Wingbeat Blog

​I grew up with a marine biologist father. So I was always at home poking about in the tide pools, walking in the woods, and observing nature. I still remember father’s sea sick whisper of advice, after one of his particularly rough sea voyages, “Don’t study animals, Jeff, study PLANTS, because they don’t move around!” So in college I minored in botany. Birds especially intimidated me: too fast, always backlit, and with multiple songs and molting plumages.

In my middle-aged years, I began studying with Jon Young, author of the bird language bible, What the Robin Knows. I learned that …

​What comes to mind when you hear the word “otter?” I commonly think of a cute, fuzzy animal that uses rocks to open up oysters, the sea otter. Many people also picture the sea otter, but few seem to imagine their sleeker counterpart, the river otter. 

​Ever since I started interning at SFBBO six months ago, I’ve heard about the organization’s science talks but never had the opportunity to attend one until the River Otter Talk on July 19. Though the topic seemed to lack an obvious correlation to bird conservation, I was curious to learn about other conservation efforts in the Bay Area. In … 

Are you “HEP to the Jive?” Only readers of a certain vintage (like us!) will recognize this jazz age pun! “Hep to the jive” was 40’s Jazz musician Cab Calloway’s expression meaning “in the know” or a “cool cat!” The HEP Survey is SFBBO’s Heron Egret Project – part of their “very cool” Colonial Waterbird Program, putting biologists “in the know” about Bay Area waterbirds’ habits and trends.

​Ten years ago, my wife Barbara and I retired from thirty years of workers compensation claims management and launched much loved travel and citizen science work centered around birds. One of our …

Some of the most important tools our scientists use to conduct research on Bay Area birds are the vehicles they drive across levees and dirt roads to reach the plovers, water birds, and tidal marshes they study and protect. Unfortunately, these vehicles are also some of the most expensive!

​That’s why we are always especially grateful to supporters who donate their used trucks or other four-wheel-drive vehicles to SFBBO. Two recent donors who did just that are Jonathan and Christine Slocomb-Zack, who donated their old Pathfinder Nissan truck to us this spring …

As the young daughter of a biologist, I was always amazed when my father, driving at 50 mph, would say, “Look, there’s a Red-tailed Hawk.” Whipping around to look at the bird on a telephone pole rapidly fading behind us, I always asked, “How can you tell that it’s a Red-tail and not a Red-shouldered?”

In Hawk Rising, Maria Gianferrari doesn’t answer that question, but for young birders she and illustrator Brian Floca provide a window into the life of a Red-tail family – mother on the nest with downy chicks, father out hunting for food, missing, trying again. The book includes …

One of the most beautiful experiences in life is learning something new. That is why I treasured the opportunity I had in March to attend a sparrows ID workshop led by SFBBO’s senior outreach biologist, Alvaro Jaramillo.
 
In addition to working for SFBBO, Alvaro heads the birding company Alvaro’s Adventures, publishes scholarly works and articles, and has received an Eisenmann Medal of the Linnaean Society, a natural history organization in New York. ​His wealth of knowledge combined with his easy-going presence allowed him to bridge the gap between …

June 3rd was one of those beautiful spring days on the verge of summer – people were out, the sun was out, and a few of us went bird and butterfly watching.

The Bird and Butterfly Festival had the gorgeous backdrop of Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont with a stunning marsh where I would help with two nature walks for SFBBO. I met my walk co-leader Jan Hintermeister near the spot where our walk would begin and we both felt optimistic. After meeting our fairly large group, we started our first walk by meeting in the shade ​to play a game I like to play with my …

In today’s world, one could argue that environmental issues are more pronounced than they’ve ever been. Some might bring up coal burning in the 1900s (think “Great-Smog” event in London); widespread DDT spraying in the 60s; or increased urbanization. Each was destructive, and the cumulative effect has been a serious problem for many species.

​Despite widespread outreach efforts by organizations such as SFBBO to teach people about our local birds and the issues they face, many still fly under the radar (no pun intended!). For example: would you be surprised if I told you that there was a breeding colony of around 30 …

Every May, our volunteers and biologists walk through all California Gull colonies in the South Bay to estimate the breeding population. This volunteer experience isn’t for the faint of heart! It can be hard to hear yourself think, let alone stay focused enough to tally nests, as thousands of screaming gull parents fly towards your helmet, occasionally making contact with a kick or beak strike. You’ll escape the colony unscathed by gull poop only if you’re lucky.

​We have monitored the South Bay gull population for almost 40 years. In the early 1980’s there were only 24 breeding California Gulls, and …

Our work to conserve birds and their habitats through science and outreach would not be possible without the people in our community who give generously of their time and money.
 
To thank our supporters this year we held our Volunteer Appreciation Party in May and our Big Sip last month.
 
On May 19th, we threw our Volunteer Appreciation Party at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Environmental Education Center in Alviso. Our program directors gave project …