Lake Merritt
Sat, 25 May 2002 17:20:39 -0500
From: Marc Rumminger
In the last few weeks the wildlife sanctuary in Lake Merritt (downtown Oakland) has undergone significant changes. The flocks of scaups, Canvasbacks, and Ruddy Ducks have flown north. Cormorants, egrets and herons have returned. Algae and other microscopic marine organisms are making a huge show of force in the shallows through masses of green-white-yellow blobs.
Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets are abundant on the islands near the Rotary Nature Center (north side of the Lake, near Grand Ave), and there are many nests and chicks. Adult birds have breeding plumage, such as long feathers on their backs, and are occasionally all poofed out. Cormorants are nesting high in the trees. This morning, I saw several Great Egret chicks, including a few testing their wings. There are Snowy Egret chicks in several different nests, and some cormorant chicks in the trees.
Black-crowned Night-Herons appear to be nesting deep in the vegetation on the islands, so chick sightings may be difficult.
Marc Rumminger
Oakland, CA
Riggs Canyon & nesting Pelagic Cormorant,
Contra Costa County
Sat, 25 May 2002 15:42:36 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello all,
Just a few sightings from the past couple of days, all from Contra Costa County.
Yesterday, May 24, I birded Riggs Canyon on the flanks of Mount Diablo near Blackhawk. This is a great canyon without too many people most days. To get there exit Hwy 680 at Sycamore Valley Rd in Danville. Head east toward the mountain several miles through Blackhawk. A couple of miles after Blackhawk, the road will take a severe right turn. On the left is Finley Rd. Go down Finley Rd to the end and double back. There is no parking at the end, so turn around and park at the first place that doesn't have any "no parking" signs. The mouth of the canyon by the house has Canyon Wrens, though I didn't have them yesterday. Walk into the canyon, which for the first half-mile or so will be shady oak bay woodland, containing all three species of vireo. When it opens back up again be ready for Lazuli Buntings and Chipping Sparrows as they are both absolutely abundant here. The Chipping Sparrows are already feeding young out of the nest. Other breeding confirmations included Ash-throated Flycatcher, Hairy Woodpecker, and Nuttall's Woodpecker. At the other end of the open area, I took the left hand fork which drops down and stays with the creek. In here was a decent little migrant flock for so late which included a small flock of Cedar Waxwings, 6 to 8 Wilson's Warblers (mostly singing males), 4+ Yellow Warblers, a singing Townsend's Warbler, and a pair of Western Tanagers that are probably actually breeders. I ended up with about 50 species which is typical for here, including just about all of the typical birds of savannah and oak woodland habitats. A high percentage of birds now either have young out of the nest or soon will, with Oregon Junco, Western Scrub-Jay, Chestnut-backed Chickadee and Oak Titmouse young being particularly conspicuous.
This morning I went out to check West Brothers Island near the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge, as this is where the only county nest record of Pelagic Cormorant came from. There is currently a single nest there with an adult laying down on a small cliff ledge, presumably incubating eggs. There was a second bird swimming in the water below. This is the first confirmation for the atlas project.
Good birding,
Steve Glover Dublin
Black Point Trail, Mount Diablo
Sat, 25 May 2002 17:11:50 PDT
From: Denise Wight
Hi E.B. Birders,
Today I thought I would check out the Mitchell Canyon area of Mount Diablo State Park (near Clayton) to see if I could find any Black-chinned Sparrows. I heard one singing way up on the chaparral-covered hillside, north of White Canyon, but could not locate it. Near the top of White Canyon I came upon the Black Point Trail, an intriguing-looking path through the chaparral, which I had never been on. Although I didn't have any water, I thought it looked perfect for Black-chinned Sparrows, and it was only 2.9 miles back to Mitchell Canyon Rd! I came across 3 singing Black-chinned Sparrows, one seen well, and one singing about 10 feet from me. I counted 4 Sage Sparrows, one perched for me to see that it was carrying food. There were so many singing male Lazuli Buntings, that I decided to stop counting.
This is a difficult, steep trail in spots, I was covered with ticks from time to time, and carrying water is most highly recommended, but the birds and the view are inspirational. I never met another person on the entire Black Point Trail (on a Saturday in a State Park!) It was a great experience to see these sparrows in such a lovely setting.
There were also 2 Yellow Warblers, 5 Western Tanagers (not one was an adult male), and the usual spring Mitchell Canyon birds.
Denise Wight
Martinez, CA
Sunol Regional Wilderness
Sat, 25 May 2002 18:43:07 -0700
From: Dennis Braddy
EastBayBirders,
I birded Sunol Regional Wilderness near Sunol today, May 25, starting in the parking lot nearest the visitor center just after 7:00 AM. Half of the 50 species I identified were seen in the first hour within 100 yards of the nearby footbridge. It took six more hours and a number of miles to collect the other half.
From the bridge a Red-shouldered Hawk nest can be seen close up. Both an adult and a fluffy white chick were clearly visible. On my way out I trained the spotting scope on the nest for a while and invited the children and adults passing by to have a look. They were clearly thrilled with the view.
After birding the parking lot and the creek near the footbridge, I ascended Flag Hill Trail. At Flag Hill summit, a Peregrine Falcon chased-off half a dozen Turkey Vultures that it deemed unwelcome in its area. The White-throated Swifts flashing by at eye level were very exciting.
From Flag Hill I followed Flag Hill Road to the High Valley Ranch. Along the way I watched approximately 30 American White Pelicans make their stately way down the valley to the west. Also along this stretch I flushed two Grasshopper Sparrows. One perched nearby in plain sight and proceeded to sing its heart out. Of course, it was lost on me; his entire song is above my frequency range! Near the ranch two Golden Eagles soared overhead. One landed on the ridge long enough for me to get good, long looks through the spotting scope. The contrasting head color was quite apparent even to these color-deficient eyes.
From the ranch I proceeded along Cave Rocks Road to Indian Joe Creek Trail and descended this trail to its junction with Canyon View Trail. From near this junction I watched an Olive-sided Flycatcher fly-catch for several minutes. A Cooper's Hawk circled in the distance.
I then birded my way back way back to the parking lot. Here's the full list:
Brewer's Blackbird
Western Bluebird
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
American Crow
Mourning Dove
Rock Dove
Mallard
Golden Eagle
Peregrine Falcon
House Finch
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Lawrence's Goldfinch
Lesser Goldfinch
Black-headed Grosbeak
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Green Heron
Anna's Hummingbird
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
Dark-eyed Junco
Western Kingbird
Yellow-billed Magpie
Western Meadowlark
White-breasted Nuthatch
Bullock's Oriole
American White Pelican
Black Phoebe
Killdeer
California Quail
Grasshopper Sparrow
European Starling
Cliff Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
White-throated Swift
Bushtit
Oak Titmouse
California Towhee
Spotted Towhee
Cassin's Vireo
Hutton's Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Turkey Vulture
Orange-crowned Warbler
Western Wood-Pewee
Acorn Woodpecker
Nuttall's Woodpecker
House Wren
Wrentit
Dennis Braddy
San Ramon
New Black Skimmer site in Alameda County
Sat, 25 May 2002 19:03:12 PDT
From: Phil Gordon
Greetings EBBers,
Yesterday 24 May 2002, I joined a San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory team to survey the Caspian Tern colony in pond B10 (northwesternmost) of the Eden Landing Ecological Preserve (Baumberg) just south of Hwy 92, Alameda County. About 100+ Caspian Terns were here and we marked 36 nests. Later, while checking a small Forster's Tern nesting colony island, pond B9, further south off a Cargill Salt levee (as they all are) a Black Skimmer flew to land on the small island and continued to remain there after we left (around 15 minutes). There had been one sighted about 0.75 mile north last year and the first Bay Area nesting was on an island in the effluent ponds of the Hayward Shoreline only about 1.5 mile north of here. This was a female that waved off several Forster's Tern byswoops, ducking each time, until the Forster's Terns left her alone. This island is isolated from the wandering Red Foxes seen this week (American Avocet nests on a nearby road-connected levee had been reduced from 19 to 2 from my breeding bird survey just 1.5 weeks before). If a male Black Skimmer shows up, we may have another nesting. Two eggs were in the Snowy Plover nest that just got its wire cage to keep Common Ravens et al out. Worrisome were the family of 5 Common Ravens seen near the Preserve, but the closer Toll Plaza nest is absent this year.
25 American White Pelicans did collective feeding near the Caspian Tern nests (9 of them had hauled out on the island, making it very crowded). Also, of note were 2 Red-necked Phalaropes not yet in the Arctic. A flange-faced baby Barn Swallow with its whitish belly and short tail was perched atop a 3-foot roadside stake and allowed us to stop for a look without flying.
On a positive note the prior visit indicated this area as a good migrant spot with 3 Western Kingbirds and one Ash-throated Flycatcher (14 May near Eden Landing Gate).
This Preserve has its California State Fish & Game-directed Plan completed and is scheduled for the two year "renovation" construction before the public will have access. We all look forward to that day.
Happy Birding,
Phil E. Gordon
Hayward, ALA Co.
Some Contra Costa County highlights
Sat, 25 May 2002 21:03:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: David Armstrong
Today I birded several locations in Contra Costa County with Matt Ricketts and Jamie Fenneman. Our first stop was at Mount Diablo where we managed to strike out on Black-chinned Sparrow but did have a singing Rufous-crowned Sparrow at the second pullout before the entrance gate on South Gate Rd. (Side note: the gate at the bottom of South Gate Rd was not opened until 7:15 AM today so there is really no point in being there earlier as we discovered today). We added 2 Sage Sparrows and California Thrasher on Summit Road. We then stopped at Juniper Campground where we had a singing Townsend's Warbler, then hiked part of the way along the trail to Deer Flat where we had calling flyover Lawrence's Goldfinch and were surprised to hear and see a calling Willow Flycatcher. Lark Sparrows were carrying food to a nest in this area as well.
We then headed to eastern Contra Costa County, following Steve Glover's excellent guide to birding locations in the county. In the East County we had a Swainson's Hawk at the intersection of Cypress & Knightsen Rds, 2 Burrowing Owls on Delta Rd, and a beautiful male Blue Grosbeak and both an adult and a juvenile Loggerhead Shrike in the Holland Tract area. The Piper Slough area produced calling Yellow-breasted Chat (heard only), a cooperative Black-chinned Hummingbird, Bullock's Oriole, and Hooded Oriole. There were Western Kingbirds everywhere in this area, and 2 Green Herons, a singing Black-headed Grosbeak, and a flyover squadron of American White Pelicans were nice. (What is the story with access to the Piper Slough area - did this just recently become private property?)
On the way home we decided to try for Least Tern and found at least 20 of these birds on the mudflat which is visible opposite Costco from the Central Ave. exit off Hwy 80 in Richmond. (At least some of these were in Contra Costa County, based on the location of the county line sign on the freeway).
Good birding
David