Current Avian Science Research and Habitat Restoration Projects
We conduct avian research on Bay Area bird species and share our research with land managers, universities, conservation organizations, and the general public to help them answer key questions and make informed decisions that affect birds. We also work with partners and volunteers to protect birds from avian diseases and help them thrive in a changing environment and restore and enhance tidal marsh and salt pond habitats around the Bay. Please follow the links below to learn more about each of our research projects, view our science reports, and follow the community science button below them to volunteer.
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Ongoing Projects
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Coyote Creek Field Station Bird Banding Research
For 40 years, our scientists and community scientists have conducted bird banding research on passerines at the Coyote Creek Field Station (CCFS) in Milpitas, CA. Bird banding provides valuable information that helps us study bird dispersal, migration, behavior, social structure, life span, survival rate, reproductive success, and population growth.
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Plover and Tern Recovery Program and Research
The Western Snowy Plover is a threatened shorebird that breeds along the west coast of the U.S. Because of this status, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has set goals to restore plover numbers throughout the region. In addition, the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, a 50-year effort to return half of the Bay's salt ponds back to tidal marsh, has also established goals to increase plover numbers in the Bay Area.
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Tidal Marsh Habitat Restoration and Research
The San Francisco Bay contains habitats of hemispherical importance for millions of individual migrating birds from dozens of species in addition to many resident species that live in these ecosystems year-round. Unfortunately, approximately 90% of tidal marsh habitats once found along the edge of San Francisco Bay have been severely fragmented or destroyed by human activities since the 1800s.
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Avian Use of Bay Area Salt Ponds Research
Hundreds of years ago, birds flying above the San Francisco Bay Area saw a Bay below them ringed by tidal marshes. Today, the Bay is ringed by buildings or colorful salt production ponds. Over the past 150 years, approximately 90 percent of historic tidal marsh has been eliminated in the San Francisco Bay through human activities, reducing waterbird habitat.
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Colonial Waterbird Nest Monitoring Research
Since 1982, our biologists and volunteer community scientists have monitored colonial waterbirds in the Bay Area. Beginning in early February and continuing through early August, we track numbers of breeding herons, egrets, terns, gulls and other birds that nest in colonies around the Bay Area.
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California Gull Research
California Gulls are the most common gull species in the South San Francisco Bay, especially during the breeding season. Since the early 1980s, our biologists and community scientists have monitored California Gull populations in the South Bay, and documented a dramatic increase from less than 50 breeding birds to over 45,000 breeding gulls in 2021. California Gulls may have negative effects on other ground-nesting birds and have been found to be significant predators of American Avocet, Black-necked Stilt, and Western Snowy Plover eggs and chicks.
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Avian Disease Prevention
Since 1982, we've helped prevent the spread of avian botulism and other avian diseases. Botulism is caused by the toxin Clostridium botulinum which occurs naturally within bacteria in anaerobic soil, and infected birds may eventually become paralyzed. However, birds rescued in the early stages of the disease respond well to treatment with a 70% recovery rate.
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