Golden Gate Bird Alliance To Conduct Annual Christmas Bird Counts Around the Bay

More than 200 avid Bay Area birders will fan out over San Francisco to count all the birds they see in a single day.

San Francisco, CA. — On December 29, from before dawn until dusk, hundreds of hardy birders will trek through parks, neighborhoods, wetlands, and woods to count birds.

WHAT: 2009 Christmas Bird Count (CBC)

WHERE: San Francisco

WHEN: Tuesday, December 29

WHY: To provide insight into the past and present status and health of our bird populations and the general health of our environment, as well as being a social, sporting, and competitive event.

MEDIA CONTACT: Dan Murphy, 415.564.0074

SPONSORS: San Francisco – Golden Gate Bird Alliance and Presidio Trust

Some will venture onto the bay in kayaks and boats. Others will traverse city streets, cross remote streams and creeks, and skirt reservoirs and bay mudflats, with their binoculars and scopes trained on trees, bushes, buildings, wires, poles, land, water, and sky. They will call out the names and numbers of birds they see at every site and carefully record them. Then the count participants will gather at the end of the day over dinner to tally their results and share stories of their day in the field.

“For Bay Area birders, these two Christmas counts are an integral part of the holiday season,” says Oakland co-organizer Dave Quady. “A great day of birding, then a fine compilation dinner, friends sharing adventures in the field, then telling stories of rare birds over dessert – what could be finer?”

Coordinated by the National Audubon Society, nearly 60,000 people participated in more than 2,100 counts on three continents last year, the 109th year of Christmas Bird Counts (CBCs). Each count attempts to identify and record every individual bird encountered within a defined 15-mile-diameter circle — about 177 square miles — during one calendar day. Golden Gate Bird Alliance sponsors the Oakland count and co-sponsors the San Francisco counts with the Presidio Trust.  Both counts finished among the top 31 in North America in numbers of species found, with 172 or more species in each. Oakland attracted 189 field observers, the fourth-highest number worldwide; San Francisco’s 117 bird counters placed it among the 18 highest in the world.

“Christmas Bird Counts combine many of the things Golden Gate Bird Alliance stands for,” says Executive Director Mark Welther. “It’s a fine day where everyday bird-watchers become citizen scientists, contributing data that helps everyone understand Bay Area birdlife and its habitat a little better, capped off with a wonderful dinner.”…

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Restore the wetland at Sharp Park

We need you to attend a public hearing to help restore Sharp Park! On Wednesday, December 16th at 1pm at San Francisco’s City Hall, Room 263, there will be a San Francisco Supervisors hearing discussing the alternatives report for Sharp Park Golf Course. We need you to attend to ask the Supervisors to reject the all-golf alternative at Sharp Park that the SF Recreation & Park Report is proposing. Instead speak in favor of the restoration of Sharp Park and a new national park that will benefit the community economically and environmentally and provide recreational and educational opportunities, as well as protect endangered species. The golf course is losing money, harming two endangered species, and threatening surrounding communities when the golf course floods.

Golden Gate Bird Alliance Responds to San Francisco Bay Oil Spill

November 2, 2009
Update:10:00am
Golden Gate Bird Alliance sent volunteers to locations around San Francisco Bay to monitor for and report on any oiled birds or wildlife over the weekend. 
On November 1, 2009 the International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) reported collecting dozens of oiled birds from a collection center from Crown Memorial State Beach in Alameda

The US Coast Guard posted an update about the 400 to 800 gallon oil spill which occured 2.5 miles south of the San Francisco Bay Bridge on October 31, 2009

Update: 3:00 p.m.

The Coast Guard now estimates that the spill is less than 100 gallons, which is fully contained, and that the clean up is in progress.  Golden Gate Bird Alliance has not received reports of oiled wildlife yet, but we will continue to monitor the situation and report updates here.

Original Post: 10:30 a.m.

October 30, 2009

Berkeley, California

The U.S. Coast Guard and California Department of Fish & Game are responding to an oil spill in San Francisco Bay this morning at approximately 6:30 am.

More information is available from the U.S. Coast Guard at: http://www.uscgsanfrancisco.com/go/doc/823/367415/

as well as the Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN) at: http://www.owcn.org/.

IMPORTANT:  We remind the public that oil is very toxic and that they should not go down onto beaches near the spill or try to handle or capture oiled wildlife.  If oiled wildlife are found, please call the Oiled Wildlife Care Network at 1-877-823-6926.

Golden Gate Bird Alliance emergency trained personnel remain on alert awaiting instructions from the Oiled Wildlife Care Network.

Contact Info: Mark Welther, Executive Director, Golden Gate Bird Alliance

(510) 843-2222, mwelther@goldengatebirdalliance.org, https://goldengatebirdalliance.org

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