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A dozen people whispered in hushed tones, peering into the water flowing below a small bridge in Stevens Creek in Cupertino.
A runner slowed to a jog. “What are you all looking at?”
“A robin in the creek.”
“You must be birders.”
They pulled up their binoculars as an American robin hopped out of the water and scurried onto the bank. Then another flew overhead. A third perched in a nearby tree, its round copper-colored belly blending in with the surrounding foliage.
The group was being led by Santa Clara Valley Bird Alliance volunteers on a free half-mile bird walk around McClellan Ranch near Stevens Creek. The robin was one of 25 species identified on the 90-minute stroll around the Bird Alliance’s headquarters.
The nonprofit, a local chapter of the National Audubon Society, regularly hosts free excursions for the public to learn about area birds and how to identify them.
This October, the organization is celebrating its centennial with a month of free activities open to the public as well as member-exclusive events. Festivities kick off Saturday, Oct. 4, with the Wildlife Fair at West Valley College in Saratoga. The fair will feature speakers from local conservation organizations and the larger birding community, vendors, workshops and more.
SCVBA has also doubled the number of monthly field trips it typically offers, with walks planned all along the Peninsula and up into Point Reyes, too.
“It’s a big deal for a nonprofit to last 100 years,” said Matthew Dodder, who has served as Santa Clara Valley Bird Alliance’s executive director for nearly seven years.
The organization’s enduring goal is to help birds and inform the public about the avian species and its needs. For the past four decades, the organization has taught third through fifth graders from Santa Clara County elementary schools about the importance of wetlands and the wildlife they support. The program also includes a visit to a local bayland and typically attracts schools from cities that are near the Bay’s saltwater marshes, Dodder said.
Other classroom offerings include activities to teach children about bird beaks and nesting boxes. Outside of school, the Young Birders Club connects youth with an interest in birds. The nonprofit reaches about 2,000 students each year through its school and public programs, according to Dodder.
SCVBA’s near-monthly online speaker series brings in experts from all over the country to discuss a variety of ecological subjects, from dragonflies to specific bird species to wildlife corridors. The nonprofit also provides online classes on birds and volunteers lead around 15-20 monthly public bird walks (sign-ups are required for the walks.)
“We want to get people exposed to natural habitats and natural experiences, wildlife experiences, because that’s increasingly rare,” Dodder said. “Everybody is more separated from nature and wildlife and environment than they ever were.”
During the McClellan Ranch walk, volunteer Robin Chen elaborated on the best ways to identify birds, including by their shape, behavior, coloring and the sounds they make. But wildlife also leaves behind marks on the habitat. Walnut trees covered in neat lines of holes were spotted along the path during the stroll. The holes looked dry, indicating that the bird that made them — a sapsucker that passes through the area in the winter — hadn’t pecked at these trees recently. If it had, the holes would appear wet as fresh sap oozed out, Dodder said.
Chen has been leading public walks for SCVBA for the past seven years, but she’s had a love for birds since her mom gifted her a book on birding in the fourth grade. She said she finds that there can be a disconnect between people who live in urban and suburban communities and the nature around them. Wildlife and conservation-minded organizations like SCVBA, she said, help bridge that gap.
“The amount and diversity of birds that you see reflects the health of our local ecosystems,” Chen said. “And so when people learn more about what’s out there in nature, they learn to appreciate it more. And then once they appreciate it more, they want to fight for the conservation of natural resources.”
Recent studies have indicated that birds are in decline across North America. A 2019 study showed that North America has lost nearly 3 billion, or 29%, of its bird population since 1970. In spring of this year, another study showed that 75% of bird species are in decline.
SCVBA has long worked to help birds on a local level. In San Jose’s Alviso neighborhood, the nonprofit brought in two trained biologists to help monitor a small population of breeding burrowing owls, a species that has been a candidate for listing under the California Endangered Species Act since last fall. Dodder said the over decade-long program is made possible through a grant from the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency.
The nonprofit has also advocated for “dark sky” ordinances that would benefit nocturnal birds. Brisbane and Cupertino have adopted such measures and the city of Palo Alto is also slated to revisit the issue this month, said SCVBA Environmental Advocate Shani Kleinhaus.
Kleinhaus also said the nonprofit and other wildlife conservation groups have advised local companies on bird-safe designs. Meta installed a 9-acre green roof accessible to employees “that is all designed for birds and pollinators,” she said.
In Mountain View, bird-safe designs have been adopted into the North Bayshore Precise Plan, a 2017 plan for how to transform the area near Shoreline Park into a mixed-use community with thousands of homes and offices. These types of designs are also included in the Mountain View’s recently drafted biodiversity plan, which the city is currently seeking comment on.
However, Dodder also said that “with all the protections to the environment being removed and the EPA being defanged,” the tools the nonprofit relied on for decades of advocacy are “much weaker.” The recent changes to the California Environmental Quality Act don’t help either, he added.
“There are a number of things we look for in what we think is a good proposal,” Dodder said. “And if we see something that violates that, then we need to make our concerns heard. And that’s the basis of our advocacy.”
The reforms make it more difficult to provide feedback on environmental reviews on exempted developments. Dodder said the nonprofit would have previously pointed out issues like proximity to creeks, designs that pose a danger to birds and concerns with wastewater management or soil contamination, to name a few.
He added that the nonprofit’s 1,200 members help support its advocacy efforts and operations, but “we’re always trying to get more.” Members pay $45 a year, and perks include first access to sign-ups for field trips as well as discounts on overnight excursions and online classes.
Back on the McClellan Ranch walk, the group of bird-watchers admired a pygmy nuthatch grabbing seeds from a feeder while perched on a plastic rod. A white-breasted nuthatch climbed the feeder headfirst from the top down to grab a snack. Other birds nibbled food on the ground that had fallen from the feeder. Dodder explained that Steller’s jays will imitate the red-tailed hawk call while at the feeder to scare off other birds.
“The more people will realize ‘Oh, nature isn’t just on TV — this is better than TV’ … This is actual wildlife in front of you,” he said. “The more people see that for real, the more people will understand what we’re trying to say.”
For more information on Santa Clara Valley Bird Alliance and its monthlong centennial celebration, visit scvbirdalliance.org/centennial-celebration. The Wildlife Fair will be held Saturday, Oct. 4, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Science & Math Building at West Valley College, 14000 Fruitvale Ave., Saratoga.
