The December Digest
The Winter Bird Migration + Meet the Writer
Volume 98 | December 2022 | By Meghan Boyle
|
|
ALBANY BULB BIRDING BIOBLITZ |
|
When: Sunday, December 18th
Time: 9:30AM - 11:00PM
Where: The Albany Bulb, 1 Buchanan Street, Albany, CA, 94706
We're back at the Albany Bulb for an exciting bird observation event! With over 150 known bird species documented here, there will be plenty to observe and explore! Join Wholly H2O and Golden Gate Audubon board member, Christine Tarr to learn more about winter migratory species. Bring your binoculars, scopes, long lenses, or a camera. We'll be adding our observations to iNaturalist and eBird! To get a jump start on recognizing the calls of some birds we will be exploring, check out our interactive 28 Birds of NorCal bird call guide!
To sign up for this event, use this link or the "register" button above.
|
|
There is nothing so jolly as falling in love with your watershed ecosystem. It can inspire you to save water for the best reasons, to reduce stormwater runoff, and keep you meeting more and more of your waterhood neighbors.
Wholly H2O can do this work specifically because of our faithful followers and the support you give each year. Consider a one-time gift, an employer-matched donation, or even a monthly donation. You know we spend every penny on connecting the watersheds and YOU!
|
|
The Winter Bird Migration |
|
Rain won't be the only thing falling from the skies this winter in the Bay! |
|
The rains are back, fireplaces are glowing with warmth once again, and Mariah Carey’s voice is practically inescapable. As winter dawns on the Bay Area, it seems the birds are moving on to warmer places - but don’t worry, they’ll be sure to leave a few *presents* along the way.
Just as many people jet off to tropical islands during the winter months, migratory birds also take to the skies to escape the frosty rains and biting breezes of the north. These migration patterns date back thousands of years, and are an essential part of life for hundreds of North American species. For many, the San Francisco Bay area is a vital point along the Pacific Flyway, an extensive bird migration route stretching some 4,000 miles across North America. When the birds reach the Golden State, depending on the species, some fly over the Bay Area region while others head through the Central Valley. Typically, the birds seen soaring over San Francisco skies are shorebirds and waterfowl, many of which stay in California to rest and recuperate in the state’s wetlands.
One of the most important rest stops for migrating birds is the San Francisco Bay estuary, which provides necessary shelter and food, allowing them to continue their long journeys across the continent. However, industrialization and the onset of climate change have been altering these wetland ecosystems, making the yearly migration more difficult each passing winter. According to Audubon California’s Director of Bird Conservation Andrea Jones, the Bay Area has seen a near 85% reduction in wetland sizes. Across the entire state, that number remains similar, at around 90%. This change can be seen most acutely in California’s Central Valley.
|
|
The Pacific Flyway, with the S.F Bay circled in black |
|
The large stretch of inland California now famous for its farmland and dry climate actually used to be a huge network of water channels and wetlands. If you were to time-travel to the Central Valley during pre-colonial times, you would have found sprawling prairies and lush forests filled with oak, sycamore, and alder trees, pierced with clear, flowing rivers, and complete with a broad array of biodiversity. Unfortunately, agricultural development and water reallocation over the years has led to a drastic decrease in the quantity and quality of these old ecosystems, causing serious crowding in the wetland areas that are still left, in both the Bay and central regions.
However, not all is lost! Several wetland restoration projects are currently underway throughout the state, working to revive the existing swamps and support wetland animals. In some areas, there are even efforts to convert agricultural land back into wetlands. As for the birds - they’ll still continue on with their migrations in the coming months, so be sure to keep your eyes on the skies! Most birds coming through the Bay Area are shorebirds that tend to fly in smaller flocks, while the Central Valley attracts a greater volume of birds, especially geese. If you want to get a glimpse of this season’s migratory magic, sign up for our Albany Bulb Birding BioBlitz event to learn about, observe, and document different bird species! If you can’t make the event, you can still use live bird migration map, BirdCast to view the densities of migrating birds across the continent!
|
|
Staff Spotlight: Meghan Boyle |
|
Get to know Wholly H2O's very own newsletter writer! |
|
When picturing her very first long-term volunteer project, sixteen year old Meghan Boyle never imagined she would be an environmental non-profit newsletter researcher, writer, and designer.
“I was looking for an extracurricular activity to get into, but there’s not really a lot of opportunities that relate to [writing] in this area,” Meghan explains when asked why she chose to join the Wholly H2O team. She jokes about the difficulty of finding volunteer positions geared towards the humanities in the Bay Area, because of its heavy slant towards technology and other STEM-related fields.
“Then I saw the [newsletter writing] opportunity online through VolunteerMatch and I was like ‘Oh my gosh, this is perfect!’” Having been obsessed with storytelling her whole life, Meghan says she was ecstatic to find an opportunity that would allow her to use her writing skills and creativity in an impactful way.
The teenager joined Wholly H2O in July of 2022, and produced her first newsletter, “Extinction in the Bay Area + Celebrating Local Artists” in September. While this is her first time writing for an organization, Meghan has been creating stories for years.
“[Writing] is something that I’ve always had a passion for.” She reminisces about her childhood endeavors with storytelling, recounting, “My parents told me ever since I was a kid, I was always making up stories. I remember in third grade, I started to handwrite them too. It’s just something that I’ve always kind of done that I enjoy.” Since her hand-written story endeavors, Meghan has gone on to win several writing contests, gain mayoral and school-board recognition for her work, and is currently working on a novel that she hopes to publish sometime in the next year. She credits her passion for writing to her many encouraging English teachers that have fostered her abilities throughout her time as a student.
“Creative writing is my normal genre, and writing for Wholly H2O has actually been the very first nonfiction-type writing that I’ve done outside of school,” she explains. “It’s taught me so much about Indigenous history. We don’t learn a lot [about it] in school, but I think it’s really important... just being able to research and understand it has been really eye-opening.” She’s right; Indigenous history in much of American curricula is often overlooked or glossed-over, leading to vast amounts of missing knowledge about the country’s native people. This is especially true in the Bay Area, where Ohlone history is almost entirely left out of textbooks. As a response, Meghan has made it one of her goals with the Wholly H2O newsletter to teach this fascinating history. When describing the importance of this objective, she says, “Writing is so powerful. That’s kind of how I’ve always seen it - it can really shape people’s mindsets, and through learning all this information, I feel if it’s opening my eyes this much, it’s got to have an effect on others, too.”
But this effect doesn’t come without a lot of dedication and thought. The high-schooler claims she has felt a big responsibility to make sure that the information she presents is not only accurate, but engaging. “Since I’ve never done something like this, I was kind of nervous at first because I didn’t know how I’d [perform]… but I think I've learned to find the correct voice and tone in my pieces so they feel accessible and interesting.” Meghan goes on to describe how her practice with creative writing has allowed her to give the newsletters an element of storytelling, so that they’re not boring or hard to read.
“Reading a bunch of scientific papers isn’t exactly the most interesting thing in the world to me," she jokes. “So being able to turn that into a story, and something that people can learn from has been great.” In addition, Meghan also enjoys using an artistic eye when designing the newsletters themselves, often opting for season-appropriate color palettes and clean layouts to make them visually pleasing.
When asked about her plans for the future, Meghan sighs and laughs cheekily, no doubt the thought of finals and next year's college applications flooding her mind. “Ah… I think that’s still a little bit murky - I’m still trying to figure out what profession I want to go into,” she admits. “I really want to do journalism, but I’m also interested in law… overall definitely something that’s very heavily based on writing or research.”
When she’s not stressing thinking about college or working on newsletters, Meghan says that one of her favorite things to do in her free time is photography. “I have four cameras: two film and two digital,” she mentions. She also enjoys reading, (with one of her favorite books being How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang) hiking, drawing, and rollerblading.
You can catch more of Meghan’s writing throughout the newsletters, and if you’ve missed any previous ones, you can view them now on the newsletter section of our website, whollyh2o.org!
|
|
'Tis the Season - Purchase a Bird Species and Songs Poster! |
|
Need a unique holiday gift this season? Take a look at our beautifully designed local bird species and songs poster! The incredible drawings were done by lovely past Wholly H2O intern, Tatteera. From warblers to screech owls, this poster's plethora of stunning artwork is sure to make a wonderful present! In addition, the proceeds from the poster sales go to support Wholly H2O; think of it like a double-gift! You can order it at this link.
|
|
Want to Give Back to Your Watershed? Join our Board of Advisors! |
|
During the last 100 years, California has been in on-and off drought conditions. We also have one of the five most important delta systems in the world, yet, most Californians do not know where their water comes from, how much they use a day, or what watershed they live in. At Wholly H2O, we are creating deep connections with watershed ecosystems in order to inspire people to take long-range personal and political action, while still having fun. And our Board of Advisors are a crucial part of how Wholly H2O functions. We ask for a solid commitment to:
- Join a 1.5 hour board meeting every other month (9 hours a year total).
- Put the word out about at least 3 Wholly H2O events a year (3 hours a year total)
- Attend at least 3 events per year (6 hours per year total)
- Assist us in making connections for program content, partners, funding, and growth.
We're looking for experts in Bay Area creek and marine ecosystems, East Bay BIPOC history, citizen science, curriculum development, East Bay K-12 schools, art, marketing, or outreach. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, apply using this link. Also, be sure to check out our current Board of Advisors to learn more about our current members!
|
|
Wholly H2O couldn't run without the work of our talented volunteers. We have a bunch of unique opportunities throughout the year, such as podcast producing, accounting, and content editing! Take a look at our Volunteer Match to learn more!
|
|
Our lives depend on healthy watersheds, and Wholly H2O depends on YOU!
Support Wholly H2O as we plan many more exciting events over the next year!
We create educational content that connects YOU to the watersheds you live in, and we love doing what we do! No matter how much you decide to donate, you will make an impact on what we can accomplish. Click the button above to contribute a tax-deductible donation or check out our fundraiser on our Facebook page!
|
|
Our Interns Do Really Cool Stuff |
|
|
|
We always have a pod of 10-15 interns researching creek histories, creating wildlife guides, editing livestreams, writing copies for our watershed tours, and more. We promise you will never be bored - lend your skills or add your curiosity to our work!
|
|
Wholly H2O catalyzes dynamic, informed connections between people and their watersheds that yield proactive and appropriate water management through conservation and reuse. Our watershed-positive educational programs engage Californians in community , citizen science, art, and green infrastructure education.
Our activities: waterhood tours, BioBlitzes, Moth nights, and art events are bringing waterhoods to life for hundreds of water users around the San Francisco Bay area! Join us for an event, follow us on social media, volunteer or intern, or donate to support our fun and innovative work. (We love matched donations from your workplace!)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
