Tag Archives: San Francisco

Volunteers and Birds of Prey

P1000369(Photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

Two fantastic volunteers stories this morning, both detailing how volunteers are playing an essential role in monitoring and protecting birds of prey.

The first story comes from the east coast, where volunteers in Delaware are counting hawks. Over the fall months, volunteers will take place in a “Hawk Watch,” where they will spend time at monitoring stations, watching and recording the many hawks who fly by as they migrate south. The volunteers have, over the years, observed 18 different hawk species and have collected data which helps local experts “better understand the timing, movement and behavior of these birds as they pass over Delaware,” according to the article.

Three thousand miles away, on the west coast, volunteers in this second story are doing a similar kind of work for another important bird species. As this story from the San Fransisco area details, volunteers are an integral part in the ongoing recovery of the California condor. The volunteers take part in many tracking and monitoring activities related to these birds who have made a comeback but still need more of our help to continue thriving. That help will come largely from environmental volunteers and their efforts.

If you have enjoyed the stories on this site, download my eBook – Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet Every Day. Available at the following links:

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New Kind of Knitting Club

ID-100178770

(Photo by Tina Philips, courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

by Robert Barossi

Every story of an environmental volunteer is exciting, seeing what kind of impact everyday people are having on our planet and their local communities. Some stories go beyond just being exciting, they are also amazing and border on mind-blowing. Here’s a story about volunteers in San Rafael who are knitting nests for birds, in an effort to help rehabilitate abandoned bird chicks. Now, maybe this nest knitting thing happens all the time and I just haven’t come across it before. Whether that’s the case or not, it’s pretty fantastic. Especially considering the nests, over a thousandĀ of them, according to the article, are all knitted by volunteers, freely giving of their time and effort.

WildCare is the organization leading the effort, check them out.

There’s also a longer story about the knitters and their efforts here, in the San Francisco Chronicle

Mountain in the City

IMG_2222Photo by Robert Barossi

By Robert Barossi

In cities and urban areas, green spaces are undeniably essential. They provide city dwellers with the chance to spend time in nature, or in a natural setting, no matter how small, for a chance to relax and reconnect with the natural environment. City planners increasingly add green spaces into their plans for new city sections or developments. Existing green spaces have become more and more of a focus and a priority for those who have lived in urban areas and enjoyed those spaces for their entire lives. One such space is Mount Sutro in San Francisco. As described in this great article from Synapse, the UCSF student newspaper, the oasis in the middle of the city by the bay is largely maintained by volunteers, especially a group called Sutro Stewards.

The website for Sutro Stewards can be found here.

Go here for more information about the Mount Sutro forest.

and UCSF has information about the Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve