By Ilana DeBare

Birdathon 2016 was a smashing success — delighting 198 birders who took part in 22 special field trips, and raising over $62,000 for Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s conservation and education programs.

GGBA members and friends gathered for a warm, sunny Birdathon Awards Celebration on Sunday May 15 that included the presentation of our highest annual honors: the Elsie Roemer Conservation Award, to Cornelia Foster, and the Paul Covel Education Award, to Alan Kaplan.

More on Corny and Alan further down…

But first, kudos to the winners of our Birdathon prizes for fundraising and for birding!

Birding Awards

Most Birds in 24 Hours: First place to Dave Riensche and his “146 Birds in a Day in East Bay Parks” team. They set out to find 146 species within East Bay Regional Park District lands…. and hit that number exactly!

Second place in the 24 hour category went to Ivan Samuels for his Miwok-style birding day in San Francisco, which betted 87 species entirely on foot and without optics. (Click here to read Ivan’s firsthand account on our blog.)

Most Birds in Six Hours: First place to Bob Power and his Southern Alameda County team for 115 species.

Second place in the six hour category went to Glen Tepke and his Oakland team for 101 species.

Bob Power and his Southern Alameda County team. Board President Alan Harper presents Glen Tepke with his second place award for the Big Six Hours category.

Third place went to Dan Murphy and Murphy’s MOB for their Peninsula trip with 70 species.

Best Bird: Laughing Gull at Hayward Shoreline, the first documented sighting of that species in Alameda County, by Bob Lewis and his Hayward Shoreline team on May 8. Other birders have been trekking to Hayward for the past ten days to see the Laughing Gull!

Laughing Gull on Hayward Shoreline Birdathon trip, by Chris Wills Bob Lewis with the Best Bird award for Laughing Gull at Hayward Shoreline.

Fundraising Awards

First Place Fundraiser: Dan Harris set a new historic record for Birdathon, breaking the $3,000 barrier for the first time and raising $3,060! Dan is a master of raising small gifts from many, many donors – 62 separate donations this year. How does he do it? You can read about his secret sauce (well, not so secret – it’s his love of birding and GGBA) in a blog post earlier this spring, Dan’s prize is a two-night stay in a guest cottage at Point Cabrillo Light Station in Mendocino, along with a pair of guest passes to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens in Fort Bragg.…

Editor’s Note: Each spring since 2011, Ivan Samuels has taken part in Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s annual Birdathon with a “Miwok-style” Birdathon – birding as the Bay Area’s original inhabitants might have done it, without optics, motorized transport, or even a bike.

By Ivan Samuels

When it came time to plan my 2016 “Miwok-Style” Birdathon for Golden Gate Bird Alliance, I found myself studying new routes for the first time. Things did not work out for my fellow Miwoks this year and it was time to do the count alone, my first time counting solo since 2011 when I first conceived of the idea to do a Birdathon without any modern implements. Although tempted to return to my usual site at Point Reyes, I decided to retreat deep into GGBA territory and do my count within the limits of San Francisco.

Obviously, the city of San Francisco has seen far more changes to its natural environment than Point Reyes. But Bay Area birders also know that the combination of natural and restored habitats with unique urban landscapes and bay and ocean frontage provide a wealth of birding opportunities. And I am lucky enough to live in the Presidio, perhaps the wildest corner of the city.

Waking up in my own home was bending the rules a bit, but I left the windows open so I would rise early, and was quickly out of the house and into the dawn chorus. Knowing the Presidio well was key, and I took full advantage of the restoration projects that have helped restore native habitats and their birds here. These included Bewick’s Wren at the Lobos Creek dunes, shorebirds at Crissy Field, and a singing Wrentit (that was actually seen!) on the Coastal Bluffs. The city’s non-native habitats contributed too of course, not the least of which was an active Cooper’s Hawk nest in a eucalyptus near the Presidio Golf Course.

Lobos Creek dunes / Photo by Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Bewick’s Wren by Bob Lewis

I missed my rocky shorebirds walking through Lincoln Park, but was delighted to pick up a large mix of Black Turnstones and Surfbirds at Sutro Baths. And the tide was so low at this point I was able to walk around to Ocean Beach without going back up. Giving up on Brown Pelican and the other distant seabirds I could not make out on the horizon without modern optics, I turned into Golden Gate Park for my final land birding of the day.…

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.…