Wingbeat Blog

Those of us who read to or with children tend to be word people as well as bird people. A recent picture book from Canada recalls “An Exaltation of Larks” as it presents a dozen bird species and the group names associated with their flight styles. In Hawks Kettle, Puffins Wheel, And Other Poems of Birds in Flight, Susan Vande Griek offers brief, free-verse poems about each bird, followed by a short statement about its style of behavior when flying, fishing, diving, or protecting itself. Crows, for example, “mob” intruders or threats; Bald Eagles “cartwheel” during their courting flight; Northern Gannets “plunge-dive” when fishing. Mark Hoffman’s large, boldly stylized illustrations add visual impact to the descriptions and extend the book’s reach to young listeners. This is a book likely to spark …

​Oilapalooza is an annual convention put on by the organization OWCN, the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. This year, on October 16th and 17th, I got the pleasure to attend my first Oilapalooza in Eureka.  It was also my first time in Eureka. As a San Jose resident, it was lovely to enjoy such a lush environment for a couple days. 

OWCN partners with local organizations like SFBBO to train and provide volunteers for potential oil spills. Oilapalooza is a good way to meet everyone in the OWCN team, learn more about oil spills …

Thanks to great participation from all of our staff, voluntees, and SFBBO community, we reached our goal to raise $30,000 through our 2019 California Fall Challenge (CFC)! 

We also had a great Annual Membership Meeting on Oct. 27! Thank you to our great guest speaker Dorian Anderson, to our t-shirt designer Julie Ho, to volunteer photographer Rachel Podlishevsky of Pro Bono Photo, and to all of our event volunteers that day! Read more below for highlights! 

Early in September I spent a week on Hog Island, Maine, where Audubon runs summer camps and research projects. Among many fascinating stories and observations, we visited Eastern Egg Rock and heard the story of biologist Steve Kress’s restoration of the Atlantic Puffin population exterminated in the 19th century by hunters of meat, eggs and feathers. Kress describes this project in moving detail in his 2015 book, Project Puffin; The Improbable Quest to Bring a Beloved Seabird Back to Egg Rock (Yale University Press). ​But there’s …

​Cette année, pour l’été, j’ai décidé de faire quelque chose de complètement différent. C’est alors que j’ai pris mon courage à deux mains et que je me suis envolée pour les Etats-Unis toute seule. J’avais pour principal objectif d’améliorer mon anglais mais étant passionnée depuis toujours par tout ce qui a un  rapport avec la nature, je me suis vite mise à la recherche d’une association ou d’un organisme dans lequel je pouvais être bénévole. Trouver cet organisme me tenait vraiment à cœur car c’était un moyen pour moi d’approfondir mes connaissances en biologie mais aussi de faire quelque chose que j’aimais vraiment tout en pratiquant mon anglais.

​Grâce à l’intermédiaire du Dr. Ainley, j’ai eu l’extraordinaire chance d’être bénévole à la San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO). J’ai ainsi eu l’occasion de travailler sur différents projets tels que Snowy Plovers avec Ben Pearl et Landbird …

This summer, I gathered my courage to do something completely different and flew to the United States. My main goal was to improve my English, but because I have always been passionate about nature, I also looked for an association or organization where I could volunteer so I could deepen my knowledge in biology while practicing my English.

Thanks to the advice of Dr. David Ainley, I had the amazing opportunity to volunteer at the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO). While there this summer, I worked on ​different projects such as Snowy Plovers with Plover Program Director Ben Pearl and bird banding with Landbird Program … 

​This spring and summer I have been on a mission to find Swainson’s Hawks in the Bay Area. While I have always enjoyed watching birds, especially water birds and passerines, I only recently became acquainted with hawk species in a raptor class offered at De Anza College. It was in that class that I learned about and first observed a Swainson’s Hawk.

When our class went out to look at raptors in Coyote Valley, we found a male Swainson’s Hawk perched atop a tall cedar tree. Our instructor, Ryan Phillips, said he was likely guarding a nest nearby. While we were there, a Cooper’s Hawk ventured into the nesting area. Sure enough, the Swainson’s Hawk immediately launched …

​Anyone who has sat with a child in the lap and a book like Where’s Waldo in hand knows the pleasure of sharing a seek-and-find game. In Bird Watch, Christie Matheson brings this pleasure to birders, with the addition of a ten-to-one countdown. Gentle, elegant illustrations in watercolor and collage provide a game of “find the bird” for the very young. “If you look closely, you just might find eight sparrows hiding near the ground.” Parents may also be challenged to find some of the hidden targets, but there’s plenty to look at and enjoy.  

​Enormous thanks to SFBBO, POST and the Santa Clara Library for their large-screen showing in April of Chris Jordan’s film, “Albatross.”  This amazing film (definitely not for young children) is one of the most beautiful art films and horrifying scientific documentaries I’ve ever seen.  It is available free for viewing online. Anyone who uses plastic, eats fish, loves birds or cares about the environment should see it.

​A year ago, I wrote briefly about Caren Loebel-Fried’s A Perfect Day for an Albatross (Cornell Lab Publishing Group, 2017), a picture book for young children that traces the life cycle of the Laysan …

​As the rain stops and it begins to look like spring again, the Coyote Creek Field Station will take advantage of the sunny days and continue banding birds. The Coyote Creek Field Station would not be the same without volunteers like Gerry Ellis. A lifelong birder, Gerry discovered CCFS decades ago through an article in the paper advertising bird banding training. He came for a few classes and stayed for years. Gerry has been an asset to SFBBO, not only as a bird bander but as a humble caretaker of the field station.