San Francisco Parties for Return of Runaway Sea Lions (and one of few marine mammal success stories)

Sea lions being admired, courtesy of Pier 39

San Francisco is having a party today to celebrate the return of the best urban marine mammal attractions in the country. The city appreciates its sea lions and is just saying, thank goodness they've come home. When they disappeared from Pier 39 last fall the whole world was worried. (Well, except for those who said that they tend to come and go. Which, it turns out, was right.)

Salty The Sea Lion mascot will be "available for hugs and photos," a press release says. The Pier is also celebrating 20 years of having hundreds of 600-pound predators in a major city. They started showing up after a 1989 earthquake. Instead of getting ousted from valuable real estate, they city enjoyed them as a natural wonder--and created a major tourist attraction.

This could have gone down differently.  The sea lions took over expensive boat docks. Sure, the Marine Mammal Protection Act covers them. But the government is always willing to make exceptions. Oregon fishermen got permission to kill sea lions that hang out at a dam where salmon congregate.

Last year when 1,700 sea lions showed up, they tested San Francisco's tolerance. The harbor drew up plans to keep them away from the nearby Hyde Street Pier.

The population numbers go up and down with weather, currents and food availability, so maybe they won't need to be pushed out. The sea lions' movements are still inscrutable, but the best going theory is that it was good food that brought them in such numbers last year and then herring that took them to the Oregon's Sea Lion Cave over the winter (they usually go south to the Channel Islands).


The California sea lion is making a huge comeback--too big for some. It's one of the few marine mammals whose numbers are healthy and increasing. Of seven sea lion species in the world, only two are not extinct, endangered or threatened, according to the IUCN Red List. The California sea lion is the only one whose population is increasing. Of about 355,000 animals, 238,000 live in California. Even if the disappearance of this crowd was media hysteria over a non-event, that's still something to celebrate.

Where to go to See Seals and Sea Lions 
See the Pier 39 Sea Lion Webcam
Here's where you can see wildlife out West

Blue Jays Adapt to New York City--Sort Of

A blue jay has built a nest on the fire escape on Fifth Street in Manhattan. It's not a great spot; sooner or later the babies--in the natural course of things--end up on the ground before they learn to fly. And inevitably some well-meaning person picks them up to save them.

As if the mother blue jay doesn't have enough problems, her mate is not really contributing the to the household. Instead of getting food, he has fixated on a cat that lives in a third floor apartment down the block. The jay constantly buzzes and swoops at the cat's window, as if he's going to convince the cat to move out.

Where to Go to See Unusual Birds

Where to See Animals in the Northeast

Boston Won't Make Way For Geese

Boston loves to show off its sweet, staring role in Make Way for Ducklings, the children's book that culminates in cops helping ducks across the street. They've got duckling statues, duckling contests and it is seemingly mandatory to display the book in stores. Yet the city isn't helping its non-fiction waterfowl. For nearly three decades a flock of white and gray geese have lived on the Charles River near Boston University, but their advocates say a renovation plan is pushing them out.

"They insist they have this beautiful park but they have no use for free animals," says Robert J. La Trémouille, a blogger who is one of the Friends of the White Geese, which is kind of the like the geese's political lobbying arm. This flock of 60-80 White China, Emden, and Toulouse geese have lots of friends and fans. La Trémouille says Bostonians have visited geese--a rare survivor on the polluted Charles--since at least 1981, when a plant got "guard geese." But some say the geese go back 60 years.

Another group, the Charles River Urban Wilds Initiative, concern themselves with the geese's day-t0-day care. Many, like Boston University writing lecturer Allison Blyer, take it on themselves to deliver healthy food (veggies, duck food) and occasional medical care. They notice individual characters and quirks. The current leader, Buddy, is about 20 years old. Pinky, pictured above, is known as a real character, sayd Blyer: "He is very bonded to us and likes to peck cameras. He also loves tomatoes, parsley, apples, saltines, and his mate, Blue." Many more casually stop by with kids--especially in gosling season--and offer leftovers.

But meanwhile, Trémouille says, those who want to keep the river area sterile put oil on the geese's eggs. (Though some say they are only target the more invasive Canada goose.) The state's Dept. of Conservation and Recreation has dug up their nesting area, put a plastic barrier by Magazine Beach and redid the area with athletic fields that rely heavily on pesticides instead of the natural landscaping the geese provide, La Trémouille says.

Nearby overly landscaped ballfields have lead to algae blooms, he says. Indeed the EPA notes the river is polluted, mainly from sewers. Some worry about the waste the geese leave behind, but that's nothing compared to the dead zone that will be produced when a power plant starts discharging hot water into the river. The state produced a master plan for the river, including Magazine Beach, which it hopes "to discourage the growth of a flock of feral geese." They want to put up signs discouraging feeding--like the alarmist warnings in Boston Common that conflate feeding birds with a human health crisis.

La Trémouille says he doesn't want to stop the renovation, just let the geese who have lived and delighted people on the Charles for generations be part of it. He hopes people will tell Gov. Deval Patrick, the DCR and local pols to let the geese stay. Doesn't seem that enjoying a flock of unusual geese should be that antithetical to enjoying a park and river.

San Diego Wants to Get Rid of One of Country's Best Seal-Viewing Spots

Despite protests from local residents and the distaste of City Hall, San Diego is on the verge of spending $700,000 a year to play the sound of dogs barking to the 100-some seals at the Children's Pool. The harbor seals (small, gray and shy) and sea lions (big and more aggressive) have been hanging out at the beach for years, delighting tourists, seal protectors and at least some residents.

But others are fighting to use the area the way donor Ellen Browning Scripps originally intended and state law proscribes: for children. The manmade beach is the subject of dueling lawsuits. Valerie O'Sullivan wants to get rid of the seals and she got a state court judge to order the city to get rid of the seals to clean up the bacteria in the water.

Who is Valerie O'Sullivan? A former resident of La Jolla who moved out of the country years ago and isn't even a citizen. So, the city has argued she shouldn't have a say in the matter. But meanwhile, the city had to come up with this absurd, expensive plan to get rid of the seals by playing dogs barking dawn to dusk and spraying water on the seals.

Meanwhile seal lovers and the Animal Protection and Rescue League tried to get protection for the seals in federal court. The federal fisheries agency was no help: they said the city didn't need any special permit to get rid of the federally protected animals. Then again, that was a Bush era ruling, so is anyone surprised?

Meanwhile a third plan to save the seals is that the legislature could just change the the law about the purpose of the beach. San Diego says that the seals will just move to "Mission Beach, Pacific Beach and other nearby coastal spots." Of course if they knew that for sure, there wouldn't be any fuss really. Nobody knows what will become of the seals if they are forced out. It would be a lot easier to move the children's part of Children's Beach to one of those areas. It's a lot easier to get parents to comply with some common sense adaptations--aside from Ms. O'Sullivan. You can't tell seals where to go.

This is also a perfect case for federal protection. This beach is a unique natural attraction in the country. It's one of the few places you can go to see sea mammals reliably hauled out on the beach. The beach itself is no natural wonder; it's one of those giant let's mess with nature infastructure projects that would never get off the ground today. The sea lions that showed up one day at the San Francisco Pier 39 certainly got in the way of boaters. But the city reasonably worked out a way to let them stay--and got a delightful addition to the city.

Hawks Nest on Houston Street in NYC

The NYPD took the last of the three Houston Street baby hawks into custody last night. Now all three eyasses are in the custody of wildlife rehabber and fireman Bobby Horvath, who hopes to have them back in the area within a week.
Documentary filmmaker Adam Welz did an amazing job chronicling the drama. The third hawk flew across the street ok, but ran into trouble flying back. It flew into the school building (where its nest sits on an air conditioner). The hawk tried to cling to the wall, failed, then fell to busy Houston Street.
The hawk watchers swooped in, stopped traffic and picked up the hawk in a shirt. The commotion caused a car accident. The hawk people got the hawk to the yard of the project across the street and wanted to release it. Meanwhile, somebody called 911. The cops came, took the hawk into custody. The hawk guys argued the bird should be left alone. The cops took him up to the dreaded ACC, but Bobby sprung him.

Where to See Animals Around New York City
Accesible Places To See Hawks