• Black Over Aqua, Orange Over Yellow – A Snowy Plover Success Story

    Black Over Aqua, Orange Over Yellow – A Snowy Plover Success Story
    By SFBBO Science Director Maddy Schwarz
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    Every year, SFBBO staff band close to 200 Western Snowy Plover chicks in an attempt to track individuals so we can assess survival and fledging rates. September is always an exciting time of year because the breeding season is over and large foraging flocks of juveniles are forming at the most popular ponds. This means staff have great opportunities to read lots of band combinations during one survey.

    Back in July, we banded a brood that had hatched on a levee in Eden Landing Ecological Reserve. While banding the chicks, the male associated with the nest did a great job defending his chicks by performing a broken wing display next to us repeatedly. ​

    ​Because he was so close, we were able to determine that he had been previously banded as black over aqua, orange over yellow, or ka:oy. In snowy plovers, it is the male that rears the chicks, diligently keeping watch over them, brooding them, and leading them to the best places to find food. After a nest hatches, we observe the male with his brood for the next month as the chicks get bigger, lose their down, and grow flight feathers. However, since chicks cannot fly, they are the most vulnerable life stage and the majority never fledge. Unfortunately, it is very common for us to see a brood once or twice after hatching, and then never again. We were afraid that was the case for ka:oy’s brood because the next week we saw ka:oy foraging in the same area with no chicks in sight, looking like he didn’t have a care in the world. We saw him repeatedly over the next several weeks, always alone, never displaying any signs of the increased vigilance or stress we would expect to see if he was tending chicks. We sadly concluded that the brood likely hadn’t made it and ka:oy had decided not to make another nesting attempt in 2024.

    Fast forward to the end of August and Program Director, Maddy Schwarz is doing a survey at a different Eden Landing pond, when all the sudden she sees a juvenile banded as red over black, white over red, or rk:wr. Excited that this is likely a new fledge, she looks the combination up and is shocked to see that that was one of ka:oy’s chicks! How could this be possible? We were certain that ka:oy’s brood had failed. Had she read the combination wrong? She tried to find the bird again, but the flock had moved to a different area of the pond that was too far away to read bands. She alerted the rest of the Plover Crew to keep a keen eye out for that bird or any other birds from ka:oy’s brood and wonder of all wonders, over the next week, Staff Biologists Parker Kaye and Jeremy Reinhard observed the other two birds in ka:oy’s brood at other ponds in Eden Landing! Somehow, ka:oy and his chicks had managed to hide and fool us and the predators completely for a whole month! All of the birds from that nest are confirmed as fledged, which is relatively rare and therefore very impressive. His chicks are rk:wr, rk:kb (red over black, black over blue), and vo:ao (violet over orange, aqua over orange). This story highlights just how incredible these little birds are at protecting their young, following their instincts, and staying sneaky!

    If you are out birding for plovers and see any of these birds, or any banded plovers at all, please take photos and send them to [email protected]. Your photos submitted to this Google Group help researchers across the species’ range track their birds and write incredible stories like this one!”

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  • SFBBO Data Shows How Wildfire Smoke Impacts Birds

    SFBBO Data Shows How Wildfire Smoke Impacts Birds
    By SFBBO Outreach and Communications Director Kristin Butler
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    As the incidence and intensity of wildfires continues to increase due to climate change and other factors, scientists are looking at long term data sets to understand the impact of these disasters on animals, including birds. 

    Recently, researchers used two decades of bird banding data collected at our Coyote Creek Field Station (CCFS) to investigate how wildfire smoke has influenced the capture rates and body condition of passerines or near-passerine bird species. 

    Their conclusions were published in a paper this month, “Wildfire Smoke Impacts the Body Condition and Capture Rates of Birds in Calfornia,” in the scientific journal Ornithology, with SFBBO Science Director Katie LaBarbera serving as one of the lead authors, along with UCLA’s Anna Nihei, Olivia Sanderfoot, and Morgan Tingley.

    The science team said their research suggests that wildfire smoke is a potentially frequent large-scale environmental stressor on birds, specifically that short-term exposure to smoke decreases bird activity, while long-term exposure can lead to avian weight loss and impact birds’ survival and reproduction.

    The authors said that birds are key indicator species that can give us insight into the impacts to other species and ecosystems, and advocated for more study of the mechanisms driving these observed changes in bird health and behavior and that more research is needed to understand the mechanosms driving these observed changes in bird health and behavior. 

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  • A Study on Phalarope Foraging Habits to Inform Phalarope Conservation

    A Study on Phalarope Foraging Habits to Inform Phalarope Conservation
    By Director of Waterbird Science Nathan VanSchmidt
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    ​SFBBO staff and volunteers are out in the current and former salt ponds of South San Francisco Bay and watching some of the most interesting shorebirds as they stop by during this summer migration: Wilson’s Phalaropes and Red-necked Phalaropes. Surveys undertaken over the past five years have found a species in a long-term ongoing population collapse, with contemporary counts 98% lower than the more than 40,000 birds observed in the 1980s and more than 50% lower than counts in the early 2000s.

    These unique saline-specialist shorebirds stop in San Francisco Bay–as well as saline lakes throughout the Great Basin like Mono Lake, Lake Abert, and the Great Salt Lake–to forage and fatten up early in migration before making the rest of the long trip to their wintering grounds in South America. 

    The most obvious explanation for their decline is that the transition of ponds managed for commercial salt production into lower-salinity ponds managed for wildlife under the South Bay Salt 

    Pond Restoration Project may have reduced the habitat suitability of the South Bay for the saline-specialist phalaropes, even as it greatly benefitted many other waterbird species. However, preliminary data does not show this to be the case.

    Mysteriously, in recent years phalaropes have been much more abundant in the low-salinity wetlands–the opposite of what you’d expect! There is still evidence that Red-necked Phalaropes, who are more generalist in their habitat preferences, have adapted better to the changes in restoration ponds than Wilson’s Phalaropes, who are more specialized in saline lakes, have. Red-necked Phalaropes showed rapid decline in both restoration project ponds and salt production ponds in the 2000s, but were almost entirely extirpated from salt production ponds while they persisted in restoration project ponds . In contrast, Wilson’s Phalaropes had been almost wholly extirpated from restoration project ponds by the 2010s, while they persisted in salt production ponds.

    To uncover what may be driving the decline and the current trends in where phalaropes are found on the landscape, SFBBO has launched a new research project with our volunteer surveyors this spring. In addition to counting phalaropes, staff and volunteers are also doing behavioral observations of their foraging ecology–counting the number of times they peck at the surface in each pond, and the number of times they can be observed swallowing. Counterintuitively, they swallow by opening their beaks–each invertebrate is captured in a bead of water, which is pulled to the back of their long beak by surface tension when they open it, which allows us to relatively easily count how many times they catch prey each minute!

    We’ve already seen some big differences between ponds, with Wilson’s Phalarope in Sunnyvale feeding so rapidly that individual pecks could scarcely be counted – a motion SFBBO volunteer Pete Dunten accurately described as like a the beak acting like a “sewing machine” cutting through the water. 

    You can view the video here.

    If you slow it down to 0.25x speed, you can see the birds opening their beak after each peck.

    This observation was indeed at one of our low-salinity ponds, so we’re hopeful that this research may provide some useful insights. SFBBO is also planning to pilot invertebrate sampling at some of these ponds so we have some idea what the birds might be feeding on with these different foraging behaviors.

    Trends from last summer and early counts from this year have shown higher than usual phalarope abundances – not quite back up to their historic levels in the mid-2000s, but higher than any other recent years! With the new data we gather this summer, we hope to help identify habitat conditions that can allow these shorebirds to thrive in the Bay Area and beyond, and help land managers keep their populations on an upward trajectory.

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  • CBS Covers SFBBO’s “Game-Changing” Work

    CBS Covers SFBBO’s “Game-Changing” Work
    By Outreach and Communications Director Kristin Butler
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    For more than 40 years, SFBBO biologists and community science volunteers have studied passerines and other landbirds through bird banding research at our Coyote Creek Field Station (CCFS), which sits in the middle of an old restoration site in the South Bay.

    ​On March 2nd, Producer Molly McCrea from KPIX, a local affiliate of CBS News, visited our banding station to see our scientists and volunteers in action, talk about climate change, learn about our new Motus wildlife tracking technology, and capture video of the beautiful avian species we aim to protect. ​

    The story, Bay Area Scientists Use Game-Changing Technology to Help Birds Amid Climate Change, ran on April 25th in honor of Earth Day week as part of CBS’s recurring segment, Project Earth, which focuses on efforts made by local communities to help curb the impacts of climate change. 

    Thanks to SFBBO’s Director of Landbird Science, Dr. Katie LaBarbera, and volunteers Anqi Chen, Julian Tattoni, and Jennifer Litteral, for hosting Molly’s visit, as well as our bird banding and Motus technology partners, our volunteers who’ve contributed time at the banding station, and our donors who make this, and all of our work, possible by supporting our new Strategic Plan. 

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  • Dorian’s Circa Bay Ride Day 2

    Dorian’s Circa Bay Ride Day 2
    By Guest Blogger Dorian Anderson
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    This is the second of a series of blog posts by Dorian recounting his six-day Circa Bay Ride around the San Francisco Bay to raise awarenes about the health benefits of birding and raise money for SFBBO’s 2024 Spring Appeal. During the first day of his ride, he led bird walks at Coyote Point in San Mateo and the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve. 

    I’m sorry for the delay in sharing about my ride in Wingbeat! While I was able to crank out a post on April 6th, time shortages prevented follow-ups on subsequent days. In brief, I’ve spent each of the days between April 7th and 11th biking and birding from 7am to 7pm and spent each night engaging the hosts who put me up as I rounded the Bay. 

    With dinner scheduled at 8pm each night, it was bedtime before I realized it! So yeah, mine were extremely full days. I’m now home, in San Mateo, so I can catch up with the daily recaps. 
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    With that, let’s resume with April 7th. Recall that I spent the previous night, April 6th, in Milpitas, a destination I departed at 6:45am.     Birding my way towards Coyote Hills Regional Park, where I’d scheduled a 9am bird walk, I made stops at the Warm Springs vernal pools and Pacific Commons Linear Park. Among a standard panel of waterfowl, shorebirds, and herons, a grouping of ten Greater White-fronted Goose was a very nice surprise. I celebrated that find by stopping at a local donut shop. ​
    ​Reaching Coyote Hills, I joined an assembled score of birders. We made brief introductions and began scanning the wetlands, where we had comparison views of Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, American Wigeon, and a trio of teal (Green-winged, Blue-winged, and Cinnamon). Looping deeper into the park, we found swooping Northern Harriers, vociferous Marsh Wrens, acrobatic Forster’s Terns, and curious Common Gallinules. A distant Hooded Merganser, uncommon in the park, was enjoyed by all. With sunny skies and temperatures in the high fifties, it was a really wonderful morning. I thank all participants for their energy and enthusiasm!
    The remainder of the day was spent riding towards Moraga, where I’d arranged to spend the night with my best friend from high school, and the next day I set out again, covering 45 miles! I also added two birds — Purple Finch, Pygmy Nuthatch — to my Alameda bike list, my total now 198 species. I had both of those by car already, but it was nice to redeem that pair of ‘dirty birds’ in the county’s northern reaches, an area I hadn’t visited by bike previously. 

    ​I spent what remained of the day at EBMUD Vally Vista. I’d only reached into Contra Costa County on my bike once previously, so I grew my CC bike list with the likes of Ring-necked Duck, Band-tailed Pigeon, Great Egret, Hairy Woodpecker, and California Thrasher. With the Brown Creeper and Pacific Wren I picked up en route, it was a really great haul of birds and a relaxing way to end the day! Across the first two days, my species total was 150 and my accumulated mileage was 92. Not too shabby!

    ​    Please support SFBBO’s programs to keep birds, ecosystems, and communities healthy by making a donation to their 2024 Spring Appeal – donatons of $50 or more are eligible to receive a signed copy of my new book!
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    ​An avid birder since childhood, Dorian Anderson abandoned his hobby at age 15, focusing instead on a demanding scientific career while simultaneously struggling with substance abuse. While working as a postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dorian decided to leave the academic rat race and focused on the next phase of his life, returning to birding. In 2014, he embarked on his Biking for Birds project, the first North American Big Year completed entirely by bicycle. During this incredible journey, he biked 17,830 miles (28,500 km) and observed 618 bird species while raising funds for bird habitat conservation. Since his cycling Big Year, he has transitioned to a professional life as a birding guide, writer, and public speaker.

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  • Working for a Better Future for Phalaropes

    Working for a Better Future for Phalaropes
    By Director of Waterbird Science Nathan Van Schmidt
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    ​On March 28th this year, I co-authored and signed a petition for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list Wilson’s Phalaropes as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The petition was coordinated and submitted by the Center for Biological Diversity (read their press release here). 

    This work is a culmination of two decades of waterbird surveys biologists at the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory have conducted in San Francisco Bay, including five years of focused summer phalarope surveys carried out with the help of our dedicated team of volunteer community scientists. In the 1980s, during days of peak migration San Francisco Bay had around 40,000 Wilson’s Phalaropes foraging on salt ponds here in order to gain enough fat reserves to continue their migration to wintering grounds to South America.

    ​Our efforts documented a 98% decline in the species locally, with 1,000 or fewer birds in recent years. Though these birds have declined at other sites across the Great Basin and South America, this is one of the most severe declines that has been documented. These worrying results were communicated to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the petition. The biggest concern, however, is falling water levels within Great Salt Lake, which faces unsustainable water diversions for agriculture as well as worsening droughts under climate change, which lead to populations of brine flies (phalarope’s main prey item) nearly collapsing last year.

    ​If populations in San Francisco Bay could be recovered, it may be able to increase the species’ resilience and long-term survival by providing a safe haven during droughts. This winter, SFBBO’s Waterbirds team also did their first-ever analysis to test what drove this decline—the two leading hypotheses being either habitat changes or climatic conditions—to help guide managers of the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project to manage habitats for their recovery. Surprisingly for a salt-loving species, Wilson’s Phalaropes seem to have locally increased at ponds as their salinity has fallen in South San Francisco Bay. This very unexpected result has led to even more research plans to try and disentangle the complicated drivers of their decline!
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    In March, I traveled to Laguna Mar Chaquita in Argentina, the biggest wintering site for Wilson’s Phalaropes, to participate in an international working group meeting across this species intercontinental range (see photo below). The 39 attendees shared data, findings, and most importantly, designed collaborative research goals for the next five years. We have big plans, including studying their foraging ecology and invertebrate prey abundance, trying to catch and tag phalaropes with tracking devices, and remote sensing mapping of habitat changes and stopover sites across North and South America. By donating to SFBBO, you provide seed money we can use to get grants to pursue that work, and support our other conservation and education programs.

    To read more about our phalarope research, please visit our website.

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  • Dorian’s Circa Bay Ride – Day One

    Dorian’s Circa Bay Ride – Day One
    By Guest Blogger Dorian Anderson
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    This is the first of a series of blog posts by Dorian recounting his six-day Circa Bay Ride around the San Francisco Bay to raise awarenes about the health benefits of birding and raise money for SFBBO’s 2024 Spring Appeal. During the first day of his ride, he led bird walks at Coyote Point in San Mateo and the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve. 

    Let’s state this up front – biking in crappy weather is not fun. And I speak from experience because I outlasted a lot of it during my 18,000-mile, transcontinental odyssey (aka “Biking for Birds’) in 2014!

    ​The point of this is to say that the weather forecast for my six-day, circa-SF Bay ride couldn’t be better! Temperatures today started in the mid-forties and ended in the high fifties, so my ride from San Mateo to Milpitas was really nice. When all the twists, turns, and birding detours were accounted for, I covered 47 miles (note the map says 44.5, but I forgot to turn my Strava tracker on for a 2.5 mile stretch).
    The day started at Coyote Point, where I led a bird walk for eight intrepid folks. A Great-tailed Grackle appeared at our rendezvous point — always a good find on the San Mateo bay shore — and we scored a variety of shorebirds and ducks across two subsequent hours. It was nice to see a pair of Ospreys bringing sticks to a potential nesting platform, and everyone was thrilled when a pair of Clark’s Grebes reared up out of the water and rushed across the surface! 

    Other highlights included breeding plumage Horned Grebes, a trio of terns (Caspian, Elegant, and Forster’s), and comparison views between Tree, Violet-Green, Barn, and Northern Rough-winged Swallows. I had the male Harlequin Duck on a scouting pass ahead of the group’s arrival, but we were unable to locate it for anyone else. Bummer!
    That walk concluded, I started southeast with birding pauses at Nob Hill Pond in Redwood Shores and O’Connor Pond in East Palo Alto. A northwest tailwind lent welcomed assistance and sped me into the Palo Alto Baylands ahead of schedule. With time to spare, I cranked over to the Renzel Wetlands and picked up the continuing Harris’s Sparrow. I first saw the vagrant individual — it should be wintering in KS/OK/TX — on Feb 13, a few days after it was initially reported, but it was fun to tick it again. 
    ​Returning to the Baylands at 3pm, I escorted a raucous group of 18 around the reserve for the next two hours. Dabbling ducks were present in expected abundance, but it was a bold Ridgway’s Rail which stole the show (photo by Chris Overiongton)! The bird climbed out of the slough and walked through the vegetation barely twenty feet from us. It was a sweet encounter with a very shy bird! Scope views of Black-necked Stilts, American Avocets, and Greater Yellowlegs put the cap on a nice loop. Almost forgot – a beautiful male Northern Harrier (aka ‘Gray Ghost’) gave us a nice fly-by.
    I departed the Baylands at 5:15pm and powered south through Shoreline and towards Sunnyvale, where I tried for the Tropical Kingbird. Daylight dwindling towards the end of my allotted 20 minutes, I found the bird, continued to Alviso, grabbed dinner at Chipotle, and rolled into my overnight in Milpitas at 7:15. That I didn’t feel winded or tired at any point in the day was great. Hopefully that trend will continue!​
    ​Tomorrow I will lead a third bird walk, at Coyote Hills in Fremont, before leaving the bay and slogging through developed stretches of Hayward and Castro Valley en route to Moraga. Sure, it’s a bit off the Bay and will require significant climbing to overcome the intervening East Bay hills, but I’ll be staying with my best friend from high school, who I haven’t seen in a few years. I’ll be pretty wrapped up with him and his family tomorrow, but I’ll update you on my progress.

    In the meantime, please support SFBBO’s programs to keep birds, ecosystems, and communities healthy by making a donation to their 2024 Spring Appeal – donatons of $50 or more are eligible to receive a signed copy of my new book!
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    An avid birder since childhood, Dorian Anderson abandoned his hobby at age 15, focusing instead on a demanding scientific career while simultaneously struggling with substance abuse. While working as a postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dorian decided to leave the academic rat race and focused on the next phase of his life, returning to birding. In 2014, he embarked on his Biking for Birds project, the first North American Big Year completed entirely by bicycle. During this incredible journey, he biked 17,830 miles (28,500 km) and observed 618 bird species while raising funds for bird habitat conservation. Since his cycling Big Year, he has transitioned to a professional life as a birding guide, writer, and public speaker.

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  • A Visit to Argentina for Phalarope Research

    A Visit to Argentina for Phalarope Research
    By Science Director Nathan Van Schmidt
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    ​Last month, I  returned from a trip to Argentina, where I met with scientists at the International Phalarope Working Group Meeting at Laguna Mar Chaquita, the main wintering ground for Wilson’s Phalaropes, where I had the chance to visit and survey for these interesting birds.

    ​At the bilingual meeting, phalarope researchers from across North and South America shared results from the past …

    ​​five years’ of research, and developed international research goals and strategies for the next five years.

    It was extremely productive, providing new insights on methods we can use to estimate the quality of habitat different ponds provide for phalaropes—planned to be implemented this summer—and the development of a new partnership with a “sister site” to the South Bay, Ecuasal in Ecuador!

    ​Just like San Francisco Bay, this part of the Pacific Coast has been developed into a series of salt ponds that provide excellent foraging habitat for migratory waterbirds. 
    The field photo is me counting phalaropes during a field excursion to the shore of Laguna Mar Chaquita. There was supposed to be an aerial survey at the same time, but it was unfortunately cancelled due to the ominous storm clouds seen in the pictures! I’m excited to share more details about my trip to Ecuador—keep your binoculars trained on this blog!​

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  • On the Board Walk: Meet Bill Whitmer

    On the Board Walk: Meet Bill Whitmer
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    ​I’m not a birder. My wife of nearly 57 years, Jan, is the family Sibley master. While I may not keep a life list, I’ve really enjoyed our many opportunities to appreciate birds and watch their behavior. Most recently, our annual trip to the Central Valley, once again, gave us the joy of watching the mating dance of a pair of Sandhill Cranes and up-close looks at a lovely pair of Hooded Mergansers and many other waterfowl.

    Since I retired from a tech career in 1997, I’ve enjoyed volunteering with local environmentally oriented nonprofits. My focus in this work has been on finding ways I could help preserve and protect our wonderful Bay Area open spaces.

    I believe environmental education of young people is critical to the future of our world. Education for adults and, especially, decision makers, is also extremely important. In my short time at SFBBO, I’ve come to value the way we balance our careful documentation of the state of local avian life with efforts to protect their environment through hands-on rehabilitation projects and land use advocacy.

    It was a joy to be able to experience the bird banding work at Coyote Creek Field Station knowing that our current data combined with that gathered over many years helps us understand, factually, how species populations have been changed by human activities. Our work offers highly credible insight to help land use planners with their decisions.

    Watching the enjoyment of a group of underserved children as they learned about birds and invasive plant control was also special for me. They had a chance to apply what they were learning to help restore Alviso Marina County Park while they had fun with each other in nature. What a great example of how we help youngsters discover the joy of nature and come to treasure it.
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    When I joined SFBBO in 2022, my aim was to help preserve challenged natural habitats in our immediate area. I also hoped to share some of my business experience working to help find ways to improve our financial reporting systems. It’s been a rewarding and engaging experience with a lot more coming as we implement our new Strategic Plan. Please join me to supporting SFBBO by volunteering and providing the financial capacity to extend our mission.

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  • On the Board Walk: Meet Caroline Selfridge

    On the Board Walk: Meet Caroline Selfridge
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    ​One thing I love about the Bay Area is how easy it is to find beautiful places to walk. It’s fantastic that you can be in the middle of Silicon Valley and arrive so quickly at a woodland trail, a levee on the bay, or an open meadow dotted with oaks.
     
    Some of my favorite spots are the Sierra Azul and El Sereno Open Space Preserves in Los Gatos; Calero County Park in San Jose; and the Fremont Older ​Open Space Preserve in Cupertino.

     I try to go walking at least two to three times a week, even if it’s only for a short time.  

    Having grown up outside of Boston, I’m familiar with East Coast flora, but I’ve been working to learn the native trees and especially the wildflowers of California – their diversity and beauty is incredible! I take photos of them wherever I go.   

    When I retired in spring 2021, after almost 30 years as an attorney at Intel Corporation, I knew I wanted to work with a nonprofit organization that supported nature in the Bay Area. I sought a group that included scientific research in their mission, since it’s through science that we can best learn how to protect the natural world from the pressures of climate change, habitat loss, and urbanization. SFBBO turned out to be the perfect fit. 
    As shown in our recently-published strategic plan, SFBBO has a powerful multipronged approach to its work. First, we do scientific research on birds and their habitats, sharing and publishing our data to help drive new learnings and implement change. Next, we work to restore local bird habitats, which have been decimated by human activities. Lastly, we engage with local communities. Through outreach and education, we work with hundreds of volunteers every year, and educate and inspire children to become the next generation of environmental stewards and advocates.
     
    The Bay Area is a place of incredible natural beauty and diversity. With climate change and other urgent environmental problems, it’s essential that we invest in the future of our natural world. Please join SFBBO at an upcoming event, visit our website for more information, or donate to support our programs.

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