Birds of the Richmond

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Birds of the Richmond Shoreline
Prepared for GGAS, August 14, 2007 Bob Lewis
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Outline for Tonight

• Why are we doing the census?
• Whats involved
• Birds that well count
• Water-oriented birds
• My friend Doug
• Shorebirds of Richmond
• Identification
• Migration

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So lets get started!
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Why?

• NHI and GGA are trying to help save one of our
  most precious natural resources the shoreline
  of San Francisco Bay
• SF Bay has been designated an Important Bird Area
  by National Audubon and the American Bird
  Conservancy
• Its a critical migration stop-over place for
  shorebirds, and a key wintering area for both
  shorebirds and ducks.

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More Why

• By counting the birds which are using our
  shoreline, we establish a baseline which can be
  used in later years to understand the effect of
  conservation and development activities.
• Well also get a better idea of where the birds
  concentrate what areas of the shoreline they
  like the best.

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Whats Involved?

• Two censuses at high tide, and two at ebbing tide
  each month.
• Three areas
• Point Pinole
• Landfill Loop
• Wildcat Creek

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San Pablo Bay and North Richmond Shoreline
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What are we counting?

• Geese and Ducks
• Loons and Grebes
• Pelicans, Cormorants
• Herons, Egrets
• Hawks, Owls, Vultures
• Coots, Rails
• Shorebirds
• Gulls, Terns

Snowy Egret
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Birds of Special Concern - 1

• Audubons 2002 Watchlist Red List
• Black Rail
• Snowy Plover
• Long-billed Curlew
• Heermanns Gull
• Elegant Tern

Snowy Plover
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Birds of Special Concern - 2

• Audubons 2002 Watchlist -- Yellow List
• Brant
• Black Oystercatcher
• Whimbrel
• Marbled Godwit
• Black Turnstone
• Surfbird
• Red Knot
• Short-billed Dowitcher
• Wilsons Phalarope
• Short-eared Owl

Red Knot May, Breeding plumage
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Mallards
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Northern Shoveler (male)
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American Wigeon (male)
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• Greater Scaup
• White wingbar almost to end
• Round head
• Greenish iridescence
• Large nail on bill

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Western Grebe
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American White Pelican
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(No Transcript)
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Brown Pelican
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Great Egret
Snowy Egret
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Great Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
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Short-eared Owl
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Red-tailed Hawk (immature)
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Willets
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Shorebird Identification

• Compare the sizes of the birds, decide whether
  the bird is big or little or maybe just
  right?
• Look at the bill is it short or long (compare
  it to the head length). What color is it?
• Look at the color of the legs, if you can see
  them.
• If the bird flies, does it have white wingbars?
  Is it white all the way up the back? Is the tail
  white or is the rump white?
• What is the bird doing? Probing deep in the mud,
  or picking food off the surface of the sand?

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Plovers

• Short bills
• Medium to small birds
• Feed off the surface
• Black-bellied Plover
• Snowy Plover
• Semipalmated Plover
• Killdeer

Black-bellied Plover
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These measurements are from the tip of the
bill to the tail end, and are taken from NGs
Fieldguide to the Birds of North America
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Marbled Godwits
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(No Transcript)
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American Avocet
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Will it??
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Black-necked Stilt
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Short-billed Dowitcher
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Western Sandpiper
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My Friend Doug
Western Sandpipers
These birds are in their alternate (breeding)
plumage
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Shorebirds (and Doug)

• Why theyre here
• Where theyre going

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Events in a Dunlins Life

• June 15, 2006 Doug hatched, one of a 4-egg
  family, on the Alaskan Peninsula. A
  good-looking, downy chick

Dougs Mom, Deena
Alaskan Peninsula
Doug (top)
Above 2 by Bobby Tulloch
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Doug, shortly after emerging from the egg
Photo by Arthur Morris
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Downy young acquire a juvenile plumage in July,
and almost immediately start another partial molt
into basic plumage (August)
Dunlins of the Pacifica race breed on the Alaskan
Peninsula and winter in San Francisco
Juvenile undergoing first pre-basic molt
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Events in a Dunlins Life - 1

• June 15, 2006 Doug hatched, one of a 4-egg
  family, on the Alaskan Peninsula. A
  good-looking, downy chick
• July completes prejuvenal molt, acquires
  juvenal plumage
• August Sept family moves to the coast and
  feeds. Starts to molt body feathers (partial
  pre-basic molt)
• October departure for Richmond, catching a
  northerly wind and flying over the ocean,
  arriving with a large group of neighbors.
• November completes prebasic molt juvenal
  coverts still buff-edged
• Winter feeding on muddy shoreline of San Pablo
  Bay

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Dunlin
Dunlin are monogamous, and both parents raise the
young.
Alternate (Breeding)
Basic (Winter) Plumage
Only 35 of first-year Dunlin (pacifica) reach
the wintering ground. About 75 of adults
return. Typical lifespan is about 5 years, but
birds older than 14 have been documented.
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A Dunlins Life - 2

• March starts pre-alternate partial molt. Moves
  into Central Valley
• April 2007 Continues north, through Oregon and
  to the Washington coast. Continue to the Copper
  River Delta in mid May. Feed!
• Continue to Alaskan Peninsula
• Doug selects a territory near his birth site, and
  meets Dora, the Dunlin of his dreams
• June 5, 2007 -- Nest building, egg laying, molt
  to basic (first full molt)

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Areas on the West Coast where Shorebirds
Concentrate

• There are only 7 coastal wetlands on the west
  coast south of the Copper River able to support
  100,000 to 1,000,000 shorebirds in migration.
• One is SF Bay
• Dunlin and Western Sandpipers concentrate in
  spring at Copper River Delta

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Migration is Costly to a Bird

• Energy consumption
• Risk of predators, storms, collision hazards
• Competition with birds already resident on
  wintering ground
• There must be an overall advantage to species
  survival for migration to be selected as a
  behavioral strategy.

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Why do birds migrate

• South in winter?? Because conditions are too
  harsh to support them on their breeding grounds
• Many Alaskan breeders feed on insects
• Ice and snow covers seed crops or lakes

• North in summer?? Because breeding opportunities
  are better
• Seasonally abundant food supplies
• Fewer predators and nest parasites
• Longer days for foraging

Red-necked Phalarope
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Behavior is a combination of genetic programming
and environmental influences

• Genetic programming - leads to inherent actions,
  not learned. Not taught by geography, parents
  or other birds. Behavior is a response to
  hormonal changes.
• Environmental influences - taught by parents or
  other birds (some songs, waterfowl flight
  routes) or self-learned.

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Is it time to migrate?

• A birds internal (circannual) clock causes
  hormonal changes that trigger migration
• Zugunruhe (migratory restlessness)
• Food consumption increases, diet may be altered,
  and fat storage commences
• Changes in day length keep the circannual clock
  synchronized with the calendar

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Molt and Migration sequence varies by species

• Each species has evolved a sequence that works
  for them.
• Many shorebirds molt during migration.
• Similar species can have very different molt /
  migration strategies.
• These events are genetically controlled and
  hormonally activated.
• There is always a time distribution for the
  events (some birds leave early, some late).

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Stimulus for Migration

• Neural centers in the brain controlling hunger
  change, catalyzed by changes in day length.
• Endocrine secretions shift - prolactin
  (pituitary), corticosterone (adrenal) and
  testosterone (gonads) all increase prior to
  spring migration.
• Physiological impact
• Formation of fat deposits.
• Restlessness
• Gonads increase in size prior to spring migration

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Body Fat Fuels Migration

• Studies by Ornithologists indicate that
• non-migrating birds typically have 5 or less
  body fat
• short-distance migrants carry 15-25 fat
• 10 body fat supports 500 miles in 10-20 hours
• long distance migrants can have up to 50 of
  their body weight as fat
• 50 body fat supports 1800-2500 miles in 3-4
  days

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Fueling a Migration

• About 3000 miles from Alaska to Hawaii
• 88 hours of continuous flight at 32 mph
• Typical departing bird weighs 175 g, with 37 fat
  (65g) which will fuel a flight of 3000 - 5000
  miles.
• Adults arrive in Hawaii with a little more than
  1/8 of a tank full. Juveniles are on empty.
• Birds migrating over the ocean to Hawaii have
  longer wings than those originating in Siberia,
  migrating down Asian coast to Indonesia
• Fossils on Hawaii 120,000 years old show long
  continuous use of this migration route.
• Separation of Pacific and American Golden Plovers
  occurred about 1 million years ago during
  Pleistocene glaciations

Pacific Golden Plover
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Different species have different strategies

• Breeding areas differ arctic, prairies,
  temperate shorelines
• Migration strategies and routes differ
• Wintering areas differ
• Even different sexes and different age groups
  have different strategies!

Doug and Friend
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Shorebirds Breeding in Arctic

• () indicate furthest southern migration
• Black-bellied Plover (winters to SA)
• Semi-palmated Plover (S. America)
• Wandering Tattler (S Pacific)
• Whimbrel (S America)
• Ruddy Turnstone (S America)
• Black Turnstone (California)
• Surfbird (S America)
• Rock Sandpiper (N California)
• Red Knot (Chile/California)
• Sanderling (S America)
• Dunlin (California)
• Western Sandpiper (Central America)
• Least Sandpiper (N South America)
• Long-billed Dowitcher (Mexico)
• Red-necked Phalarope (offshore Peru)
• Red Phalarope (offshore Chile)

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Migration Sequence

• Western Sandpiper
• In Spring, males migrate north first, to
  establish territories
• In Fall, females leave the young before they are
  fledged, and males finish the job.
• Males go south shortly after females and young
  follow later
• Males winter further north than females (90 of
  Western Sandpipers at Bolinas Lagoon are males)

Western Sandpiper at Palo Alto in May, in
breeding (alternate) plumage Photo Neil Fifer
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Shorebirds that breed in Canada

• Greater Yellowlegs
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Short-billed Dowitcher
• All go as far as S America

Short-billed Dowitcher
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Shorebirds that breed on the Prairie

• () indicates most southerly wintering locations
• Mountain Plover (N Mexico)
• Willet (Central America)
• Long-billed Curlew (MX)
• Marbled Godwit (C America)
• Common Snipe (N South America)
• Wilsons Phalarope (S America)

There are two disjunct populations of Willets,
differentiable by structure and plumage
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Local breeders

• Snowy Plover (our race is sedentary)
• Killdeer (S America)
• Black Oystercatcher (Sedentary)
• American Avocet (MX)
• Black-necked Stilt (S America)

5 races, Pacific Coast race threatened
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Navigation / Orientation

• Birds use a combination of clues to determine
  direction solar, stellar, polarization of
  light, magnetic field.
• Since most first-year shorebirds migrate without
  the help of more experienced adults, their
  migration pattern must be inherent, or
  genetically programmed
• The initial program seems to be to fly a certain
  direction for a certain time. Some programs are
  more complicated fly East to the coast, then
  change direction, fly south over water until you
  get to land.

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Navigation / Orientation - 2

• Birds seem able to sense magnetic fields, but
  probably orient by declination rather than
  compass direction.
• Experience increases the probability of success
• Arctic Terns are only 30 successful on their
  first migration.
• Subsequent trips are much more successful (90)
• Figures for Dunlin are 35 and 75
• The trip north is often over a different route
  than the trip south, to take advantage of
  seasonal food sources!
• Birds often return to places only a few miles
  from their birth site

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Willet in molt

• Breed in Sierra Valley
• Molting into alternate plumage

Breeding plumage in Colorado!!
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Black-bellied Plovers
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I hope you can help with the census..

• Youll learn more about birds
• Watch how hard they work to fatten up for their
  long flight
• Practice Identification look for Doug!
• Youll get to walk outdoors and learn more about
  our shoreline
• Youll help understand what birds use the
  shoreline, and what areas are really important to
  them.
• Thanks for the chance to talk to you!

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Extra Slides
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Dunlin Life Cycle Heavy lines indicate most
birds undergoing this activity at this time.
Narrow lines indicate earliest and latest
times. Dunlin have a prolonged molt. The
prebasic molt starts during nesting, and
continues until the beginning of migration. The
pre-alternate molt starts on the wintering ground
and continues during migration.