Hello folks who manage to burn calories only by overheating their frozen meals,
One of the joys about living in the San Francisco Bay Area, apart from getting your bike stolen several times and being surrounded by engineers who think that the answer to every problem is another mobile app, are the variety of environmental organizations I get a chance to volunteer with.
One of those organizations is SFBBO or as its mom likes to call it, San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory. I was recently asked to describe my experience volunteering with SFBBO, so I wrote this blog post. (There are no silly examples and no references of Kardashians, just letting you know ahead of time so you can adjust your expectations accordingly).
One of the fascinating projects I got to be a part of, this year with SFBBO is count California Gull eggs.
Keeping track of California Gull numbers can help us manage expectations for beachgoers on how much tax they will end up paying with their potato chips. California Gulls like to nest on islands or breached levees within former salt evaporation ponds to protect their babies from terrestrial predators. So, one has to kayak their way to those islands.
Once you land on the island, the gulls take to the air, start squawking and claim to be victims. We are the good ones I remind them. No, the ones who keep the dumpster open are the good ones, they retort. 🙄
Then you carefully wade through this flock of gulls watching your every step so as to not step on any eggs.
As you inch towards their nests, they will fly away temporarily allowing you to count the number of eggs in each nest.
This is how the egg looks up close.
If you are interested in volunteering your time in such fascinating activities, check out the different volunteer programs at SFBBO on this page.
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