Ohlone Audubon Society

Serving Southern and Eastern Alameda County

Calendar

Events Calendar

Download as iCal file
 
September Membership Meeting: Double-crested Cormorant Colony on SF-Oakland Bay Bridge
Tuesday 05 September 2017, 07:30pm
Hits : 1096
Location: Carlton Plaza     
Presenter: Mark Rauzon and Meredith Elliott
 
Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) are seabirds known to use urban structures as nesting habitat. The old east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the eastern portion of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge have hosted the two largest colonies of this species in the region. However, now these colonies are declining, and structures they once used to nest on are either being dismantled or blocked off for maintenance activities. So it begs the question: where will the cormorants nest in the future? Will they move to new areas of the bridges, adopt the artificial platforms we designed for them on the new bay bridge, or leave the central bay altogether?
 
Come learn from the research conducted by Mark Rauzon and Meredith Elliott for the past three decades about the population dynamics of this resilient species and the efforts to study the Bay Area population of this adaptable, yet maligned, bird. 
Mark Rauzon was with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, where he studied sea birds and endangered marine mammals in Hawaii, Alaska, and California.  He is also an expert in the effects of invasive animals and plants on tropical islands. His latest book Isles of Amnesia details his experiences.  http://www.amazon.com/dp/0824846796/ref=pe_825000_114660910_TE_item
Mark is also a research associate with Point Blue and a Geography professor at Laney College in Oakland. 

 

Meredith Elliott is a Senior Scientist at Point Blue Conservation Science and has worked on a variety of seabird monitoring and diet projects, as well as researching Least Terns of Alameda, zooplankton communities in Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries. 

 
Directions:
From I-880
Take I-880 to the Mowry Ave exit, then Mowry east (inland) to Fremont Blvd.  
Turn right on Fremont Blvd., then left on Walnut Avenue
Carlton Plaza is on Walnut between Fremont Blvd. and Paseo Padre Pkwy.
 
From Mission Blvd., turn onto Walnut Avenue and Carlton Plaza will be on the
left, between Paso Padre and Fremont Blvd.
 

Copyright 2009-2016 Ohlone Audubon Society all rights reserved