Hayward Regional Shoreline - Fall arrivals
Wed, 20 Sep 2000 11:48:34 -0700
From: Sheila Junge
It was a beautiful and birdy Fall morning around the Hayward Regional Shoreline parking lot at the end of West Winton Avenue. Seen today were Yellow (many), Orange-crowned, and Yellow-rumped Warblers; Common Yellowthroats; Fox, Lincoln's, and White-crowned Sparrows (and a particularly stunning Song Sparrow); and a Pacific-slope Flycatcher.
Good Birding!
Sheila Junge
Hayward
Coyote Hills on Saturday 16 September
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2000 15:09:29 -0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)
From: Vijay Ramachandran
Hello.
Saturday morning birding at Coyote Hills Regional Park (Fremont) produced many birds in the wooded area above the visitor center. There were many Yellow Warblers (15+), mostly in faded fall plumage (and it is very possible that I could've missed something more rare), and a few Orange-crowned and Wilson's Warblers. There were 5 or 6 Pacific-slope Flycatchers, and 2 Warbling Vireos, and a singing California Thrasher. There were a few Golden-crowned and White-crowned Sparrows, too. A gray fox was around most of the time, too.
Thanks to the folks who pointed me to this wonderful place!
good birding,
Vijay
Alameda South Shore
Thu, 21 Sep 2000 19:06:27 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
This morning I joined Willie & Friends on Ohlone Audubon Society's fieldtrip to the South Shore area of Alameda.
Near the south end of Crown Memorial Beach, there were close to a hundred Sanderlings, at least one retaining much of its breeding plumage. There were similar numbers of Black-bellied Plovers (a few with black bellies) and Willets, and even more Marbled Godwits. In smaller numbers were Least Sandpipers, Western Sandpipers, dowitchers, and Long-billed Curlews. Black-necked Stilts and Killdeer were in small numbers in Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary.
On the breakwater and beach sands, there were around 15 Elegant Terns, with a single Common Tern among them. There were perhaps two dozen Forster's Terns.
The gulls were mostly Ring-billed Gulls, with a fair number of Western Gulls, but we did see two Heermann's Gulls and at least one California Gull. There were several Double-crested Cormorants around.
We heard Clapper Rails calling in the marsh, but didn't see them. We saw only a couple of Brown Pelicans, a few Canada Geese, and less than a dozen Mallards and a lone Surf Scoter. No other ducks yet.
Other birds seen in the area were American Coot, European Starling, Mourning Dove, Turkey Vulture, House Sparrow, Bushtit, Rock Dove, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, and Red-winged Blackbird.
A quick trip down to Harbor Bay Parkway at the end of the morning added only Great Blue Heron, Brewer's Blackbird, American Avocet, Red-tailed Hawk, and Pied-billed Grebe.
A parenthetical note for those who might be interested: The new bird guide by Kenn Kaufman is in at least some bookstores now. This is the one that uses computer-modified photographs, "trimmed" and presented on the page like paintings. In fact, the book has much the visual appearance of the Golden Guide. It fits in the pocket and has nice quick index and color tab features. It is not in strict taxonomic order. It has some features that I like, but overall I think I still prefer "All the Birds" as my standard pocket guide, with NGS as backup for trickier IDs. However, Kaufman does some nice things - such as a sample of the actual range of appearances in House Finches as a warning in the introduction to beginners not to count too heavily on the guide illustrations. The title of the book is "Kaufman Focus Guides: Birds of North America".
The highly anticipated Sibley book (more a home reference than a field guide) is due in October. Amazon.com has sample pages from both books.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Black-and-white Warbler near Lake Anza
Sat, 23 Sep 2000 15:15:28 PDT
From: Collin Murphy
Hi, EBBers!
This afternoon about 2:30 PM I found a Black-and-white Warbler near Lake Anza (Tilden Regional Park, Contra Costa County). It was in an oak tree along with a Townsend's Warbler, two Oak Titmice, several Chestnut-backed Chickadees and a male Nuttall's Woodpecker. The Black-and-white Warbler appeared to be a female, at least the cheek patch was not prominent.
To find this very nice tree, start at the bridge at the northwest end of Lake Anza (below the parking lot for the lake), walk north along the asphalt path with the picnic tables and turn a sharp right past the tables down a short dead-end trail (past pumping equipment for the lake) to the large live oak. Hope someone else will find and enjoy this beautiful bird!
Collin Murphy