Update 11-13-2007
New number for reporting oiled birds:
To report oiled birds outside Berkeley, call 415 701 2311. That is San Francisco's 311 notification system, but they are taking reports from anywhere in the Bay Area. You may also submit a siting report online at www.ibrrc.org/found_oiled_bird.
Until now, I have tried to just pass on useful information, because the middle of an emergency is not the time to point fingers. But this is too much. The Oiled Wildlife Care Network has had years to plan for handling spills. Did no one foresee that they might get lots of phone calls? And was shutting down the old, well publicized number the best they could do to remedy the problem?
Volunteering:
In practice, if you want to volunteer, you might try just going down to the Bird Rescue Center at Shorebird Park in Berkeley. Ask if you can help, but don't hang around if they don't need you. The center is south of University near the tip of the Marina peninsula. Directions at http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/marina/marinaexp/directions.html. If you show up at the right time, you may get in on training in "focused haz mat" - what you need to know about oil - and bird rescue. Ask, but again, don't get in the way.
Much of the waterfront is shut down for the state's bird rescue and cleanup. For those areas that remain open, you can take binoculars and continue to look for oiled birds - fewer people will be doing this on weekdays, and oiled birds will be showing up for some time. (See the slide show on our website, www.fivecreeks.org.) Photographing and documenting oil effects - on rocks, plants, shellfish, fish, etc. - remains helpful. If you're not doing these, though, it may be helpful to take walks elsewhere, so that birds can come ashore to rest.
Donations:
You can make cash donations online to the IBRRC at www.ibrrc.org/donate.html , and to WildCare in San Rafael, also caring for birds, at http://www.wildcarebayarea.org/site/PageServer.
Other creek news:
See the previous bulletin about tonight's (Tuesday, Nov. 13) meeting of the Albany's Planning and Zoning Commission on proposed commercial development and senior housing on the San Pablo Avenue frontage of University Village, affecting Codornices and Village Creeks. That's at 7:30 pm at Albany City Hall, 1000 San Pablo, at Buchanan. Information at http://www.albanyca.org/dept/pdf/20071113-SSSR-UniversityVillage.pdf.
Albany's Parks and Recreation Commission will discuss a proposed Integrated Pest Management (IPM) policy affecting pesticide use, Thursday, Nov. 15, at 7:30 pm. Information at www.albanyca.org.
If you are reporting oiled birds in Berkeley, please continue to call 510 981 6720. However, outside Berkeley, the inadequate, single, toll-free line that has been given out for days and posted on signs has been shut down. No message, no attempt to forward calls. You just get a busy signal.
The website of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network (the folks dealing with bird rescue and the oil spill) says that they could use additional volunteers. The instruction given on the web site is to call (800) 228-4544. As I write this, if you call the number, you just get a message referring you back to the website. It's a circle. But perhaps it will work during business hours.
The bird rescue center at Berkeley's Shorebird Park and the hospitals to which they take birds in Cordelia continue to need towels and pillowcases, paper grocery bags, plastic bags for dead birds, AA batteries, bottled drinking water, and heavy-duty chemical-resistant overgloves. In Cordelia, they also need paper towels and toilet paper. Drop these off at Shorebird Nature Center (again, south side of University Avenue near the tip of the Marina peninsula, directions at http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/marina/marinaexp/directions.html.) Overflow can be shuttled up to Cordelia with drivers taking birds.
The City of El Cerrito is planning improvements to the Ohlone Greenway (crossed by two branches of Cerrito Creek and an unnamed creek, and edged by important frog habitat). There are meetings on Trail Alignment and Design Wednesday, November 14, 7-8:30 p.m., at the El Cerrito Senior Center, 6500 Stockton Avenue (behind the Library) and on Landscape and Ecology Wednesday, December 5, 7-8:30 p.m. El Cerrito Community Center, 7007 Moeser Lane.