Golden Gate Bird Alliance participated in the Golden Gate National Parks BioBlitz on Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March, 29, 2014.

A BioBlitz is a 24-hour inventory of as many species of plants, animals, fungi, and other organisms as can be found within a defined area, and the Golden Gate National Parks is blessed with an incredible diversity of species.

Along with other local conservation groups, GGBA members led volunteers in an inventory of birds and other species during the 24-hour window. Final numbers from the count are currently being tabulated by scientists.

We also led a hands-on educational project in the BioBlitz Exhibition Hall — folding an origami Passenger Pigeon to recognize the 100-year anniversary of this species’ passing, while learning about ways to help our locally threatened and endangered bird species.  

Some 1,700 children from schools participated on Friday, while hundreds of individuals and families attended on Saturday.  That’s a lot of origami pigeons!

A huge thank-you to BioBlitz sponsors National Park Service, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, National Geographic, and Presidio Trust; to Andrew Stern from the Lost Bird Project, which created the origami program; and to Golden Gate Bird Alliance volunteers Kent Anderson, Jeannette Nichols, Cameron Burns, and Eddie Bartley.