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.…

By Ilana DeBare
The herons and egrets that nest in the street trees of downtown Oakland have been painting the sidewalks white for years.
On Wednesday, those sidewalks suddenly got a lot more color.
And the birds got a lot more support — from talented artists taking part in Golden Gate Bird Alliance‘s second annual Eco-Art Flash Mob.
Over two dozen artists converged on Alice and 13th Streets, the center of the downtown nesting colony of Black-crowned Night-herons and Snowy Egrets. Over 50 pairs of herons are raising young in the treetops there, and dozens of egrets are in the process of building nests.
The goal of the art flash mob was to raise public awareness of the dramatic birds nesting overhead, and inspire downtown residents and office workers to protect them.
Artist Carrie McClish at work / Photo by Ilana DeBare
Sidewalk art by Erica Kawata / Photo by Ilana DeBare
It’s part of a broader campaign by Golden Gate Bird Alliance that includes volunteer citizen-scientists monitoring the heron colony; docents leading tours and informing the public about the birds; and a partnership between GGBA and International Bird Rescue, the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, and the Oakland Zoo to rescue young herons that are injured when falling from their nests.
The heron project grew out of a notorious incident two years ago, when the post office hired tree trimmers who downed nests and left heron chicks homeless and injured. But Wednesday’s scene was far different — a mood of wonder and delight as birds flew in and out of the trees above, and artists created colorful chalk images below.
Nesting trees in the heart of downtown – can you spot the egrets? / Photo by Ilana DeBare
Artist Mary Blume at work / Photo by Ilana DeBare
There herons and egrets are colonial nesters, and some street trees had up to a dozen nests built by both species. The block was filled with the birds’ clicks, squawks, kwoks, and cackles.
“This sounded like super fun,” said Dustin Feider, a member of the Urban Sketchers group who was drawing a wacky-eyed heron chick from a photo. “I had no idea this was here. Look at this tree — it’s fully packed!”
Wild-eyed heron chick by Dustin Feider / Photo by Cindy Margulis
“What a wonderful thing to discover right in the midst of the city!” echoed Cathy Raingarden, another artist from the Urban Sketchers group.…