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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.…

Lee Karney, a longtime Golden Gate Bird Alliance volunteer, passed away on January 3, 2017 at the age of 84. Lee was a regular participant in our monthly habitat restoration sessions at Pier 94 in San Francisco, and documented those sessions with photographs. You have undoubtedly seen his vivid photos on our web site and in many issues of our newsletters! The following remarks were delivered by GGBA Volunteer Coordinator Noreen Weeden at Lee’s memorial service last weekend. 

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Initially I met Lee through Golden Gate Bird Alliance, where he was a member of the San Francisco Conservation Committee. As an architect for 45 years in the Bay Area, he put his knowledge and background to work in several local projects including the India Basin development comments. He submitted letters and met with our district supervisor in support of the Standards for Bird Safe Buildings ordinance, which was passed in San Francisco in 2011.

Lee Karney taking photos at the 2012 SF CBC dinner / Photo by Ilana DeBare

Lee became an avid wildlife photographer in his retirement, and offered to contribute his photography skills to Golden Gate Bird Alliance. He submitted beautiful bird photographs that he had taken locally for articles in our newsletter. Over a 10-year period, his impressive photos of birds were seen by thousands of people. His photographs of people enjoying volunteering or attending events inspired others to volunteer or participate. He photographed at Harding Park, Golden Gate Park, McLaren Park, Ocean Beach, Crissy Field and most frequently at Pier 94. He also photographed outside at our Volunteer Appreciation picnics, Birdathon fundraising events and Christmas Bird Counts, as well as the indoor CBC celebration dinners.

Photo by Lee Karney Photo by Lee Karney

Bird photographs taken by Lee were published in the 100 Birds of Heron’s Head field guide, which was provided free to beginning birders and school kids in San Francisco.

Lee was able to talk with people of all ages and backgrounds, from Cub Scouts to Girl Scouts and Eagle Scouts, from at-risk high school students to U.C. Berkeley students, people from the neighborhood, interns, and millennials from corporate groups participating in community service. He was able to make people feel at ease. Lee got people to smile since his own smile was sincere.

Lee generously provided transportation to volunteers that needed a lift and he also encouraged people to get together after planting or weeding at habitat restoration events.…

For the fifth consecutive year, Golden Gate Bird Alliance is partnering with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department to create nesting opportunities for White-crowned Sparrows, Tree Swallows, Western Bluebirds, and other species at the Bison Paddock in Golden Gate Park.

GGBA volunteers work with park department staff once a month to create habitat and maintain nest boxes at the edge of the paddock.

During their most recent work day in March, volunteers removed invasive weeds and planted native species that would attract White-crowned Sparrows to nest. They also relocated some Tree Swallow nest boxes in an effort to improve nesting success in the 2017 breeding season. During the fall, volunteers had cleaned out the boxes and documented contents such as eggs that did not hatch.

Removing invasive weeds at the Bison Paddock

“Because of our partnership with the Golden Gate Bird Alliance and our passionate volunteers, San Franciscans can enjoy watching birds and bison thrive in Golden Gate Park,” said Phil Ginsburg, SF Rec and Park General Manager. “We welcome the public to join us in our efforts to restore parks and natural areas, and encourage the return of wildlife in our City.”

The goal of the restoration project is to create habitat and nesting opportunities for White-Crowned Sparrows, a species that is diminishing in San Francisco. The Nuttall’s subspecies of White-Crowned Sparrows live along the California coast year round, while other subspecies spend only the winter here. White-Crowned Sparrows nest in a clump of vegetation on the ground or at the base of a bush or short tree. The nests are made of grass, leaves, twigs, pine, moss, bark, hair and feathers. The sparrows lay between two and five eggs in each clutch. By contrast, Western Bluebirds and Tree Swallows prefer to nest in the elevated boxes installed by GGBA and Rec & Parks.

Installing nest boxes for the 2017 nesting season at the Bison Paddock / Photo by Eileen Richey Nest boxes for Tree Swallows and Western Bluebirds / Photo by Eileen Richey

“We’ve been delighted to work with Rec & Parks to enhance the habitat by the paddock for wildlife and people,” said Cindy Margulis, Executive Director of Golden Gate Bird Alliance. “Our members have cherished this remarkable park since our founding a century ago.  Restoration is one of the ways we can sustain the marvels of nature in urban parklands.”

“It’s so rewarding to work with volunteers to restore wildlife habitat and witness the fruits of our labor – it’s also nice to get outside and improve the parks that we love,” said Kimberly Kiefer, Director of Volunteer Services at SF Rec and Park.…

Editor’s Note: Natasha Lowery is the instructor for our newest class, a five-week workshop in Appreciating Birds: Journaling and Field Sketching that starts on April 11. A 2016 graduate of Tulane University in environmental biology, Natasha may be our youngest instructor ever! Her enthusiasm and welcoming attitude will make this class rewarding for anyone who is fascinated by birds and nature, even people who feel “I can’t draw.”

By Natasha Lowery

Some of my fondest childhood memories are watching my mother sketch on the shores of the Russian River, and enduring my fathers never-ending science and math questions on our way to outdoor adventures. In my mind, my father stood for the pragmatic, rational aspects of science while my mom represented the emotional, and spiritual nature of artistic life. It wasn’t until I was introduced to field journaling that I was able to reconcile these two parts of myself.

People often view the arts and sciences as distinct entities. But many of the earliest naturalists were artists first, and their artistic skills allowed them to take detailed observations and notes about the plants, animals, and insects that they saw. Both the arts and the sciences have much to learn from each other, and field journaling is a way to break down that barrier and discover the enjoyment that can arise from reconciling the two.

Natasha Lowery and her nature journal

If at this point, you are worried about your “limited”, or “nonexistent” artistic abilities — I use the quote marks because everyone has the potential for artistic prowess! — let me reassure you that this is not something to lose sleep over. In fact, the only prerequisites required to keep a field journal are the ability to see, hear, smell, and/or touch.

A field journal is essentially a catalogue of the observations and musings that you make while in the field. They can be as formal or informal as you please, though a few basic guidelines are encouraged to maintain consistency should your journals be used as a source of scientific data.

Field journals can include both notes and sketches To help learn key ID marks, Natasha also does drawings based on images from field guides

In my class, I will emphasize sketching, as I feel that it is a very intimate way to connect with nature. (And a very useful aid for bird identification!) Most of the exercises we will complete are tasked with activating the right side of your brain, something that the modern education system tends to de-emphasize.…