• Field journaling – not for artists only

    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.…

  • Prizes, prizes, prizes

    By Ilana DeBare

    Okay, we know why you take part in Birdathon: You love Bay Area birds. You support Golden Gate Bird Alliance. And, last but not least, Birdathon is a lot of fun!

    But hey. There are prizes too.  🙂

    We wanted to take two minutes to share this year’s prizes for top Birdathon fundraisers. Volunteer Daryl Anne Goldman did a great job seeking out new prizes that would have special appeal to Audubon members. Thanks to Daryl’s efforts, we’re able to offer more prizes than ever before. And these donor businesses deserve public thanks for their support of Audubon and wildlife conservation. Think of them the next time you’re planning a birding getaway! (You can view more photos on our Birdathon Prizes web page. Or — if you haven’t yet signed up for Birdathon — click here for general info on how to take part, or here for the list of Birdathon trips.)

    Mendocino vacation package – two nights

    Point Cabrillo light station

    Complete your Mendocino vacation with two tickets to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens in Fort Bragg. Known for  their rhododendrons, perennials and heaths and heathers, the gardens are also a terrific birding spot, with over 150 species sighted there. Red-throated Loons are summer residents, and Ospreys, hawks, plovers and sandpipers are found year-round.  Look carefully and you might spot an Ash-throated Flycatcher, a Savannah Sparrow, a Pileated Woodpecker, or a Red-breasted Nuthatch. (Aerial photo by Mark Jones.

    Click here for information on the Point Cabrillo Light Station or here for information on the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens.

    The Jenner Inn – two nights

    Jenner Inn

    The historic Jenner Inn offers a spectacular opportunity to enjoy the romance and unique beauty of the Sonoma Coast.…

  • The secretive Sora

    By Miya Lucas
    Sora is the name of a fictional character in a Japanese video game.  Sometimes trying to view a Sora rail is so challenging that you may feel like it is a fictional character as well.
    Soras are secretive and stealthy. I enjoy hearing the Sora’s call and song, and occasionally seeing the actual bird, at Las Gallinas Sanitary Ponds in San Rafael, where I lead a monthly field trip with Wendy Beers.  We in the Bay Area are fortunate to live in one of just two regions – northern/central California, and southern Arizona/New Mexico – that are home to Soras year-round. Their preferred habitat is freshwater marshlands, usually with a water depth of 12 to 20 inches.
    “Thin as a rail”: The phrase originally referred to a fence or a bar. However, it would be an appropriate phrase for a Sora rail as well.  Although the Sora’s length is 8 to 10 inches, it can compress its chest wall to a width of 1.5 inches, allowing it to walk in and out of thick-growing reeds or cattails. If threatened, it sometimes dives for cover under water and all you can see is its yellow beak sticking out.
    Male Sora by Miya Lucas
    Female Sora by Miya Lucas
    The male Sora is just a tad larger than the female. They look very similar and both have a bright yellow beak, but the female Sora has lighter black coloring on her face and throat.
    I especially enjoy hearing the Sora’s call. It reminds me of the childhood game of tag, like a child’s high, sing-song voice shouting….yourit! yourit! yourit!  They also have a loud, fast horse-like whinny that slows down so you can hear each note.  The best opportunity to hear a Sora is during mating season.
    They can also be heard at night, in spring migration, and when feeding.
    Sora courtship behavior has three stages. The first stage is visual — what I call the flirty stage. The male and female stand near one another for 15 to 30 minutes, watching and being watched. The second stage continues the watching but adds grooming or preening before the other Sora. If all goes well, in about two to four weeks, the Soras move on to preening and grooming each other. Soon afterwards, copulation occurs.
    Nest construction is done by both the male and female. The male Sora brings materials, and the female constructs the nest. …

  • Vollmer Peak: Birding Hotspot

    By Denise Wight
    Vollmer Peak in Tilden Regional Park, at an elevation of 1,905 feet, is one of the highest peaks in the Berkeley Hills. With relatively easy access, one can enjoy not only diverse birding but incredible views. On a clear day the Farallon Islands appear to balance on the western horizon, and to the east you can see the outline of the snow-capped Sierra Nevada Range across the Central Valley. Thanks to the foresight of the founders of the East Bay Regional Park District, we are fortunate to enjoy vast areas of open space set aside for public enjoyment at Tilden and many other locations within Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.
    Vollmer Peak holds a special place in my heart. I grew up in Orinda, looking up toward the peak. When my father was transferred to the San Francisco Bay Area from Chicago in 1963, he wrote to the family “back east” that we now lived below a mountain. Later we would laugh, knowing these were just hills to the locals.
    View of Briones Reservoir from Vollmer Peak, by Denise Wight
    Vollmer Peak service road and transmitter, by Denise Wight
    Weather on Vollmer Peak can be incredibly variable. Water drips from vegetation not just during winter and spring rains, but also in mid-July, when the blanket of fog moving in through the Golden Gate hits the peak and soaks the needles of the Monterey pines. There are days when the fog is so thick you can barely make out the silhouettes of California Towhees and Song Sparrows foraging at the edge of the path directly in front of you. The fog moves eastward, cascading over the ridge like a massive waterfall, only to dissipate before it reaches the valley below.
    Some old maps show the original name as “Bald Peak.” The name was changed to Vollmer Peak in honor of August Vollmer, an innovator in police professionalism and the first police chief of Berkeley, who loved the outdoors and was actively involved with East Bay Regional Parks in its early years.
    Access road at Vollmer Peak, by Denise Wight
    Fox Sparrow near Vollmer Peak by Denise Wight
    Bird diversity is good on Vollmer Peak and surrounding areas. eBird lists Vollmer Peak as a hotspot with 151 species recorded to date. Habitat around the peak and along the trail to the north includes oak woodland, scrub, pines, eucalyptus and a variety of planted exotics and native plants, with private pastures and grasslands to the east.…

  • Fast-paced fun: a first-time Birdathon story

    By Eric Schroeder
    My wife and I have been members of Golden Gate Bird Alliance for about five years, but until last year we had only been marginally active, occasionally attending the monthly talks in Berkeley. Then last year I enrolled in a year-long Master Birding Program that was co-sponsored by GGBA and the California Academy of Sciences, and, as a result, I was very excited when I received the list of Birdathon outings. Two in particular caught my eye.
    The first was the Big Six Hours in Oakland trip—six hours of birding in Oakland (!) with the chance to see over one hundred species. Frankly, it was the preposterousness of the claim that hooked me. How could anyone see one hundred species of birds in Oakland? Let alone in six hours?
    But trip leader Glen Tepke knows his Oakland. The day seemed much more like a whirlwind than a marathon, with stops at Sibley Regional Park, Joaquin Miller Regional Park, Lake Temescal, Lake Merritt, Middle Harbor Shoreline Park, Garretson Point, and Arrowhead Marsh. Highlights for the day ranged from a pair of Golden Eagles to a Cassin’s Vireo. At 1:15 p.m., Glen had 101 birds on his official Birdathon list and I had done a respectable job of keeping up, recording 95 species on my personal list.
    Big Six Hours in Oakland teamThe 2016 team for Big Six Hours in Oakland, with Glen Tepke in front
    Cassin’s Vireo by Bob Lewis
    My second Birdathon event was the 146 (!) Birds in a Day in the East Bay Parks event. I call this trip an “event” because I’m not sure there’s a more appropriate term for this marathon outing. When I arrived at Del Valle Regional Park at 5:45 a.m. for the dawn chorus, I was surprised to see that there were already about a dozen people there—and some, it turned out, had been there for almost an hour. (Now THAT’S dedication to birding!)
    Led by East Bay Regional Park District biologist Dave “Doc Quack” Riensche, this trip visits many of the gems of the East Bay Parks system, including Del Valle, Shadow Cliffs, Sunol, Garin, and Coyote Hills. And whereas the Oakland trip had featured a pair of Golden Eagles, this one featured a pair of Bald Eagles: At sunrise the pair were spotted bringing food back to their nest for the chicks that had been born earlier in the month.
    146 Birds in a Day trip in 2015, at Coyote Hills / Photo by Ilana DeBare
    Least Tern at Hayward Regional Shoreline, one of the sites visited in the 146 Birds in a Day trip / Photo by Rick Lewis
    These two Birdathon trips were highlights of my 2016 Big Year.…