Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Sanctuary Grant for Bird Conservation and Monitoring Programs

This April, seven board members of the Belvedere Community Foundation met with Brooke Langston, Director of the Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Marilee Enge, Audubon/California Foundation Relations Manager, and Laura Alber and Sally Van Ingen, Board Members of the Center to learn more about their work and present a check for $2500 for the Bird Conservation and Monitoring Program.

As we stood on the Center’s beach on a beautiful spring day and looked out towards San Francisco, we could see the 900 acres of submerged waters protected to provide migratory waterbirds an important feeding area as they travel along the Pacific Flyway. Research on the impact of eel grass and Native Oysters in the bay is ongoing.

On the beach, groups of grammar school students from San Rafael were on a field trip exploring the intertidal zone with Teacher Naturalists. The Center is gearing up for their popular Summer Camp programs. Registration is still open.

Behind us in the 11 acres of uplands, Brooke pointed out the sound of a songbird, one of many birds who grace the shores of Richardson Bay and who will benefit from the $2500 grant from the Belvedere Community Foundation. The bird banding program helps to monitor the reproductive success and long term health of songbirds.

The grant will also help the Center’s winter bird monitoring program which provides critical baseline data for scientists and ecologists especially after the Cosco Busan oil spill and subsequent sewage spills in the Richardson Bay. In response to the Cosco Busan oil spill in November, 2007, the Belvedere Community Foundation was pleased to have given a $10,000 grant to the Richardson Bay Audubon Center.

We are fortunate to have such a gem of an organization in our community. For more information or to volunteer go to www.tiburonaudubon.org or call 388-2524.