By Anthony DeCicco
Success! Pure thrilling success. I screamed “Yes!” this spring when I first saw a pair of adult Western Bluebirds entering the nest boxes made by third-grade students at Lake Elementary School in the North Richmond area.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve added a Bird-Friendly Schools component to our award-winning Eco-Education program. As part of that, the Lake Elementary students and I had determined that their grassy field would be an ideal Western Bluebird habitat. (We had help from Golden Gate Bird Alliance bluebird maven Rusty Scalf.)
The Lake third graders built the nest boxes last year, and this spring we attached them to the chain-link fence along the kids’ playing field. At nearby Montalvin Elementary, we did the same with our fourth-grade Eco-Ed classes.
I was a “nest box newbie” and had never thought about the challenges involved in producing a brood of chicks. The day after that thrilling moment of first seeing the pair, reality struck. “Okay, they like the nest box… now what?”
Building nest boxes / Photo by Anthony DeCicco
Eco-ed students with their completed nest box / Photo by Anthony DeCicco
I obsessively consulted various books and websites. It seemed that the more I knew, the more anxiety-ridden I became. I desperately wanted that pair to raise successful chicks so that the kids could marvel over the new life they helped foster. But my goodness, how many factors could ruin that wonderful vision: raccoons, opossums, snakes, cats, starlings, House Sparrows, House Wrens, wasps, ants, black flies, rats – aughhh!!
I had done enough research to know that the 10-foot-long metal pole to which we attached the boxes would eliminate most of the predators. But no resource could advise on how to deal with pesky second-grade boys (not in our Eco-Education program!) opening the boxes, shaking the poles, or throwing rocks in the entry hole. I opted to screw all sides of the nest boxes shut, which forced me to monitor the progress of the nesting pair though observation from a distance with optics rather than quickly lifting a side. But whatever it took was fine. I wanted chicks to hatch and fledge!
The North American Bluebird Society suggests monitoring an active nest box at least once a week. If you don’t see either parent, they recommend observing the site for at least 30 minutes, sometimes one hour. And so I did for the next several weeks amidst groups of curious kids on their recess, who came up to ask what I was doing with the binoculars and scope.…

By Ilana DeBare

Monofilament fishing line may be only 1/100 of an inch thick – but it can still be deadly to water birds and marine mammals that get tangled in it.

That’s why Golden Gate Bird Alliance is partnering with Bay Area waterfront property owners, including regional parks, municipal marinas, port authorities, and local governments to install bins to recycle monofilament fishing line.

So far, Golden Gate Bird Alliance has provided recycling bins for installation at popular San Francisco Bay fishing spots in the cities of Alameda, Oakland, and San Leandro. Partner agencies include the East Bay Regional Park District, City of Alameda, and San Leandro Marina.

“We want to make it easy for fishermen to do the right thing and recycle their used fishing line,” said Cindy Margulis, GGBA’s Executive Director. “Recycling used and excess monofilament will save the lives of pelicans, ducks, cormorants, sea lions and other precious Bay wildlife.”

Canada Goose with monofilament around its neck, anesthetized for surgery last week. International Bird Rescue surgically removed the microfilament and treated the deep lacerations it caused. Photo by International Bird Rescue.

Monofilament is fishing line made from a single very thin line of plastic, which becomes a marine contaminant if left out in the water. Discarded monofilament too often ends up entangling water birds and marine mammals, causing them a great deal of suffering and often a ghastly death.

International Bird Rescue, the leading water bird rehab organization in California, documented that 47 percent of the pelicans it treats suffer serious injuries related to monofilament fishing line. A visit to nearly any S.F. Bay fishing spot will reveal loose strands and wads of discarded monofilament littering the shore and piers, and lurking in the water as an invisible deadly hazard for wildlife.

Golden Gate Bird Alliance received grant funding this spring from the Alameda County Wildlife Commission to expand monofilament recycling in the County. With just this one small grant, Golden Gate Bird Alliance will double the number of monofilament recycling sites in the entire county

GGBA volunteers making the recycling bins / Photo by Ilana DeBare Installing recycling bins at MLK Jr. Regional Shoreline

GGBA volunteers assembled the bins from PVC pipe. Sites for the bins include two fishing piers at the East Bay Regional Park District’s Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline in Oakland, the Port of Oakland’s Middle Harbor Shoreline Park and Shoreview Park in West Oakland, Ballena Bay marina area in Alameda, and three fishing spots within the San Leandro Marina operated by the City of San Leandro.…

By Mary Malec
This is a story where everyone does everything right… almost.
Six or seven years ago I was driving up my street returning home from work and looked up to see a male Red-tailed Hawk flying toward me, rodent in its talon. I pulled over in time to watch it rise up into a grove of eucalyptus and land on the rim of a nest. The female on the nest stood up stiffly, roused, took the rodent, and flew off to a nearby tree. The male looked down into the nest then snuggled down with a tell-tale egg wiggle.
That nest has been successful most years since, fledging one to three young each year. The nest tree is in a pocket park in Oakland on the Emeryville border. Emeryville maintains the park.
Three years ago, a friend sent me a link to a notice on the Facebook page of Raptors are the Solution asking for help from anyone who could attend an Emeryville City Council meeting. The City was scheduled to approve cutting all the trees in the pocket park to make room for a playground directly under the tree where the hawk nested. A biologist had surveyed the area and found no environmental reason not to cut the trees. Somehow he or she had missed the large nest and the limbs covered with hawk droppings.
Two redtail nestlings and mother in nest in 2011 / Photo by Mary Malec
A fledgling in 2012 / Photo by Mary Malec
I spent an hour that afternoon selecting and printing and labeling photos I’d taken over the previous several years of the nest, the adults, and each of the nestlings. I put them into a packet and went to the city council meeting. There I was joined by many neighbors of the park, some there to plead for the redtails’ nest tree and others to ask for other changes in the park plans. Some were there to ask that all the eucalyptus be cut to prevent future limb fall, especially in the area where the playground was to be located.
The City Council listened to the public, looked at my photos, and changed their plans.
The trees were severely trimmed and some were stabilized mechanically. Other trees were added to the park so that even if the eucalyptus are cut, there will eventually be mature trees to provide a home for wildlife and a buffer between the park and neighboring houses.…

By Ivan Samuels
When I realized that spring was upon us and Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s Birdathon season was fast approaching, a smoke signal was sent to fellow Miwok birders Peter Pyle and Brian Turner seeking consensus on the date for our big day. Okay, I admit that in fact I emailed them, but email would not be allowed on April 20, when for the fifth year in a row, we took the Miwok-style Birdathon challenge.
The rules and the route would be the same: no optics, car, bike, phone, watch, flashlight, etc. Relying on our collective birding experience and the help of a robust spring chorus, we would bird West Marin by foot, and by kayak in Bolinas Lagoon. With this unique challenge we would explore the diversity of habitats present within a small geographical area to ask the question: How many species might the Miwok Indians detect in a single day without using any modern aids?
Birds and mudflats of Bolinas Lagoon / Photo by Ilana DeBare
April 20, while a bit later than past years, was chosen mostly due to tides. A high tide around midday is critical for the kayak component of our count. We realized one result of this choice at dawn, when besides the haunting cries of Spotted Owls we immediately added Swainson’s Thrush to the list, a first. It seems that in past years, we were just a few days too early for this beautiful songster.
From there, the list grew rapidly and predictably; we have started to learn the best spots for site-faithful species that are on territory each year in the same places. Less predictable highlights also delighted the team – a Merlin persistently harassing a Crow (yes, usually the other way around), a skulking Lincoln’s Sparrow at the sewage ponds, White-throated Sparrow near Pine Gulch, flyover Pileated Woodpecker, and even a Rufous Hummingbird.
Lincoln’s Sparrow / Photo by Bob Lewis
Ivan Samuels — NOT taken during the Miwork Birdathon, since Miwoks didn’t have cameras!
How well we timed the tide in Bolinas Lagoon is debatable as we spent considerable time walking our kayaks through mud. And while the ducks had largely departed, this part of the day added many water birds to our list.
Perched on the bluffs above Agate Beach, we stared and strained our eyes at Duxbury Reef and beyond. A gray sky all day, it was also dead calm and the lack of wind made for an extraordinarily peaceful moment.…