Volumne 51 Berkeley, Calif. September 1969 Number 9

UDALL TO KEYNOTE OAKLAND MUSEUM ECOLOGY CONFERENCE

Stewart L. Udall, former Secretary of the Interior and author of 19i 6: Agenda for Tomorrow and The Quiet Crisis, will deliver the key- note address for “Our Changing Environment”, a two-day ecological conference to be sponsored by the Natural Sciences Guild of the Oakland Museum on September 26 and 27, as part of dedication activities of the new museum, which opens on September 20.

Subject of Udall’s address will be “Our Total Environment.” The conference will also include panel discussions on such specific topics as pesticides, water and air pollution, population expansion, and land use, with particular emphasis on the environmental problems of the San Francisco Bay Region.

Participating in the panel discussions will be authoritative spokesmen representing a wide spectrum of opinion-educational, scientific, con- servationist, industrial, and political.

Of special interest to teachers will be the conference opening event, an address on “Concepts of Teaching Ecology and Conservation in Schools”, 4:30 p.m. Sept. 26 by Dr. Paul S. Brandwein, president of the Center for the Study of Instruction, Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc.

The museum will also provide guided tours of its new Hall of California Ecology during conference recesses. Registration fee for the conference is $2.00, plus an additional $1.50 for those who wish to re- serve box lunches, which will be available during the conference’s noon recess on Saturday, September 27. Detailed program and registration form can be obtained from Hubert A. Dafoe, Acting Curator, Natural Sciences Division, The Oakland Museum, Tenth and Fallon Streets, Oakland, CA 94607.

FILM ON MICHIGAN BIRDS-SEPTEMBER 11

Dr. Edward A. Eichstedt, Landscape Architect, will show his movies of “Birds and other Michigan Wildlife” at the Golden Gate Audubon Society meeting Thursday, September 11, 7:30 p.m. in the Rotary Natural Science Center, Lakeside Park, Oakland. His film will include Black Terns defending nests, kingbirds, Yellow Warbler and Goldfinch feeding young, Wood Duck with procession of ducklings, Redwing’s nest. Marsh Hawk young in nest, Herring Gulls’ breeding island, Yellow

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Warbler gathering silk from tent caterpillars’ nest and lining her own with it, a quaking bog, carnivorous plants, praying mantis close-ups, soft-shell turtle.

The meeting will be preceded by dinner at 6:30 p.m. in Lovely’s Buffet, 336 Grand Avenue at Perkins Street, one block from the Science Center. Visitors are welcome.

-MRS. PHYLLIS ZWEIGART, Program Chairman

GOLDEN GATE OFFICERS FOR 1969/70

At the annual dinner meeting in June, Golden Gate Audubon So- ciety installed the following officers for 1969/70: Joshua Barkin— Pres- ident;Roger H. Coffee— Vice President; Claire Johnston— Vice President; Edward Ormondroyd— Treasurer; Mrs. John Dang— Recording Secretary; Mrs. Raymond Higgs— Corresponding Secretary; R. T. Conrath— new Director.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER FIELD TRIPS

Saturday, September 6— (as described in July-August Gull)— Boat trip off Monterey to observe pelagic birds and mammals. ( Details were sent with acknowledgement of reservations.)

Saturday, September 13, a morning trip to the Alameda area for the fall migration of shorebirds. Meet at 9 a.m. at the entrance to Lincoln Park, High Street and Santa Clara Ave., Alameda. Take No. 51 bus from Berkeley or Oakland or Bus O from San Francisco. Leader: Mrs. Elsie Roemer, 522-0941.

Saturday, October 4, Monterey boat trip for HARDY seafarers. The boats will leave Fisherman’s Wharf, Monterey, at 9 a.m. and re- turn at 3 p.m. Fare: $7 per person. Make check payable to Golden Gate Audubon Society and mail it with a stamped, self-addressed, envelope to Mrs. Valeria DaCosta, 2090 Pacific Ave., San Francisco 94109. Details will be sent with acknowledgement. Reservation deadline will be Sep- tember 20— or earlier if boats are filled. The Monterey Audubon Society is planning three land trips for Sunday, October 5.

Saturday, October 18, Point Reyes Bird Observatory. Details will in October Gull.

Birds to look for in September and early October: Sooty Shearwaters, Elegant Terns and possible Jaegers on bay and ocean lookouts; Stray warblers on various points near the coast.

—MRS. VALERIA G. DaCOSTA, Field Trips Chairman.

AUDUBON NATURE TRAINING PROGRAM

GIFTS— Our Audubon Nature Training Program received a gift of $3,000 from a donor who wishes to remain anonymous. Janette Dang and Florence Plymell contributed to Audubon Nature Training in memory of Mrs. Junea Kelly. Rose and Margery Whinnery contributed in memory of Mr. Stanley Sterne.

FALL SCHEDULE — Under the general title of ‘'Finding Nature in the City or Adventures in Urban Ecology” Audubon Nature Training

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offers the following series of classes:

For Elementary Teachers (in-service credit available ) —Thursdays (3:30-5 p.m.) Sept. 25, Oct. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, Nov. 6, 13.

For Youth Group Leaders (two choices )— Tues. (1-2:30) Oct. 7, 14, 21, 28 OR Wed. (10-11:30) Oct. 8, 15, 22, 29.

^ For Parents and Grandparents-Fri. (10-11:30) Sept. 26, Oct. 3, 10,

These three represent our basic series, concentrating on how to explore, where to look and what to do with what you find. In addition, we are again offering follow-up series with specific techniques appro- priate in specialized fields:

The Community Resource Volunteer— Fri. (10-11:30) Oct. 24, 31, Nov. 7, 14. The Pre-school Volunteer or Professional— Fri. (1-2:30) Oct. 24, 31, Nov. 7, 14. The Convalescent Hospital Volunteer— Wed. (1:30-3) Oct. 15, 22, 29, Nov. 5.

All series meet once a week for 1 1/2 -hour sessions indoors and out at Aquatic Park in Rerkeley (driving directions and clothing suggestions sent with enrollment confirmation). Teachers come for 8 weeks (fee $5); all others come for 4 weeks (fee $3). Advance registration required. Some familiarity with a basic series is advisable before attending follow- up. For a detailed folder write to Audubon Nature Training, P.O. Box 103, Berkeley, CA 94701, or phone 549-1038 (after September 8).

COVEL'S CONSERVATION CORNER

Good News! The Southeast Farallons officially became part of the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge on June 23. The action by Public Land Order was released to your Conservation Chairman and to the press early in July. It had been grinding through governmental bureau mills for months.

Some 120 acres will be added to the Farallons refuge, mainly on the big Southeast Farallon Island which shelters both the lighthouse and the large population of Western gulls, cormorants, Cassin’s auklets, petrels, murres and other species. The manned light and U.S. Coast Guard crew will remain for the present, though a fully automated light is planned. I do not see what security would be guaranteed the new light —or the birds— if the Coast Guardsmen were all removed, except for the P.R.B.O. presence.

It is hoped that the Point Reyes Bird Observatory will be able to maintain a research team on the Southeast Farallon for some years in the future. If both the Coast Guard and P.R.B.O. were to leave the is- land we should then petition to have a resident wildlife protection officer stationed there— at least during the breeding season. There is occasional shooting of the sea lions from passing boats, according to John Ralph, past P.R.B.O. Director, and eyewitnesses aboard some Golden Gate Audubon birding boats. It has proved extremely difficult to get any De- partment of Fish and Game patrol or any othei law enfoicement unit to the Farallons in time to apprehend such violators.

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The original Farallons Refuge was established by order of President Theodore Roosevelt in 1909, although the Coast Guard had claimed the one island as a lighthouse station in 1859. General public access to the refuge will continue to be restricted (including bird-watchers in general) as it is reserved for scientific research and to protect the habitat. The Manager of the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge, Box 311, Willows, Calif, will be responsible for the Farallons Refuge. *

“Hawkeye” is dead. The bird-watchers of a certain neighborhood in San Leandro— and a few others who knew “Hawkeye” are in mourning. “Hawkeye” was a magnificent, adult Red-tailed Hawk. He had escaped from some unknown captor and still wore the telltale jesses or leg straps. He had chosen the free life, but he still liked people. Or perhaps he couldn’t forget the easy meals he’d received from humans.

The pupils of Bancroft Junior High as they played in the school-yard proved an irresistible attraction for “Hawkeye”. From a high perch in Eucalypti along the nearby creek he would swoop low over the children. Some were frightened at first. But the playful hawk never struck anyone (as far as we could ascertain) and the children began to call him down and throw objects for him to strike or dodge.

Then Joanne Rosenkranz and her family, living just a few doors away, tried throwing chicken heads and other snacks to “Hawkeye”. Soon the Red-tail became a daily visitor at the Rosenkranz backyard, some- times perching briefly on a clothes-post or tree but more often just swoop- ing in overhead when Joanne or another family member whistled him in from his lookout. This occurred right after school with clocklike regularity. The performance won recognition from TV and the press.

“Hawkeye” brought a mate from the Chabot Regional Park hills to behold the source of his free meals, but the female would never approach closer than the high trees. This spring she did not reappear with him.

One July afternoon “Hawkeye” swooped too close to a stranger running on the school field. The San Leandro police were summoned. No agency could be foimd to capture “Hawkeye”, so they responded four cars strong with ready shotguns. “Hawkeye” was an easy target. They were carrying off his pitiful remains just as the Rosenkranz family came home.

If there is a moral for people here— leave those young hawks in the nest. And for hawks, if they could understand-never trust a human.

—PAUL F. COVEL, Conservation Chairman.

°The new Farallon National Wildlife Refuge brochure will have John Young’s photograph of the Golden Gate Audubon boat trip of April 1968 (published in The Gull March 1969).

THE PLANNING AND CONSERVATION LEAGUE’S Annual Workshop, “Legislation 1970”, will be held on September 20 in Santa Barbara— an appropriate place for planning next year’s legislative program.

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IN MEMORIAM— MRS. JUNEA W. KELLY

VVe have lost a fine teacher and conservationist. Mrs. Junea Wange- man Kelly, a recognized authority in ornithology, died on June 24th in Alameda.

Mrs. Kelly inspired many of us to work for the conservation of °ur natural heritage and taught us to be accurate and specific in our observations. For 44 years Mrs. Kelly was an instructor for the University of California Extension Division, teaching thousands of Bay Area resi- dents to recognize and appreciate this region’s birds and plants. After taking Mrs. Kelly’s “Six Trips Afield” many students became active conservationists. When she retired in June 1964, the University Extension honored her at a reception in the Alumni House.

Mrs. Kelly was bom in Portland, Oregon in 1886. In 1909 she married O. Earle Kelly, an insurance man who was interested in natural science. When he died in 1920 she began teaching a course on the wildlife of the Bay Area at the request of Dr. Harold C. Bryant, U.C. zoologist From 1935 to 1939 she was President of the Audubon Association of the Pacific (the predecessor of Golden Gate Audubon Society). Mrs. Kelly was also President of the Cooper Ornithological Society, a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, an elective member of the Amer- ican Ornithologists’ Union, a member of the Golden Gate Horticultural Society, the California Botanical Society and the International Commit- tee on Bird Preservation, and she served as a delegate to three internation- al ornithological congresses. She wrote a life history of the Golden-crown- ed Sparrow for Bent’s Life History series, and described the migration of shorebirds in the Bay Area for the Handbook of American Birds. Junea Kelly donated most of her extensive library to the Point Reyes Bird Ob- servatory. Golden Gate Audubon Society has contributed $250 to P.R.B.O. in memory of Mrs. Kelly.

In 1967 San Francisco officials dedicated the Junea W. Kelly Garden in Strybing Arboretum in Golden Gate Park to honor her 44 years of teaching. Mrs. Kelly’s garden is designated by a bronze plaque mounted on a large boulder near a bench where we may sit and listen to the birds.

FIELD TRIP REPORTS AND OBSERVATIONS

On the June 14 field trip to Bon Tempe and Lagunitas lakes, Marin County, led by Patricia Triggs and Olga Laist, 36 hikers found 41 species of birds, but the Pileated Woodpeckers did not appear. Purple Martins were flying around the Bon Tempe dam and a Black-throated Gray Warbler and Solitary Vireo were included on the list.

Santa Cruz Bird Club’s Albatross Expedition on June 16 was success- ful in luring 8 albatross within ten feet of the boat, according to Patricia Sullivan de Freitas. Thousands of Sooty Shearwaters darkened the sur- face of the ocean. Kittiwakes and Murres were also sighted.

Val DaCosta’s report on the Burney Falls-Lassen field trip:

Black Swifts were in good numbers, some still darting under the falls to their nesting sites on July 12 at McArthur-Burney Falls State

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Park. In the afternoon, A. Warren Larson, trip leader, guided the group to a Bald Eagle’s nest. There were no young eagles in the nest but im- mature eagles stay close to home for many months after they leave the nest. The adult eagles are possessive of their nests and often use them year after year. The group waited patiently for a half-hour but none of the eagles appeared. Two Audubonites did not give up and as a result were rewarded with an excellent view of an adult Bald Eagle soaring around the nest tree. In the late afternoon another eagle’s nest was found with an immature eagle perched on the same tree. He remained on his perch for many hours in an almost inaccessible area and was still there at dark, which was fortunate, for there were constant gun shots coming from the picnic ground nearby. At Lassen Volcanic National Park the next day the weather, at this higher elevation, was cooler and the birds were still very active. Near Manzanita Lake the group discovered a swarm of ladybird beetles (“Ladybugs”) clustered on the trunks and branches of the trees. Ordinarily this beetle is not desired by birds, but an immature Whiteheaded Woodpecker was so intent on trying them that he was unaware he was being watched and photographed at four feet. If you plan to drive through the park we suggest you purchase the booklet “Road Guide, Lassen Volcanic National Park” at the visitors’ center.

OBSERVATIONS— In the Nature Conservancy Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Sanctuary in Arizona on June 13 Valeria and Bob DaCosta found a Blue Mockingbird Melanotis caerulescens— the first reported U.S. observation. Between Nogales and Patagonia on June 12 Ted Chandik and a Nogales birder found a Five-striped Sparrow Aimophila quinquestriata. Linda Snyder, a Texas birder, saw a Red-eyed Vireo in the Patagonia Sanctuary in June, and Ted Chandik observed a White-eared Hummingbird in Ram- sey Canyon in June.

May 19 —Nesting Western Tanagers in Bollinger Canyon at St. Mary’s College, Moraga, observed by Barbara Bedayn and her classes.

June 27— Least Terns and Black-necked Stilts on Alameda’s South Shore and Blue-winged Teal in Coyote Plills Regional Park reported by Elsie Roemer and Enid Austin.

July— The Yellow-crownecl Night Heron and Little Blue Heron (adult) returned to the San Rafael waterfront opposite Marin Islands, observed by Aubrey Burns, Bill Pursell and others in mid-July.

July 19— Rose-breasted Grosbeak in apricot tree in Woodland observed by Maxine Trumbull.

AUDUBON CANYON RANCH

A volunteer-training course on the principles of conservation and eco- logy, sponsored by the Junior League of San Francisco, Inc., will be given in a central Marin County location to qualified applicants, without charge, starting in October. The course will consist of eight two-hour lectures and eight field trips and will emphasize the ecology of West Marin and the Bolinas Basin. Graduates will be expected to lecture in the schools and to lead classes visiting the ranch. Audubon members and their

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friends may apply for admission to the course by telephoning the ranch, S6S-0563.

The following gifts of remembrance were made to Canyon Ranch:

In Memory of: Gift of

Mr. Dean Witter Mrs. Bertha M. Brooks, Mrs. Margaret Macormack

Dr. Sanford V. Larkey Dr. & Mrs. T. Eric Reynolds

Mrs. Stella Coffaney Dr. & Mrs. T. Eric Reynolds

Miss Jule Harbison Mr. & Mrs. Earl L. Johnson

Mrs. Edward M. Copeland Frank and Virginia Norris

A gift was made in honor of Dr. Albert Boles by the Oakland Boy Scout Troop 380.

—DR. ALBERT BOLES, Sanctuary & Memorial Fund Chairman ECOLOGY COURSES— Long standing attitudes that have affected America’s thinking about conservation and the natural world will be studied in an evening class “American Environmental Crisis: Roots in the Past,” to be offered in Berkeley this fall by University of California Ex- tension. Also scheduled are classes on “Ecological Dynamics of Social Change” and Ecology of Natural Communities in the San Francisco Bay Area”. For information phone 642-4111 (Berk.) or 861-6833 (S.F.).

FINANCIAL REPORT

May 31, 1968 Cash in Banks 6,080.53

Operations for Fiscal Year ended May 31, 1969

RECEIPTS

Membership Dues 8289.00

Interest on Savings 108.48

Gull and Cygnet Subscriptions 284.90

Miscellaneous Income

Annotated Field Lists 120.05

Audubon Wildlife Films Income 1604.85

Expenses 1231.99 372.86

NET RECEIPTS 9,175.29

DISBURSEMENTS

Gull and Cygnet Printing and Mailing 3133.47

Field Trips 102.03

Meetings 474.72

Salary for Membership Secretary 650.00

Miscellaneous Operating Expenses 758.56

Gifts and Donations

Audubon Nature Training Program 600.00

Sequoia Audubon Society 500.00

Regional Parks Association 200.00

Audubon Canyon Ranch Sanctuary 387.91

Miscellaneous Donations 203.00

TOTAL DISBURSEMENTS 7,009.69

Cash in banks at May 31, 1969 8,246.13

Glen P. Ellwood, Treasurer Golden Gate Audubon Society

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GOLDEN GATE AUDUBON SOCIETY, INC. P. 0. Box 103

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA- 93701 Return Postage Guaranteed

DATED MATERIAL

Non-Profit Organization U. S. POSTAGE

PAID Berkeley, Calif. Permit No. 590

Library, California Academy of Science

Golden Gate Park

San Francisco 18, California 94118

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GOLDEN GATE AUDUBON SOCIETY, INC.

Established January 25, 1917 A Branch of the National Audubon Society since 1948

President Joshua Barkin Tilden Park Nature Area, Berkeley 94708

Vice President Miss Claire Johnston 1531 Leimert Blvd., Oakland 94602

Vice President Roger H. Coffee 220 Palo Alto Ave., San Francisco 94114

Treasurer Edward Ormondroyd 2736 Russell St., Berkeley 94705

Recording Secretary Mrs Jane Dang 1292 Grizzly Peak Blvd., Berkeley 94708

Corresponding Secretary — Mrs. Raymond Higgs 3501 Fillmore St., San Francisco 94123

Director Robert E. Conrath 1980 Washington St., San Francisco 94118

Director Miss Bertha Underhill 35 Tamalpais Rd., Berkeley 94708

Director Mrs. E. S. Gillette, Jr. 3212 Jackson St., San Francisco 94118

Editor Mrs. Violet Homem 6911 Armour Dr., Oakland 94611

Field Trips Chairman Mrs. Valeria G. DaCosta — 2090 Pacific Ave., San Francisco 94109

Membership Chairman Miss Aileen Pierson 810 Gonzalez Dr., San Francisco 94132

Membership Secretary Mrs. Zella Cushman 3156 Gough, San Francisco 94123

Program Chairman Mrs. Phyllis Zweigart 1508A Edith St., Berkeley 94703

Nature Training Miss Phyllis Lindley P.O. Box 103, Berkeley 94701

Sanctuary & Memorial

Fund Chairman Dr. Albert Boles 854 Longridge Rd., Oakland 94610

Wildlife Film Chairman —Mrs. Frances Ellen Fallgatter — 406 El Cerrito, Piedmont 94611

Conservation Chairman —Paul F. Covel 2860 Delaware St., Oakland 94602

Canyon Ranch Film Crmn.Mrs. Bonnie Smith 555 Dewey Blvd., San Francisco 94116

524-2495

532-0802

566- 4105

848-0253

922-5437

776-1418

848-0131

567- 4037 339-1886 931-5257 587-4163 673-5310 526-7295 549-1038

451-6267

655-9582

536-4120

681-7635

Send address changes to Membership Secretary promptly; Post Office does not forward THE GULL. Monthly meetings second Thursday 7:30 p.m. Joint membership, Local & National $10 per yer, includes AUDUBON MAGAZINE and THE GULL. Subscription to THE GULL separately $2 per year.

The Gull deadline is the first of the month for the following month.

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