The 2022 Drake’s Beach Sanderlings Bird-a-thon!!!

Dear Reader,

I am posting this to ask for your support of the longest running youth bird-a-thon team, and the team that I lead, the Drake’s Beach Sanderlings. The Point Blue Conservation Science Rich Stallcup Bird-a-thon is currently underway, and the Drake’s Beach Sanderlings are looking forward to participating again this year!

This year, the team will be meeting up in-person on October 1^st! We will crisscross Marin County in a fast-paced day rocketing from site to site and habitat to habitat in search of as many species as we can possibly find!

The 2021 Drake’s Beach Sanderlings members. Photo: Aaron N.K. Haiman

This event, and the Drake’s Beach Sanderling’s wild day, is a fundraiser for Point Blue Conservation Science. As such, I ask that if you have the means to please donate and support this amazing team of young birders (the longest running youth team that I know of!), and Point Blue.

By donating to this cause, you will be supporting the amazing work that Point Blue Conservation Science does around the world from climate research to habitat conservation to the effects of urbanizations on birds. Your donation will also support and encourage this group of young birders who represent a hope for the future of our planet that is badly needed. You can donate by following this link (also added at the end of this letter) and clicking the ‘donate’ button just to the right of the team photos.

My heart-felt thanks goes out to each person who contributes in support of this amazing cause.

Sanderlings Donation Page: https://pointblue.securesweet.com/teampage.asp?fundid=937#.Yyih2nbMI2w

#richstallcup #birdathon #countingforconservation

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The Drake’s Beach Sanderlings 2021: Bird-a-thon is Back!

The Point Blue Conservation Science Rich Stallcup Bird-a-thon is back, as are the Drake’s Beach Sanderlings! Well, in some ways we never went away, but in 2020 the whole event was transformed into a virtual bird-a-thon with teams going out birding, but the team members birding in different locations due the inability to gather in groups because of COVID-19. Sanderlings members did participate in the event, and birded various sites in the bay area and West Sacramento.

But now that is over (hopefully). Teams will be able to meet again and head out to bird and raise funds for Point Blue Conservation Science.

As a member of the Bird-a-thon Steering Committee, I helped to organize the bird-a-thon and helped to choose the mascot bird this year: the Pine Siskin. We choose this species to highlight for a few reasons. One is that it is a generally underappreciated species. As you can see in the image above, the Pine Siskin is not an obviously flashy bird. But, to quote the new Hansen’s Field Guide to the Birds of the Sierra Nevada when noting that the perched bird can be on the drab side, “Taking flight, however, it changes from somber to eye-catching.” This striking change is due to the yellow patches in wing and tail that are generally concealed when at rest, but which flash dramatically when in flight. A second reason to highlight the Pine Siskin is that this species was hit hard by the salmonella outbreak in California that occurred in the winter and spring of 2021. This disease killed individuals of several finch species, but siskins seemed particularly susceptible. A third reason are the fires burning across California. The Pine Siskin is a finch that breeds in the conifer forests of North America. As such, they have lost a lot of breeding habitat in California this summer with so many fires burning through the conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada.

The 2019 Drake’s Beach Sanderlings team standing on Drake’s Beach in Marin County.

So, in support of the Pine Siskin and the work of Point Blue Conservation Science, the Drake’s Beach Sanderlings are once again asking for your support when we head into the field to race across Marin County to find as many species as we possibly can in one day (September 26, this year). As usual, this will be a face-paced day of blazing from site to site to visit as many habitats as we can and find lots and lots of birds!

This event is a fundraiser for Point Blue, and as such, I ask that if you have the means please donate and support this amazing team of young birders (the longest running youth team that I have ever heard of!), and Point Blue. By donating this cause, you will be supporting climate research that is badly needed, and also supporting and encouraging young birders who represent a hope for the future of our planet that is also badly needed. You can donate by following this link and clicking the ‘donate’ button just to the right of the team photos.

My heart-felt thanks goes out to each person who contributes in support of this amazing cause.

#richstallcup #birdathon #birds #conservation

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Drake’s Beach Sanderlings Bird-a-thon – West Sac Big Day

On October 3rd, 2020 I took part in a very unusual bird-a-thon.

The Point Blue Conservation Science Rich Stallcup Bird-a-thon is an event I have been participating in for about 20 years, now, and have written about numerous times on this blog (see the links at the bottom of this post to read some of them). The team I bird with is named the Drake’s Beach Sanderlings, and we are the longest running youth bird-a-thon team I know of. I started as a youth member of the team, and have now been the team leader for the past few years. It is a great team of very talented and passionate young birders.

The usual plan for the Sanderlings is to gather very early one morning in late September or early October in Marin County, and spend the entire day darting all over the county to find as many species of bird as we possibly can. It is always exhausting and exciting and terrific!

However, as with some many other aspects of life, 2020 is different. Instead of meeting in-person Point Blue decided on a few different ways for people to participate in the event. The Sanderlings decided to each go out and bird, and then combine each of our individual totals. This is not at all comparable to past bird-a-thon years since each team member would be in a different area and have access to different habitats with different species. But it is still a great way to go birding and raise funds for a terrific organization!

For myself, I decided to set a challenge of birding within the city limits of my home town, West Sacramento, CA. Unfortunately, the wildfires that are burning across much of state made the air quality pretty bad, so I was not able to stay out and bird for the whole day.

But, my West Sac Big (half)Day was still a fun challenge! I ended up finding 82 species! Some of my highlights included a late Barn Swallow; a single Greater White-fronted Goose; a wonderful mixed flock of Savannah Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Western Bluebirds, and Say’s Phoebes; a really spectacular Yellow Warbler that let me get really close; a handful of Blue-winged Teal mixed in among hundreds of Cinnamon Teal; lots of Lincoln’s Sparrows throughout the day; a flock of Sandhill Cranes bugling as they flew overhead; and stumbling upon a small flock of Least Sandpipers. Some notable species that I missed included Osprey, Fox Sparrow, and many of waterfowl that I thought I would get such as Snow Goose, American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, and Gadwall.

This event ended up being a lot of fun even though it was a half day because of smoke and I was alone because of COVID-19. I am definitely interested in trying the West Sac Big Day again. Maybe in a different season (I think winter would probably get me the highest species total), and definitely for a whole day.

Stay safe. Wash your hands. Wear a mask.

Here are some other posts on the Drake’s Beach Sanderlings:

https://abirdingnaturalist.wordpress.com/2019/11/13/the-2019-drakes-beach-sanderlings-bird-a-thon-report/

https://abirdingnaturalist.wordpress.com/2017/09/29/the-drakes-beach-sanderlings-rogue-year/

https://abirdingnaturalist.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/why-i-bird-a-thon/

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The Drake’s Beach Sanderlings – Science for a Blue Planet

Point Blue Conservation Science has a blog called Science for a Blue Planet that highlights the great work done by this organization. The blog post reporting on the 2019 Bird-a-thon features the Drake’s Beach Sanderlings!  It is really wonderful to get this kind of acknowledgement, and exciting that the Sanderlings might be the high species total winner this year!

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The 2019 Drake’s Beach Sanderlings Bird-a-thon Report

What a day! What a day! What a day! The Drakes’ Beach Sanderlings participated again in the Rich Stallcup Bird-a-thon on October 5^th. The Drake’s Beach Sanderlings, which is Point Blue Conservation Science’s longest running youth bird-a-thon team, was a bird finding machine! Thanks to our amazing donors, our team raised over $2,500 this year! To each of our sponsors, thank you so much for your support!

The 2019 Drake’s Beach Sanderlings birding on Drake’s Beach (from left to right: Susie, Max L., Oscar, Max B., Eddie, Connor, Lucas, and Aaron)

As usual, our day began very early. At 5:15am, and in the 39°F chill of the pre-dawn morning, we met at the Bear Valley Visitor Center. The sky was spectacularly clear which made for beautiful star-gazing but did not bode well for finding migrants later in the day. As soon as we got out of our cars, we realized we were surrounded by Great Horned Owls, and after a bit of listening, we added Spotted Owl to our list for the day! A good start!

The team stopped by Olema Marsh which irrupted in a cacophony of Virginia Rails as soon as we clapped for them! We then sped off to Five Brooks Pond where we tried to find more owls while it was still dark. As dawn approached, we were treated to a terrific mixed flock of Bushtits, both species of Kinglet, and lots and lots of Townsends Warblers. We then drove past Bolinas Lagoon and birded Stinson Beach.

Leaving Stinson Beach we broke into the Oreos and headed for the Outer Point! It was still early, and a quick overview of the species list showed that we had already found over 100 species by the time we reached the Outer Point! This put us ahead of schedule on both time and species.

Confirming our concerns from the morning, the clear skies the night before resulted in there being no vagrant birds anywhere on the Outer Point, though there were tons of Red-breasted Nuthatches. It was somewhat frustrating to find no unusual birds at Chimney Rock or Drake’s Beach, but we did not get too attached to birding the area and left to head east. We did stop at an overlook near Chimney Rock to find Black Oystercatchers and got to watch a pod of Humpbacked Whales feeding off the coast.

Drake’s Beach Sanderlings team members Max L., Oscar, Max B., and Connor searching for Black Oystercatchers near Chimney Rock.

The team then started zig-zagging across the east half of the county picking up more bird species all along the way. We certainly had some ups and downs. We made some targeted stops for particular species that mostly worked in our favor. The ponds at the Las Gallinas Water Treatment Plant were the emptiest I have ever seen them, but a quick change of course to the Hamilton Wetlands was gangbusters! As usual, we ended at our customary final stop at an east San Rafael marsh where the Ridgeway’s Rails were calling before we even got out of the car!

Over the course of the day, the team moved incredibly efficiently. When a site was not producing the species we were hoping for, we quickly made decisions to abandon those stops and to go look elsewhere. The knowledge of all the team members came together to produce a cornucopia of species even though we did not find a single species that would be considered noteworthy for Marin County. The list we ended up with included 162 species as a group, and 2 more that were only seen by a single team member and so don’t quite count! The full list is on the next page. We all had an amazing day. We enjoyed every bird, ate a lot of cookies, and shared a lot of stories and knowledge. All the things that make the Sanderlings great!

I want to thank all those who supported this team. The Drake’s Beach Sanderlings is a very special group that I am honored to lead, and passionate to see continue. With the support of our sponsors, we all help promote bird conservation and climate science, and also something more. We help to show the role that young people can play. Bringing in funding in an event like this reminds the world, and the birding community in particular, that dedicated young birders can and do make significant contributions to the cause of protecting our world. I hope that all our sponsors return next year to support us again, and all those who did not sponsor us this year will consider joining the cause next year. I can’t wait!

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The 2019 Sanderlings Bird-a-thon is Approaching!!!

Dear Sponsor,

The Drake’s Beach Sanderlings was the first, and is the longest running, youth Bird-a-thon team that the Point Reyes Bird Observatory has ever organized. I was one of the founding youth members and am now the team leader.

Since its beginning, the Sanderlings have established a very successful tradition of crisscrossing Marin County every fall, finding as many bird species as possible in twenty-four hours, and raising money for bird research and conservation. During the 2018 bird-a-thon, the Sanderlings were particularly successful when we found more bird species than any other team that year! Over the years our team members have changed as our youths get older, move away, or enter college. Wherever they have spread, Sanderlings members carry a passion for birds and nature with them that was, in part, nurtured by our team.

We are now preparing for our 2019 bird-a-thon! To support this team, I would like to invite you to become a sponsor of the Sanderlings. Your support sends a powerful message to the birding community that a team of young people can make an important contribution to bird conservation. This year, the Sanderlings bird-a-thon will be on October 5^th. When you become a sponsor, I will be sure to let you know how the day goes.

Becoming a sponsor is easy! Just go to: https://pointblue.securesweet.com/contribute_paymentspring.asp?userid=1&fundid=832 and enter your info, or follow the QR code, below. I hope you are able to support this wonderful team. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.

 

Sincerely,

Aaron

Drake’s Beach Sanderlings Team Leader

The 2018 Drake’s Beach Sanderlings.

 

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The 2016 Point Blue Bird-a-thon Dinner

On Saturday, I had the pleasure and privilege of being the MC for the awards celebration at the Point Blue Conservation Science 2016 Bird-a-thon dinner. It was a terrific evening that the staff of Point Blue had put a lot of work into to make run so smoothly.

This was a celebration of the 39th annual Rich Stallcup Bird-a-thon (learn more about it here) which is a fund raiser where teams of birders go out into the county of their choice and bird for a 24 hours period each fall. These teams collect sponsors who donate money to Point Blue in fixed sums or on a per-species basis. It is a great event that gets people out to enjoy the natural world, see a lot of different species of bird (and other wildlife), and raises money for bird research and conservation of birds and of the whole ecosystems in which they, and we, live.

Rich Stallcup doing what he loved (photo by Juliet Grable)

The Rich Stallcup Bird-a-thon (named for the late great Rich Stallcup who played a huge roll in founding the Point Reyes Bird Observatory that later became Point Blue Conservation Science and also in inspiring several generations of birders and naturalists) has raised over $3 million over its 39 year history making it the longest running event of its kind in the USA!

The 2016 Bird-a-thon, collectively, saw 266 species of birds, raised more than $82 thousand, and included dozens of teams comprised of several hundred individual counters.

At the awards dinner, we recognized individuals and teams who raised the most money, who competed for the most species seen per county, who competed as green teams (meaning that no fossil fuels were used during the actual count). We also recognized the contributions of the youth teams, of which there were three this year, and one of which I co-led.

In addition to the awards, Wendell Gilgert, the director of the Point Blue Rangeland Watershed Initiative, gave a presentation on the importance of rangelands in protecting biodiversity, reducing greenhouse gas levels, and storing water. It was a fantastic presentation that I think exposed even the most experienced birders in the audience to some new information and a novel way of looking at biodiversity to read the health of a landscape.

It truly was a lovely evening in the company of a bunch of passionate bird nuts, and I am very much looking forward to the 2017 bird-a-thon! I hope you will join us!

 

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