Get Involved
New Editor for The Gull Needed
New Speaker Series Coordinator Needed
Spring/Summer Volunteer Activities
Hosts Needed at Audubon Canyon Ranch
Quail/Migratory Bird Habitat Restoration
North Richmond Shoreline Bird Census
Birding and Natural History Teachers
East Bay Conservation Committee
New Editor for The Gull Needed
Golden Gate Audubon is looking for a replacement for longtime newsletter editor Judith Dunham. We are looking for a volunteer editor to produce The Gull newsletter, published nine times per year. Duties include working with staff and volunteers to plan each issue; editing articles and listings to conform to house style; writing and rewriting as needed; sourcing photographs; transmitting material to and working with designer; and proofreading each issue prior to printing. Must be an experienced editor familiar with the Chicago Manual of Style and be capable of both working independently and collaborating with other volunteers and staff. Knowledge of local parks and wildlife, especially birds, is desirable. Time commitment is approximately 20 hours per issue. Tentative start date April 15 for training; full takeover of duties by July.
If interested, please contact Jennifer Robinson, Golden Gate Audubon's Volunteer Coordinator, at 510.919.5873 or via email at jrobinson@goldengateaudubon.org.
New Speaker Series Coordinator Needed
Golden Gate Audubon is seeking a volunteer to replace our current Speaker Series coordinator, Sarah Reed. The volunteer will coordinate our public lecture series, held monthly in Berkeley and San Francisco from September to November and from January to May each year. GGA's Speaker Series features slide-show lectures by renowned naturalists, photographers, ornithologists, international travelers, and other fascinating speakers. Duties include working with staff and volunteers to identify potential speakers; recruiting speakers, organizing special events, and arranging a schedule of 16 lectures each year; maintaining a database of expertise and contact information for past, present, and suggested future speakers; collecting and editing publicity material to advertise Speaker Series programs; coordinating event locations, audio-visual equipment, book sales, and other speaker needs; and working with staff and hospitality coordinators to host monthly Speaker Series events in one or both locations. Must be organized and capable of working independently as well as collaborating with other volunteers and staff. Familiarity with local scientists, naturalists, photographers, and other potential speakers is desirable. Time commitment approximately 10-15 hours per month. Tentative start date June 1.
If interested, please contact Jennifer Robinson, Golden Gate Audubon's Volunteer Coordinator, at 510.919.5873 or via email at jrobinson@goldengateaudubon.org.
Spring/Summer Volunteer Activities
Hosts Needed for Audubon Canyon Ranch
Want a chance to enjoy a beautiful nature and birding site while helping others? Join the GGA team of Audubon Canyon Ranch (ACR) hosts this spring!
Each year, from mid-March to mid-July, thousands of visitors come to see herons and egrets nesting in the redwood trees at the ACR Bolinas Lagoon Preserve, overlooking Bolinas Lagoon in western Marin County. Hosts greet and direct visitors and answer questions. All of the information hosts need is provided in advance.
Golden Gate Audubon, which helped establish Audubon Canyon Ranch, is responsible for providing volunteer hosts on the following dates: April 12 and 13; May 17, 18, and 26 (Memorial Day); June 14; and July 5 and 6. Hosts arrive by 9:00 to 9:15 a.m. and work until about 4:30 p.m., with a lunch break.
For more information and to sign up, please contact Anna-Marie Bratton at annamariebb@earthlink.net.
Help Golden Gate Audubon Restore Vital California Quail Habitat in the City of San Francisco!
Each month Golden Gate Audubon sponsors workdays where volunteers help restore habitat for the California Quail, the official bird of the City and County of San Francisco and of the State of California. We plant native species, remove invasives, and do general maintenance at various sites throughout the city. We hold workdays on the fourth Saturday of each month at Harding Park, in addition to our work in the Presidio and at Lands End.
For our work at the Presidio, we'll meet at playground picnic tables in Quail Commons, near the intersection of Battery Caulfield Rd. and Washington Blvd. in San Francisco. For our work at Harding Park, we'll meet at the parking lot at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Lake Merced Blvd. If you have any trouble finding the sites or want any more information, please contact Jennifer Robinson at jrobinson@goldengateaudubon.org.
Our last workday at Harding Park until September will be Saturday, May 24!
Our Friends of the Alameda Wildlife Refuge committee is seeking volunteers to monitor the colony of California Least Terns during the breeding season and help detect predators that put birds at risk. Volunteers are required to take a two-hour training session offered in April. Schedules for monitoring will be available in May.
After the training, Tern Watch participants will come to the Alameda Wildlife Refuge to observe activity at the tern colony and report the presence of predators and any other problems that may cause breeding failures. The refuge is not open to the public, so becoming a Tern Watch volunteer offers a unique opportunity to visit the refuge and observe its endangered species.
If you're interested, please contact Leora Feeney, chair of the Friends of the Alameda Wildlife Refuge committee, via email at leoraalameda@att.net.
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San Francisco Southern Waterfront: Golden Gate Audubon and San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory are partnering to count birds along the southern waterfront. Weekly monitoring by volunteers with bincolculars or spotting scope starts in June and end in August. This year, we will be surveying Caspian Terns to see if they locate a new nesting site.
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Herons and Egrets at Lake Merced: Volunteers with a spotting scope are needed for a weekly census, continuing through July 31, of Lake Merced's nesting waterbirds and cormorants.
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Bank Swallows at Ocean Beach: Bank Swallows are declining in population because of habitat loss. The species has specialized breeding needs; at Ocen Beach, as elsewhere, the birds nest in burrows in a sand bank. The survey offers an opportunity to provide important data to scientists who are monitoring both the status of the bank Swallow and thes uccess rate of the this local breeding site. Volunteers should have a spotting scope. The swallows are here only during the summer, so this is when we need your help. The survey runs through July.
To join a survey team, please contact Jennifer Robinson at jrobinson@goldengateaudubon.org.
Ongoing Activities
North Richmond Shoreline Bird Census
Golden Gate Audubon, in conjunction with our work with the North Richmond Shoreline Academy project, is getting ready to begin our next bird census. This time we'll focus on shorebirds and raptors; we will not count passerines and other birds not so closely associated with water. We'll start the census this coming September, censusing three sites along the North Richmond Shoreline: Point Pinole, West County Landfill Loop, and Wildcat Creek Park. Each census team will work their site four times each month, twice during high tide and twice during ebbing tide. The census will last one year, through August 2008. We'd love to have you join us!
And, thanks to a generous grant from CALFED, this year we'll be paying all of our census volunteers! We'll pay you for your work at the training sessions and all of the census work you do at a rate of $15 per hour. Specific job descriptions and payment forms will be forthcoming.
If you're interested in working on the census with us, please let Jennifer Robinson know by emailing jrobinson@goldengateaudubon.org or by calling 510.919.5783. In your reply, please include your name, contact information, birding skills, any equipment you have available for the census (scopes, binoculars, etc.), and whether or not you've worked on a census before.
For instructions on the census, click here.
Data sheets can be downloaded here.
Eco-Oakland Environmental Educators
Volunteer Environmental Educators Needed! Work with a team of naturalists, rangers, and high school mentors at a local salt marsh, a beautiful hidden creek in a redwood forest, in elementary school classrooms in East Oakland, and/or at the beach. No previous experience necessary - all training will be provided!
A six-hour monthly time commitment is required. Weekday and Saturday hours available.
For more information, please contact our Eco-Oakland Program Manager, Anthony DeCicco, at adecicco@goldengateaudubon.org or 510.635.5533.
Birding and Natural History Teachers and Field Trip Leaders
We need instructors for adult education classes in San Francisco and experienced birders to lead field trips around the Bay Area, across the state, and possibly internationally.
East Bay Conservation Committee
Volunteers would take on specific wildlife and birding issues in the East Bay: become knowledgeable about conservation and policy issues, monitor and follow issues closely, attend meetings on behalf of Golden Gate Audubon, submit draft comments on various issues, and report ideas to fellow committee members and the Golden Gate Audubon staff.
Volunteers Needed to Help Compile Observations
GGA seeks dependable volunteers to help compile data for the monthly Observations. An interest in bird distribution and movements is essential, but advanced knowledge is not required.Training will be provided and credit given in each Gull. If interested, contact Bruce Mast at observe@goldengateaudubon.org.
Your skills, knowledge, and expertise can help us in dozens of ways. Lead a field trip, teach children about birds and wetlands, work in our office, write letters to elected officials, or join a habitat restoration work party. Whether you have a lot of time or a little, we welcome your participation. Click here here for a list of ongoing opportunities.
Volunteers on cleanup day at Pier 94. Photo by Anne McTavish.