[EBB Sightings] Oil Spill Impact on Richmond Shoreline

As part of the Golden Gate Audubon effort to report and document oiled 
birds, Judi Sierra and I surveyed a portion of the Richmond shoreline 
this morning, along with my husband, who took photographs.

We started at Miller-Knox Regional Shoreline. The good news is that the 
shoreline and water do not show oil deposits or slicks, and a large 
portion of the birds we scoped on the water (scaup sp, grebe sp, 
Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, among them) were, to our eyes, unoiled. 
Even at the high-tide line, we found only a half dozen or so drops of 
oil. Unfortunately, we did locate and call in two Eared/Horned Grebes 
onshore that were so fouled we could not ID them by specific species. 
(As a side note, the Brant was still present at the lagoon with a small 
flock of Canada Geese.)

Our next stop was Shimada Friendship Park at Marina Bay, where the 
situation was more serious. The small slivers of shoreline at the park 
had upwards of thirty very oiled Eared/Horned Grebes, Surf Scoters, and 
scaup--with still other oiled birds out on the water. Employees from 
the Department of Fish and Game, along with an authorized bird rescuer, 
were cordoning off the shoreline. Their plan is to return at dark to 
rescue the birds, when they are less likely to be spooked into the 
water and, they hope, more will have come onshore. This may be the 
approach in other areas as well.

Golden Gate Audubon may still need monitors especially for weekdays. 
Information on the monitoring is at www.goldengateaudubon.org. Or email 
Michael Martin at mmartin at goldengateaudubon.org, who is coordinating 
the East Bay effort.

Judith