By Ilana DeBare
The City of Richmond adopted a new zoning plan this month that includes standards for Bird-Safe Buildings  — joining a growing number of Bay Area cities that are encouraging bird-safe building design.
The new rules require that windows greater than 24 square feet in size be treated in some way to prevent bird collisions. Birds can’t perceive clear glass, but they can be steered away by techniques that include fritted glass, ultraviolet patterns within the glass, mullions, shades, and louvers.
Golden Gate Bird Alliance worked with Richmond planning staff to develop the guidelines. They follow similar standards in San Francisco and Oakland, which were the first two cities in the country to adopt municipal bird-safe building rules.
The new rules are a particularly welcome development in Richmond, since the city has such an extensive waterfront, which draws tens of thousands of water and shorebirds each year, including many winter migrants. Across North America, it’s estimated that up to 1 billion birds die each year from window collisions.
Aerial view of Richmond, showing the extensive waterfront.
“This is a great victory for the birds and for the people of Richmond who care about their wildlife,” said GGBA Executive Director Cindy Margulis.
Richard Mitchell, Planning Director for Richmond said:

“The adoption of these standards reinforces the City’s commitment to the environment by ensuring that new buildings are designed to reduce bird mortality from circumstances that are known to pose a high risk to birds and are considered to be bird hazards.”

With Golden Gate Bird Alliance raising the issue and providing input, San Francisco enacted the country’s first municipal bird-safe building standards in October 2012. Oakland followed suit in June 2013. Since then, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto have also passed bird-safe building standards, and cities such as Portland, Oregon, and Highland Park, Illinois, are currently considering them.
Red-tailed Hawk at a window. Photo by Deborah Allen/National Wildlife Federation
 
“We were fortunate that Richmond was working on updating their zoning and they were able to incorporate this new piece,” said Noreen Weeden, GGBA’s Conservation Project Manager, who started working with the city last March.
Approved by the Richmond City Council on November 15 as part of the new zoning plan, the standards apply to new construction and renovations. There is an exemption for small structures (less than 45 feet high) where glass makes up less than half of the facade, unless the building is in a “bird collision zone” adjacent to a park or body of water.…

In 2015, Golden Gate Bird Alliance started an initiative to save the lives of S.F. Bay water birds and marine mammals through the recycling of monofilament fishing line. Our volunteers built recycling containers out of PVC pipe, and we arranged for them to be placed at popular East Bay fishing spots. This week, the Port of San Francisco followed suit, thanks to the initiative of filmmaker Judy Irving. The following is a story that appeared on KTVU’s web site.
Receptacles for used recreational fishing line and hooks, which could cause the demise of pelicans, have been placed this week at nine popular fishing spots in San Francisco, port officials said today.
The receptacles were installed Monday and Tuesday at locations along San Francisco Bay, including Hyde Street Harbor, Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 7, Pier 14, Rincon Park, Brannan Street Wharf Park, Aqua Vista Park, Bayview Gateway Park and Heron’s Head Park.
“Getting tangled up in fishhooks and fishing line are two of the most common problems that pelicans face in the wild,” documentary filmmaker Judy Irving said.
Pelican entangled in discarded fishing line
Irving produced and directed “Pelican Dreams,” a story about pelicans in the wild, as well as “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.”
The receptacles are made from 6-inch plumbing pipe, which was fastened to the pier at Pier 14. The pipe can be removed and the line and hooks collected for recycling.
“It will save pelicans’ lives,” Irving said.
A tenth receptacle will be installed at Pier30/32 and talks with federal officials are expected to begin soon about installing receptacles on federal lands around San Francisco such as in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, port officials said.
Installing recycling bins at MLK Jr. Regional Shoreline in 2015
Port staff may install receptacles at other San Francisco locations too.
“We know that fishing line can really harm wildlife,” the port’s interim Executive Director Elaine Forbes said. She said the port takes environmental stewardship very seriously.
Irving said San Francisco officials acted quickly after she asked Supervisor Aaron Peskin whether anything could be done to stop the harm from fishing hooks and lines.
Peskin met with Forbes and struck the agreement. The receptacles cost $100 to make. The whole project cost $1,200, Forbes said.
“This is truly government at its best: responsive to residents’ ideas and pushing cost-effective solutions, all within a relatively short period of time,” Peskin said in a statement.…

By Bob Lewis
In 2004, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology published the second edition of its Handbook of Bird Biology, a hefty volume of 11 chapters. It was in black and white, and Cornell offered a companion mail order course that seemed tempting to some at Golden Gate Bird Alliance, but at the same time appeared daunting. Della Dash suggested we assemble a study group, and I ended up leading two year-long groups of future bird biologists as we strove to qualify for our Cornell certifications. Those of us who succeeded became some of the 15,000 students from 65 countries who placed the certificate on our wall. In 2010 the book went out of print, and Cornell no longer supported the mail order class.
In 2013, after Jack Dumbacher had joined the GGBA Board, we embarked on a different approach to teaching bird ID and biology, offering our first Master Birding class at the California Academy of Sciences. Taught by Jack, Eddie Bartley and myself, with occasional guest lecturers, we are now completing our fourth year, each year with 20 registrants in the class. Although the class has evolved, much of it was based on Cornell’s Handbook.
A few weeks ago, the third edition arrived. Edited by Irby J. Lovette and John W. Fitzpatrick and published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., it is a thing of beauty.
Third edition of the Handbook of Bird Biology
With glossary and index it runs over 700 pages, and contains 15 chapters authored by 18 expert ornithologists. Five of the authors extensively revised their second edition contributions, while 13 contributed entirely new material. Many of the references in the new volume are post-2012, with some from 2016, covering recent advances in bird biology well. Also new to this edition are 1,150 color photographs, illustrations, and figures, adding much to the updated text. The second edition had a definite East Coast bias, with most examples coming from that area. The third edition approaches issues globally, picking illustrative examples from birdlife worldwide.
Illustration of how blue feathers come from the structure of keratin proteins, rather than pigments. From the Handbook of Bird Biology by Andrew Leach.
 
The Royal Flycatcher’s facial bristles help detect prey during aerial foraging, by Andrew Snyder.
Chapters cover Bird Classification, Evolution, Flight, Anatomy, and Physiology. Behavioral aspects include Food and Foraging, Mating and Social Behavior, Song, Breeding Biology and Migration.…

By Alan Hopkins

I awoke to the clanging and clashing of the garbage trucks outside my window. It was 2 a.m. When I listened carefully, I could also hear tires splashing on Manhattan’s rain-wet West 22nd Street below. Not what I wanted to hear. The alarm was set for five; I needed my sleep for the long day ahead. But I tossed and turned. I wondered, Would I see any birds? Would I miss our flight? Would I get soaked and have to spend five hours wet on the plane?

Then I had a small epiphany. I should get off the subway at 72nd Street and not 86th Street as planned! Eventually I fell asleep and eventually the alarm went off at five. I dressed in the bathroom to keep from waking my wife Julie. I grabbed my pack and headed for the elevator.

I couldn’t believe I was actually doing this crazy New York to San Francisco Big Day again. The idea was to see birds in Central Park in the morning, hop on a plane, and bird in San Francisco in the afternoon — while raising money for Point Blue’s Rich Stallcup Bird-a-thon. I’d done this bicoastal Big Day once before and had a good morning in the park but was squeezed in San Francisco by a very slow shuttle and fog along the coast.

I’ve done many and varied big days before. Dan Murphy and I started the Bird Blitz some time in the early 70s before county listing was in vogue. Our Golden Gate Bird Alliance team, the Loonaticks, did GGBA bird-a-thons that started in Los Banos and ended in Pescadero to raise funds to save Mono Lake. I’ve been doing San Francisco County big days to raise funds for research on the Farallon Islands for more years than I can count. Our best — and the S.F. Big Day record — is 149 species.
It just happened that I was in New York the weekend we usually do our S.F. County big day. And it just happened that Julie arranged our flight back to San Francisco in a way that would allow me a bit of birding time in the morning and a bit more time in the afternoon. It was clear that I needed to try this exotic big day again. After all how many times can you see Great Black-backed Gull, Heermann’s Gull, Blue Jay, California Scrub Jay, and Steller’s Jay all in the same day? …

By Ilana DeBare
Fall is a great time to create a garden that attracts birds… and we’ve got some resources to help!
We just published a new version of our brochure on Inviting Wildlife Into Your Backyard — now with versions focused on San Francisco, the East Bay, and in Spanish. Download the version of your choice or pick up a paper copy from our office. It includes a short list of native plants that support Bay Area birds, gardening tips, and local nurseries specializing in native plants.
Some other good resources:
National Audubon Society just rolled out a terrific interactive web site called Plants for Birds that will help you select plants native to your region of the country. It also allows you to see which bird species are attracted to a particular plant, and offers lots of gardening tips.
From NAS’s Plants for Birds web site
San Francisco’s Department of the Environment has a web site focused on gardening to support pollinators — bees and butterflies, as well as birds.  You’ve probably read how bee populations are under severe stress worldwide. One way to help them is to avoid the use of neonicitinoids, pesticides which may harm pollinators. The SF Environment web site includes a list of nurseries in San Francisco, the East Bay, and North Bay that don’t use neonicitinoids.
The SF Plant Finder web site will help identify native plants suited to the terrain in your part of San Francisco.
Bringing Back the Natives offers monthly East Bay workshops in selecting native plants, as well as a springtime tour of inspiring native-landscaped gardens.
Allen’s Hummingbird by Bob Gunderson
And… this weekend offers great opportunities to buy native plants! In the East Bay, seven native plant nurseries including the U.C. Botanical Garden are holding a special Native Plant Extravaganza sale on Sunday, October 23. Many of these nurseries are only open to the public once or twice a year: Click here for details and directions.
In San Francisco, the Yerba Buena Chapter of the California Native Plant Society is extending its fall plant sale to this Saturday, October 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at 2207 26th Avenue.
Get started planning or planting now for a beautiful, bird-filled garden in the spring. Let us know what you plant and how it goes! Or — if you already have a garden that attracts birds — tell us about it.…