Wild Turkey at Sibley - Eagle too
Sat, 29 Jun 2002 02:38:38 -0700
From: Mike Ezekiel
Friday afternoon at Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve above Oakland, I saw a Wild Turkey on the east side of the Round Top hill in the scrub just before the main fire trails. It was hard to concentrate on it as a Golden Eagle perched on the main tower at the top of the hill was being harassed at the same time by several Common Ravens who perched just above him/her and dove repeatedly at him.
Other birds of note were Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Lazuli Bunting, Lark Sparrow, Orange-crowned Warbler and an assortment of the normal Bushtits, Spotted Towhee, California Towhee, Red-winged Blackbirds, Northern Mockingbird, Song Sparrows, and Western Scrub-Jays.
The eagle kept its back facing east the whole time, and never left the perch on the tower in the hour I was there, and as I had only binoculars, but not scope, I couldn't tell whether it was an adult or the now fledged youngster raised in the nest around the corner.
Mike Ezekiel
PS - Off-topic, a bit, but if you are tempted to rent the movie Rare Birds - touted by Jon Carroll, and the San Francisco Chronicle, I think - don't do it for anything reasonable about birding. Premise is that, on the basis of unconfirmed, anonymous calls about a Rare and Thought to Be Locally Extinct diving duck, to a radio birding expert, birders from around the country would come out to a remote area by the sea (Newfoundland? perhaps) and save a fancy, white-tablecloth restaurant with gourmet food, great wine cellar and no business. Preposterous - everyone knows birders don't go for French food, or travel with coat and tie, as well as scope and binocs.
PPS. Zeiss lenses for Eyeglasses? I had no idea such a thing was possible.
This week at Martin Luther King Jr
Regional Shoreline
Sat, 29 Jun 2002 12:52:57 -0700
From: Courtenay Peddle
Hello folks,
In addition to the usual suspects at Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline in Oakland (Alameda County), a flock of 10 Long-billed Curlews has been roosting in Mitigation Marsh at high tide this week. And on Saturday morning a White-tailed Kite (or is it Black-shouldered Kite this week?) was foraging over the almost-dry ponds.
Good birding!
Courtenay Peddle