If the fee of living within the Bay Area has made traveling too expensive, Matthew Dodder has one other idea for experiencing the sights and sounds of far-flung places: bird watching.
“You basically see the world in motion,” said Dodder, executive director of the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society. “You kind of see continents moving.”
The first week of May is a great time to get out the binoculars because the variety of birds migrating through the Bay Area peaks this season, with hundreds flying each night on their annual summer migration north.
Bird migration through the Bay Area might be at its highest this 12 months by May 8, in accordance with a map from BirdSolid, a collaboration between scientists at Cornell University, Colorado State University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst to trace and predict bird migration Reach stand. Santa Clara County had one estimated According to the web site, there have been 92,000 birds in flight on the night of May 2nd.
The migration marks an exciting time of 12 months for bird watchers and naturalists, Dodder said, and can also be an ideal opportunity for individuals with an interest in birds to take the time to search for species which might be just arriving and passing through.
Bird watchers are more likely to see not only more birds, but additionally more species of birds than usual, Dr. Katie LaBarbera, director of terrestrial bird science on the San Francisco Bay Observatory.
Amateur birders only need a notebook, a field guide and a birding app to start, although binoculars can take the activity to the following level, in accordance with a guide from the National Audubon Society. The birds are most lively within the morning, starting after sunrise until 10 a.m., LaBarbera said.
“As long as you get out of downtown, you’re probably going to see something,” LaBarbera said. But “you have to get up earlier than you think” and “sit and be quiet for a while.”
Experts said novice birders are more likely to see migratory birds in almost any natural area, but more birds will pass along the coast and thru canyons, making places just like the Hayward Regional Shoreline, Mitchell Canyon or Coyote Hills Regional Park ideal. Even should you visit large parks in San Francisco just like the Presidio, there could also be some sightings.
Aspiring bird watchers must exercise patience and use all of their senses to watch birds. Look for brilliant flashes of color within the bushes and listen rigorously, Dodder said.
“You will hear sounds you haven’t heard in months,” he added.
Many of the bird species that migrate to the Bay Area come here for natural resources, corresponding to the abundance of food present in native plants and insects, Dodder said. Some species are even native to South America, corresponding to the flycatcher family, which weighs only one ounce and flies between South America and the Bay Area twice a 12 months.
“These migration routes have been determined over millennia,” Dodder said.
Some birds will remain within the Bay Area for the following few months, but for others the bay is only a stop on the strategy to a summer in Alaska or northern Canada. Other winter birds corresponding to geese, geese and seagulls leave the Bay Area for the summer and return in the autumn migration. This is the last probability to see these birds until they return later this 12 months.
Experienced bird watchers recommend keeping a watch out for warblers, orioles, and western tanagers, to call a number of. Using Cornell Lab of Ornithology apps corresponding to eBird and Merlin Bird ID may also help amateur birders track sightings and discover species, said Daniel Karp, an associate professor within the department of wildlife, fish and conservation biology at UC Davis.
“It’s this incredible treasure trove of information,” Karp said.
Many smaller bird species migrate primarily at night, regardless that they aren’t nocturnal, LaBarbera said. Experts say birds use a mixture of natural navigation skills to get to their destination, including a way of magnetism of their heads that tells them which direction to fly and the power to discover and follow the North Star. During the day, they’ll focus totally on refueling to make them easier to identify, LaBarbera said.
The long migrations of those bird species aren’t without challenges, but “the reward when you manage to reach your destination is enormous,” Dodder said. Birds face obstacles corresponding to window strikes, brilliant city lights that disrupt their natural guidance systems, and domestic cats.
“Light is additive, so one less light is still good,” she said.
Karp, who has been bird-watching since he was eight years old, will take part in Global Big Day, a worldwide birding day on May 13 where participants can report their sightings to eBird. Karp said he plans to bird look ahead to 24 hours straight, with the goal of seeing greater than 200 species of birds, but amateur birders won't must spend as much time as Karp to admire the migratory birds this spring.
“Birdwatching really opens your eyes to the beauty that exists around you,” said Maya Xu, a junior at Stanford University and a member of the varsity’s birdwatching club. “I can’t go anywhere now without appreciating the birdlife around me and I feel like it makes my life all the richer.”
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