Birding
Information on birding events associated with Ohlone Audubon Society and resources for birding around the Bay Area.
Upcoming OAS Membership Meetings and Field Trips
Other Birding Events
Yellow Billed Tours and Golden Gate Audubon Birding Trips
Christmas Bird Count
Bird-A-Thon
Return of the Swallows Festival
Accessible Birding
Birding Resources
Check back for 2013 CBC Dates later this year.
The Christmas Bird Count is an annual nationwide volunteer-based bird survey effort coordinated by the Audubon Society to promote bird conservation and assess long-term trends in winter bird populations. In the largest citizen science effort in the world, tens of thousands of volunteer birders and scientists armed with binoculars, bird guides and checklists will take part in Christmas bird counts throughout the Americas from mid-December through early January. Audubon and other organizations use data collected in this longest-running wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations and to help guide conservation actions.
The Ohlone Audubon Society has been completing the Hayward-Fremont CBC since 1967. The count area is very rich in avian diversity from the salt marsh habitats of the Hayward hills, Fremont's wetlands to the south, and all the parks and canyons in between.
In 2009, Rich Cimino and Jeff Miller organized the first ever Eastern Alameda County CBC. The count area is in the vicinity of Sunol, Pleasanton and Livermore, and includes five East Bay Regional Parks, significant San Francisco watershed lands, and birding hotspots such as lower Mines Road, Sunol Wilderness, Del Valle Reservoir, and the Springtown area in Livermore.
Each count day culminates with a festive dinner where final counts are tallied and stories exchanged about rare bird sightings and locations. Local CBC data, sent to the National Audubon Society, are a crucial part of this country's natural history monitoring database provide valuable insight into the past and present status and health of continental bird populations and the general health of our environment. Recent and historical CBC results are available on the National Audubon Society's website.
Celebrbrating John J. Audubon's Birthday & Earth Week
OAS EDUCATION & CONSERVATION FUNDRAISER
A birdathon provides a means of raising money for an organization while at the same time enjoying the outdoors, finding and viewing birds, and competing with others. Teams are organized, members solicit pledges (a flat amount or a certain monetary amount per species, for example), the team birds together on an appointed day, record their findings and gather pledges from the pledgers. Some birdathons specify rules that all teams must follow—geographical limits, rules on the number of team members, and the like. Well known local birdathons include those of PRBO and SFBBO, which attract birders from the region and net those organizations tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Ohlone Audubon Society has more modest, but high expectations. Sponsors will be supporting the projects and good work of the Education and Conservation Committees (for specifics, contact Phil Gordon, Education Chair and Rich Cimino, Conservation Chair).
Celebrate the Return of the Swallows
9th Annual "Return of the Swallows to Chabot Festival
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
11am to 2:30 pm
Chabot Community College, Cezar C. Chavez Plaza (Near Cafeteria/Bookstore)
25555 Hesperian Boulevard Hayward, California
Sponsored by Ohlone Audubon Society and Chabot College
This is a public tribute to our amazing swallows that have returned from wintering in South America and will include much information about these amazing birds, and a tour of the swallow nests at Chabot. The objective of the festival is education, protection, and preservation of these birds. As Professor J. Francisco Zermeno of Chabot College says, "Protecting swallows represent the conservation of our environment, the protection of our fauna for our children, and according to legend, the good luck it brings to Chabot College and Hayward."
Two field trips are planned for the previous weekend (Sunday April 21) to coincide with this event. Every visitor will receive a free 60-page booklet on swallows. Come join in the fun for the day and the field trips, too!
Finding and seeing some birds is reserved for the vigorous and fit. The rest of us can enjoy bird watching in easier circumstances.
The rich variety of accessible trails around the San Francisco Bay and nearby coast are listed and described in the publication A Wheelchair Rider's Guide San Francisco Bay and the Nearby Coast, published by The Coastal Conservancy in 2006, is available for free download at http://www.coastalconservancy.ca.gov/Publications/wheel.htm