Least Terns & Red Knot
Tue, 11 Jul 2000 15:24:16 PDT
From: Brian Fitch
At the Albany Mudflats this morning, there were three recently hatched Least Tern chicks on the western shellmound off of Central Ave. At 9 AM, a single Red Knot in basic plumage was on the Buchanan St side of the mudflats, by the viewing platforms.
Brian Fitch
Re: Fwd: [SBB] Clapper Rail at A's Game,
8 July
Wed, 12 Jul 2000 14:31:45 PDT
From: Doug Greenberg
Michael Mammoser wrote:
I don't know how many of you were watching the Oakland A's play baseball on Saturday night, but they had a bird on the playing field that night. A close up of this bird showed it to be a Clapper Rail. I know that these birds are prone to dispersal, especially in the fall (they have even been found on street corners in San Francisco), but this seems like an early date. Still, I suppose that it was just a dispersant juvenile.
Did it get off of the field safely? That ranks right up there on the "rare birds seen at ballparks" list. I saw a Golden Eagle at an A's game years ago, and one time a closeup of a Sora was shown during a TV broadcast of a preseason NFL game being played at Soldier Field in Chicago. John Madden asked "What kinda bird is that?" So I sent him photocopied pages from a field guide showing him that it was indeed a Sora. Madden sent me thanks and an autographed photo.
The most unusual bird I have seen at a ball game was what from all appearances was an Ashy Petrel fluttering around the lights at a Giants-Cubs NLCS playoff game in October 1989 at Candlestick Park. I recall contacting Joe Morlan about it at the time.
Doug Greenberg
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Proposed PRBO Alameda County Big Day
Wed, 12 Jul 2000 18:30:07 -0700
From: Mike Feighner
East-Bay-Birders:
I am contemplating doing an Alameda County Big Day around September 16 but would like to create a team. Preferred would be one team member who "knows the ropes around Alameda County" as I am a transplant to this county. This is a Point Reyes Bird Observatory event, and this is the first year Alameda County is not yet represented. If we do a big day in Alameda County, we already have a sponsor that will rake in $750 for the PRBO.
Mike Feighner, Livermore, CA
Re: Fwd: [SBB] Clapper Rail at A's Game,
8 July
Wed, 12 Jul 2000 20:27:21 -0700
From: Martha Lowe
Thanks for identifying that bird at the A's game! I was there with some friends, two of whom are also birders and we couldn't figure out what it was, not having our field guides with us....
The poor thing finally did make it out of the stadium but only after flying the full circle of the arena about 20 or 30 times. People were pouring onto the playing field to watch the post-game fireworks and the bird had nowhere to set down. It finally gained enough altitude and almost made it up and over the stadium wall ... (we were watching all this with bated breath) ... but ended up crashing into the bleachers instead. We could see people up there craning their necks and hovering around it for a minute or so and then it managed to take off again, this time flying straight across the field and through the gap between the new and old bleachers, just above the flags. That bird has some story to tell. We cheered just as loudly at the bird's escape as we had earlier when the A's hit a grand slam!
Martha
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Re: Proposed PRBO Alameda County Big Day
Thu, 13 Jul 2000 20:00:33 -0700
From: Patty Donald
Hi,
I coordinate the East Bay Coastal Clean-up for Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville and want to let you know that the International clean-up is scheduled for Sept 16. I'm not sure what a "Big Day" is, but maybe it could be in conjunction with the clean-up. At least you should know it is happening on that day. We need all the volunteers we can get, too. We usually get around 1,125 for that area. There are at least 5 other sites in Alameda county alone which generate a couple thousand more volunteers who pick up trash which endangers wildlife - "Birds" specifically. Let me know if I can help or if you want to help.
Thanks
Patty Donald
City of Berkeley
Shorebird Nature Center
www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/parks/marina/marinaexp/
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