Birds decide to wing it, ignore bridge condos
Even with free rent and other enticements, the custom bird condos for nesting cormorants that Caltrans built onto the underside of the eastern span of the Bay Bridge just can’t seem to find many takers.
The 2½-foot-wide, stainlesssteel nesting platforms, which cost $709,000, are intended to provide homes for the estimated 1,600 double-crested cormorants that nested annually on the old span.
But when the last of the old bridge was carted away
this month, the birds moved away as well.
“We really thought when the old span was removed, they would choose to move over to the new span,” said Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesman Randy Rentschler. “We did our best, but they didn’t.”
It wasn’t for lack of trying.
As a state-protected “species of special concern,” cormorants have enjoyed migratory squatter rights on the Bay and Richmond-San Rafael bridges since they showed up here in 1984 from places like Alaska, Mexico and Nova Scotia.
The cormorants’ special status also meant special treatment, with officials even scheduling the demolition of the old Bay Bridge around the birds’ annual nesting season, which runs from April to August. The result was $12.8 million in extra costs for the state.
At the same time, the MTC and Caltrans spent about $1 million to try to lure the birds off the old span by using everything from cormorant decoys to recorded bird calls played over outdoor speakers.
Some of the bird condos were even furnished with old holiday wreaths for instant nests.
But no matter how hard the engineers tried, the cormorants — very much creatures of habit — didn’t take the bait.
The initial speculation was that the birds flew north to join the colony on the Richmond Bridge, but that neighborhood was under construction as well.
“The core of the cormorant colony area was shuttered with what looked like huge yoga mats, preventing birds from landing on the girders,” Mark Rauzon, a bird expert formerly with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, wrote in the April edition of Bay Nature magazine.
Just where the cormorants went is still under investigation. However, when the nesting season started recently, the family condos were still empty — that is, until last Wednesday, when two wildlife monitors on the bridge confirmed at least two cormorants landed on the platforms.
And while two cormorants out of a colony of 1,600 may seem like a small number, it’s a start.
“It’s usually the genius explorers who go in first,” Rauzon said.
“This is the first time such a landing has been seen,” MTC spokesman Rentschler said. “Too early to know yet if this will lead to actual nesting on the platforms, but hey, ‘Woo hoo!’ ” School daze: Just three months after its accreditation was fully restored, City College of San Francisco is under fire for gearing up for another spending spree — this time with plans for a $95 million performing arts center.
In a sharply worded April 6 letter to the head of City College’s Board of Trustees, California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley warned that “considerable pressure” is being exerted by both the public and trustees “to spend at levels above what is prudent or sustainable.”
Oakley cited the board’s discussion last month about resurrecting the long-dormant plans to build a performing arts center on its main campus in the Ingleside neighborhood.
The arts center — $20 million has already been spent on its design — was put on ice in 2013 by a state-appointed special trustee after the college came up millions of dollars short to pay for it, much less cover the estimated $2 million in annual operating costs.
Oakley also raised concerns about City College’s latest round of budget discussions. According to administrative sources, he was referring to trustees dragging their heels on eliminating scores of smaller classes that cannot be financially justified given the $35 million financial hit brought on by declining enrollment.
City College enrollment has fallen by a third, to 61,000 students, in recent years — partly the result of the cloud that lingered over the campus after its accreditation was revoked three years ago because of fiscal mismanagement and other administrative concerns.
In his letter, Oakley warned that City College is now at “a critical juncture” and can’t count on any more bailouts from Sacramento, like the $125 million it got from the Legislature.
Interim City College Chancellor Susan Lamb, who has already said she will not seek the permanent position, declined to comment.
Oakley’s letter, however, drew a reply from City College board President Thea Selby, who pointed out that — in spite of the heated debate — the directors voted 7-0 to go along with Lamb’s proposed budget cuts.
And while there was no mention in Selby’s letter of the push for the performing arts center — backed by an outpouring of public support — Selby said, “There will be significant community involvement and opinion about almost everything.
“It is our nature as a city,” she said, “not always a smooth process, but good things often come out of it.”