As a freelance Consulting Biologist (who is also a Certified Wildlife Biologist Asc.) based in Marin County (San Francisco Bay Area), Daniel Edelstein works full-time in the environmental consulting field. Possessing survey permits for rare species — the state and federally endangered Ridgway’s Rail (formerly California Clapper Rail); the state and federally threatened California Tiger Salamander; and the federally threatened California Red-legged Frog, — his role as a full-time staff and freelance Avian Biologist & Wildlife Biologist since 1998 are niches by which he conducts field surveys for common and rare bird, mammal, amphibian, reptile, and plant species — in addition to providing clients regulatory and permitting services relating to local, state, and federal regulatory measures (e.g., To name a few: local heritage tree ordinances that vary by city; procedures required via the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA); and three California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) code regulations that protect nesting birds, typically from February 1 through August 31, annually.)
He also specializes in songbird and raptor nest search and monitoring surveys, including the following recent and current common and rare bird/wildlife/botanical survey and monitoring projects:
1) Pre-construction bird surveys and follow-up compliance reports in 20 California counties, thereby assisting clients wishing obtain permits as they comply with mandatory local, state, and federal regulatory measures. 2) A Brentwood, CA (SF Bay Area) project where an active heron rookery required him to conduct surveys and submit management solutions to the client, thereby ensuring compliance with CDFW code regulations that protect nesting birds; 3) Lake County, CA along Walker Ridge Road and, also, the Wilson Range in S. Nevada — both of which were locations where proposed wind turbine arrays required daily and weekly bird surveys (including autumn migratory raptor surveys) along a 10-mile route, ala the Lake County job that totaled 104 total visits/surveys; 4) Mendocino County, CA where Daniel performed multiple months of bird nest searching surveys at a Caltrans project: “The Willits Bypass Project”; and 5) Several locations where Daniel continues to coordinate in 2021 Moffitt’s Canada Goose management planning, nest finding, and egg addling to reduce overpopulations of this common, invasive interloper to the SF Bay Area (see below).
Follow-up compliance reports and wildlife/plant management plans are submitted to public agencies, planning departments, consulting firms, and landowners/stakeholders. His wildlife survey background features bird point counts, nest searching, and nest monitoring (especially at proposed solar and wind power sites routes), in addition to mammal trapping, tracking, tape playback (owl species such as Northern Spotted Owl), pit-fall/drift fence surveys (California Tiger Salamander), and dip-netting/seining (fairy shrimp surveys).
Addressing non-native Canada Goose (Branta canadensis moffitti) overpopulation problems is another niche Daniel performs, whereby a permit that Daniel secures ensure a reduction in numbers at a site. Short- and long-term management techniques Daniel implements maintain acceptable water quality at, for example, a pond maintained by a sanitary district, city park, or homeowner association. In these situations, Daniel often a) conducts non-lethal goose overpopulation control actions, including egg addling (after he secures a federal permit for a client); and b) executes habitat alteration actions by writing an Integrated Goose Management plan {i.e., Daniel designs and implements a native species planting plan, for example, or suggests barricade additions (e.g., boulders/fences) so that Canada Goose no longer are able to breed or vacate a site.
Recent projects have also included helping law firms with regulatory planning and neighborhood groups — e.g., Preserve Ross Valley, Save San Marin, and Mendocino County homeowners — contest development projects to protect their wildlife, solitude, and dark skies, via Daniel writing reports to ensure projects complied with local, state, and federal regulatory measures.
Concurrently, Daniel (a professional birding guide since 1986) leads San Francisco birding tours and northern California birding tours (including Marin County birding tours and Sonoma County birding tours), in addition to other California bird watching trips. As a featured Birding Guide at GuidedBirdWatching.com, he has presented his adult birding classes, bird slide shows and birding by ear and raptor identification field training workshops in more than 20 states.
Click here if you wish to hear Daniel discuss “birding by ear” in a recent Earth News Journal interview. Another one of his media interviews highlights birding trip options in the SF Bay Area, via:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCK6eWjERyw&list=UUoxEFma744u4rhkwvCJMfNQ
As a northern California birding guide and community college birding instructor Daniel teaches periodic diverse college-level bird/environmental classes at Merritt College (Oakland)}: Fundamentals of Ornithology; Bird Song Ecology/Birding By Ear; Raptors; Wood-Warblers on the West Coast (& Midwest/East Coast); The Miracle of Migration: The Amazing Nomadic Lives of Birds & Other Animals, and Nature Study & Conservation.
(Click on the following two green text phrases to print his Top Ten Tips For Improving Your Bird By Ear handout and other Northern California bird migration arrival information.) (His student birdwatchers visit diverse San Francisco Bay Area birding hotspots in San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, and Marin County cities. See below.)
Known for his 30+ years of watching and studying wood-warblers (Parulidae family), Daniel’s popular Warbler Watch blog and warbler tips ID chart offer fast relief for birders seeking warbler identification help (including solutions for identifying confusing fall warblers). Recurring seasonal land and sky events (i.e., phenology) are highlighted at Daniel’s homemade Nature Watch Calendar that includes monthly planet-rising times, meteor shower dates, and annual eclipses.
In addition to San Francisco birding places that attract rare San Francisco birds, destinations for Daniel’s birding trips include Point Reyes National Seashore (and its Point Reyes Lighthouse area) and many other prime-time California birding spots such as Bodega Bay, Bodega Head, Doran Park, Muir Woods, Bolinas Lagoon, Tomales Bay State Park, Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds, Elkhorn Slough, Golden Gate Park, Yuba Pass, Sierra Valley, Hawk Hill, Mines Road, Del Puerto Canyon, Mount Diablo, Lake Merritt, Lake Merced, and Palo Alto Baylands.
Uncommon to rare species that he helps birders find include Northern Spotted Owl, California Black Rail, Ridgway’s Rail, Yellow Rail, Marbled Murrelet, Western Snowy Plover, and California Condor, in addition to area specialties such as Swainson’s Hawk, Northern Pygmy Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Hermit Warbler, Yellow-Breasted Chat, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Brown Pelican, Brant, Cassin’s Vireo, Rock Wren, Lawrence’s Goldfinch, Tricolored Blackbird, Lewis’ Woodpecker, California Thrasher, Sooty Grouse, and Bank Swallow.
Feel free to click on the following green text phrases (in this paragraph) to visit his popular eight-year-old Warbler blog (that includes warbler articles and a regularly-updated warbler photo quiz) and his Daniel’s Merritt College Classes blog. The latter blog features his adult birding classes.
Please contact Daniel at:
415-382-1827 (office, CA time)
415-246-5404 (iPhone)
warblerwatch.blogspot.com (since 2007, my warbler-centric blog featuring articles and photo quizzes)
Other Recent & Ongoing Projects: 1) Conduct focused wildlife/bird surveys as a permitted biologist for Ridgway’s Rail (formerly CA Clapper Rail), California Red-legged Frog, and California Tiger Salamander. (For example, my focused surveys for Ridgway’s Rail occur annually from January 15 through April 15.) 2) Research, write, and submit compliance reports (e.g., Biological Assessment, Initial Study, EIR biological resources chapter, habitat restoration plan, etc.) as a Consulting Biologist on behalf of clients such as environmental consulting firms, sanitary/water districts, vineyards, landowners, and other stakeholders. 3) As a Birding Guide and birding tour guide for one-day or multiple day birding trips, Daniel leads one-day to multiple guided birding tours and for individuals and groups that contact me (see “Birding Tours” area by clicking here). 4) Teach periodic bird-related classes to adult students at Merritt College in Oakland, CA (including a recent “Fundamental Of Ornithology And Birding In Central CA” class. 5) Conduct pre-construction, pre-tree removal bird surveys and nest search surveys to help safeguard nesting songbird and raptor species. For example, a homeowner seeking a permit for a project will contact Daniel to conduct a nesting bird survey or a tree removal company will similarly invite Daniel to perform monitor the potential presence of nesting birds before proceeding with a project.
Birding Guide (summary) — As a freelance Avian Ecologist/Consulting Biologist and experienced San Francisco Bay Area birding guide, I also occasionally lead other California birding trips to the Sierra Nevada Mountains (e.g., Yuba Pass, Gold Lakes, Sierra Valley area) and many other California birding hotspots, such as Pinnacles National Park where I help birders enjoy seeing the majestic California Condor. Among the guided birding tours in California I offer, many of them visit Important Bird Areas (IBAs). In total, think of me primarily as a veteran birding guide in Marin County and, in addition, a specialist who leads to birding outings in Sonoma County, in addition to regularly leading guided birding trips elsewhere in California and the Midwest, such as:
1) teaching all of the bird-related classes since 2003 at Merritt College in Oakland, CA, with all-day birding field trips always featured, whether the class theme is “Ornithology,” “Raptors of the SF Bay Area,” “Bird Song Ecology: The Ecology of Birds’ Songs & Identifying Them By Ear,” or “Waterbirds of the SF Bay Area; and
2) periodically teaching adult bird classes at The Ridges Sanctuary in Baileys Harbor, WI (ridgessanctuary.org).
My volunteering for bird-related projects include:
a) conducting since 1998 a Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) for the United States Geological Survey; my 19th consecutive BBS survey for a route traversing through Sonoma and Napa County was conducted in spring, 2019.
b) leading an annual birding tour since 2010 for the Point Reyes Birding Festival, including one on 4/27/19 for 15 attendants.
Its theme as an indoor & outdoor workshop highlighted a bird vocalization web site — xeno-canto.org, which I employed to help improve their enjoyment, understanding, and ability to better ID birds by ear. Employing a large screen in real-time, attendants also learned several new xeno-canto.org features, including how easy it is for birders to upload their own self-procured bird vocalization recordings.
c) conducting a point count survey for the annual Point Blue Conservation Science “Pacific Flyway Shorebird Survey” that has been endorsed by the Pacific Flyway Council.
d) conducting heron family member surveys for Audubon Canyon Ranch at the Las Gallinas Sanitary District ponds (where I have addled Canada Goose eggs with a federal permit since 2011 to ensure a reduction in breeding success of this invasive, non-native goose family member).
e) volunteering since 2005 for the Marin Audubon Conservation Committee (that, ostensibly, seeks to preserve suitable Marin County habitat for native bird species’ populations).
Warbler Watch 