GGAS Blog
Smoke, Water and Birds: 10 Hours at Sea on a Pelagic
By Elliot Janca Editor’s Note: Toward the end of September, when the skies were dense with smoke and fog, teenage birder Elliot (accompanied by his father, John) took a Pelagic tour to see as many birds as they could. This tour was part of a prize Elliot won in GGAS’s Young Birders Contest (a
Learn more about GGAS’s upcoming Bird Art and Holiday Sale!
By Daryl Goldman There were many challenges this past spring, but while sheltering in place, I found some unexpected joy: the silencing of the traffic allowed me, despite a hearing deficit, to awaken to an overwhelming dawn chorus outside my urban window. Another joy: my work on the GGAS Bird Art Auction we held in
Refuge Takes Flight
By Mark Lipman Editor’s Note: We are happy to offer GGAS members the opportunity to watch Refuge, a beautiful new film portrait of a wildlife refuge in California’s Central Valley that was recorded over the past three winters by director Mark Lipman. Mark has kindly extended free viewing for GGAS members through October 4th. This blog
Another Strong Year for Snowy Plovers at Ocean Beach and Crissy Field, As a New Overwintering Season Begins
By the Snowy Plover Monitors at National Park Service Western snowy plovers are back on Golden Gate National Recreation Area beaches! They weren’t gone for very long. These small, federally threatened shorebirds leave Golden Gate to breed each spring, and return each fall to spend the winter feasting on beach invertebrates. Between the early and
The Butterflies of Mount Sutro
By Liam O’Brien When I surveyed all the butterflies of San Francisco County in 2007 (and again in 2009) Mount Sutro was not one of my ten transect sites. I dismissed it as a horrifying example of “Sutro’s Gift” of eucalyptus from the early 1900s – a monocultural wasteland. I knew of Craig Dawson’s work
Auk the Vote! Together, We Can Get Out The Environmental Vote
By Laura Cremin and David Robinson America’s birding community has always advocated for conservation policies. Low voter turnout, however, is a huge roadblock to success. Although Americans prioritize environmental policies and climate action more than ever before, many simply do not vote. For instance, over 15 million identifiable environmentalists did not vote in the
Photographing on the Median
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
Journeying Homeward From Home
By Gerry Traucht His name is Hello. When I say, Hello, to an empty sky, a crow appears. It takes a minute or two if he’s far away. He stops by solo several times a day, flapping by a window or a door. Once in a while he brings his mate. Here he is outside
How I Came to Love Owls Even More
By Alan Krakauer I wish this was a normal spring and summer. However, if I had to pick one up-side to being forced to bird so close to home this year, it would be getting to know my local Great Horned Owls a little better. Of all the feathered denizens of Wildcat Canyon Regional Park,
Bird Friendly Chocolate
By Sharol Nelson-Embry If you’ve never tasted single-origin chocolate, stop reading and go find yourself a bar. Each country where cacao is grown, and sometimes even each estate within a country, has its own signature flavor notes due to the mixed result of genetics, terroir, origin, weather and post-harvesting processes like fermentation and roasting. The
How Birds and Chocolate Became My Passion
By Sharol Nelson-Embry A rare, endangered songbird flute-like call echoes through a tropical forest with cacao trees bordering on a high elevation pine “cloud forest” in the Dominican Republic. The Bicknell’s Thrush is an international resident, crossing borders to winter in the Zorzal Reserve in the Dominican Republic and travels north annually to nest in
Thoughts of Tam
By Craig Griffeath The SF Bay Ospreys nest community mourns the death of 2020 fledgling Tam, aged 76 days. Though brief, his life touched many in ways he could never know, and which his many human supporters are now left to contemplate and celebrate. He leaves behind his parents Rosie and Richmond, along with his