Marin Audubon Purchased & restored property to Augment Petaluma Marsh Wildlife Area

Ducks now paddle where cattle once trod, thanks to the Bay Area's latest wetland restoration.
The new marsh is just north of Novato near the Redwood Sanitary Landfill on San Antonio Creek, a tributary of the Petaluma River. Dikes surrounding the former pasture were breached earlier this month.
Though it's only a few weeks old, the wetland already is attracting wildlife. On a recent blustery day, various shorebirds wheeled across the open water. A great blue heron stalked the shallows, and a northern harrier soared close to the newly planted shoreline vegetation.
The marsh, which is still undergoing restoration, is one of dozens of projects to restore the tidal marshes and seasonal wetlands that once ringed San Francisco Bay. About 80 percent of the Bay Area's wetlands, which once covered 300,000 acres, have been destroyed by development and agriculture.

MSNBC/Washington Post
Seven years after the US government moved to take the bald eagle off the endangered species list, the Bush administration intends to complete the step by February, prodded by a frustrated libertarian property owner in Minnesota. The delisting, supported by mainstream environmental groups, would represent a formal declaration that the eagle population has sufficiently rebounded, increasing more than 15-fold since its 1963 nadir to more than 7,000 nesting pairs. The next challenge is to ensure the national symbol's continued protection. "By February 16th, the bald eagle will be delisted," said Marshall Jones, deputy director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. "We'll be clear so people won't think, 'It's open season on bald eagles.' No way." Although the majestic raptor will no longer be covered by the Endangered Species Act, two earlier laws and a few carefully written phrases are expected to balance respect for the eagle with an appreciation for property rights. "It's not as though we're pulling away the Endangered Species Act and you have nothing else," said John Kostyak, senior counsel at the National Wildlife Federation, which supports the delisting. Kostyak called the eagle's recovery "an amazing success story," but said if the species' numbers unexpectedly decline, the bird can be added to the list anew.

(12-27) 04:00 PST Austwell, Texas -- One of the most beloved groups of winter Texans is back, in the largest number in a century and with a record 45 youngsters in tow, including an even rarer seven pairs of twins.They flew 2,400 miles from Canada's Northwest Territories and can be seen munching on blue crabs and bright red-orange wolfberries among the marshes of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. The whooping crane, the tallest bird in North America, whose numbers dwindled to fewer than 20 in 1941, is not only back from the brink of extinction but also thriving -- a comeback story, federal wildlife officials say, that illustrates how a coordinated conservation effort can save a species.

"The whooping crane continues to mirror the success of endangered species recovery when man sets his mind to it," said Tom Stehn, the national whooping crane coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "We have come a long way, but we do have a long, long way to go."

This year, the nation's only natural wild population of whooping cranes reached a milestone. Stehn's mid-December census of the migratory crane flock at the wildlife refuge, where he is based, numbered 237. Combined with the number of birds in captivity in three special flocks raised for reintroduction to the wild and those in zoos, the crane population now numbers 518. This is the first time in more than a century that whooping cranes have numbered more than 500.

Being Prepared for  the SV- CBC Makes a Huge Difference For A Teams Success!

• Our Goal is to celebrate this century old CBC tradition of a full day birding adventure and a great dinner celebration at the end of the day. We have fun, ranked amoung the best in the United States and desire quality birding participation which result in good "citizen science". That takes  advanced planning and a team effort...skin in the game!  Everyone Counts! We had 150 and 168 species respectively in the past two years.  Can we beat that?  We now have good benchmarks in each area.

• Celebration & Tabulation Dinner Follows the Count!  (5:30- 8:00 PM) Andrews Hall -  Sonoma Comm. Center -276 East Napa St. off the plaza.   

What to Bring is based on your birthday - 4 Seasons! 
Winter - main dish  (we have a kitchen for warming)
Spring - dessert
Summer - appetizers
Fall - Salad or side dish
We supply a variety of drinks.  You can also bring wine or what you like!
 note: If anyone is interested in helping with setup you can contact  us. 939-8007

• Our Birding Leaders - Expert Birding Leaders are critical to our success. They are volunteering and in charge of birding a specific area. Lots of advanced scouting and planning makes this day work. Please do your part to be prepared early... Help with land access, show up on time, be a serious listener, spotter, recorder or counter. Review the bird list and brush up on your skills. Teams strategically move through an assigned area to achieve the very best results possible in a very few hours of daylight. We also encourage birders to ID owls pre-dawn and at dusk beginning right after midnight on 12/29. Teams  are often on private property that requires special advanced permission and respectfulness.

• Sonomabirding.org - We help leaders creates approx. 36 balanced birding teams in the 15 mile diameter circle. We supply the official maps and materials to team leaders. The final tabulation is presented at the end of the dinner celebration. We do the best we can to place people where they can be most helpful to the overall effort.

• A Team =  3-5 people. Small balanced teams discoverer birds! Non birders drive and measure distances traveled, record the birds, spot, listen and of course support our experienced birders.

• Cost - Team leaders will collect the $5.00 participation fee when you arrive in the morning which is sent to National Audubon. Sign up on your official team list the morning of the event. A check can be written to Tom Rusert - note on check - 'SV-CBC Compiler'... if necessary.

• Weather - We are an "all weather" bird count just like the birds! Fair weather birders will enjoy helping with the dinner celebration at the end of the day.  The rest of us go out and bird the conditions.

• We officially have 24 hours to find and record our birds.
Dawn - Friday, 12/29 is  6:23 am and sunrise at 7:25am.  Sunset will be at 4:59pm and dark at 6:02pm.  Owling is over this 24 hour period. There is a high tide of 6.4 ft. at 6:35am, a low tide of 0.2 ft.  at 1:34pm and 2nd high tide of 4.0 ft. at 8:18pm.

• Count Week (CW) - Begins 12/26 and allows for counting 3 days before and after 12/29.  We record this  separately listing only birds not seen on 12/29.

• When do we see the most birds - Most bird species are best seen and heard very early in the morning and late in the afternoon. That is why we get up and out at the crack of dawn to identify lots of bird species.  Check out last years results for your Area on the home page!

• What to Bring:  Comfortable walking shoes, quiet clothing, Binoculars, bird guide, water, walkie talkies if you have them snack for lunch and an adventurous attitude. (phones don't work in many remote areas).

• Bone up so your helpful to your team!
 We may hike/walk/canoe or bike through lots of unique terrains - comfort & warmth is critical -good shoes or boots, layers, sun/rain gear & comfort matters.   We drive and measure distances to get to destinations.
1. Be familiar with your bird guides, for quick ID’s 
2.  practice sighting birds with your optics
3. listening is critical  4. record bird species and note quanity. 5. Study the area your assigned.     

"I was in Muir Woods with my headphones on and a tape machine running," he says. "My musical partner, Paul Beaver, and I were going to do an album blending synthesizers and the sounds of the natural world. We'd come up to Northern California to record and I couldn't believe the sounds coming through my earphones. I felt nirvana for the first time. The sound of Muir Woods was an epiphany."The recordings Krause and Beaver made that day became part of 1970's "Wild Sanctuary," one of the first albums to use the sounds of nature as a component of orchestration, and set Krause on the path he's still following today.