Tallying the birds in Berkeley Aquatic Park
“These are like my old friends. These are the ones I grew up with.” Naturalist Oliver James, leader of the Golden Gate Audubon Society’s Backyard Bird Count at Aquatic Park
There’s a routine to counting birds. In Berkeley, a group of birdwatchers would be in the middle of a conversation and suddenly scopes, binoculars and cameras would all point in the same direction. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It was always a bird. Sharon Alkire wore binoculars around her neck and had a bird identification book in her backpack.
Joining fellow birdwatchers, or “birders,” as they call themselves, at Berkeley Aquatic Park on Saturday was a way to get back into her childhood pastime.
“Birding is like watching baseball. Very slow, very slow, very slow,” she said. Then, “Something happens! It’s a lot of waiting and looking, then being excited.”
The Chinese Year of the Dog began Friday, but for avian enthusiasts in the Bay Area — and across the world — it’s the Year of the Bird.
National Geographic named 2018 after the feathered friend to mark the centennial of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a landmark bird-protection law. The campaign is encouraging everyone to “help build a better world for birds by taking a simple but meaningful action each month.”
For February, the Golden Gate Audubon Society featured its annual Backyard Bird Count as part of this year’s public education and advocacy efforts.
About 20 birders gathered to spot all the species the park had to offer. Naturalist Oliver James led the group, speaking up every time anyone eyed a new bird as they walked along the path.
James’ year has already been filled with birds. Last week, he released his book, “Birds of Berkeley,” a written guide with his own detailed illustrations. James grew up in Berkeley and has been spotting birds since he was 6.
“These are like my old friends,” James, now 27, said at Aquatic Park. “These are the ones I grew up with.”
Fellow birdwatchers looked through scopes, peered into binoculars and snapped photos as he led the group around Aquatic Park Lake. Soon, they spotted a bufflehead. The males are very striking, he told the birders. They’re a sharp black and white. Females are browner but have a white patch on their cheeks.
The leisurely stroll through the park could end up being used by academics across the world. Some of the birders used the eBird app to track the birds they spotted. The app, like Google Earth for birds, creates a database of what birds can be found where. As birding grew in popularity, it paralleled the rise of the tech boom.
Others, like Alkire, an El Cerrito resident, opted for pen and paper.
“I’m old school,” said Alkire, 48. She went camera-less, too.
“I know that when I have pictures of things I’ll never look at them again,” she said. “I grew up marking the birds I saw in a book.
Martin Nicolaus, a retired attorney, followed along with his camera. He said he’s been watching birds and taking their photos for 10 years.
“Part of the fun of birding is trying to figure out what you’re seeing,” said Nicolaus, 76. “There’s a lot of detective work involved in trying to figure out what the heck you’ve got.”
At one point the group spotted a snowy egret, all the way on the other side of the lake, near some orange flowers in bloom.
Sounds surrounded the park. Sounds of a whistling Amtrak train chugging along the tracks, the sound of camera shutters. And, of course, sounds of birds chirping.
By the end of the workshop, the group had spotted at least 39 bird species. One red-breasted merganser. Eight mallards. Forty-five of the buffleheads spotted earlier. The list goes on.