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San Francisco Considers Banning Pet Sales

Critter News

If it passes, San Francisco residents would have to go to a shelter or rescue group to adopt an animal. It would set a national precedent, even if it is San Francisco. Tags: california san francisco legislation pets. Sounds good, but I just don't believe this will pass.

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San Francisco Zoo Struggles After Tiger Attack

Critter News

Things have been tough at the San Francisco Zoo after Tatiana the Siberian tiger attacked those three people in 2007. From the San Francisco Chronicle. Tags: zoos california san francisco tigers. Here's an article that explains the hard times the Zoo has faced since then. It's a long list.

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San Francisco – short of time and money.

10,000 Birds

However, my latest trip reminded me that when an out-of-town birder arrives in a strange city (in this case San Francisco ) pertinent information should be to hand. PDA version of Muni public transport services in San Francisco. The weather in San Francisco can catch you unawares at any time of year.

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San Francisco Passes Anti-Foie Gras Resolution

Critter News

San Francisco supervisors have passed a resolution supporting city restaurants that remove foie gras from their menus. California will be banning that awful stuff in about three years. Foie gras is the liver of a duck or a goose that has been specially fattened by force feeding. I just find the whole description vile and gruesome.).

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The Pacific Wren of the San Francisco Botanical Garden

10,000 Birds

The air was cooler in the Redwood Grove than the surrounding, sunlit areas of the San Francisco Botanical Garden. The light that did make it through the thick branches of the trees reached the ground in patches, making patterns on the thin, winding trails.

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Endangered California Clapper Rail Found Breeding in San Francisco

10,000 Birds

The endangered subspecies of the Clapper Rail known as the California Clapper Rail ( Rallus longirostris obsoletus ) has been found breeding in San Francisco’s Heron’s Head Park, the first time in decades that the subspecies has been found in San Francisco.

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San Francisco To Have Bird-Safe Buildings?

10,000 Birds

San Francisco is poised to join Toronto and Chicago as a major city with legislation meant to help protect birds from crashing into buildings. In related news, many fewer birds got confused by the “Tribute in Light&# for 9/11 this year.

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Farewell to 2020 – Marin Brewing Company: Albion Amber Ale

10,000 Birds

My girlfriend (and later fiancée) Katherine and I had planned an eight-day vacation to the Bay Area, mostly to visit her sister in inland Napa County, but also to see as much of San Francisco as we could. I pulled out my phone and searched for “San Francisco” and “fire”, expecting to find news of some conflagration nearby in the city.

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A Marbled Godwit Foraging Near Seal Rock San Francisco

10,000 Birds

The Marbled Godwit ( Limosa fedoa ) in the photo above, shown landing at Fort De Soto County Park in Pinellas County, Florida, is used with permission from my friend Mia McPherson of On The Wing Photography fame.

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San Francisco Giants Can’t Handle The Birds

10,000 Birds

Perhaps the Giants should have stuck with Candlestick Park because AT&T Park has been beset by birds , gulls to be exact. The team is considering bringing in a falcon to drive away the unwanted visitors that pester patrons for food and drop, um, things, from above onto the heads of folks who just want to see a game.

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Honestly, How Much Could It Rain?

10,000 Birds

San Francisco averages two-tenths of an inch for the month, while San Jose only averages half that much. I had set aside the morning of Sunday, June 10th to cross the San Francisco Peninsula to the Pacific Ocean town of Half Moon Bay, a mere 25 minute drive away, for a few hours of birding.

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Birds Are Gumming Up the (Public) Works

10,000 Birds

Meanwhile, on the opposite coast, Double-crested Cormorants are interfering with plans to tear down the old Bay Bridge between Oakland and San Francisco. News Conservation Double-crested Cormorant Fire Island Piping plovers public works San Francisco' The birds nest in the span, which is being replaced by a new bridge.

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Different, but the Same

10,000 Birds

Last week, I wrote about my recent trip from my current home of Morelia, Mexico to my childhood home of the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States, and how several species can be found in both places, in spite of how far apart they are, and yet look quite different in each place. They are, in effect, the same, but different.

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At Least Five Dead Whales Around Bay Area

Critter News

Tags: california san francisco marine life marine animals whales krill.

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Beat on Assignment

10,000 Birds

I moved to San Francisco from Minnesota 12 years ago. It was kindled by my grandmother when I was a child but lay dormant until I’d spent enough time in San Francisco to feel at home. Now I’ve moved to Bolinas, just north of San Francisco and water is now big part of my life.

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Wandering Tattler

10,000 Birds

This was a family vacation and I had led my unsuspecting wife and son out onto the curving pier at Aquatic Park, overlooking San Francisco Bay, ostensibly to get a better look at Alcatraz and the bridge, but actually with half a mind to finding a Wandering Tattler. Birding Birds California San Francisco Wandering Tattler'

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Heermann’s Gull: Near Threatened

10,000 Birds

At the Northwest corner of San Francisco is Point Lobos. Here’s one last look at the adult Heermann’s Gull landing on the beach in San Francisco. Just South of Point Lobos is Sutro Baths and the Cliff House Restaurant overlooking the Pacific Ocean. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUBX_tlHySc. v=FUBX_tlHySc.

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Least Sandpipers for Thanksgiving

10,000 Birds

The individuals above were seen at the top of the tide, pushed hard against the shore of San Francisco Bay. Below are birds from a small flock which were picking along the rocks by the AT&T Park, The San Francisco Giants Stadium, at the bottom of Third Street.

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My Do-over

10,000 Birds

So I could add this species to the Double-crested Cormorant I had previously seen on the lake that runs up the San Andreas rift valley, which formed the San Francisco Peninsula. There were Brandt’s Cormorants flying over the Surf Scoters. California is weird.

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ALF Activists Glue Locks of U Cal Primate Researcher

Critter News

From the website : Just after sunrise on Halloween, a sole trick or treater descended on the home of University of California-San Francisco primate vivisector Stephen Lisberger. As Stephen and his wife Chieko slept in San Francisco, tubes of superglue were used to fill his front door locks.

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The Reflected Challenge

10,000 Birds

A couple of days in San Francisco over the New Year caused me to reflect on how much information we actually need to identify a bird. They were all taken in San Francisco at the end of December. Don’t look at them for too long or your eyes will go funny. Best of luck. How did you get on?

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Migration and More: A Bird News Update

10,000 Birds

The best guess scientists have about the “mystery goo” that sickened hundreds of birds in San Francisco Bay earlier this year is “a polymerized oil similar to a vegetable oil.” Don’t put off that birding trip to Ghana on your to-do list—if trends continue, illegal logging may leave you with nothing left to see.

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Shearwaters from Shore

10,000 Birds

Before I moved north to Portland, I lived in San Francisco. Patch birding is rewarding because the birds become familiar, as do the changes across the seasons. There is satisfaction in the everyday. But patches can also provide the unexpected. When I was a new birder, I adopted Pillar Point Harbor near Half Moon Bay as a “patch.”.

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A Lake Reborn… sort of

10,000 Birds

She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, and will not know until fall if their drought will also give way this year. And a lakeside Cactus Wren revealed what’s for lunch, showing that the circle of life continues, whether it rains or not. So I also send my sympathy to 10,000 Birds’ readers along the U.S.

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International Bird Rescue Believes “Every Bird Matters”

10,000 Birds

In January 1971, two oil tankers collided under the Golden Gate Bridge, spilling more than 800,000 gallons of crude oil into the San Francisco Bay. Last weekend I was treated to a tour of their San Francisco Bay facility, located in Fairfield, California, by the Wildlife Center Manager, Michelle Bellizzi.

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Of Bird Diets, Dangers, and Delinquents

10,000 Birds

San Francisco aims to study and deter birdstrikes ; participants can earn “bird-friendly resident” honors. Some jerk (I’d use a stronger word, but this is a family-friendly website) in Wisconsin is shooting raptors. Birding in the Bronx? Yep, at the Dred Scott Bird Sanctuary. Another study, led by the U.S.

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Nailed Hawk Happy Ending

10,000 Birds

The Red-tailed Hawk that was found in San Francisco with a nail through its head has been successfully rehabilitated and released. Hat-tip to Seagull Steve.

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Purina ONE Tour For Heroes

4 The Love Of Animals

Purina ONE has teamed up with Martha Stewart to visit animal shelters from San Francisco to NYC throughout the month of February. We love to see celebrities getting out there and helping animals find homes!

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FBI Lists Animal Rights Extremist as Most Wanted Terrorist

Critter News

Daniel Andreas San Diego, wanted for alleged involvement in 2 bombings in San Francisco has been listed by the FBI as one of their Most Wanted Terrorists. San Diego has ties to animal rights extremist groups. He is known to follow a vegan diet, eating no meat or food containing animal products.

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Nailed Red-tailed Hawk is Recovering

10,000 Birds

The juvenile Red-tailed Hawk in San Francisco that was observed to have a nail shot through its head was finally caught by rehabbers and is being rehabilitated. There is a $10,000 to find the person or persons responsible for this stupid and callous act so get your sleuthing shoes on!

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Everyday Sunshine: Zoom Out

10,000 Birds

A Western Meadowlark floats near San Francisco Bay. If you’re ever caught out with a short lens or the birds are just too far away, you can still get good shots that tell the wider story. Above, a Burrowing Owl near the Salton Sea. A Wilson’s Warbler in the reeds at a lake’s edge.

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Climate Change is Making Birds Bigger

10,000 Birds

Or so says a study by San Francisco State researchers using data collected from over forty years of measurements taken during bird banding. Here’s hoping that this means that some birds, at least, might be able to adapt as climate change continues.

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The Truth Is Out There

10,000 Birds

Recently a Fork-tailed Flycatcher was reported from a park in San Francisco, a long ways away from its home in Central and South America. Pin-tailed Whydah at Sutro Heights Park, San Francisco, CA. Fork-tailed Flycatcher is a vagrant that ABA Area birders unashamedly lust for.

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Welcome Jason Crotty, Our New Beat Writer

10,000 Birds

A Bay Area native, he started birding while working at a large law firm in San Francisco, but birds less frequently now that there’s a toddler around so he writes instead. Jason Crotty is a birder, lawyer, and occasional writer currently living in Portland, Oregon with his wife and daughter.

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Everyday Sunshine: Oh the places we’ll go

10,000 Birds

Red-tailed Hawks often hunt through dusk in San Francisco. The Foster City Shell Bar is the place for shorebirds and views of the San Mateo Bridge. Abbotts Lagoon welcomes the night and so do Burrowing Owls. Searching for Golden Gate Great Horned Owls. Varied Thrush habitat on Mount Tamalpais.

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Everyday Sunshine: Great Blue Herons

10,000 Birds

We have at least 3 nesting locations here in San Francisco and that number seems to be climbing slowly. They mimic our styles of dress and mock us through forced perspective. They are good watchers. They know the rhythms of gophers. They know the rhythms of traffic. Males can get into a dance battle if territories are threatened.

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Townsend’s Warbler

10,000 Birds

This individual was seen during a recent visit to San Francisco while I was looking for a Great Horned Owl’s nest in Golden Gate Park. All the birds seen today were males. If the females had shown, they would have been similarly marked but less vividly than the highly contrasting patterns of the males.

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Birds From Behind

10,000 Birds

I’d like to take a quick moment to address all the San Francisco Bay Area readers of 10,000 Birds. Red-tailed Hawk with dinner and a salad from behind. Prairie Falcon from behind. Red-tailed Hawk from behind-ish, more from the side.

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Steller’s Jay

10,000 Birds

San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park is rich in bird feeders and the jays find rich pickings. Though Steller’s Jay is usually associated with western coniferous forests, it can be found in many different habitats as well as town parks and gardens were they will take advantage of food left out during the winter.

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Pelican Brewing Company: Brut India Pale Ale

10,000 Birds

Credit for the style appears to go to brewer Kim Sturdevant of Social Kitchen & Brewery in San Francisco, who created it after some inspired experimentation with enzymatic brewing on a day off.

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Anna’s Hummingbird sitting pretty

10,000 Birds

This individual was seen at close quarters in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park during a recent visit. Anna’s Hummingbird typically describes a steep dive accompanied by an “explosive buzz/squeak tewk ” at the bottom of the J-shaped curl.

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The Long-billed Curlew

10,000 Birds

In the past, the bird has had a nickname of “Candlestick Bird” They were quite common in the San Francisco area, especially on the south eastern tip of the bay. Here is an interesting bit of trivia about the Long-billed Curlews. This area was used as a land fill, and has now been set aside as 170 acre, multi use park.

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Write a Post, Help a Dog!

4 The Love Of Animals

In all, 7,820 pounds of food was donated to two shelters renowned for their care of senior dogs: Muttville Senior Dog Rescue in San Francisco and Castaway Critters in Harrisburg, Pa. In 2010, 391 bloggers wrote about the program and with each post, Pedigree donated 20 pounds of its Healthy Longevity dog food to shelter animals.

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