a plumeria by Rigel Stuhmiller

“I find birds happy, beautiful, and fascinating,” she said. “I love the little thrill of finding them, I feel relaxed watching them hop around and eat things and sing, I like watching them live their lives. I like learning their different personalities. I feel like there’s nothing bad about a bird, they’re just inherently cheerful and interesting creatures.”

Growing up in San Diego, Rigel didn’t set out to be an artist. But ultimately she realized that art was the only work that made her happy. She first started sketching birds around the time of those college soccer games, but it was a bumpy start.

“I didn’t know anything about bird anatomy so maybe I should call them ‘birds,’ ” she said. “It took me a long time to understand their different anatomy. I tend to make them too human, because I have a lot more experience drawing people.”

Indigo Buntings in dogwood by Rigel Stuhmiller

Her understanding of birds took a big leap when she met her husband, a wetlands restoration ecologist.

“He was the first person I had met who walked around with binoculars on hikes,” she said. “He was always very interested in looking at hawks, which at first I found strange because hawks were so commonplace in San Diego that I never had given them much thought. They had been just shapes that sat on top of telephone poles.…