San Francisco Bay Area – Alameda Point Environmental Report

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.

Male osprey with fishing line and bobber. Credit: Phil Dauber.

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Great Egret fishing at Breakwater Beach

Photos of a Great Egret foraging for Yellowfin Gobies in the shallow mudflat next to Breakwater Beach at the southeast corner of Alameda Point. After catching a Goby, the Egret would then have to fling the little fish into the air to maneuver the fish back to its mouth. Photos are from Friday, February 9, 2018.

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VA project adds to legacy of letdowns on airfield

A legacy of disappointment continues on the aircraft runway area at Alameda Point. In the nearly 20 years since the Navy ended operations there, the community has lost 74 acres of open space that was once slated to become city property. The community has also lost the possibility for a 550-acre national wildlife refuge and a state-of-the-art community hospital to be run jointly with Alameda Healthcare District to serve veterans and non-veterans.

There is still no groundbreaking scheduled for the veterans’ clinic and columbarium.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) plans for outpatient clinic, medical and benefits offices, and a national cemetery at Alameda Point. San Francisco in background.

The only recent expenditures on the 624 acres of federal property, now owned by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), have been to fund landscaping over an underground dump and the management of the endangered least terns that nest on 10 acres, which includes the widespread application of herbicides and vegetation removal on 300 acres of pavement at the direction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Mitigating the loss of wetlands appears to be the only planning underway. Continue reading “VA project adds to legacy of letdowns on airfield”

No vacancy on float for harbor seals

The rain ended, the sun came out, and so did the harbor seals at Alameda Point. So many of them came out of the water to warm up on their new float on January 5, hardly any of the structure was visible. The number has many observers asking for a second float.

Seventy harbor seals rest on new float at Alameda Point on January 5, 2017.

The regional ferry agency installed the new float after removing an old Navy dock used by the seals, in order to make way for a ferry maintenance facility.

“I nearly keeled over when I saw the platform,” said Lisa Haderlie Baker, harbor seal monitor and Alameda resident. “So many seals packed cheek by jowl, literally, that I had to count them four times using binoculars to make sure there were 60 of them, at least, basking in the sun, which I knew had to be close to a record. It was a tremendous thrill.” Continue reading “No vacancy on float for harbor seals”

Ospreys nest successfully in 2016 at Alameda Point

Location, location, location! But for a fenced-off dilapidated navigation light stand on a jetty at the Seaplane Lagoon, ospreys would not have had a successful nesting season this year.

In late August two adult ospreys took flight from their Seaplane Lagoon perch for parts unknown with two healthy offspring. It was a welcome sight because for the past three years a series of frustrating avian soap operas featuring other ospreys and unwanted nesting attempts aboard the maritime ship Admiral Callaghan were marked with failure. Previously in 2012 they had raised one chick, the only other recorded case of osprey reproduction at Alameda Point.

Two young ospreys on June 8, 2016, at Alameda Point Seaplane Lagoon.

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