Hooded Merganser at Jewel Lake
Sat, 2 Dec 2000 12:30:36 PST
From: Helen Green
There was a female Hooded Merganser at Jewel Lake in Tilden Regional Park Nature Area (Berkeley Hills) this morning, Saturday, December 2.
Helen
Winter Wrens at Joaquin Miller Park
Sun, 03 Dec 2000 17:30:34 -0800
From: Tom Condit
Sunday, 3 Dec 2000, Joaquin Miller Park, Oakland:
There was a small flock of Winter Wrens near the top of the Fern Ravine Trail just below the little wetland at the top.
There was a small group of California Quail above the Sequoia-Bay View Trail just west of the junction with Fern Ravine.
Other birds:
Red-breasted Nuthatches
Chestnut-backed Chickadees
Dark-eyed Juncos
American Robins
Brown Creeper
Tom Condit
Hermit Warbler at UC Botanical Garden
Sun, 03 Dec 2000 17:46:30 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
On Lillian Fujii's Golden Gate Audubon Society birdwalk this morning at UC Botanical Garden (on Centennial Dr above the campus), we had great views of a Hermit Warbler up near the wooden water tanks.
We saw single Selasphorus hummingbirds at two widely separated locations, one in the MesoAmerican area.
We also had great looks at small numbers of Golden-crowned Kinglets and Townsend's Warblers. There were very many robins around, but no Varied Thrushes were seen, and only one sparrow (a Song Sparrow).
The partial albino Red-tailed Hawk was soaring above for some time.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Pileated Woodpecker(s) in Redwood Regional
Park
Sun, 3 Dec 2000 20:15:20 PST
From: Steve Glover
Hello all,
Most of you could probably care less about county lines but I am interested in exactly where the Redwood Regional Park Pileated Woodpecker(s?) have been seen [see reports to this list in November and earlier]. The intersection of West Ridge Trail and French Trail is clearly in Contra Costa County as is nearly every bit of the park in this area. At this point the Alameda / Contra Costa county line is running roughly north/south with Alameda to the west and Contra Costa to the east. The line appears to very closely run along the top of the ridge to the west, making it appear that the yards to the west of the West Ridge/French are in Alameda but nearly all of the slopes leading down to the West Ridge Trail are in Contra Costa County. Clearly Roy Carlson's sighting was in Contra Costa County.
If you bird this area and find anything interesting please try to provide as exact directions as possible when posting to EBbird.
Steve Glover
Dublin
Barrow's Goldeneyes at Berkeley Aquatic
Park
Sun, 3 Dec 2000 20:46:10 PST
From: Brian Fitch
I was guiding the Chickadee Club walk today at Aquatic Park in Berkeley. Just to clarify John Poole's message on the telephone birdbox [415.681.7422], there were 2 drake Barrow's Goldeneyes on the main pond, at the foot of Bancroft Way and by the new playground.
Brian Fitch
Missing quail, Eurasian Wigeon
Mon, 04 Dec 2000 18:40:36 -0800
From: Lillian Fujii
Thanks to Larry for submitting the report re UC Botanical Garden on December 3. Another subject of note re UC Botanical Garden: there were no California Quail. Quail have been at the garden on past Christmas Bird Counts, but none were seen or heard last year, and we've not had them at the garden on several visits this year. I don't know why and would appreciate knowing if anyone else sees quail at the garden.
On December 2, there was a male Eurasian Wigeon at Arrowhead Marsh in Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline, Oakland. There were also several thousand scaup, most of them Greater Scaup, a male Barrow's Goldeneye, a Peregrine Falcon, and a Merlin. We missed the Blue-winged Teal, but you can't expect to see everything.
Happy birding. Lillian Fujii
Oakland bird count
Tue, 05 Dec 2000 14:18:36 -0800
From: Tom Condit
Dear friends,
Just a reminder that the winter bird count [Christmas Bird Count] for Oakland (a 15-mile circle centered near Highland Hospital) will be on Sunday, December 17. Contact the Golden Gate Audubon Society office (510.843.2222) for details.
As always, we can use volunteer bird-seekers of all levels of expertise for this all-day activity (sunrise to sunset, followed by a delicious vegetarian dinner).
Tom Condit
Strange wigeon?
Tue, 5 Dec 2000 09:41:44 -0800
From: Judy
At Lake Merritt in Oakland today a duck came up close to me at the beach for cracked corn. It had the coloring of a Eurasian Wigeon except it had pink bill with black tip and pink feet! It also had a strange raspy hoarse voice. Could it be a mixed breed or something else? It was a beautiful duck. Not in Audubon book - checked both West and East Audubon books.
Re: Strange wigeon?
Wed, 06 Dec 2000 04:53:18 -0800
From: Mike Feighner
Judy and East Bay Birders:
Yes, what you have may be a hybrid, but the male Eurasian-American Wigeon hybrids I am familiar with look like male Eurasian Wigeons but have the green patch on the face of an American Wigeon.
As Steve Glover has requested let's all please start getting used to including either Alameda or Contra Costa County in the post. True, most of us know where Lake Merritt is, but some time well may get a transplanted birder from somewhere else who is learning the area and has no clue. I know this from personal experience. Many of you know I get posts from other listserves throughout the state since I am interested in County Birding. It is really difficult at times since there birders all think every reader is a local. How about a short post like this over Central Valley Birds: "We saw a Towsend's Solitaire on Riverbank Road." Now that could be anywhere between Redding and Bakersfield. It was actually in Davis in Yolo County, but in the mean-time I have found a second Riverbank Road in Modesto in Stanislaus County.
Readers of this post please note that as a courtesy to the originator of this post I did not do a "reply to all" but rather swapped the address with the list address. Judy does not need a duplicate of this post. She gets EBB and doesn't need a second post of the same thing.
Mike Feighner, Livermore, CA
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