Note: This is the fifth 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
Imagine getting up most mornings between 3 and 4 a.m. to go see “chickens” doing their thing out in very cold weather – followed by long days of birding for nine straight days. That is a good description of the Colorado Grouse Tour organized by High Lonesome BirdTours and extremely well led by Kip Miller and Brett Ewald, which Lani and I were fortunate to join in early April.
In fact, we saw eight separate species of “chickens”, including Greater Prairie-Chicken, Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Gunnison’s Sage-Grouse (rare and an endangered species), Greater Sage-Grouse (the same as seen near Susanville on Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s March field trip), Sharp-tailed Grouse, Chukar, Dusky Grouse, and White-tailed Ptarmigan.
Our first early morning out to see Greater Prairie-Chicken was on Bledsoe Ranch, a huge private ranch of 64,000 acres or 100 square miles, with over 100 separate Greater Prairie-Chicken Leks. We left our motel very early in our two vans, parked right next to the Lek about 1/2 hour before it became light, and saw more than 35 Greater Prairie-Chickens, some within 25 to 30 feet of our vans.
It was an amazing show watching the males do their mating displays and dances, reminding me of some Native American dances that were in fact patterned after the “Chicken Dances.” It was quite cold: I was wearing three separate pairs of long underwear, two of which I wore at Everest Base Camp in 1985, plus 3 layers of coats, and I still shivered a bit.
Male Greater Sage-Grouse performs his courtship display for a female / Photo by Jeanne Stafford (USFWS)
George and Lani with Bob Bledsoe, owner of Bledsoe Ranch, which protects over 100 Prairie-Chicken leks. The land behind them includes the leks.
The next morning we were up again extremely early, and after driving over a half hour in the dark, transferred to a yellow school bus and drove a good bit of time out to a Lek where there were only three Lesser Prairie-Chicken males performing. (This species is being considered for Threatened or Endangered Listing.) We sat in the bus for around 45 minutes in the dark and cold with the windows open before we could make out the forms of the Lesser Prairie-Chickens displaying further away than the previous day.…

This year, Golden Gate Bird Alliance is awarding its Paul Covel Conservation Education award to Herb and Randi Long, two volunteers who have been pillars of our award-winning Eco-Education program since 2009. Eco-Ed works with 700 children from low-income elementary schools in Oakland, San Francisco and Richmond each year. With the 2015 Covel Award going to Herb and Randi, it seemed like a good time to share a “day in the life” of an Eco-Ed field trip — via a firsthand account and photos by our graphic designer.
By Eva Guralnick
I’ve designed Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s Gull newsletter and other materials since 2002, but until this spring I’d never checked out Eco-Ed for myself. I joined GGBA and Mr. Bonner’s fourth-grade class from Bayview Elementary School in Richmond on a Friday at Point Pinole and had a blast with the kids.
GGBA Eco-Education Director Anthony DeCicco started by gathering them all in a circle for some exercises to get some of their wiggles out and get them thinking about the day. Then he split them into one group for planting sticky monkey flower down by the shore with high school volunteer Henry, and two smaller groups for hiking. Anthony led one group and a volunteer led the other. The groups traded off later so everyone could get an equal turn at hiking and planting.
Stretching / Photo by Eva Guralnick
Photo by Eva Guralnick
The hiking groups spent some time learning how to effectively use binoculars and getting them adjusted for their eyes before we set out. Anthony led his group through some exercises to help them focus on different distances that I’ll have to use on my own young son. It took them about 10 minutes but they all got the hang of it.
Anthony’s group had success right away when a large hawk flew overhead and circled several times, giving them lots of opportunities to pick it up in their binoculars for a close look. The kids went nuts. This was the real deal! They scrambled to look through their guides. Anthony led them through the markings of the bird — “Did it have a black tail? Did it have a white breast?” — and they identified it as a Red-tailed Hawk. It came back for a few more circles.
Eco-ed Director Anthony DeCicco and students from Bayview Elementary / Photo by Eva Guralnick
Photo by Eva Guralnick
We headed into the open area and identified a female Western Bluebird, and then a few minutes later a male on a nearby bush.…

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.…