San Francisco Bay

Osprey Days June 24-26 2022

 
 
 

HOMEPAGE Part 4


Celebrate Osprey Nesting in San Francisco Bay

Our Osprey Festival celebrates the relatively new phenomenon of osprey nesting on San Francisco Bay. The smallest of the eagles, osprey still thrill enthusiasts with their amazing fishing skills, distinctive markings and familiar call. Nesting osprey are common on waterways and lakes throughout the world. Yet, osprey are not documented to have nested in the San Francisco Bay in the 20th or 21st centuries. Since about 2003 the Bay Area has seen a explosion of nesting sites. In this 2021 nesting season, we have documented as many as 56 nests in San Francisco Bay from our humble beginnings at the end of Pier 34 on Mare Island in the Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve. The first documented nest was observed on Mare Island as early as 1999/2000 by Napa Solano Audubon Society field guides Robin Leong and Wally NeVille.


Growing up...

The population began to grow rapidly in the Bay Area with documented nest sites from Mare Island and Vallejo to Rodeo, Richmond, Alameda, the Oakland Estuary, the Bay Bridge and San Francisco, and even into the South Bay near the Dunbarton Bridge. This rapid expansion of nest sites is demonstrated at Richmond where there were 3 nests in 2014, 11 nests in 2015 and in 2016 there were 13 nests. This year, there are 57 documented nest sites throughout the Bay Area.  Watch a live 24/7 webcam of the osprey pair on the whirly crane at the Red Oak Victory Ship in the Richmond Harbor. Thank you Golden Gate Audubon Society and team! The birds’ names? Rosie for “Rosie the Riveter’s and the Rosie the Riveter WWII Homefront National Historic Park in Richmond...and Richmond!


You have a role to play, so let’s get together!

As much as anything, the identification and regular observations of the Bay’s nest sites has been through the reporting and monitoring of “citizen scientists”. You are invited to spend the weekend with us, or just an afternoon, to learn about ospreys, their unique nesting in San Francisco Bay and what you might contribute to the ground-breaking research with your eyes and ears, or by helping us fund webcams, banding and other research tools.

San Francisco Bay Osprey Days is headquartered in 2022 on Mare Island and at the Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve located in Vallejo, Calif. Join us June 24-26, 2022 for guided hikes, driving tours and boat trips to see nesting osprey up close and plenty of fledglings and adults in the sky above.

we will continue to make every effort to plan our schedule with COVID19 precautions, so please comply with them for the your safety.


Photos: lower left and this; Eric Dugan,

Old Sperry Mill, Vallejo, CA

Photo: Jimmy Sarmiento,

Glen Cove, Vallejo, CA

l

June 25-27, 2021

Please make your donation to Osprey Days and the Bay Area osprey tracking tools project payable to: 
Mare Island Heritage Trust
816 Branciforte St. 
Vallejo, CA 94590

Donate  online:  www.mareislandpreserve.com
Call/text: 707-249-9633
Email: myrnahayes@mac.comhttp://www.preservemareislandpreserve.com/product/donate-other-amount/mailto:myrnahayes@mac.comshapeimage_6_link_0shapeimage_6_link_1