Garrity Lake
Mon, 11 Dec 2000 10:06:59 -0800
From: Tom Condit
I'm forwarding this from Rusty Scalf. The description of the area sounds right. I've never heard this called "Garrity Lake," but Lisa Viani says it's definitely a dam across Garrity Creek.
Note Rusty's point that the willows below the dam are probably new.
Rusty Scalf wrote:
Tom, I can receive EBB from work but cannot post to it. Could you do me a favor? Could you read this, and if I seem to have the right place, could post this for me?
Thanks,
Rusty ScalfIs this the place known as Garrity Lake? Does one enter next to a YMCA? Are there hundreds of apartments on the east hillside? Are there some new homes on along the south side? Does it seem to take runoff water from Hilltop Mall?
For the past three springs Ruddy Duck, Gadwall and Pied-billed Grebe all seemed like they were going to nest there. Yet I was never able to confirm nesting of any. Very frustrating. It's a Mallard factory though. I was astounded to find a Purple Finch nest in the willows. Doesn't seem remotely like Purple Finch habitat.
I wonder how old the willow woodlands are (around and below the lake). They might be a new phenomenon since the lake was created, because they do not seem to have the complement of willow-loving species one might expect (Wilson's Warbler, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, for example).
Rusty Scalf, Oakland CA
Posted to EBbird by Tom Condit
Original Message Subject Index
Redwood Regional Park
Mon, 11 Dec 2000 10:08:49 -0800
From: Tom Condit
Redwood Regional Park, Oakland, 10 December 2000
On December 10, Marsha Feinland and I took an early afternoon hike around part of the southwest corner of Redwood Regional Park. We started at the archery range and walked over the Graham Trail to the Dunn Trail, then back on Baccharis Trail to West Ridge Trail and return. All of this area is, I believe, within the City of Oakland (Alameda County).
Birds seen or heard:
Band-tailed Pigeon
Western Scrub-Jay
Common Raven
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit (one solitary one, in company with Hutton's vireos)
American Robin
Varied Thrush
Wrentit
Hutton's Vireo
California Towhee
Fox Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
The Varied Thrush was on the Dunn Trail just below the junction with Baccharis. The Band-tailed Pigeon was calling from the area of Roberts Regional Recreation Area.
Weather was cool and overcast, with not much overall bird activity.
Tom Condit
Eastern Contra Costa County, 10 December
Mon, 11 Dec 2000 12:07:00 PST
From: Steve Glover
Hello everyone,
I spent yesterday morning at a few spots in eastern Contra Costa County and turned up a few interesing things.
At Marsh Creek Reservoir on Marsh Creek Rd west of Brentwood there was a Green Heron (hard to find in winter), 11 Wood Ducks, and 3 Hooded Mergansers. The woodies were out in the open, the hoodies were under overhanging trees in the back. Be patient here and walk up and down the road to scope through the trees from as many angles as possible.
Five Cattle Egrets were along Delta Rd near Knightsen. Nine Yellow-billed Magpies (a new county high) were along Delta Rd near Knightsen.
At Holland Tract there were lots of waterbirds in flight and off in the distance but several flocks of Tundra Swans came in pretty close and a couple of mixed flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese, Snow Geese, and Ross's Geese came in pretty close. One of these contained the third county record of "Blue" Snow Goose. A flock of 2700 Tricolored Blackbirds contained at least one Yellow-headed Blackbird after thorough scoping.
Steve Glover
Dublin
Rail habitat damage in Alameda
Mon, 11 Dec 2000 14:43:47 PST
From: Mark Rauzon
Hi All,
In checking out the high tide at Elsie Rohmer Sanctuary in Alameda, I saw a crew of workers cutting the vegetation in front of the home owners down to the high tide line, eliminating any cover for rails. I spoke to the supervisor who was with the East Bay Conservation Corps. under contract to City of Alameda Public Works. I explained the situation of endangered Clapper Rails and high tides, and it appears to be a conflict of information and timing. They didn't stop because of my request however, and the overseer at the city was out sick today. A homeowner also approached and told the young man it was a good job they were doing - so here in a nutshell is the dilemma; private land use and endangered species management. If you wish to share an opinion with the City, call Marge McLean 510.749.5896.
Saw a Sora north of the boardwalk, and at Arrowhead Marsh [Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline, Oakland] saw no rails, but did spot a banded juvenile Red-tailed Hawk eating a ground squirrel. The hawk has a metal band on left leg and the last three digits may be 138.
Mark Rauzon
Merlin at Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland
Mon, 11 Dec 2000 15:15:14 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
I am forwarding this message for Scott Lambert:
Merlin at Mountain View Cemetery
Mon, 11 Dec 2000 15:05:28 PST
From: Scott LambertTheir is a Merlin wintering in Mountain View Cemetery at the north end of Piedmont Ave in Oakland. Walk around and look in the tall trees without leaves. I believe it is its third winter here.
Scott
Posted to EBbird by Larry Tunstall
Manual recount of Barrow's Goldeneyes
Mon, 11 Dec 2000 17:41:58 -0800
From: Kirk Swenson
In accord with Friday's ruling of the Florida Supreme Court (and before the stay ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday) I felt inspired to conduct a manual recount of the Barrow's Goldeneyes in Martinez. The need for this, as in many Florida counties, arises from the possibility of "undervotes" - i.e., birds that were not registered as valid goldeneyes in the original machine (i.e., train) count. Due to the difficulty of separating the goldeneyes that were and were not counted in the original train-assisted count, it was felt that a complete manual recount was warranted in this instance. I can only hope that this will not provide grounds for overturning the count on appeal.... ;-)
On Saturday morning at around 10:00 I drove out to Carquinez Scenic Drive. As Steve Glover suggested in his previous message on the topic, Carquinez Scenic Drive proceeds west from Martinez up in the hills above the straits for about two miles before the road is closed. Near the end of the road there is a some sort of industrial plant (pumping station?) which extends out into the water as a T-shaped pier. From the train, I have usually seen the Barrow's Goldeneye flock near this T-shaped pier. On Saturday morning, there were a handful of both Common Goldeneyes and Barrow's Goldeneyes to the east of the pier, and the larger flock of Barrow's Goldeneyes was just west of the pier. This larger flock was this time, as I had seen it to be from the train, almost completely solidly Barrow's Goldeneyes, with just a few Commons near the edges of the group. After several counts and recounts I consistently came up with about 125 Barrow's Goldeneyes, obviously including both males and females. Over the next hour or so, the flock gradually broke apart with some birds flying off further west, some birds flying across the straits into Solano County, and others heading off to the east of the pier. Thus, at times there were several smaller flocks of 30 to 40 birds rather than a single large flock. But by about 11:30, the large flock had reassembled once again, this time about a couple hundred yards to the east of the same pier. This flock was more cohesive and fewer birds were actively feeding, which made it easier to get an accurate count. Several counts led to what I felt to be a fairly accurate/precise count of 135 birds. Once again, there were a few Commons at the fringes of the group, but the interior of the Barrow's flock showed quite a bit of cohesion. Over time, the flock extended itself into more of a linear arrangement along the shoreline and began to look as though it were on its way to breaking up into smaller groups as it had done earlier in the day. This sequence may well recur throughout the day as the flock splits apart and coalesces again. There may well be more Barrow's Goldeneyes out there that didn't happen to join the flock at that time.
As a practical matter, there are only a few spots along the two miles of Carquinez Scenic Drive that provide good opportunities for birding the shoreline, because the vegetation obscures the view in many places. There are East Bay Regional Park signs along the way that are numbered, and the two outlooks I found most useful are near the signs numbered 13 and 17. (As an added bonus, while standing at the overlook near sign 17, a mixed landbird flock pushed through which contained two or three Hutton's Vireos.)
In response to a question I asked of him directly, Steve Glover wrote: "If there are 100 it would likely be the largest flock recorded in the East Bay and certainly the most ever in Contra Costa where the old record appears to be 54. There are many records from Lake Merritt [Oakland] of 60 or 70 birds but it is always unclear how many of the female types that people are counting. The same also always pertains to the Berkeley Redhead flock." Thus, this would appear to be a significant record.
Kirk Swenson
Davis, CA (formerly in El Cerrito)
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