By Eddie Bartley
On a recent visit to Taiwan, we rejoined our friends and most excellent local wildlife guides Stone and Richard for what we affectionately referred to as our “Taiwan recon” tour. Our goals were to firm up plans for a Golden Gate Bird Alliance tour in October 2015 while improving our birding skills and photography of Taiwan’s wildlife. To say it was “fun” for us would be a colossal understatement. It was a trip chock full of beautiful wildlife, awesome scenery, delicious food, wonderful company, and surprise encounters.
Taiwan, at less than 1/10th the size of California, has recorded at least 626 bird species, more than 20 of which are endemics (only here). By Pacific Island standards, that number of endemic species is not all that impressive — neighboring Philippines with its many tiny islets boasts over 200 endemics. What is impressive however is the “absolutely gorgeous” factor of many of the Taiwan specialties and how relatively easy it is to see them. Many of the unique birds here are fairly common in their habitat. On this 10-day tour we were able to see all but one of the endemic birds and most of the endemic sub-species.
Swinhoe’s Pheasant, one of the many gorgeous birds found only In Taiwan / Photo by Noreen Weeden

Common names of uncommonly beautiful birds

As on many other islands, the common names of Taiwan’s endemic birds are often simply preceded by the current island name itself as in the Taiwan… Partridge, Barbet, Cupwing, Bush-Warbler, Fulvetta, Yuhina, Hwamei, Barwing or, the ultra-rosy “Taiwan Rosefinch,” a.k.a. “Rosyfinch.”
In some cases, the popular former name bestowed on this lovely sub-tropical locale by early Portuguese Sailors –“Isla Formosa”, meaning the “beautiful island” — is used, as in the sweet singing Formosan Whistling Thrush or the fabulously blue Formosan Magpie.

Formosan Magpie / Photo by Eddie Bartley
One of the more entertaining, confusing, and at times frustrating elements of assembling a list of birds you want to study or detect on a trip is that not all authorities are in agreement at any one time as to the common name. Nor do the authorities agree upon when a species deserves full species status or even sub-species designation. This is especially true of islands and other isolated populations. Scientific names are the most informative, and for birding Taiwan we use multiple field and reference guides. Primary among the resources are the most recent designations listed by the Bird Records Committee of the Wild Bird Federation of China and the Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World which recognizes 26 bird species as endemic and 70 endemic subspecies.…

By Leslie Jacoby
Newsflash, April 20, 2015: Conservationists thought one of the few numbered wild California Condors had disappeared somewhere in the vast geographical landscape around Grand Canyon National Park. That was February 2015. Its number had been recorded, as is done with each and every known wild condor. Today, located near the small town of Cortez, Colorado, the rapscallion had been sighted and photographed by one of the seasonal park rangers, Franz Carver. The condor’s tag read “N8,” and he was in fact the missing two-year-old male. The short trail of events made the news, and I smiled upon hearing it.

* * * * *

Only two days prior to this newsflash, an excited Birdathon group from Golden Gate Bird Alliance stood on a dirt turnout next to a hairpin curve on Highway 1, south of Big Sur, admiring a couple of wild California Condors: Tag numbers 251 and 222.
They were a male and a female, sunning themselves on the rocky cliffs in the unusually warm spring morning. Intermittently, one or the other preened or fluffed a feather. We set up the birding scope and each of us took a turn viewing the rare birds through the high-power magnifying lens.
Male and female condors on the Birdathon trip / Photo by Annette Teng
Condor in Pinnacles National Park / Photo by Phil Price
Andy Kortman, our young guide from Ventana Wildlife Society, happily filled us in on the backstory: Number 222 was living with her second mate, Number 251. Andy explained why, if condors mate for life, Number 222 would be willing to take up a new partner. It seems that her first mate had been found wounded on the side of a local road, his beak broken, which had caused a serious feeding problem. He was taken to the Oakland Zoo for medical care. When he was returned to Big Sur, alas, his “wife” had moved on to mate with another. During our visit, Number 222 and Number 251 guarded a single egg, which was due to hatch soon.
April was Birdathon month. It’s the time of year for looking up to the skies to fulfill our passion for sighting migrating geese, wayward raptors, and chirrups of local birds excited by new spring. I look forward to every springtime in northern California, both for the wonderful birding and for GGBA’s Birdathon.
I was fully on board this year and committed to Birdathon’s goals.…

By Ilana DeBare
We won’t beat around the bush with the good news. Birdathon 2015 not only hit its goal of raising $50,000 — we soared past it and raised slightly over $60,000!
Along the way, Golden Gate Bird Alliance members and friends had some memorable and inspiring birding experiences — everything from witnessing hummingbird banding at Point Blue’s field station in Bolinas, to sighting California Condors along the Big Sur coast.
Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll run blog posts about some of the Birdathon trips that took place during April. Meanwhile, here’s a summary:

Birdathon 2015 by the numbers:

• 25 guided birding trips
• 200+ participants
• 600 donations (and they’re still trickling in!)
• 63 participants who raised money from friends
• 11 participants who raised over $1,000
• Over $60,000 raised for GGBA’s conservation and environmental education programs! That includes donations we made to some of our partner conservation groups that co-hosted Birdathon trips — Ventana Wildlife Society, East Bay Regional Park District, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, and Point Blue.

Año Nuevo trip led by Steve and Carol Lombardi / Photo by Ilana DeBare
Hummingbird banding at Point Blue’s field station on trip led by Rich Cimino / Photo by Rich Cimino
None of this would have been possible without YOU… donors, trip participants, fundraisers, field trip leaders, corporate sponsors, and Birdathon organizers/volunteers.  We thank you and, more importantly, the birds of the Bay Area thank you.
The month of fun Birdathon events culminated last Sunday, when about 100 GGBA members and friends gathered for the Birdathon Awards Celebration at the stunning Oakland Hills home of board member Alan Harper and his wife Carol Baird.
We announced the following Birdathon award winners:

Birding Awards

Most species sighted in Six Hours
1st place – Glen Tepke, whose team found 104 species in Oakland in pouring rain, and renamed themselves the Soggy Sloggers.
2nd place – Bruce Mast’s Sonoma County team, which found 93 species along the Sonoma coast.
3rd place – Dan and Joan Murphy and Murphy’s MOB, which found 73 species on the Peninsula.
Noreen Weeden and Eddie Bartley present Glen Tepke with his award / Photo by Nancy Johnston
Most species sighted in 24 Hours
1st place – Bob Power, who with Eli Gross found 159 species in Alameda County.
2nd place – Dave Riensche, whose team found 146 species in the East Bay Regional Parks.
3rd place – Bob Toleno, Juli Chamberlin, and the City Shearwaters, who found 129 species in San Francisco.…

By Ilana DeBare

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors had an opportunity Tuesday to reverse a bad decision about Altamont wind power — and they refused.

The board voted 3-2 for steps that would uphold their recent decision to let Altamont Winds Inc. (AWI) delay for another three years before replacing their outmoded, deadly turbines with modern ones that kill fewer birds.

AWI is the only wind company at Altamont Pass that has not begun repowering, the term for replacing old deadly turbines with more efficient, safe ones. AWI’s current permit calls for it to repower by the end of 2015. But AWI has pled poverty, saying it can’t afford to repower, and so the supervisors cut the company its third “special deal” in the space of a decade.

The three-year extension will lead to the unnecessary deaths of an estimated 1,900 birds, including 11 to 16 majestic Golden Eagles and 300 to 400 other raptors.

“Our wildlife cannot afford more of this killing,” GGBA Executive Director Cindy Margulis warned the board on Tuesday before the vote.

Golden Eagle / Photo by David H. Webster (Crreative Commons)

This week’s vote broke down along the same lines as the board’s earlier vote in April — with Supervisors Scott Haggerty, Nate Miley, and Richard Valle voting to give AWI an extension, and Supervisors Wilma Chan and Keith Carson opposing the extension.

At issue this week was approval of a “Statement of Overriding Considerations” — basically, a legal document stating that the benefits of allowing AWI to keep operating its old turbines outweigh the severe environmental damage.

GGBA — joined by representatives from Mt. Diablo and Santa Clara Valley Audubon — made a cogent and comprehensive case that the extension will benefit neither wildlife nor county residents.

GGBA board members Linda Carloni and Alan Harper were joined in testifying by nearly the entire GGBA staff. Among the points made:

• Repowering would create numerous new union jobs. Other Altamont wind companies are generating between 500 and 600 skilled construction jobs through demolition, salvage, and replacement of the old turbines. That is more than ten times the total number of staff (about 40) currently employed by AWI.
• Repowering would make the Alameda County wind industry more competitive. Modern, efficient turbines that are not viewed as death traps for wildlife will be more attractive to buyers of renewable energy, and will generate more tax revenue for the county.

…

Note: This is the fourth in an ongoing series of posts by GGBA member George Peyton about his better half Lani Rumbaoa’s effort to spot 600 bird species within the Lower 48 states during 2015.
By George Peyton
Four days of birding in South Florida added 46 new species to Lani’s Big Year List, including some difficult-to-see Target Birds.
Because we only had a short time to bird in South Florida and some of our Target Species can be difficult to locate, we decided to engage the services of a local professional bird guide, Larry Manfredi, whose sharp birding skills would be invaluable in helping us quickly locate species such as Purple Swamphen, Red-whiskered Bulbul, White-crowned Pigeon, and Spot-breasted Oriole. These and other special species can be found in suburban neighborhoods around the Greater Miami Area but periodically shift their locations, so having someone like Larry, who is constantly checking local sightings, can make a huge difference between success and failure in seeing the bird.
Red-whiskered Bulbul / Photo by K. Hari Krishna (Creative Commons)
The first thing that I always do as Lani’s Big Year Manager when visiting a new area is to make a List of Target Birds that are likely to be there and possibly difficult to see elsewhere. This applies whether it is Greater Susanville, CA or Greater Miami, FLA. Lani reviews each target species and its field marks in the latest (Sixth) edition of the National Geographic Guide, which we also carry with us in the field, backed up by the second edition of the much larger and heavier Sibley Guide, which stays in our car for further reference purposes.
I also email the Target Bird List to local birders or professional bird guides well before we visit the area for help planning our route. That applies even when Lani and I are birding entirely on our own, as we did in most of South Texas in February. ABA (American Birding Association) Bird-finding Guides and other state or local bird-finding guides can also be extremely helpful in this planning process.
An example of a carefully planned birding day in South Florida:
Larry Manfredi picked Lani and me up at 6:30 a.m. in Homestead, Florida, about an hour before sunrise. We drove directly out to an area of low grass and marsh vegetation in Everglades National Park, where, just as it was getting light, we listened for the distinctive calls of King and Black Rails.…