RFI: Local binocular repair
Sun, 01 Dec 2002
10:54:09 -0800
From: Doug Vaughan
EBBers,
Binocular repair has been a frequent topic in other discussion groups, but I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with local, independent optics repair shops. (There are several in the Yellow Pages.) I have an old pair of decent-quality Bushnell binos in need of recollimation, and I could send them off to B&L, but if I knew I could get it done locally - and reliably - I'd prefer that.
Any thoughts?
Doug Vaughan
Berkeley
Re: Owls at the Berkeley Marina
Sun, 01 Dec
2002 12:19:53 -0800
From: Linda Feldman
I can confirm that there are several Burrowing Owls in that area. I have seen several over the past couple years. I have also on two occasions over the past couple months seen larger owls in the area but I don't know enough to identify the type.
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Re: Yellow-headed Blackbirds and Antioch Bridge
Sun, 1 Dec 2002 22:51:52 -0800
From: Don Lewis
Denise Wight wrote:
Driving from Martinez to the Central Valley on Thanksgiving morning, the fog was so thick, I decided to pull off onto Sherman Island Levee Rd, just west of the Antioch Bridge. Not expecting to see much because of the thick fog, I was surprised to find about 50 Yellow-headed Blackbirds in a mixed flock, foraging in the corn stubble within 20 feet of the road.
Actually, the Antioch bridge runs due north-south. My AAA map shows the turnoff to Sherman Island Rd to be 1.75 miles north of the north end of the bridge, about 0.5 mile after Hwy 160 turns to the northeast. The birds can be seen from Hwy 160 but traffic is usually too fierce to stop there, whereas Sherman Island Rd is a quiet backroad which can be followed first south, then northeast and north along the levee, and finally west for a total of about ten miles until it again meets Hwy 160 just south of Brannan Island State Recreation Area.
Don Lewis
Lafayette, CA
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Snow Bunting not refound on Nimitz Way
Mon,
02 Dec 2002 11:59:35 -0800
From: Kris Olson
Hello East Bay Birders:
I had to be in Berkeley yesterday afternoon, so I set off at 3:15 PM to try to see the Snow Bunting that was reported 3 miles out at Inspiration Point on Thanksgiving morning. Obviously, I got a pretty late start and it turned out to be too late; when I arrived around 4 PM, the sun was behind clouds and the area (which is beautiful) was no longer sunny.
I did see 9 Double-crested Cormorants fly over the hill at the 3-mile mark. I don't know how common they are, it seemed odd to have this V-format flock flying over the hills. Also saw many American Robins, Western Meadowlarks and one Loggerhead Shrike along the way. A beautiful sunset. Then I heard a Great Horned Owl at the first bench out from the parking lot at 5:30 or 5:45 PM on the way back when it was dark.
Kris Olson
Menlo Park, CA
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Re: Owls at the Berkeley Marina
Thu, 5 Dec
2002 11:13:17 -0800 (PST)
From: Corinne Paff
hi
there certainly are Barn Owls at the Berkeley Marina...
have seen them roosting in trees on west side of C�sar Ch�vez Park and cruising grasslands there... also have been seeing one Burrowing Owl by the North Sailing Basin water rocks for the past two weeks... White-tailed Kites and female and male Northern Harrier seen regulary November and December hunting C�sar Ch�vez and Berkeley Meadow....
anyone see any Burrowing Owls anywhere else...?
have you seen Burrowing
Owls on North Basin strip (by the freeway)?...
cheers, corinne
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Death of Florence Bennett
Mon, 9 Dec 2002
09:10:43 PST
From: Steve Glover
Hi all,
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I learned over the weekend that long-time local birder Florence Bennett passed away last week after a short battle with cancer. Florence was one of the first birders I ever knew and always made me feel like a far better birder than I probably was. I will miss her.
Steve
Steve Glover
Dublin