Blog Archives - San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory

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Perry's Journey Episode 8: Stop, Drop, and Fly!

5/30/2022

By Science Outreach Intern Katrina McCollough

Anyone who’s experienced a house fire probably knows how Perry is feeling right now: scared, confused, lost, maybe hoping for the best for others who might be involved. Fires are a serious issue here in California, for birds and humans alike. Thanks to someone’s barn, Perry found a safe place to stay, miles from the fire, but not all animals are so lucky.

Click on "Read More" below to check out Episode Eight and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the eighth leg of his journey and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 7. Click here to read Episode 9.

Perry's Journey Episode 7: All Dried Up

5/27/2022

By Science Outreach Intern Katrina McCollough

Perry followed the river north, a lot of birds use major geographical features like rivers and mountains while flying to orient themselves. But what to do when the river dries up? When lakes dry up and water is scarce and spread apart it’s a struggle for migrating birds. Drought and its impacts have become a very real, very scary thing for many of us.

Click on "Read More" below to check out Episode Seven and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the seventh leg of his journey and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 6. Click here to read Episode 8.

Perry's Journey Episode 6: Unwelcome Visitors

5/23/2022

By Science Outreach Intern Katrina McCollough

What kind of forest has Perry stumbled on this week? It’s green, but it’s empty: there’s no birds, no insects, nowhere to sleep, and no food. Perry finds nothing of interest to a Little Brown Bird in this ‘forest’ because it’s not a forest at all: it is an overgrown patch of Giant Cane (Arundo donax), an invasive species introduced to California in the 1820s.

Click on "Read More" below to check out Episode Six and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the sixth leg of his journey and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 5. Click here to read Episode 7.

Perry's Journey Episode 5: To Farm or Not to Farm

5/20/2022

By Science Outreach Intern Katrina McCollough

This week Perry encounters vast tracts of orchards and farmland. At first, he doesn’t understand what he’s seeing: acres upon acres of the same plants and men spraying the fields. These are common agricultural practices, monocultures and the use of pesticides, but what’s good for us humans is not so great for birds. There are ways to balance the needs of both though, as Perry discovered when he found a flooded field turned bird oasis.

Click on "Read More" below to check out Episode Five and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the fifth leg of his journey and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 4. Click here to read Episode 6.

Perry's Journey Episode 4: Bright Lights, Big Cities

5/16/2022

By Science Outreach Katrina McCollough

Not too much further into his migration, Perry hits his first big city. He was attracted by the lights, the city acting like a beacon in the night, but Perry found out quickly the city is a harsh place for a little brown bird. With cities becoming more common than open fields or forests, more birds are coming across challenges that they are not used to facing: smog, urban predators, lack of places to feed, noise and light pollution, and building collisions.

Click on "Read More" below to check out Episode Four and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the fourth leg of his journey and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 3. Click here to read Episode 5.

Perry's Journey Episode 3: I Speak for the Trees

5/13/2022

By Science Outreach Intern Katrina McCollough

A week into his journey, Perry was flying over something incredibly shocking: miles and miles of tree stumps. What was once a thriving forest is now a lifeless desert. Perry was shocked and dismayed, where would he rest? The forest Perry runs into has been clearcut, which is a logging practice in which most or all trees in an area are uniformly cut down. Why is deforestation such a major issue for birds like Perry?

Click on "Read More" below to check out Episode Three and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the third leg of his jounrney and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 2. Click Here to read Episode 4.

Perry's Journey Episode 2: Cats, Hawks, and Dogs, Oh My!

5/9/2022

Science Outreach Intern Katrina McCollough

It’s not been long since Perry left his home and he’s decided to make his first stop at a small town where he’s just hoping to stop and refresh himself. Instead, Perry has quite the adventure, meeting two dangerous predators and narrowly escaping with his life. A predator is any animal that naturally preys on others. Perry was lucky this time, but thousands of little birds run a similar ‘gauntlet’ every day.

Click on "Read More" below to check out Episode Two and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the second leg of his journey and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 1. Click here to read Episode 3.

On the Board-Walk: Meet Karan Gathani

5/8/2022

By Guest Blogger & SFBBO Board Member Karan Gathani

My foray into volunteering with the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory was set into motion after attending a docent-led hike by Jan Hintermeister, who was Chair on the SFBBO Board at that time. We spotted a Pied-billed Grebe diving in one of the ponds, which triggered a discussion about identifying birds by their shapes. Long story short, Jan coaxed me to check out SFBBO as an organization I should volunteer with since it overlaps with my interest areas.

Perry's Journey Episode One: Leaving the Nest

5/6/2022

By Science Outreach Intern Katrina McCollough

Today, Perry’s journey begins. Perry isn’t a specific kind of bird, he’s one of a kind, he represents all migrating birds toughing it out on their long journeys. This year we are catching him on his migration north, from his winter home in South America to his breeding ground in Canada. This seems like quite a long flight, and it is, but most birds do it not just once, but twice a year.

Click on "Read More" below to check out Episode One and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the start of his journey and how you can help, plus see some groovy dance moves that may help Perry meet a mate! Click here to read Episode 2.

Busking for Birds - A Young Musician Makes a Difference

5/5/2022

By Guest Blogger Allison Cheng

As bustling crowds rush from store to store and family and friends chatter away at their dinner tables, I set up my music stand, pick up my instrument, and introduce a new sound to the cacophony of Castro Street, Mountain View: the sound of my viola.

A few months ago, I began “Busking for Birds”—playing my viola on the street for donations that I raise for environmental nonprofits, including SFBBO. I’ve been playing violin for 9 years and viola for 5 years, and on the street, I play a ...