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.…

Note: This is the ninth in a series of occasional blog posts by GGBA member George Peyton about his other half Lani Rumbaoa’s effort to see over 600 bird species in the Lower 48 states in 2015.
By George Peyton
When Lani and I returned from Arizona in early August, we knew that was the last place where she could expect to see a large number of new bird species (50) in a single area in a relatively short time, so our general plan moving ahead was instead to see as many new Target Birds as possible in California over the next two and a half months. Staying in California was necessary because we’d spent so much time travelling during the first six months of 2016: Lani had promised to spend more time at her job as a store manager during the second half of the year.
As the person in charge of strategic planning for Lani’s Big Year, I set myself three tasks in preparing for this block of time in our home state. The first was to locate every possible bird species that regularly occurs in California, even the rare ones that are difficult to see. The next was to be ready to chase after rare and vagrant species that periodically stray to California, which meant constantly monitoring Rare Bird Reports, mainly by checking the Sialia Birding Lists Digest listserv, as often as every hour or two.
The third task — potentially quite productive — was scheduling pelagic trips on the Pacific Ocean to see the numerous bird species that spend most of their lives at sea. However, there was one Big Problem: Lani has an inner ear condition that makes her far more susceptible to sea-sickness than a normal person. In fact, one medical expert had previously advised Lani never to go on boat trips.
Just the same, Lani had the intuition (or guts) to give it a try. We decided to start with a pelagic trip out of Ventura, just south of Santa Barbara, and to combine that with a separate trip to Santa Cruz Island and a longer driving trip with our close birding friend Jesse Grantham.
To maximize our birding possibilities, on the trip down to Ventura we stopped at the Montecito home of our friend Lynn Scarlett to look for a relatively difficult-to-see species that we had previously missed in South Florida in March — a Scaly-breasted Munia, formerly known as a Nutmeg Mannikin.…

By Ilana DeBare

Looking for holiday gifts that will tickle the tail feathers of the birders in your life? Here are some ideas that go beyond the usual binoculars, bird feeders, and field guides. We admit a bias toward buying locally, so we’ve included items by Bay Area artisans wherever possible.

For the field

Binocular harness. Give the gift of a happy neck! A harness can reduce the neck stress of wearing binoculars and hold them in place with less bumping around. Nearly every major optics company produces a harness; here’s one sold by the American Birding Association for $22. Prices range from around $12 to $50.

Bird song CD. Turn a tedious daily commute into improved birding skills – with a birdsong CD or smartphone app! Golden Gate Bird Alliance birding-by-ear instructor Denise Wight recommends Bird Songs of California ($24.99), one of many regional and North American bird song CDs produced by Cornell’s Macauley Library.   You can also find a wide selection of bird song CDs at the Online Nature Mall. For reviews of various bird song apps, see this article on the Cornell web site.

Rotating backpack. We haven’t tried this yet, but it looks intriguing: A daypack with a pouch that rotates from back to front, allowing easy access to your binoculars or camera. Made by Mindshift and available from REI ($199) and other outdoor retailers.

Rotating backpack by Mindshift

 

For the home

Bird letterpress calendar

Letterpress desk calendar. Calendars can be lovely works of art, even if many of us track appointments by smart phone these days. Take the small desktop bird calendar produced by Berkeley artist Rigel Stuhmiller. Printed by hand on an antique letterpress, the 4×5-inch pages come in a plastic case that turns into a display stand. $25, with discounts if you buy five or more.

Calendar cover – Black-necked Stilt and chicks

Birds of the Bay Area photo calendar. Brighten your wall with inspiring images of birds from Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s 2018 Birds of the SF Bay Area photo calendar. With images by over thirty of the Bay Area’s most talented wildlife photographers, the calendar will provide a bright spot of beauty on even the dreariest February day. Just $20, with proceeds benefitting GGBA’s conservation and education programs. 

Woodpecker door knocker. Hear a tap-tap from your visitors rather than a doorbell! This charming Pileated Woodpecker knocker is hand-painted and carved in pine, and sold by Massachusetts Audubon for $32.95.…