By Richard Bangert
About 100 California Brown Pelicans made an unusual appearance on the old wooden dock on the south side of Alameda Point near the U.S.S. Hornet on December 23. The visit provided a rare close-up view of this colorful and iconic bird, but also a reminder of their struggle to survive as a species. Only one of the pelicans could be identified as a one- or two-year-old.
During the past four years, the breeding rate for California Brown Pelicans has been dismal. This recent trend has been directly attributable to the dwindling supply of sardines along the California coast, according to a Brown Pelican status report issued in October by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife. The sardine population has dropped so low that in April of 2015, the agency responsible for managing Pacific Coast fisheries banned commercial fishing of sardines until the end of June 2016.
Brown Pelicans resting on old recreational boating dock on south side of Alameda Point in December. Photo by Richard Bangert
Brown Pelicans in Alameda by Richard Bangert
In May, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service urged the same agency to consider additional management measures to stave off a decline in northern anchovy, another important food source for pelicans and other marine life.
Brown Pelicans were removed from the federal endangered species list in 2009 with great fanfare after recovering from the devastating effects of the agricultural pesticide DDT on their eggs. But they no sooner recovered from chemical contamination than they fell victim to a plunge in food supply.
“Although most essential nesting and roosting habitat throughout the subspecies’ range is protected, the California Brown Pelican has experienced unusual mortality events and a multi-year decline in breeding success since delisting, both of which appear to be due to the lack of adequate forage,” wrote the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the Pacific Fishery Management Council on May 14, 2015.
Brown Pelicans by Richard Bangert
About 10 percent of California Brown Pelicans nest on two islands in Channel Islands National Park off the coast of Southern California. The remainder nest and rear their young off the western coast of Mexico.
The University of California at Davis and the Mexican national conservation agency conducted a study of the 2014 nesting season off the coast of Mexico. The U.C. Davis news summary of the study results stated, “The scientists found that this year, areas that typically host hundreds or thousands of nesting pairs held only a few hundred at most, and in some cases zero nesting pairs.”…

By Dominik Mosur
During the most significant drought in California in a millennium, a trickle of water continues to wind its way down Glen Canyon, nestled between the Glen Park, Diamond Heights, and Miraloma neighborhoods of south central San Francisco. These headwaters of Islais Creek — thought to be the largest creek in pre-settlement San Francisco — eventually empty into the Bay below Highway 280. It is some of the last and most extensive riparian habitat remaining in the City.
Riparian habitats — those along rivers, streams and other water courses — are scarce in San Francisco. Virtually all the creeks and streams once weaving their way down the hills and through the canyons on which the City was built have long been subjugated to human will through underground channelization. The only other free-flowing creek in San Francisco, Lobos Creek in the southwest corner of the Presidio, is mostly fenced off from public access.
With year-round water and high-quality habitat, Glen Canyon remains a prime spot to seek out locally-scarce riparian nesters and the gleaner flocks that also favor this location during migration and winter.
Main path in Glen Canyon Park, by Lee Hong Chang
Glen Canyon boardwalk and marshy area, by Alan Hopkins
Bewick’s Wren in Glen Canyon Park, by Lee Hong Chang
The steeper, upper section of the canyon where willows mix with scrub offers a unique plant community blend, where one can encounter locally rare resident Wrentit and Bewick’s Wren. In sum, close to 30 species of birds can be expected to at least attempt nesting in Glen Canyon each spring and summer, depending on the conditions.
In the past decade, under the management of San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department’s Natural Areas Program, restoration efforts along the creek have improved the habitat resulting in nesting success by Pacific-slope Flycatcher and probable nesting attempts by Swainson’s Thrush and Bullock’s Oriole. All three of these species are medium- to long-range migrants that spend their winters in the tropics.
Summit with Red-tailed Hawk, by Lee Hong Chang
Glen Canyon Park in winter, by Dan Harris
For seekers of rarities, the canyon over the years has hosted unusual migrants like Red-eyed Vireo, Rock Wren, Black-and-white-Warbler, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Indigo Bunting, Summer Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak among others.
Additionally, the canyon is home to some of the longest continuous resident Great Horned Owls and coyotes in San Francisco. These subsist in part on the introduced Eurasian brown rats that abound in the City, but their diet is also bolstered by meadow voles, a keystone rodent species that can be observed throughout the park.…

By Ilana DeBare
The El Niño rains took a short mini-siesta on Sunday… long enough for us to have a successful 2015 Oakland Christmas Bird Count!
This was the 75^th anniversary of the Oakland count, and the first year that Oakland held the honor of more field observers than any other count in the world. 
That distinction came from the 2014 count, when Oakland had 257 people counting in the field, one more than Santa Barbara. This year’s registration was even higher, topping 300.
Despite forecasts of rain, the day began with clear, starry skies for participants owling in Redwood Regional Park at 2:45 a.m. (Temperature 31 degrees!) Counters who started around 7 a.m. were greeted by a glowing red sunrise. The winds were calm enough to allow birders Betsy Littell and Leslie Levy to count by kayak on Oakland’s San Leandro Bay, and two teams to count by boat on the open waters of San Francisco Bay.
Through occasional drizzle that turned into rain in the afternoon, 29 count teams fanned out across the 15-mile count circle and found a preliminary total of 174 species. That’s less than last year’s total of 180, but still a respectable number for a rainy day.
Tilden South team greets the dawn at Lake Anza, by Ilana DeBare
Berkeley waterfront count team, by Nancy Johnston
Brown Pelican viewed by the Point Isabel count team, by Alan Krakauer
Surf Scoter, viewed by the South Boat count team, by Glen Tepke
Afterwards, participants gathered in the warm, dry, festively-decorated social hall at Northbrae Community Church to share results at the compilation dinner.
Count compilers Dave Quady and Bob Lewis shared some of the count’s history with the crowd, including a snapshot of the very first Oakland count in 1938: three participants, 9 ½ hours in the field, 78 species!
Claremont team stops for lunch at Lake Temescal, by Ilana DeBare
Sanderling at Alameda Point, by Richard Bangert
Bufflehead, viewed from the water by the South Boat count team, by Glen Tepke
Among the highlights of this year’s count:

• A female Long-tailed Duck off of the Oakland Airport.
• A single Cattle Egret at the Oakland Airport, the first in the Oakland count since 2003.
• One Snowy Plover (a threatened species) at Middle Harbor Park and others in Alameda, where Golden Gate Bird Alliance has worked with East Bay Regional Parks to provide a protected roosting area.

By David Assmann
At 8:45 a.m. on Saturday November 21st, 29 enthusiastic birders boarded the double-decker River Dolphin at the Berkeley Marina for a full day of birding on San Francisco Bay with Golden Gate Bird Alliance and Dolphin Charters. It was sunny, and the Bay was flat without any whitecaps.
Heading out of the dock, we got good looks at a number of Black Oystercatchers and a Black Turnstone. Shortly after leaving the dock, a Black Scoter flew in front of the boat, a harbinger of the day’s potential. While we saw hundreds of Surf Scoters on the trip, seeing a Black Scoter in the Bay is always special, since this winter resident sea duck is normally found in the Pacific Ocean.
Much more amazing than the Black Scoter was our second notable sighting of the day – not a bird, but a Northern Fur Seal, floating a little more than a mile from shore. It was in a classic fur seal jug handle pose – the hindflippers resting on top of a foreflipper out of the water. This apparently healthy young seal was miles away from its usual habitat. Northern Fur Seals are normally strictly pelagic, and only use a few offshore islands, like the Farallon Islands, for breeding and pupping.
Northern Fur Seal – a Bay rarity, by David Assmann
Northern Fur Seals were common before the arrival of Europeans on the West Coast. In the middens at the Emeryville Shell Mounds, small numbers of fur seal bones have been found dating to between 700 BC and 1300 AD. However, fur seals were coveted by Europeans for their fur, and they were almost totally wiped out by hunters in the late 1800s off the coast of California.
A small population was discovered in 1968 on San Miguel Island (the westernmost of the Channel Islands). A few of those seals made their way to the Farallones and in 1996, for the first time in more than a century, a fur seal was born on the Farallones. Since then, this population has increased to more than 1,000 seals. However, despite being protected, fur seal populations are still declining worldwide, and the species is listed as vulnerable under the Endangered Species Act.
After taking long looks at the Northern Fur Seal (allowing photographers to take multiple pictures), the River Dolphin slowly made its way north along the east side of the San Francisco Bay.…