Fall shorebird migration
Wed, 25 Jul 2001 10:55:10 -0700
From: Tom Condit
This is outside the geographical area of this list, but may have local [ramifications? import?] as well.
Marsha Feinland, Gene Kitimata and I took a walk out to Abbott's Lagoon [at Point Reyes in Marin County] Tuesday afternoon. The south side of the lagoon is roped off to protect Snowy Plover habitat, and a flock of about 50 American White Pelicans and an equal number of Caspian Terns have taken advantage of the peaceful shoreline as a roosting place.
Walking north on the beach, we encountered a couple of flocks of Sanderlings in partial breeding plumage - a very different looking bird from our normal winter Sanderling, and one people may want to keep an eye out for on Bay shores in the next week or two. Other than that, our shorebirds were one Whimbrel (flying overhead) and one immature Snowy Plover.
There's a lot of yellowish roe in the surf, and if this is herring spawn it may turn up in the Bay as well. About 100 Brown Pelicans were fishing energetically, pursued by Heermann's Gulls.
There are a lot of California Quail on the trail in from the parking lot, several families.
Other birds seen:
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorants
Great Blue Herons (2)
Western Gulls
first-year Ring-billed Gull
Gadwalls (?) (too far for positive identification)
Barn Swallows
Cliff Swallows
American Crow
White-crowned Sparrows
Song Sparrows
Savannah Sparrows
Brewer's Blackbirds
Selasphorus hummingbirds
Turkey Vultures
Osprey (two, one with wire or fishline tangled on leg)
Red-tailed Hawk
Unidentified raptor flushed from side of trail - all brown back
Wrentit (plus several more singing or calling)
American Goldfinches
plus several Brush Rabbits and what looked like a turtle swimming rapidly in the inner pond.
Tom Condit
Deer Creek Trail in Briones Regional Park
Thu, 26 Jul 2001 15:38:22 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
This morning I hiked up Deer Creek Trail from the Bear Creek Staging Area in Briones Regional Park. It was sunny but not hot - I was comfortable hiking up the slope in a sweatshirt and vest. The trail is a fairly gentle slope on a smooth fire road (elevation gain of about 200 feet in two-thirds of a mile).
The trail is near the creek in a valley with nice bay and oak riparian woods. There were quite a few birds, though they were fairly shy. The only somewhat unusual one I spotted was an Ash-throated Flycatcher.
At the top of the wooded part of the valley, the trail meets a cross trail, with a sign pointing left to Pereira Trail and right to Briones Crest Trail. Right by this intersection is a small lagoon (cattle-watering pond), with a snag and a few large bushes or small trees at its upstream end. If Black Phoebes had a "Home Beautiful" magazine, this pond would be suited for a cover feature article. Sure enough, I soon spotted the resident Black Phoebe.
In half an hour by the upstream end of this pond, I also saw Lesser Goldfinch, Spotted Towhee, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, House Finch, Hutton's Vireo, House Wren, and three Red-tailed Hawks soaring overhead. I think there were also a couple of other birds hanging around the area that I couldn't identify. One might have been Cassin's Vireo, but it wasn't making any noises.
I walked back to the parking area on the Briones Crest Trail, but I recommend this segment of trail only to those who are energetic and sure of foot. It is a narrow footpath with uneven surface (slippery in spots) and several very steep sections, as well as being entirely out in the open sun. Nice views, though.
They are doing prescribed burns this week for the yellow star-thistle. Today they were burning up along the ridge above the Maricich and Sindicich Lagoons. I don't know where they're planning to burn tomorrow.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
White Pelicans at Martin Luther King Jr
Shoreline, Oakland
Sat, 28 Jul 2001 10:45:39 -0700
From: Mike Ezekiel
This morning - about 1 hour ago - I saw 5 American White Pelicans in the pond next to the Model Airplane site on Doolittle Rd (just across from the entrance to Harbor Bay in Alameda). This pond is part of the Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline.
At Arrowhead/Mitigation Marsh, nothing unusual but lots of Marbled Godwits, dowitchers, yellowlegs, Willets, Black-bellied Plovers and Western Sandpipers.
Also Black-necked Stilts, American Avocets, Killdeer, Forster's and Caspian Terns, Brown Pelican, Great and Snowy Egrets, 4 or 5 Turkey Vultures in a group, Common Ravens, Mallard and one Pintail, Barn Swallow, miscellaneous gulls, Great Blue Heron, etc.
Several birders reported a Loggerhead Shrike and Semipalmated Plover - I didnt see either.
The Burrowing Owls continue to be absent.
Mike Ezekiel
Oakland
P.S. If you visit today, you may notice a substantial portion of the fence at Mitigation Marsh entrance road is destroyed - 40 or 50 feet - from an obvious auto accident. A park maintenance worker told me she was going to put up temporary fencing.
This is the second accident that I have seen in the last month - it seems that this lovely park is becoming a cruising spot. Anyone else have any experiences similar. She also said that they are planning to pave the road - which may greatly increase the cruising.
Martin Luther King Shoreline Sunday morning
Mon, 30 Jul 2001 15:11:11 -0700
From: Courtenay Peddle
Hello folks,
I'm just back from the land of Mistle Thrushes and Bluetits, and my first trip to Oakland's Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline turned up this list. Oddly, not one coot!
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
Greater Scaup (Aythya marila)
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Great Egret (Ardea alba)
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)
Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris)
Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)
Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)
Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus)
Black Turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala)
Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus)
Red Knot (Calidris canutus)
Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri)
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)
Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana)
Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus)
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
California Gull (Larus californicus)
Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens)
Western Gull (Larus occidentalis)
Caspian Tern (Sterna caspia)
Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri)
Least Tern (Sterna antillarum)
Rock Dove (Columba livia)
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia)
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Common Raven (Corvus corax)
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris)
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)
Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus)
46 species
Good birding!
Courtenay Peddle