Counting cormorants

Mark Rauzon and Meredith Elliott on the Baykeeper boat yesterday, counting double-crested cormorants under the SF Oakland Bay Bridge. More than 630 nests are in use this year - down from a peak of 800 but still a healthy number of birds. Rauzon, a seabird biologist, has been "corm counting" under Bay bridges since 1988. Elliott, Principal Scientist with Point Blue Conservation Science, joined him in 2000. Both volunteer their time in service of creating an invaluable long-term dataset of the Bay's cormorant colonies.

This is a restoration success story! The old Bay Bridge, with its erector set metal trusses, was an urban bird-nesting paradise; the new bridge initially was not. Rauzon was instrumental in designing 6,000 square feet of "bird condos" to be affixed under the roadways, shepherding the concept through the budgeting process, addressing public concerns, and monitoring the birds' migration from old bridge to new.

San Francisco Baykeeper generously made their boat available for our Friday morning outing, along with volunteer skipper Mark Caplin. Two Baykeeper field investigators, Aundi Mevoli and Cheryl Patel, also joined us to assist with a separate story: toxic sites at risk of inundation from sea level rise.

Mike and I topped off the morning with an outdoor lunch in the shadow of Oracle Park and went home to process sound files, feeling grateful for the passion of scientists and bird lovers.

P.S. Our captain knew where to find the secret troll.