By Lisa Eileen Hern 
I can’t remember what year it was when I fell in love with Burrowing Owls, but I clearly remember being at Shoreline Park in Mountain View in the spring, and looking down at green grass with lots of yellow eyes peering up at me from holes in the ground. Owls, in the ground! Once I gazed further into those gorgeous eyes, I knew I was in love. I have since become a docent in Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s Burrowing Owl program in Cesar Chavez Park in Berkeley.
The GGBA program has only a small number of owls in its area – six in the winter of 2012-13, four last winter, and two this winter. So I was very interested when I heard about the large, successful Burrowing Owl conservation program being run by Santa Clara Valley Audubon in northern San Jose.
Burrowing Owls in San Jose / Photo courtesy of Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society
Burrowing Owl in San Jose / Photo courtesy of Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society
Josh McCluskey — one of the leads of the SCVAS owl program — gave a public lecture on January 21 about the 180-acre section of Regional Wastewater Facility buffer lands that they manage for Burrowing Owls in a partnership with the City of San Jose. SCVAS’s ultimate goal is to create, maintain and monitor an ideal owl habitat.
One of their tactics is to provide more burrows. Although Burrowing Owls traditionally adopt burrows made by other species such as squirrels, SCVAS has had great success with artificial burrows — attracting pairs that have produced an average of 4.8 chicks per year (versus about three for other Burrowing Owls in the area).
SCVAS also works to provide fruitful hunting habitat and plentiful prey for the owls by keeping the grass less then one meter high and maintaining an open area without trees but with lots of dirt mounds and rock piles.
Most importantly, they’re trying to limit predation. They set traps for skunks, which are the owls’ main predators. (Other predators include Prairie Falcons, Golden Eagles, hawks, and possums.)
Golden Eagle hunting for Burrowing Owls / Photo courtesy of Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society
SCVAS tries to track the owl population through banding, although this is hampered by the lack of a central repository for Burrowing Owl banding information. Many of the banded owls are never reported again.…

By Pat Bacchetti
When I told friends that I was going to Minnesota in January, the most common response was “Why on earth would you go there then?!”
I started to have second thoughts as well, as I watched temperatures in Duluth dip below zero, with the wind chill reading hovering around -20F. But as a life-long Californian, I was looking forward to experiencing a Northland winter as well as the birds that favor that climate. So off I went to Minneapolis on December 31, with three Dungeness Crabs in tow for a New Year’s party, and many layers of down clothing.
Our first stop was for Snowy Owls, who like the long flat fields around airports to hunt for their mousy prey during the day. As my friend in Minneapolis, Susan, drove us around the cargo area of Minneapolis International, we dodged airport security looking for owls. We were able to finally locate my life-list Snowy Owl, a beautiful pure white male, sitting on a building near the runway. It was a thrill to finally see one of these beautiful Arctic owls. We would see two more at the Richard I Bong Airport in Superior, Wisconsin, but the first sighting is always the most memorable.
A wing-tagged Snowy Owl in Superior, WI, which is just south of Duluth. The researcher dyes the head feathers with a black dye to make them easier to spot in the field. Photo by Patricia Bacchetti
Duluth was the next stop, for a Minnesota Birding Weekends fieldtrip. Duluth is a delightful old port town at the southwest tip of Lake Superior that’s been transformed into a tourist destination, with galleries, cafes, and excellent restaurants. Though ore boats still ply the lake, visitors are more important for its economy these days. Lake Superior held Minnesota’s third state record Common Eider, who has been living near the pier since November. In addition to the eider, a couple of Northern Pintails and American Black Ducks were hanging out with the mallard/goldeneye flock, unexpected visitors in January.
For a Californian, the next target bird was a lesson in perspective: a Golden-crowned Sparrow had been at a feeder for the month of December, and this was a much-desired state sighting for Minnesota birders. After a brief appearance by the sparrow, we headed off to find Hoary Redpolls in the large flocks of Common Redpolls that winter in the area. Kim Eckert, our leader, found a single Hoary Redpoll in a large flock of Common Redpolls.…

By George Peyton
In February, 2005, after reading The Big Year by Mark Obmasick, later made into a popular movie, my other half, Lani Rumbaoa, announced that she intended to do her own Big Year of Birding, but limited to the Lower 48 States rather than all of North America.  I thought she was a bit crazy, but when Lani decides that she wants to do something, she is very determined. So even though we were both working full-time and had limited time for travel outside of the Bay Area, she ended 2005 with a total of 428 bird species.
In 2014, Lani announced that she wanted to do her second Big Year, to compete against her 2005 total, but with a goal of seeing 600 species. I shook my head in disbelief, since I knew that it would be far more difficult seeing 600 species than 428 – but Lani had made up her mind.
So here we are in January, 2015, all geared up for her to see as many bird species as possible.
Here are some specifics. Lani is 53, has been birding for 14 years, including 15 international bird tours, has great eyes for spotting birds, lots of energy, major enthusiasm – and most important, she is absolutely determined to see at least 600 bird species during 2015. One more key factor is that she will be continuing her work as a store manager full five-day workweeks for at least 26 weeks out of the year, which will restrict her ability to drop everything and travel promptly to see some rare bird that has shown up in California or elsewhere.
Lani and George on the Big Island of Hawaii in 2014
In contrast, I am 76, have been actively birding for 66 years, and have organized and escorted over 40 international bird tours. I am not as expert a birder as Joe Morlan or Dave Quady or Bob Lewis, but have many years of active birding experience.
My title is Big Year Coach, Cheerleader, and Primary Bird Guide, but it also includes being Planner and Chief Sherpa, carrying the scope, field guide and pack on our many upcoming days birding in the field.
I have already spent over 300 hours planning where and when Lani should go to see at least 600 species during 2015, as well as making plane, rental car, and motel reservations for our many out-of-state birding trips.…

By Ilana DeBare
Golden Gate Bird Alliance celebrated the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in a fitting way at a most fitting location — a day of community service at the Oakland shoreline park that bears his name.
GGBA joined with about 40 volunteers from Outdoor Afro on Monday January 19 for a morning of planting native seedlings, removing shoreline trash, and learning about the birds of this beautiful shoreline park.
Outdoor Afro is a national organization dedicated to strengthening African-Americans’ connection to nature and outdoor recreation. Over the past few years, GGBA has developed a strong partnership with the young and growing group, including serving as its fiscal sponsor.
“One thing that is very important about this place is that it is home to some very endangered species,” Outdoor Afro founder Rue Mapp said as she welcomed the crowd.  “It’s no coincidence that it is also next to some communities that are also threatened. The Wilderness Act and the Civil Rights Act were both signed 50 years ago…. We have an opportunity to make connections between vulnerable people and vulnerable places.”
Removing trash from the shoreline on MLK Day / Photo by Ilana DeBare
The vulnerability of nature was tragically and ironically evident along the East Bay shoreline on Monday, as hundreds of seabirds turned up weakened and dying from an unidentified sticky substance that was not petroleum. Experts from International Bird Rescue hurtled into action, aided by volunteers who spotted and reported ailing birds. As of Tuesday morning, IBR had rescued more than 300 birds but government investigators had not yet figured out the nature and source of the contamination.
The contamination news didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of Monday’s Outdoor Afro and GGBA volunteers. Some knelt in the dirt to plant seedlings or used long poles to pull trash out of the water. Many tried out binoculars for the first time and were rewarded with views of Snowy Egrets, Willets, and a Northern Harrier hunting over the marsh. A few even caught a glimpse of an endangered Ridgway’s Rail darting through the reeds at high tide. And when the work was done, everyone joined in a picnic lunch of six-foot-long Subway sandwiches.
Teamwork planting native seedlings / Photo by Ilana DeBare
Digging holes for native seedlings / Photo by Ilana DeBare
All ages took part in MLK Day of Service / Photo by Ilana DeBare
The MLK Shoreline day of service, co-sponsored with the East Bay Regional Park District, capped a long history of civic involvement with this beautiful shoreline area.…

By Dave Quady and Bob Lewis
Though the weather forecast for Sunday, December 14, was favorable, caution seemed warranted as Count Day approached, because 3.4 inches of rain had fallen in Oakland in the preceding few days. Happily, early owlers in Redwood Regional Park found crisp temperatures and clear skies, heard the three expected owl species, and then heard a totally unexpected Long-eared Owl, the count’s first in eleven years. Oakland’s 74th annual Christmas Bird Count was off to a good start.
Good weather and good birding continued throughout the day. A record-high 257 field observers, together with a dozen feeder watchers, detected 180 species, two more than our recent average, and three fewer than our record high. Our total of 98,920 individual birds was some 3,000 higher than our recent average. Local press coverage allowed others to share the fun vicariously, and everyone can now reflect on it at leisure:
San Francisco Chronicle
Contra Costa Times
Berkeleyside
None of this year’s ‘rare’ birds could hold a candle to last year’s Painted Redstart, but a Barn Swallow over Alameda, chosen as Best Bird, was only our second since 1974 on count day. Swallows seem to be wintering here in higher numbers recently; Tree Swallow has become almost expected on our count (one was over Alameda this year), and other local CBCs also recorded Barn Swallow. A Black-headed Grosbeak, a Black-and-white Warbler, and two Western Tanagers were other nice finds.
Among the handsomest of all warblers, this Black-and-white Warbler displayed its nuthatch-like feeding behavior at Berkeley’s Codornices Park. Photo by John Colbert.
 
Seen sporadically in Claremont Canyon over the preceding weeks, this male Black-headed Grosbeak obligingly appeared on count day as well. Photo by Kay Loughman.
Seventeen Snowy Plovers along the Alameda shoreline were not totally unexpected; small flocks have occurred there episodically over the last couple of decades and GGBA volunteers won protective fencing for them on part of Crown Beach during 2014. Red-necked Grebe, House Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Hermit Warbler (all single individuals) rounded out this year’s list of review-worthy species.
A Snowy Plover at Oakland’s Middle Harbor Park raises hopes that other small shoreline beaches might also provide wintering habitat for this threatened species. Photo by Calvin Lou.
Nearly every year at least a few species occur in record-high numbers. But this year many species exceeded their previous records by at least twenty percent: Green Heron, American Coot, Semipalmated Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, White-breasted Nuthatch, Western Bluebird, and Hermit Thrush.…