Week 4 - Baja California Sur continues

Still in Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico this week.

I've been out a few times and have added some more birds to the list of what I've seen here-

1. California Least Terns
   
2. Royal Terns
   
3. Common Terns
   
4. Black-crowned Night Herons
   
5. Tricolored Heron
   
6. Little Blue Heron
   
7. Snowy Egrets
   
8. Great Egrets
9. Reddish Egret
   
10. Western Snowy Plover
    
11. Black-bellied Plover
    
12. Willets
    
13. Eared Grebes
    
14. Semipalmated Plover
    
15. Yellow-legged Gulls
    
16. Sanderlings
    
17. Marbled Godwits
    
18. Belted Kingfisher
    
19. Neotropical Cormorants
    
20. White-faced Ibis
21. White Ibis
    
22. Ruddy Turnstone
    
23. Spotted Sandpiper
    
24. Phainopepla
25. Osprey
    

Week 3: Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Hola!  Greetings from Mexico... Yes, not exactly birding locally on my 3rd week of my "little year", but I've been seeing some great birds here in Loreto, a small village near a marine sanctuary in the southern state of Baja California in Mexico.  

Here's what I've seen so far that I haven't seen elsewhere this year:

• Blue-footed Boobies diving after sardines in the harbor here.  It's an amazing sight to see the 50 or more dive in unison into the water.
• Brown Boobies flying amongst the many other birds hunting for sardines, too.
• Heerman's gulls stealing sardines from Brown Pelicans.
• Hooded Orioles in the brushy trees in front of the house where I'm staying.
• Two Gila Woodpeckers that hopped on the fence across the street looking for food briefly.

The marine protected area here must be helping the vast numbers of seabirds that are found rafting off the coast of Loreto.  If I had a spotting scope, I bet I'd be seeing lots more.  I'll keep updating this as the week goes on.  

I'm arranging a birding trip to San Ignacio Lagoon in January next year that will include seeing the wintering gray whales that come to breed and maybe even some sea turtles.  I'm going to come down again in June if possible to set up the trip and check out the birds.  The local guide has a list of over 200 species just in the lagoon.

GGNRA Big Year kick-off to see the Western Snowy Plover at Ocean Beach

Yesterday, I attended the kick-off event for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area Big Year competition. We are trying to see the 33 threatened and endangered species in the GGNRA during the year and connecting that with a personal action to protect them. I encourage others to participate in this great project. Please visit the GGNRA Big Year website: http://www.ggnrabigyear.org/

At the event, we were treated with two raptor species that are success stories of the Endangered Species Act: a Bald Eagle and a Peregrine Falcon. Both raptor species recovered after receiving protection under the ESA and now are no longer listed, which proves that when the ESA is enforced and implemented properly we can preserve wildlife.

A great number of groups and over 250 people participated in the event. The other major highlight of the day was a trip over to Ocean Beach in San Francisco to see the Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus) that calls the beach home. Up to 100 of about 1,500-2,300 of the total population in California attempt to eek out a life on the busy beaches of San Francisco.

There are two Wildlife Protection Areas (Stairwell 21 to Sloat Ave on Ocean Beach and a section of Crissy Field) that should have limited activities because of the presence of plovers and other struggling shorebirds. In particular, you should ask the National Park Service to keep dogs out of the Wildlife Protection Areas and to have protection year-round, not just July through May. You can submit your comments on the subject by January 22:

By mail:
In the subject of your letter, include a reference to RIN 1024–AD53. Mail your letter to:

Attention: Snowy Plover Protection Rule
Superintendent, Golden Gate National
Recreation Area, Fort Mason, Building
201, San Francisco, CA 94123

Submit comments online at http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main

Look for comment reference RIN 1024–AD53.
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OK, back to birding... Additional new birds for my list seen at Ocean Beach:

Sanderling	Calidris alba
Marbled Godwit	Limosa fedoa
Willet	Catoptrophorus semipalmatus
California Gull	Larus californicus
Western Gull	Larus occidentalis

A Bird Year Resolution

In 2008, I'm making a New year's Resolution to go birding weekly with a focus on learning more about the birds that live here in the Bay Area. Of course, some of my birding adventures will happen outside of the Bay Area, but I'm committed to knowing my local birds better and seeing how many species I can view during my "Little Year" resolution.

What's a "little year"? Well, birders will participate in competitions to have a "big year" or "big day" or the like. Since I'm only in this to challenge myself and to blog my results, I'm calling it my "little year".

As I started off my new year, the first bird I saw as I was driving back from Lake Tahoe was a raven. Once uncommon in the Bay Area, you see them everywhere now because of the impacts development have made urban environments inviting to ravens, but difficult for other native wildlife.

My first official weekly birding outing will be at the kick off event for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area Big Year. It's a great yearlong event to highlight the 33 endangered species that call the GGNRA home and what participants can do to help those endangered species. Participants are challenged to not only find and view the threatened and endangered plants and animals within the boundaries of the GGNRA, but also to complete conservation actions to help those species. The GGNRA Big Year reminds us all that the Endangered Species Act and the National Park System alone are crucial in protecting wildlife from extinction.

I encourage any readers to come to the San Francisco Zoo on January 6, 2008, at 1 PM for the first of many events in 2008. To learn more and to participate, please visit the GGNRA Big Year website: http://www.ggnrabigyear.org/

We will be visiting Ocean Beach in San Francisco to view the Western Snowy Plover, a threatened bird species that struggles to survive on busy urban beaches in San Francisco. This adorable bird deserves a boost in public awareness of how we can all do more to "share the shoreline" with plovers and other shorebirds.