By Mike Lynes

The Altamont Pass is a problem for birds that just won’t go away. So that makes it a problem for Audubon too – a problem that will come to a head next Tuesday March 24.

While significant progress has been made in reducing bird deaths in the Altamont Pass, one company, Altamont Winds, Inc. (AWI), is trying to extend its current permits to run some of the most dangerous, old-generation turbines for another three years until 2018. If approved, the project would kill approximately 1,900 birds, including 280 to 400 raptors and at least 11 to 16 Golden Eagles, 82 to 139 Burrowing Owls, 86 to 96 American Kestrels, and 55 to 87 Red-tailed Hawks.

Not surprisingly, the proposal is opposed by Audubon, Save Mount Diablo, the Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club, the East Bay Regional Park District, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the office of the California Attorney General. The project was initially rejected by the East County Board of Zoning Adjustments (EBZA) in February, but AWI appealed. The Alameda Board of Supervisors is scheduled to hear the issue on March 24, and seems poised to overturn the EBZA and approve the project.

AWI’s efforts to continue profiting from its old-generation turbines not only pose an unnecessarily high risk to birds, but they violate what has been Alameda County’s stated wind policy since at least 2005. At that time, the County and several wind companies settled litigation brought by five Audubon chapters – Golden Gate Bird Alliance, Santa Clara Valley Audubon, Marin Audubon, Ohlone Audubon, and Mt. Diablo Audubon—together with Californians for Renewable Energy (CaRE) and agreed to reduce bird deaths by 50 percent and expeditiously remove the most dangerous, old-generation turbines in the Altamont.

Golden Eagle, one of the species being killed by AWI’s outmoded turbines. Photo by Davor Desancic Wildlife biologists examine a dead bird at Altamont Pass in 2007 / Photo by Elizabeth Pepin/KQED

Removal of older turbines is one of the key strategies for making the Altamont Pass a productive site for renewable energy that does not unduly harm local bird populations. For decades, the old-generation turbines killed thousands of birds each year without mitigation. In the early 2000s, it became clear that to keep wind energy in the Altamont, the old turbines would need to be replaced with newer, safer turbines that were sited to minimize risk to birds, a process called “repowering.”…

By Bruce Mast

The composite checklist of native, non-introduced birds for all nine Bay Area Counties adds up to 549 species.*  A quick scan of the county checklists confirms a familiar pattern: species diversity is richest in the coastal counties.

Marin County, with its world-class vagrant traps at outer Point Reyes, leads the pack with a checklist of 481 species. San Francisco, though heavily urbanized, includes some great vagrant traps in the western part of town and lays claim to the vagrant super-magnet Farallon Islands, which puts it in respectable second place with 472 species. San Mateo and Sonoma Counties follow behind with 445 and 437 species respectively.

But birding a location with a long vagrant checklist doesn’t mean you will see many birds in the field. What if we exclude the vagrants and locally rare (i.e., less than annual) species and just focus on the regularly occurring birds? Even though Solano and Contra Costa offer access to some great Central Valley birds, the coastal counties still lead the way due to their unique habitats for gulls, alcids, rocky shorebirds, tube-noses, and diving ducks.

Among the coastal counties, Sonoma vaults into first place with 281 species, Marin and San Mateo drop to second and third place with 271 and 264 species, and San Francisco falls all the way to sixth place with just 243 species.

Sonoma County

So what’s so special about Sonoma? The short answer is the quality and diversity of habitat.

Southeastern Sonoma County includes the extensive Napa-Sonoma and Petaluma Marshes that extend well up the Petaluma River to Ellis Creek and Shollenberger Park. Ridgway’s and Black Rails are regular denizens, along with small numbers of Tundra Swans and Greater White-fronted, Snow, Ross’s, and Cackling Geese. Similar habitats in the bay-fronting counties to the south have been more heavily impacted by urbanization.

American Bittern at Shollenberger Park, by Don Bruschera Bell’s Sparrow along Pine Flat Road in Sonoma County, by Bruce Mast

 

Sonoma’s interior coast range offers dry upland habitats—oak savannah, gray pines, and chaparral–that are sparse or non-existent in the other coastal counties. With multiple peaks reaching above 3,000 feet, the Mayacama Mountains are a good place to find Poorwill, Purple Martin, Canyon Wren, California Thrasher, and Bell’s Sparrow. Lewis’s Woodpecker is generally more dependable in Sonoma County than the other coastal counties.

Along the coast, Sonoma offers forests of redwoods, pines, and douglas fir that extend all the way up the north coast into Canada.…

By Ilana DeBare

Guess who visited the California State Capitol on Wednesday:

One leucistic Red-tailed Hawk. One American Kestrel. One Great Horned Owl.

And dozens of Audubon members from chapters throughout the state, including Golden Gate Bird Alliance!

Diane Ross-Leech, Leslie Silver, and I joined our colleagues from other chapters in a “Birds Matter Day” lobbying blitz organized by Audubon California, the first such statewide effort by Audubon in over a decade.

As we gathered for breakfast and an orientation across the street from the white-domed Capitol building, we were greeted by a familiar face — former GGBA Executive Director Mike Lynes, who now, as Policy Director for Audubon California, treats the Capitol as his “patch.”

We also were given an insider’s view of the lobbying process by former Assemblyman Pedro Nava, who serves on the Audubon California board.

“As a legislator, when I had visits from Audubon, I paid attention,” Nava told us. “Audubon has a reputation for being responsible and understanding that compromise is not a dirty word.”

After breakfast we fanned out in teams to visit legislators and their aides. Our mission was to establish relationships with our local representatives — so we can work together with them for a healthy, clean environment for both people and birds.

Ready to lobby!

We let them know Audubon’s positions on several  key issues:

• Climate change. We shared the scary results of last fall’s study by National Audubon, which found that HALF of all North American bird species risk extinction over the next 80 years due to climate change. And we expressed our support for the package of climate change bills being put together by the State Senate Leadership.
• Wildlife corridors. We supported AB 498 by Assemblyman Marc Levine of Marin County, which would encourage creation of habitat strips connecting wildlife populations that have been turned into isolated “islands” by freeways, development, etc.
• Salton Sea. No specific bill yet — but something must be done to prevent this major stop on the Pacific Flyway from drying up.
• Lead ammunition. Yes, California finally passed a ban on lead hunting ammunition — but now the gun lobby is pushing a bill, AB 395, to overturn the ban. We asked legislators to oppose this bill.

In meeting with Bay Area and coastal lawmakers, we received encouragingly warm and friendly responses. One aide (to Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson from Santa Barbara and Ventura counties) even told us she was an Audubon member!…

Golden Gate Bird Alliance member Lee Aurich turned his camera lens on the pair of nesting Osprey at a construction crane in Richmond… and found some avian domestic drama. Here are his photos and story.

By Lee Aurich

The Richmond Osprey are in the process of moving back into their nest atop the Whirley Crane.  As you will see below, they seem to be having some problems with “married life.”

To set the stage, the heavy winds late last year rearranged the nest atop the Whirley Crane.  The couple is in the process of rebuilding and extending.

The status of their work, in this cage perhaps 60 feet up at the end of one of the Richmond piers, is recorded in this photo:

Photo by Lee Aurich

A few minutes later, the male (on the right, above) rose into the air, hovered, drifted backwards…

Photo by Lee Aurich

and dropped slowly upon the female, 

Photo by Lee Aurich Photo by Lee Aurich Photo by Lee Aurich Photo by Lee Aurich

to a surprising reaction:

Photo by Lee Aurich Photo by Lee Aurich

She continued to make her case:

Photo by Lee Aurich

However, like certain male stereotypes, he was a bit thick headed and continued to bring nesting material:

Photo by Lee Aurich

and again

Photo by Lee Aurich

and again…

Photo by Lee Aurich Photo by Lee Aurich

After that, he continued to bring sticks, but would drop them 50 feet before the nest.

Photo by Lee Aurich Photo by Lee Aurich Photo by Lee Aurich

She bites the stick, breaking it into two pieces as it rams towards her:

Photo by Lee Aurich Photo by Lee Aurich

What a fast reaction time!

Photo by Lee Aurich Photo by Lee Aurich

Undeterred, he continues to bring nesting material.  Meanwhile, she departed over the bay, presumably in search of breakfast.

Photo by Lee Aurich Photo by Lee Aurich

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Lee Aurich was introduced to photography in high school – many, many years ago.…

By Ilana DeBare
You might think that the top Birdathon fundraiser would be an experienced birder. You might think that he or she would be an experienced fundraiser.
You’d be wrong!
Berkeley resident Bonnie Ng knocked the Birdathon ball out of the park in 2014, raising a whopping $2,480 to support Bay Area birds. And she was a relative novice both at birding and at fundraising.
“I have to confess, we didn’t even know what Birdathon was when we started,” she said.
Bonnie’s early ventures into birding were not auspicious. Many years ago, she got up at 2 a.m. to go on an owling trip and didn’t hear a single owl. Then she went on a pelagic trip to the Farallones and watched people vomiting all around her.
“After that I stopped birding,” she said. “But when I retired ten years ago, I had more time and started going to Audubon lectures.”
Birdathon grabbed her interest for a couple of reasons.
First, she wanted to improve her birding skills. Second, she wanted a project that she could share with her husband Paul Kramer. “Many of our projects are competitive with each other,” she said. “I wanted something more even-keeled where we could enjoy nature. I asked him to be my Birdathon partner and he immediately agreed.”
Bonnie Ng exploring another aspect of nature with her daughter, who was one of her Birdathon donors
Bonnie and Paul signed up for the Birding Boot Camp field trip. And here Bonnie had a third reason – trip leader Allan Ridley.
Years ago, her job involved landscape planning for Buena Vista Park. Park officials were recommending clear-cutting much of the park to prevent illicit activity in the underbrush. But Bonnie felt that the wild, natural feeling of the park was one of its most intriguing characteristics. She sought input about park wildlife over the phone from the biology teacher at the Urban School… who happened to be Allan.
“When I saw his name as a Birdathon trip leader, I decided that I was going to see what Allan Ridley looks like!” she said.
Once Bonnie and Paul had decided to do the Birding Boot Camp, they settled down to fundraising. Bonnie was nervous, but sent a heartfelt email to her friends.
Bonnie receives the top fundraiser award at the 2014 Birdathon Awards Celebration
“It was truly amazing the (number of) people who responded,” she said.…