The Caspian Tern is the tern’s tern. Sure, in California we talk about the California Least Tern, a compelling story for sure – but if one tern stands above the others, it is probably the Caspian. The Caspian is bigger, more aggressive, and has that fire red bill that you can see from a mile [...]

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Guest post by Kerry Wilcox, Sanctuary Manager, Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary In the recent couple weeks, an astounding wildlife phenomenon has been occurring on Richardson Bay and other parts of the greater SF Bay. Thousands of gulls, ducks, and grebes descended on the area to take advantage of an annual, but temporary abundance [...]

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Guest blog post by Kerry Wilcox, Sanctuary Manager, Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary The term waterbird gets used a lot by biologists and naturalists, but it can seem a bit vague and too general. Clearly all birds (let alone life on this planet) depend on water, but even if we just look at the variety [...]

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Confirming its vital role in the natural health of the hemisphere, San Francisco Bay/Estuary has been designated a “Wetland of International Importance” under the Convention on Wetlands, also known as the Ramsar Convention. San Francisco Bay is home to more than 1,000 species of mammals, birds, invertebrates and more than 130 species of fish – [...]

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If you’ve been following this issue, you know that the Altamont Pass wind energy farm has long been a black eye on the alternative energy industry because of the massive numbers of birds that are killed in the turbines. The fight against this outrage has been led by Golden Gate Audubon and a coalition of [...]

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A few of us from Audubon California went out to the San Francisco Bay shoreline this morning to check out perhaps the first big herring run of the season. Our first visit was Agua Vista Park, where the fish were plentiful, much to the delight of birds and fishermen alike. Check out the video our [...]

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We were at Richardson Bay to learn what scientists look for when they have a bird in hand. Banding is a critical part of bird conservation; it allows conservationists, like Kerry Wilcox in the video, the opportunity to study the lifespan of birds to determine what we need to do to help them.  Banding is [...]

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As natural wildlife spectacles go, it’s hard to beat the migration of the Vaux’s Swift (Vaux’s rhymes with Foxes). By itself an unglamorous gray bird, the Vaux’s Swift becomes  the stuff of psychedelic imagination when it groups with thousands churning and swirling friends. As it moves southward in the fall, it roosts by the thousands [...]

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By Rachel Spadafore, Restoration Ecologist, Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary Over the spring and summer, Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary staff worked hard to use hand-pulling and saline irrigation (safe and effective methods) to battle the high number of invasive species on the island.  We also collected a variety of seeds from native plants [...]

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We’re hearing from the list serves that a Canada Warbler was seen this morning in Sutro Heights Park in San Francisco.  This sweet-faced New World warbler isn’t typically found east of the Rockies. A long annual migration takes it to its wintering grounds in northern South America, where habitat loss is a threat. It sometimes [...]

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Here’s a great – and easy – opportunity to recognize a terrific Audubon activist and raise money for a much-needed conservation program. Leora Feeney, a longtime champion of the endangered California Least Terns and other wildlife at a Bay Area wildlife refuge is a finalist for a local television conservation hero award. If she gets [...]

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Great opinion piece in today’s Marin Independent-Journal from Marin Audubon’s Barbara Salzman and Friends of Corte Madera Creek Watershed’s Sandra Guldman about the need to protect the California Clapper Rail in Marin. They argue forcefully that keeping a species in existence is not only a responsibility, but a privilege. Share on Facebook

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Anna Weinstein, our Seabird Program Manager visited the Point Bonita chicks today. She spotted all three chicks. They are bigger than last week but still being fed by parents and staying at rock where they were born. To find out how you can visit the nest, please read last week’s post. (Photo from NPS) Share on [...]

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TogetherGreen (a partnership of Audubon and Toyota) is doing a great promotion this summer called Exit the Highway, which encourages folks to get out in nature — and possibly win a new Prius. They’ve provided a bunch of cool itineraries, and are asking folks to share their own destinations. The itinerary for the Bay Area [...]

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One of the groups our Black Oystercatcher team has adopted is off of Point Bonita in Golden Gate National National Recreation Area. Our Seabird Program Manager reports today that “the family of five is alive and well. A combination of parents feeding chicks and the chicks feeding themselves, just like human teenagers!” She expects them [...]

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