FT 6: Coyote Creek Field Station: Bird Banding in Restored Habitat in Silicon Valley

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Pacific

Session Organizer(s)

Katie LaBarbera

San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory
Milpitas, CA, USA

Volunteer(s)

Savannah Fuqua

Point Reyes National Seashore Association
Point Reyes, California, United States

Trip Itinerary: We start with a GoPro video from the bander’s-eye view showing how the day starts: wake up before dawn, meet up with other banders, open the nets as the sky begins to lighten, extract birds from the nets (all sped up so the video isn’t long). Then switch to the live presenter, who will describe Coyote Creek Field Station’s history and ecology, and share their screen to show photos. We will talk about the area being restored from a pear orchard back to riparian habitat in 1987-93 and the progress of that restoration; the history of the banding station, which has been operating since the early ‘80s; our collaboration with the water district, which owns the land; and what we can learn from banding birds. Attendees will be welcome to ask questions either verbally or in the chat, which the presenter will answer. If there are many questions, colleagues may answer some of them in the chat. Next, we will play several rounds of “Guess the Bird,” where a video will show a cloth bag containing a bird (this is how we transport them at the banding station), then pause to give attendees time to guess what bird is inside, with some clues given; and then the video will resume to show the bird revealed. We will then show a compilation video of assorted birds being processed at the banding station, both from the bander’s-eye view and a more conventional side view, illustrating data collection and interesting features of the birds such as indicators of age and sex (e.g. eye color in Bushtits; molt limits; brood patches; etc.), and connecting these to research questions. There will be a chance for more questions and discussion with the presenter. We will finish with a video compilation of San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory staff and banding station volunteers from the community discussing how they got involved in the station and their training, illustrating the variety of paths people can take to working with birds and contributing to research.

Band birds with us at Coyote Creek Field Station! Just south of the San Francisco Bay, surrounded by Silicon Valley’s urban sprawl, we band birds year-round in a little oasis of wildlife habitat. You will visit a rare remnant of unmodified riparian woodland, two wooded areas that were restored from pear orchard in ‘87 and ‘93, and grassland. Through videos and photos, you will meet a variety of the birds we catch in these habitats and see the data collection process. You will hear from staff at San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory, the nonprofit that runs the field station, about how they found themselves in wildlife conservation, and from the volunteers at the field station about how they came to bird banding and what their training was like. There will be opportunities for questions and discussion. We will touch on topics including: the hows and whys of bird banding; long-term datasets (the field station has been banding birds since the early ‘80s); habitat restoration; fieldwork in an urban area; scientific research in a nonprofit; and engaging community members as researchers. Come for the scientific discussion - or just to spend some time with birds and people who really like birds.