The San Francisco Bay oil spill
Impacts on Birds in the San Francisco Bay

The San Francisco Bay has been designated an Important Bird Area of Global Significance by Audubon California. It was given this high designation because it hosts well over a million birds annually and some of the last remaining wetlands in California. San Francisco Bay is host to the largest shorebird concentration in the West.

Since the Nov. 7 oil spill, representatives of Audubon California and local Audubon chapters rallied immediately on behalf of birds in the Bay Area. For Audubon California, this involved direct action at the Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Sanctuary, where more than 200 oiled birds were observed, many of which were transported to recovery centers. Audubon California has also led a number of bird monitoring efforts throughout the bay in an attempt to document the impacts on birds.

At the same time, local Audubon chapters such as the Golden Gate Audubon Society have been involved in bird recovery, beach clean-up and monitoring.

Audubon’s efforts are just part of the picture, however, as a number of groups have stepped forward to help in the effort. What follows is the most recent tally of bird recovery numbers available to us from a variety of sources.

As of Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2007