GGAS Blog
Reflecting On An Unusual SF Christmas Bird Count
By David Assmann The 2020 San Francisco Christmas Bird Count nearly didn’t happen due to the pandemic. Fortunately, San Francisco birders adapted to the challenge. Although we had to follow strict new guidelines, this winter’s count turned out to be one of the best in decades. 103 socially distanced counters ended up tallying more
Plants for Birds: It’s Not Too Late to Dig In!
By Noreen Weeden Planting season in the San Francisco Bay Area is late fall through winter. With a forecast of rain ahead, it is not too late to get some beautiful native plants in the ground to benefit our birds. You may have heard that Plants for Birds is an exciting partnership of GGAS
Bird like a Mother, With or Without Children
By Bryony Angell Despite appearances, this post is not about how to get children into birding! And you need not even be a mother to get something from it, either. I’m considering instead one aspect of prejudice in birding that if addressed, could have broader benefits for all birders who experience being marginalized. In
November at the Lagoon
By Gerry Traucht Around mid-November, I saw some interesting events at the Berkeley Lagoon. Normally, the lagoon is rather calm during this time of year. Occasionally, one could see up to four or six Brown Pelicans at a time. But on a mid-November morning, I saw something remarkable: about 35 (and counting!) enormous Pelican
Late Fall, Snowy Egrets
By Gerry Traucht Editor’s Note: Gerry offers us glimpses of what he sees at and near his home. This unique collection embodies the qualities of the Japanese poetic form, Zuihitsu. Zuihitsu is genre of Japanese literature (since adapted by many Western writers) consisting of loosely connected personal essays or fragmented ideas that typically respond
Food Fest for Birds
By Leanne Grossman It’s about 11:45 am on November 14th when I notice thousands of transparent wings lift into the sky. Termite larvae are emerging from the bricks of my backyard patio and becoming alates (their wings develop fairly instantly). In the past, no critters had overtly noticed them, but this year, local birds
Fall is the New Spring
By Liam O’Brien It’s almost a cliche – comes the Spring comes the butterflies! Since they coevolved with flowering plants for the most part it’s true. But did you know that fall is actually the best time to see them? Females disperse far beyond their known ranges to mix up the genetic pool and
A World Exposed Volume 2: The (humming)birds and the bees
By Tara McIntire Here we are, over six months of sheltering in place and my birding has forever been changed. First, it was adjusted to include jumping spiders, but now I’ve found another new world and focus. Don’t worry, I’m still always looking for birds, and thankfully there seems to be a fairly consistent
Pelagic Rookie
By Michael Stevens I have been birding fairly seriously for the last two years and found myself tempted to try a pelagic trip, an offshore boat tour meant to discover ocean-going birds. When I saw that Alvaro Jaramillo, Bay Area birder extraordinaire, was organizing a series of Covid-sensitive pelagic outings this past summer I
An Online Bird Art Show: “Wild Things”
By Rita Sklar I have been a member of Golden Gate Audubon Society since 2004. I have gone on many guided bird walks, attended meetings in the East Bay, and occasionally participated in overnight events such as Dan Lassen’s park adventure. One very memorable overnight trip was one to Yosemite, where our group had
The Secret Lives of Turkeys
By Alan Krakauer Editor’s Note: Alan is a biologist living in Richmond. He is broadly interested in evolution, ecology, and natural history. Most of his research has focused on the behavioral ecology of birds. To learn more about Alan’s life and work, you can go to his WEBSITE. Alan also has a Nature PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE, complete
Why I’m Partnering with GGAS
By Alan Krakauer of Alan Krakauer Photography When I launched Alan Krakauer Photography in 2018, I wanted to channel my passion for birds into advocacy for nature and open space. I didn’t start with any special plan for how this would happen. It was a happy feature of my fledgling business that I found