Waterbird lovers were out in full force at Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary's Waterbird Festival on Saturday. More than 400 people attended the annual event that celebrates the rich wildlife of San Francisco Bay. Festival highlights included naturalist-led bird walks, exclusive field trips, and fun bird-themed activities including an exhibit of the winning images of the 2015 Audubon Photography Awards. 

"Our Sanctuary provides a safe place for over 15,000 migrating birds to rest and eat on their way up and down the Pacific Flyway," said Casey Arndt, Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary engagment and operations manager. "The Waterbird Festival is an opportunity to share our wonderful waterbirds with the greater Bay Area community."

Each winter, hundreds of thousands of scaup, scoters, grebes, cormorants and more make their way to the San Francisco Bay to escape the harsh winters of their northern breeding grounds. Here they feed, rest and find mates, taking advantage of abundant natural resources and the protected waters of the bay.

Richardson Bay, and the 900-acre Audubon Sanctuary in particular, is attractive due its large eelgrass beds which Pacific herring use as a substrate for their eggs. The eggs, in turn, are eaten by ducks, gulls and shorebirds while the fish themselves become meals for cormorants, pelicans, grebes, seals and sea-lions. Pacific herring use Richardson Bay for spawning more than any other location in San Francisco Bay, and the resulting activity of birds and marine mammals can be a spectacular wildlife phenomena to witness.

The Sanctuary waters are closed to boat traffic (including kayaks and paddleboards) during the winter, which allows these birds to rest and feed undisturbed, providing a perfect location to observe wildlife in a more natural setting.

The Marin Independent Journal wrote an article on the day's events: http://www.marinij.com/environment-and-nature/20160206/people-flock-to-waterbird-festival-in-tiburon