By Ilana DeBare

The ficus trees of downtown Oakland are an enticing but brutal spot for a heron rookery — lush canopies and nearby food at Lake Merritt and the Oakland estuary, but deadly concrete sidewalks and traffic for young birds that fall from the trees.

Now Golden Gate Bird Alliance has forged a partnership with the Oakland Zoo and International Bird Rescue to save the lives of fallen and injured young herons.

This spring, GGBA trained 25 volunteer docents to monitor the downtown Oakland nesting colony, which includes over 75 Black-crowned Night-Heron Nests plus dozens of Snowy Egret nests.

The docents count and track the nests, engage with passersby who want to learn about the birds, and keep an eye out for fallen herons that need help. When they find an injured bird, they contact the Zoo, which sends technicians to pick up the bird and provide emergency care. Once the bird is stabilized, it’s transported to International Bird Rescue in Fairfield, which provides veterinary treatment and nurture until the young bird is ready to be released into a suitable wild habitat.

So far more than ten injured night-herons have been retrieved from the Oakland streets.

Fallen heron in downtown Oakland / Photo by Kaya Cohn Oakland Zoo staff ready to retrieve herons / Photo by Oakland Zoo Heron receiving care at Oakland Zoo / Photo by Oakland Zoo

“We are so heartened by the crucial assistance we’ve received from the Oakland Zoo and IBR in helping to save the lives of these young herons growing up in the heart of downtown Oakland,” said GGBA Executive Director Cindy Margulis, who together with GGBA Eco-Education Coordinator Marissa Ortega-Welch set up the new heron program.

Night-herons and Snowy Egrets are colonial nesters, which means there can be dozens of nests of both species coexisting in a single tree. The juvenile herons often clamber around on branches inside the canopy before they learn to fly, putting them at risk of falling.

In a less urban habitat, the young herons’ falls are often cushioned by understory or bushes. In downtown Oakland, they hit a concrete sidewalk and then may face oncoming cars.

GGBA’s efforts grew out of a nationally-publicized incident two years ago when tree trimmers hired by the downtown Oakland post office destroyed branches with active nests, leaving a number of young herons injured and homeless.

Since then, GGBA has been working to find a long-term solution to protect the rookery and its residents.…

By Rubi Abrams

Newly retired from a fulfilling career as a community college librarian last year, I was ready to plunge into as many birding activities as I could schedule. Birding-related travel, classes, meetups, speaker series, feeder watch, bird counts – the more the better, and most sponsored by Golden Gate Bird Alliance.  But I was also eager to use my professional skills. I was itching to be a citizen scientist, to have a “conservation conversation” in my community.

Remembering the delightful young adult novel Hoot by Carl Hiaasen, I was inspired to get involved with the GGBA Burrowing Owl docent project. In the novel two young boys embark on a campaign to save the Burrowing Owl colony in their Florida town from real estate developers. Although not threatened by local developers, our local Burrowing Owl populations have declined steeply, and they are currently a federally listed Species of Management Concern and Species of Special Concern in California due to habitat disruption. Though protected, there is still plenty to do in educating the public about these delightful creatures.

Enthusiasm abounds

I quickly registered online for the annual docent training last September. I had recently returned from a thrilling birding trip to Newfoundland where I had observed gannet and puffin rookeries with thousands of birds roosting, eating, and socializing. It was astonishing! I reasoned that surely something of the sort could be viewed at our Burrowing Owl colony. I imagined lively interactions with walkers, joggers, parents, and kids all eager to check out our very own colony of burrowing owls at Berkeley’s Cesar Chavez Park.

Burrowing owl at Cesar Chavez Park in February 2016, by Doug Donaldson

I was stoked when the training day rolled around. We met at the excellent Shorebird Nature Center at the Berkeley Marina. A dynamic group of enthusiastic newbies and seasoned docents listened attentively to expert presenters. We saw an informative video on habitat restoration work undertaken by a partnership of farmers and naturalists, enjoyed a working lunch, and learned that, through cooperation between GGBA and the city of Berkeley, volunteer docents have been gathering data and educating the public for last past eight years. Finally we trooped out to view the owl colony.

Just the facts… did you know:

• Our Burrowing Owls overwinter here in vacant ground squirrel dens. These owls may migrate from as far away as Idaho, arriving in late September-October and departing in late March-April
• They are small (8-10 inches tall) with long legs, short tail, spotted feathers, and yellow eyes and bill, and weigh about half a pound
• Their dens are located along the shoreline in Cesar Chavez Park and are generally safe from predators – though unleased dogs are a threat.

…

By Pat Greene
In April 2014, I wrote a post for the Golden Gate Bird Alliance blog, “Sutro Forest – Conservation Gem or Lost Opportunity,” about my experience birding the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve. This was my “patch” for the 2013 GGBA Master Birder Class at the California Academy of Sciences.
It soon became clear that “Lost Opportunity” was the relevant phrase in that title. UCSF had been poised to begin an ambitious management project that was the culmination of years of planning, with multiple community meetings and opportunities for comment. But when the comprehensive, massive Draft Environmental Impact Report was presented in 2013, there was organized, unified opposition to performing any management actions within the open space. Management would have included thinning densely overcrowded stands of eucalyptus trees and improving the understory for enhanced habitat value.
The opposition included local neighborhood groups who were strongly opposed to removal of any trees for any reason. It also included more powerful non-neighborhood East Bay organizations that threatened a lawsuit supporting the stance of the local groups. Community support for the general plan had been broad, but it was fragmented on details, and it was neither organized nor vocal at this meeting since the community had long been active contributors to the University’s plan. No revised EIR was ever produced. UCSF had more pressing priorities.
Bare crowns in stand of dead or dying eucalyptus on the East Ridge across from UCSF student housing / Photo by Craig Dawson
Cross-section of diseased tree / Photo by Craig Dawson
During the last few years, the drought has taken a terrible toll on trees and wild life on Mount Sutro. Fewer birds are heard singing in the spring. Trees have become vulnerable to pests and large stands of trees have died, resulting in hazardous conditions along public trails. Because of elevated fire risk during the drought, UCSF was required to create defensible space around structures and along roads for fire fighting. Together these factors forced UCSF to cut many trees and clear understory. This reactive felling of trees is not a management plan, but the bright spot is that the resulting openings in the forest have provided opportunities for the Sutro Stewards to establish trailside conservation sites using native plants grown in their own nursery from local cuttings and seeds.
Finally, in December 2015, UCSF announced that they would try again to formulate a management plan.…

By Pat Greene
In April 2014, I wrote a post for the Golden Gate Bird Alliance blog, “Sutro Forest – Conservation Gem or Lost Opportunity,” about my experience birding the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve. This was my “patch” for the 2013 GGBA Master Birder Class at the California Academy of Sciences.
It soon became clear that “Lost Opportunity” was the relevant phrase in that title. UCSF had been poised to begin an ambitious management project that was the culmination of years of planning, with multiple community meetings and opportunities for comment. But when the comprehensive, massive Draft Environmental Impact Report was presented in 2013, there was organized, unified opposition to performing any management actions within the open space. Management would have included thinning densely overcrowded stands of eucalyptus trees and improving the understory for enhanced habitat value.
The opposition included local neighborhood groups who were strongly opposed to removal of any trees for any reason. It also included more powerful non-neighborhood East Bay organizations that threatened a lawsuit supporting the stance of the local groups. Community support for the general plan had been broad, but it was fragmented on details, and it was neither organized nor vocal at this meeting since the community had long been active contributors to the University’s plan. No revised EIR was ever produced. UCSF had more pressing priorities.
Bare crowns in stand of dead or dying eucalyptus on the East Ridge across from UCSF student housing / Photo by Craig Dawson
Cross-section of diseased tree / Photo by Craig Dawson
During the last few years, the drought has taken a terrible toll on trees and wild life on Mount Sutro. Fewer birds are heard singing in the spring. Trees have become vulnerable to pests and large stands of trees have died, resulting in hazardous conditions along public trails. Because of elevated fire risk during the drought, UCSF was required to create defensible space around structures and along roads for fire fighting. Together these factors forced UCSF to cut many trees and clear understory. This reactive felling of trees is not a management plan, but the bright spot is that the resulting openings in the forest have provided opportunities for the Sutro Stewards to establish trailside conservation sites using native plants grown in their own nursery from local cuttings and seeds.
Finally, in December 2015, UCSF announced that they would try again to formulate a management plan.…

By Ilana DeBare
Least Terns. Harbor Seals. Western Bluebirds…. Alameda’s rich variety of wildlife had their day in the sun – or, um, drizzle — on Saturday as part of Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s Wild! in Alameda symposium and viewing stations.
About 100 people including Alameda Mayor Trish Spencer filled the Alameda Main Library for the two-hour symposium and slide show on eight species that make the island their home for all or part of the year.
Snowy and Great Egrets
GGBA Executive Director Cindy Margulis described the nesting colony of egrets on Bay Farm Island. Discovered in 2007, the nests used to extend over five or six trees but after several trees were thoughtlessly trimmed, the colony contracted to one pine tree. It has about 29 nests — 12 percent of all Great Egret nests in the East and South Bay.
Cindy Margulis explains the two species of egrets that rose on Bay Farm Island / Photo by Ilana DeBare
Ospreys
Richard Bangert, publisher of the Alameda Point Environmental Report, recounted the soap opera-like saga of Ospreys trying to nest at Alameda Point. Over the past few years, they’ve tried nesting in inhospitable places (masts of ships, a light pole directly over a motorcycle class area). One year, breeding was distracted by the arrival of a second, rival female. Another year, Common Ravens nesting nearby chased the Ospreys off.
“There was a certain self-confidence about those ravens,” Bangert said. “It was one of the most in-your-face bird actions. It actually picked up the Ospreys’ nesting materials and took it over to their (ravens’) nest.”
Perhaps 2016 will be more auspicious: The Osprey pair has chosen a more secure spot and may be sitting on an egg.
The Alameda Ospreys are part of a general renaissance of this majestic species. Once threatened with extinction due to DDT, Ospreys started nesting along San Francisco Bay for the first time in documented history in 1990. Now there are around 30 nests along the Bay. “The hypothesis is that Bay water is cleaner than it used to be, and it’s easier for them to see fish in the water,” Bangert said.
Harbor Seals
Mark Klein, who used to work with the Marine Mammal Research Center, described the harbor seal population that hauls out on a dock at Seaplane Lagoon. When that dock was threatened because of development, seal lovers spoke out and won installation of a new floating dock for the seals, which is scheduled to be installed in about six weeks.…