Team Ornicycles Thanks You
October 24, 2022
Ornicycles Team Bird-A-Thon Ride September 24, 2022
Team Members: Julian Wood, Liam McNamara, Megan Elrod, Annie Schmidt, Erika Foster, Amy Li, Aidan Cox, Mark Dettling, Cyrus Harmon, Scott Jennings, Catherine Hickey with honorary member Emily Ford.
Several team members share their personal reflections of the day. Read them below!
What an epic day! We covered over 28? miles on our mountain bikes and identified 98 different bird species in their natural habitat in and around Bolinas Lagoon, California. What were the highlights and lowlights? I could recount how amazing it was to share the bird-by-bike stoke with our new team members, Aidan and Amy, or how we were thwarted by the afternoon fog from reaching our goal of 100 species, or how we nearly collapsed by climbing two massive ridges in pursuit transcendent descents. But I’d rather hear from the rest of the team. -Julian Wood, Team Leader
Bird-a-thon season is my favorite time of the year! And Ornicycles never disappoints! Birding by bike adds a whole other level of stoke to the big day of birding. My favorite part is seeing the diversity in our corner of the world. We found 7 species of raptors, 6 species of finch, and 9 species of sparrow! Thanks for supporting Point Blue and the Ornicycles! – Mark Dettling
As a marine biologist and new intern working with Point Blue’s Antarctica team, a 30-mile bike / bird-a-thon ride seemed like the perfect challenge and a great opportunity to learn more about the birds which call Point Reyes home. Let me tell you though, I had no idea what I was signing up for. Growing up around Portland and Seattle, my mountain bike experience was limited to forest service roads (but they were on a mountain so it totally counts right?). This time though, I learned how to ‘shred the gnar’ Northern California style, and after hopping, rolling, and yes, at times tumbling my way down Bolinas ridge I walked away with some bumps, scrapes, and a big smile on my face. Along the way I learned about the perils of sand, encountered 5 distinct ecosystems, and saw my first green heron. I’m thankful to my friends and teammates for coaching me down that fierce ridge, for introducing me to 98 of the amazing bird species I’m privileged to live alongside, and for inspiring me to learn more. – Aidan Cox
A phenomenal bird-a-thon (BAT) by bike! I couldn’t believe the diversity of ecosystems we were able to cover by pedal-power alone. We have some very serious mountain bikers in the group who lead the charges up some massive hills! As a soil scientist at Point Blue, I usually am looking under my feet, so it’s always wonderful to spend time with the amazing avian folks and look toward the skies. Not only do I now know how to hike up the ‘binocs’ to bike and bird, but I’m also slowly learning more and more fun bird facts and ID tips from the team. Remember kestrels tend to flutter around while merlins fly like they have somewhere to be. Great egrets stand still for long periods and have yellow bills, while snowy egrets move around more and have yellow feet. I am continuing to learn my songbirds too using the Merlin app, but always love the crowd favorite Golden-crowned sparrow “oh, dear me”. I’m still working on the difference between the savannah vs song sparrow, and haven’t even started on shorebirds yet. So many exciting songs and bird markings to learn. I will keep on practicing for next year! – Erika Foster
Birding has always simultaneously intrigued and intimidated me. Kooky-looking people with binoculars? Identifying birds? For hours on end? Actually knowing what species you’re looking at, other than thinking, “there goes something with wings!”? These were all foreign concepts to this botanist-turned marine biologist-turned seabird ecologist. Having recently joined the Antarctica team at Point Blue, I was apprehensive about joining a group of hardcore ornithologists who also happened to be hardcore mountain bikers. With minimal experience in both disciplines, I was certain the day would be a mental and physical challenge with no shortage of embarrassment on all fronts. But I’m a sucker for Type 2 fun, so I relented and signed up. The day started with a 5am wake up as Erika, Aidan, and I raced the sunrise out to Bolinas. After a gentle introduction atop the bluffs of Agate Beach with comparatively easy to spot seabirds in the water below, we began rolling out toward bird hotspots around town. From there, it was a hot, sweaty blur of biking, stopping to bird, ascending, straining to hear the birdsong Julian was mimicking, braking my way through descents–all the while trying to stay on the (very comfortable) death-machine Megan had so kindly lent me. Highlights of the day included seeing long-billed curlews (so cool!), hearing someone spot a bald eagle and actually knowing what bird they were talking about(!), and pointing at a shadowy figure in the late-afternoon branches and it turning out to be a new species–and an osprey to boot! Learning about “pishing” was also pretty cool. All in all, I am so grateful to have had a wonderful birding experience with some of the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic people around and to have learned many a new bird species, that one should never call gulls “seagulls,” and how fun birding by bike can be. – Amy Li
Ornicycles is the best birdathon team ever! I had fun planning the local West Marin route to maximize the time our wheels are on dirt AND hitting up different habitats to see a diversity of species. Peddling to Five Brooks just to pick up a couple species might be crazy on any other day, but for birdathon, totally worth it! The fog creeped into the lagoon in the afternoon, thwarting our best chance for some shorebirds to kick us over that 100 species hurtle, but alas, serious fun was still had with a good crew of newbies and veterans alike. I very much appreciate the support Team Ornicycles received this year. – Megan Elrod
Thank you so much for supporting our science and helping us achieve our mission to develop nature-based solutions to climate change, habitat loss, and other environmental threats to benefit wildlife and people. You can still donate here.
Ornicycles 2022 Bird-A-Thon Species List
- Wood Duck
- Northern Shoveler
- Mallard
- Greater/Lesser Scaup
- California Quail
- Western Grebe
- Band-tailed Pigeon
- Eurasian Collared-Dove
- Vaux’s Swift
- Anna’s Hummingbird
- Black Oystercatcher
- Killdeer
- Whimbrel
- Long-billed Curlew
- Black Turnstone
- Red-necked Phalarope
- Greater Yellowlegs
- Willet
- Parasitic Jaeger
- Common Murre
- Heermann’s Gull
- Ring-billed Gull
- Western Gull
- Caspian Tern
- Elegant Tern
- Brandt’s Cormorant
- Pelagic Cormorant
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Brown Pelican
- Great Blue Heron
- Great Egret
- Snowy Egret
- Green Heron
- Turkey Vulture
- Osprey
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- Cooper’s Hawk
- Bald Eagle
- Red-shouldered Hawk
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Great Horned Owl
- Acorn Woodpecker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Nuttall’s Woodpecker
- Hairy Woodpecker
- Northern Flicker
- American Kestrel
- Merlin
- Peregrine Falcon
- Western Wood-Pewee
- Willow Flycatcher
- Pacific-slope Flycatcher
- Black Phoebe
- Say’s Phoebe
- Warbling Vireo
- Steller’s Jay
- California Scrub-Jay
- American Crow
- Common Raven
- Chestnut-backed Chickadee
- Bushtit
- Wrentit
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Golden-crowned Kinglet
- Red-breasted Nuthatch
- Pygmy Nuthatch
- Brown Creeper
- Pacific Wren
- Marsh Wren
- Bewick’s Wren
- European Starling
- Western Bluebird
- Swainson’s Thrush
- American Robin
- Cedar Waxwing
- House Finch
- Purple Finch
- Red Crossbill
- Pine Siskin
- Lesser Goldfinch
- American Goldfinch
- Fox Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- Savannah Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Lincoln’s Sparrow
- California Towhee
- Spotted Towhee
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Brewer’s Blackbird
- Orange-crowned Warbler
- Common Yellowthroat
- Yellow Warbler
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Townsend’s Warbler
- Western Tanager