San Francisco Bay Area – Alameda Point Environmental Report

Guns and Traps Used to Protect Least Terns at Alameda Point

The endangered California least terns that nest on the old airfield at Alameda Point are well protected during their April to August nesting season. Fencing keeps people away from the 10-acre sandy nesting site, but it won’t stop other birds and mammals from getting to the eggs and the helpless chicks. Only a well-armed and outfitted predator management officer can effectively deter other animals.

Every year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hires a wildlife biologist from Wildlife Services, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Typically used for protecting crops and livestock, the agency is also hired to protect dozens of endangered species every year. The most recent field report available for Alameda Point is for 2019, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

The report describes a variety of methods used to deter or eliminate threats to the nesting terns. First, loud noises and bright flashes of light are fired from a gun to frighten away an avian predator, called hazing. Second, the wildlife biologist drives a vehicle toward an avian predator, another form of hazing. Third, predators are trapped. And fourth, as a last resort, the biologist is left with no other choice than shooting the predator with a shotgun or rifle or euthanizing.

What’s on the menu for wildlife?

Wildlife spend a great deal of time looking for food. This photo essay features photos from 2020 showing some of the food sources local wildlife rely on for survival.

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New generation of Great Blue Herons born in cypress rookery

The cypress trees in the wetland near the proposed DePave Park at Alameda Point have served as a safe and secure nesting site for Great Blue Herons for many years. This year is no exception, despite the trees having died and barely standing. On May 7, Audubon Society bird observer Dawn Lemoine counted 13 juveniles in the nests.

The wetland around the cypress trees provides the ideal landing spot for the young herons’ first flight and subsequent adaptation to life outside the nest. They can be seen for the first week or so after leaving the nest hanging out in the wetland preening and sunning themselves. Continue reading “New generation of Great Blue Herons born in cypress rookery”

Bay pipefish indicates eelgrass in Alameda Point harbor

A Snowy Egret caught two Bay pipefish in quick succession along the shoreline next to the Hornet Soccer Field on Sunday, November 24. This sighting of the Snowy Egret catching a pipefish is evidence that eelgrass, a special status marine vegetation, is present in the harbor east of the ferry maintenance facility. Pipefish “do not wander far from the eelgrass bed where they were born,” according to Bay Nature magazine. Eelgrass is pipefish habitat, in part, because pipefish are able to avoid predators as their slender bodies blend in with the narrow blades of eelgrass. Continue reading “Bay pipefish indicates eelgrass in Alameda Point harbor”

Great Egret stalks a lizard

Great Egrets are commonly seen wading along a shoreline, in marshes and wetlands waiting for fish to come near before catching them with a quick thrust of its bill.

Great Egrets primarily eat small fish. However, their diet can also include reptiles such as lizards, amphibians, birds, small mammals, shrimp, worms, dragonflies, beetles, water bugs, and grasshoppers.

This particular Great Egret decided to stroll into the old campground at Alameda Point in search of food. It walked slowly up to a Rosemary bush and stood there for about five minutes, occasionally making slight head movements, before plunging its head into the bush to catch a lizard.

After holding the lizard in its bill for a few minutes, it gulped down the lizard and proceeded very slowly to another bush.

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Birds on the rocks – 2018

Pelican and cormorant on top of jetty at entrance to Seaplane Lagoon.

California Brown Pelican, juvenile, one or two years old, as indicated by all brown head, with Cormorant on Seaplane Lagoon jetty.

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Osprey Family Thrives in Face of Adversity

Ospreys returned again this year to nest at Alameda Point’s Seaplane Lagoon. But midway through the rearing process, the female became the sole provider and protector of her three chicks, after the male became entangled in fishing line. Such osprey single parenting is unheard of.