April 2009: Wingbeat

Migrations and Arrivals

Scott Smithson recently left San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory, and we would all like to wish him a warm farewell. Scott returns to domestic life with his family in Santa Cruz, including Evan Mackirdy Smithson, born February 11, 2009. Good luck Scott and Family!

A Message from the Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Jill Bluso Demers, our current Science Director will be leading the Bird Observatory as Acting Executive Director. Jill has directed the science programs since joining SFBBO last August and will continue to guide and develop the science programs.

New Additions

Josh Scullen is a Biologist in charge of managing SFBBO's data and databases, conducting waterbird surveys on the South Bay Salt Ponds, and banding at the Coyote Creek Field Station. Over the past two years he has acquainted himself with the Coastal California, working with the Ventana Wildlife Society at the former Bird Sur Ornithology Lab, educating the public about bird conservation, and assisting with a long-term bird monitoring station.

Kathi Kendrick joined SFBBO as an Administrative Assistant, and we are all singing her praises as she organizes and streamlines our office and brings smiles to our faces daily.  Kathi comes to us with 9 years of administrative experience while working for H.T. Harvey & Associates. 

We also welcome Lindy Nice as the new Outreach and Education Director. She manages all outreach programs and communications for the Bird Observatory. She coordinates monthly walks and other events, and also compiles and edits publications. She has spent the past two years working at the Don Edwards S.F. Bay Wildlife Refuge Environmental Education Center as an Interpretive Specialist for the Watershed Watchers program. She studied at the University of Utah and at Humboldt State University and graduated with a B.S. in Environmental Studies. She originally hails from Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Cara Thow is a Snowy Plover Field Assistant. She is thrilled to be joining SFBBO for the Snowy Plover field season! Last summer she worked with the US Geological Survey monitoring American Avocet, Forster's Tern, and Black-necked Stilt nests in the South Bay. She hopes to one day work as an avian biologist for the government or a nonprofit organization. Aside from getting impossibly muddy, Cara enjoys hiking, kayaking, rock climbing, and swing dancing.

SFBBO welcomes two interns from the San Jose State University Department of Environmental Studies! Liz Robertson and Wes Grey are monitoring Snowy Plovers with us this season. Liz has worked at the Center for the Development of Recycling and is on the SJSU softball team. Wes worked with State Parks previous summers planting native plants and removing invasive species.

Jocelyn Davidson joins the Snowy Plover crew for a second season this year. Before monitoring plovers, she studied ground squirrels in Canada. In her spare time, Jocelyn trains dogs and competes with them in agility trials.

Special Events

Great American Litter Pick Up
WHEN: Sat. April 25, 8:00am-11:30am
WHERE: Alviso Youth Center, 5040 N. First Street
Do you like to get your hands dirty? Would you like to help clean up litter in Alviso? Then join us for the Annual Great American Litter Pick Up in Alviso. This is an important event for Alviso and SFBBO alike. It is part of the ground work to move SFBBO's headquarters to Alviso.We need your help! Don’t miss this fun opportunity to mingle with SFBBO staff, members, and Alviso residents. Ideally, we would like to have as many staff and volunteers as possible to help with this event. Following the event join us at the celebration lunch for all cleanup volunteers. Lunch is free for volunteers. For more online information go to www.sanjoseca.gov and scroll down to Events and Exhibits. On the day of the event, we will all register at the meeting location, the Alviso Youth Center, and receive litter clean up supplies. Supplies are limited. Volunteers are encourages to bring their own gloves and pickup sticks. Be sure to wear your SFBBO apparel.
To participate in this year’s Litter Pick Up contact Lindy Nice by April 21st at outreach@sfbbo.org or at 408-946-6548 ext 10 and she will add you to the list. Or you can sign up on your own by calling the event coordinators at (408)277-3208.

SCVAS Spring Birdathon
SFBBO Team: Data Sets
WHEN: Sun. April 26, 7:30am-11:30am
WHERE: Meeting site is at the McCarthy Ranch bookstore, then car-pooling into CCFS. Back to the cars to re-group or continue to car-pool to Alviso.
In the spirit of collaboration, SFBBO responds to SCVAS’s Spring Birdathon challenge by forming Team Data Sets! We invite our members, Auduboners, and the birding community to help raise money for our local Audubon chapter and enjoy a morning of birding with Bird Observatory staff and board members. The Data Sets will focus on SFBBO research sites around the South Bay. The first stop will be at the Coyote Creek Field Station, where SFBBO conducts monitoring and banding research that has been ongoing for 26 years. This is an area closed to the public, giving Team Data Sets an exclusive opportunity to bird in a riparian forest. Time permitting, we will hear about some of the banding station work monitoring avian responses to Coyote Creek riparian restoration.

The second leg of the excursion will wrap around Alviso: the EEC, State & Spreckles, Disc Drive, and the Alviso Marina. Time permitting, staff will discuss its work on California Gull use of South Bay landfills, the status of the Snowy Plover Recovery Project, and work on the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project.

Team Goal: 50 Species, 4 hours of getting to know some of the new staff at SFBBO, learning about our current research projects, and collaborative fundraising for SCVAS.

Any level donation is appreciated with a minimum request of $50. Space is limited and adults over 17 only.  Please RSVP by Friday, April 24th, by contacting Lindy Nice at outreach@sfbbo.org or by phone at 408-946-6548 ext 10. 

Birding the Bay Trail Series Kickoff Sat. May 9th from 8:00am-12:00pm at Coyote Hills Regional Park

Save the Date: Volunteer Appreciation Night! Fri. May 15th from 6:30pm-8:30pm at the Palo Alto Baylands

A Bird in the Hand: Banding Demo Sat. May 30th from 8:00am-10:00am at the Coyote Creek Field Station

Workshop for Birders and Naturalist with Alvaro Jaramillo

These workshops incorporate ecology, evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, and natural history to complement bird identification information taught in class. There are two evenings of instruction and a weekend all-day field trip. Put your birding into an ecological context!

Bird Sound Workshop June 2nd & 4th (instruction); June 7th (field trip)

The Bird Observatory in Your Neck of the Woods...

Over the next several months, SFBBO staff will be providing presentations to other local conservation organizations about avian biology, current SFBBO research projects and more. If you are in the area please stop by and say hello. Click on the highlighted links below or contact outreach@sfbbo.org for more details.

• "Tracking Changes in South Bay Waterbird Populations"
  Presented by Caitlin Robinson (SFBBO Waterbird Programs Supervisor) for the
  Marin Audubon Society
  May 1: 8:00 p.m.

Coyote Creek Field Station: Monthly Banding Report

In March we captured our sixth record of a Red-shouldered Hawk! We captured 261 birds of 27 species, with 38 birds/100 net hours. Of the birds we captured, we put bands on 142, while 119 were birds we banded previously. See what birds have recently dropped in for a visit to our bird banding field station by viewing our monthly banding report .

News on the Fly

Snowy Plover Recovery Program Mentioned in Bay Nature
The Bird Observatory’s Snowy Plover Recovery Program is mentioned in the April-June issue of BayNature (http://baynature.com/). The news segment, “Ear to the Ground,” reports on Western Snowy Plovers in the Bay as well as along the coast. It also features one of SFBBO’s board members Michael Kern’s amazing photos of a female Snowy Plover!

Chinese Media Tour
On Monday, April 6th, SFBBO gave a tour of Alviso wetland habitats to several Chinese Media reporters including a reporter from the Singtao Daily, the World Journal, and news channel KTSF Channel 26. The tour's theme was "Understanding Alviso Bird Habitat Restoration through Science." The group was also joined by San Jose District 4 Councilmember Kansen Chu and his assistant, Iris Zheng, who helped coordinate the tour. To see the news broadcast go to to http://www.ktsf.com/share/news/KTSF_Video_Player.asp?playMode=3&clip=m041309b.flv 

Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua—Not Your Ordinary Bird Festival!
WHEN: June 19-21st
WHERE: Lee Vining, CA
Description: Mark your calendars now and plan on heading to Mono Lake for the Eighth Annual Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua. Chautauqua is an institution that began in the late 19th century to provide higher education opportunities through the combination of lectures, concerts, and public events. Over 40 presentations, workshops, field trips, and special events will be offered. More info at www.birdchautauqua.org. 

• Volunteers are needed to run a Bird Observatory exhibit table and distribute Outreach materials.
• Familiarity with Bird Observatory programs is ideal but not mandatory.
• Must be friendly and able to represent the Bird Observatory in a fun and positive way.

Request for Volunteers

Gull Band Hunt
SFBBO needs your help! Next time you're out birding around the Bay; don't ignore those gulls, check to see if they're part of some important research for the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project.Last year we tagged almost 300 California Gulls with field-readable number bands as part of an effort to determine what will happen when the salt pond used as their colony is flooded to restore the coastal marshes. These bands are in addition to the regular metal bands used by other projects, and consist of three white numbers on a black background which should be readable through a scope.We need information about the date, location, the number on the band (if you can read it), and anything else you can tell us about what the gull was up to.

If you see one of these gulls (even if you can't read the exact numbers on the band), or if you have more questions about the project please email Carley Schacter at cschacter@sfbbo.org.

Volunteers Needed for Gull monitoring Projects
California Gull breeding season is almost upon us, and that means lots of exciting volunteer opportunities as we continue our efforts to monitor the local populations and mitigate their negative effects on other nesting shorebirds (such as the threatened Western Snowy Plover).
In the coming months we will be doing colony walk throughs, counting nests and eggs to track the breeding gull population in the South Bay. We will also be trapping, banding, and re-sighting adult gulls to investigate the dispersal of gulls once the main colony site is flooded as part of the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project and to inform future management decisions.

Specifically, we are looking for volunteers for the following projects to start in April:

1. Gull trapping and banding

This work is a lot of fun, but can be physically strenuous. Volunteers must be able to do an easy climb down the boardwalk to the salt pond, and run short distances through the mud. You WILL get dirty. If interested you will be given the opportunity to learn to extract gulls from the noose mats. We generally start at 7/7:30am and go until ~1-2pm, but end times are flexible depending on gull cooperation, weather and volunteer availability.
Banding will probably start mid-April.

2. Banded gull re-sighting surveys

Volunteers will use binoculars and spotting scopes to check all California Gulls in their assigned area for bands 2-4 times a month during the breeding season, and 1-2 a month after that. Surveys generally take between 30 minutes and 2 hours depending on the location and time of year.
Many of the survey areas require a high clearance vehicle (i.e. pickup truck or SUV) to drive on bumpy levees, but some are accessible by car and/or bicycle. We especially need help with surveys in Alviso, and Warm Springs.

To volunteer, or request more details about any of these projects, please contact Carley Schacter at cschacter@sfbbo.org.

Gull Walk Throughs
We have officially scheduled this year’s walk through of the giant gull colony at A6 for Saturday May 9th. For those of you not familiar with this event: the A6 colony of California Gulls in Alviso keeps growing, and in order to keep tabs on the population we go out once a year at the peak of the breeding season. SFBBO staff and volunteers walk through the colony counting nests, eggs, and chicks. This can be a long, hot, dirty undertaking. We wear bicycle helmets to avoid getting dive bombed by angry parents. It's definitely an experience most people will never have. We will limit it to 8 volunteers for the A6 count, but we will also be doing smaller scale walk throughs of other colonies throughout the month of May, some involving kayaking.

If you're interested, please contact Carley Schacter at cschacter@sfbbo.org.

San Francisco Waterfront Census
Golden Gate Audubon and San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory are partnering on a census of the birds roosting and nesting along the Southern Waterfront in San Francisco.
Last year we joined forces on this project.  This year we will again survey the piers along the San Francisco Bay from June through the end of August. The survey will be conducted by teams of volunteers.  We will send out one person with a spotting scope along with a person that can record and submit the data collected.  We are looking to capture information on the birds along this area which includes the identification of gull and tern species.  We will schedule the surveys to avoid traffic from events 1.5 hours before and after baseball games and other major events. 

Please contact either Jennifer Robinson jrobinson@goldengateaudubon.org  or Noreen Weeden Noreen@naturetrip.com to sign up or if you have any questions about the survey.