Wingbeat Blog

​Every Saturday and Sunday morning, my family and I make waffles and play our favorite board games. We throw the doors to our forested backyard wide open and let the sound of the rustling oak trees, chirping birds, and warm sunlight filter into our house. We play games about space exploration, strategy, ancient civilizations, and much more. One day we bought a new board game called Wingspan. As we played, we learned about beautiful, colorful, and fascinating birds that live all around the world. This quickly became one of our favorite games, and we grew more aware of the woodpeckers, songbirds, and hawks living around us.

I have loved nature from as early as I could remember. …

SFBBO’s Kids Bird Art Contest is a fun annual contest where we invite kids ages 3-17 to spend time outside, observe birds in nature, and record their observations in the form of art and writing. This year, to continue celebrating SFBBO’s 40th Anniversary, we asked kids to recall a memorable experience with birds in nature and to create a drawing and written story reflecting that encounter.

We were incredibly impressed by the submissions! Many of the kids who participated demonstrated wonderful artistic skills and attention to detail, and many were also talented storytellers! We received 90 entries, and our judges loved seeing everyone’s artwork and reading the stories. We were happy to see that so many kids are noticing birds and have made meaningful connections with nature. Seeing that the next generation is inspired by nature makes us hopeful for the future of birds and their habitats!

This year has been eventful so far for Snowy Plovers and our biologists who study them here in the South San Francisco Bay. Western Snowy Plovers are small, pale shorebirds that breed along the Pacific Coast from Southern Washington to Baja California, as well as inland at alkali lakes. The Pacific Coast population of Western Snowy Plovers is federally listed as a threatened distinct population segment, with about 2,500 individuals. These birds typically breed on coastal sandy beaches, but with human development and disturbance, some birds have taken advantage of former salt evaporation ponds here in the Bay, a rather stark landscape that mimics salt panne habitat found in isolated areas of the coast and interior. These salt ponds now regularly support about 10% of the Pacific Coast population.

Home sweet summer home. What was all this for? This comic, this journey? Why do birds like Perry fly thousands of miles, and why do some do it twice a year? How did they know where to go? And most importantly, why are migrating bird populations in decline?

Click on “Read More” below to check out Episode Ten and learn about Perry’s homecoming as he completes his migration journey! Click here to read Episode 9.  

​Perry is so close to the finish line but this could have been his last stop! For good! Perry accidentally got himself tangled in a pile of discarded fishing line. Once again, though, Perry lucked out, a human wandered by and, even more luckily, the human had a pair of scissors. Untangling birds is a difficult and stressful process (for both humans and birds), especially for people not trained or used to handling birds. Most birds are not so lucky though.

​Click on “Read More” below to check out Episode Nine and learn about the challenges Perry faces at the ninth leg of his journey and how you can help. Click here to read Episode 8. Click here to read Episode 10.

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 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.

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.