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Observation Society
Habitat Restoration Series
San Francisco Bay Tidal Marsh
San Francisco Bay has the largest expanses of tidal marsh habitat on the West Coast of the United States. Tidal marshes are unique, multi-beneficial ecosystems. It is crucial we protect them so they can continue to shield us from rising seas, sequester carbon, produce oxygen, and house species found nowhere else.
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Western Pygmy-Blue Butterfly
For being the smallest butterfly in North America with a wing span of ½ to ¾ inch, this insect fulfills a big and important role in the San Francisco Bay tidal marsh ecosystem. It pollinates the native marsh plants as it drinks nectar from their tiny flowers, which helps the plants reproduce and provide shelter and food for rails, harvest mice, and other marsh residents.
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Black Rail
You will probably never see a Black Rail due to their ninja-like stealth. They may be the most secretive of marsh birds. However, you can hear them when they make their distinctive, burry kee-kee-ker call. The California Black Rail is state-threatened due to the loss of tidal marsh habitat. While the Black Rail likes to keep its toes in the mud, sea level rise is pushing them into dangerous areas, increasing the need to give them more space to hide.
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Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse
Endemic to the marshes of the San Francisco Bay and listed as Federally and State Endangered, this tiny mammal thrives in saline and brackish habitats. They are the only mammal species in the world that is entirely restricted to coastal marshes, and they can swim for up to 2 hours and drink salt water! Habitat loss and degradation threaten their existence. Conservation efforts are crucial to preserve these marshlands and ensure the survival of this special species.
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Salt Marsh Common Yellowthroat
The Salt Marsh Common Yellowthroat is a subspecies of the wider-ranging Common Yellowthroat, and is the only warbler endemic to San Francisco Bay’s tidal marshes. It is a Bird Species of Special Concern and prefers slightly taller vegetation like tule and cattails for nesting. Even with the male’s bright yellow color, it can often be hard to see, but you may catch its call that sounds like a rubber band snapping!
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Ridgway's Rail
Affectionately dubbed “marsh chicken,” the California Ridgway’s Rail, is a secretive, Federally and State Endangered marsh bird endemic to the tidal marshes of San Francisco Bay. Surrounded by 7 million people who also call the Bay Area home, it needs help to compete for real estate. As of 2021, there were an estimated 1,400 rails. Through restoration and protections, biologists are aiming for a stable population of 5,400 individuals.
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Pickleweed
Neither a pickle nor a weed, this plant is the humble yet salty character that holds it all together out there in the San Francisco Bay tidal marshes. It provides food for the salt marsh harvest mice, shelter for rails, nectar for butterflies, and it plays a key role in absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and creating the spongy habitat that helps soak up water when tides and sea levels rise.
1
Western Pygmy-Blue Butterfly
For being the smallest butterfly in North America with a wing span of ½ to ¾ inch, this insect fulfills a big and important role in the San Francisco Bay tidal marsh ecosystem. It pollinates the native marsh plants as it drinks nectar from their tiny flowers, which helps the plants reproduce and provide shelter and food for rails, harvest mice, and other marsh residents.
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Salt Marsh Common Yellowthroat
The Salt Marsh Common Yellowthroat is a subspecies of the wider-ranging Common Yellowthroat, and is the only warbler endemic to San Francisco Bay’s tidal marshes. It is a Bird Species of Special Concern and prefers slightly taller vegetation like tule and cattails for nesting. Even with the male’s bright yellow color, it can often be hard to see, but you may catch its call that sounds like a rubber band snapping!
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Black Rail
You will probably never see a Black Rail due to their ninja-like stealth. They may be the most secretive of marsh birds. However, you can hear them when they make their distinctive, burry kee-kee-ker call. The California Black Rail is state-threatened due to the loss of tidal marsh habitat. While the Black Rail likes to keep its toes in the mud, sea level rise is pushing them into dangerous areas, increasing the need to give them more space to hide.
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Ridgway's Rail
Affectionately dubbed “marsh chicken,” the California Ridgway’s Rail, is a secretive, Federally and State Endangered marsh bird endemic to the tidal marshes of San Francisco Bay. Surrounded by 7 million people who also call the Bay Area home, it needs help to compete for real estate. As of 2021, there were an estimated 1,400 rails. Through restoration and protections, biologists are aiming for a stable population of 5,400 individuals.
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Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse
Endemic to the marshes of the San Francisco Bay and listed as Federally and State Endangered, this tiny mammal thrives in saline and brackish habitats. They are the only mammal species in the world that is entirely restricted to coastal marshes, and they can swim for up to 2 hours and drink salt water! Habitat loss and degradation threaten their existence. Conservation efforts are crucial to preserve these marshlands and ensure the survival of this special species.
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Pickleweed
Neither a pickle nor a weed, this plant is the humble yet salty character that holds it all together out there in the San Francisco Bay tidal marshes. It provides food for the salt marsh harvest mice, shelter for rails, nectar for butterflies, and it plays a key role in absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and creating the spongy habitat that helps soak up water when tides and sea levels rise.
More About the
SF TIDAL MARSH
A tidal marsh consists of several interconnected layers that slope gently up from sea level to saturated muddy soil to dry ground. Each elevation level has a set of plants and animals that are uniquely adapted to the specific conditions present. The marsh is a dynamic landscape that changes with tidal movement of salty bay water, fresh river and creek water flows, and rain and runoff from seasonal storms.
There are two major ways that people restore tidal marshes around the SF Bay: breaching levees to allow tidal flow to return to the land and planting a mosaic of native, marsh adapted plants in the transition zones between the mid-marsh and the upland.
Due to development, agriculture, and other forms of habitat degradation, we have lost close to 80% (150,000 acres) of tidal marsh habitat around the SF Bay since 1800. But starting in the late 1980s that trend has slowed and began to reverse. Organizations (including Point Blue), agencies, and communities are working together across the region towards a goal of restoring 125,000 acres of tidal marsh.
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