I am a student on City College of San Francisco looking for information on the sand dunes of San Francisco and the evolutionary history of wildlife in these sand dunes. What kind of wildlife exists in the sand dunes? Especially birds. I know of red tailed hawks and shoulder hawks, mayber hermit thrushes and turkey vultures. If you have information about these birds and their history in the San Francisco Bay Areas. Let me know.

Thanks for your help. We are working on sane dune restoration project in the Presidio and putting forth a proposal on the benefits of this restoration project and how wildlife usage can be maximized by this restoration.

Thanks, Patty

-- Patty Hernandez (angelhope1@juno.com), April 27, 2000

Answers

Though I am not at all knower on this; here is an event coming up that may help you:

The Great Sand Waste Natural History of San Francisco's Dunes Illustrated Lecture by Pete Holloran President, Yerba Buena Chapter, California Native Plant Society Thursday, July 6, 2000 19:30h San Francisco County Fair Building 9th Ave/Lincoln Ave in Golden Gate Park Free For more info, call 415-863-3749

-- Wolfgang Schubert (chouby@aol.com), April 28, 2000.

There were, and are, several species of birds amongst the dunes. The Audobon Society is definately the best bet for a decent list. One bird that's received much press lately is the Bank Swallow (riparia riparia), which is common nationally, but listed as threatened within California. Fort Funston now hosts one of the only two coastal colonies of Bank Swallows--the other being at Ano Nuevo State Park.

-- George Durgerian (usfour@mindspring.com), November 22, 2000.