Mystery duck near Albany Bulb
Mon, 14 Jul
2003 13:54:40 -0700
From: Kay Loughman
Late this morning I was returning from a mostly unproductive walk around the Albany Bulb (the former landfill just north of Golden Gate Fields racetrack), and saw at a distance a duck-like bird I couldn't immediately identify. It was hot, there wasn't a breath of wind, and my spotting scope was locked in the car - still 10 minutes away. Does this description sound familiar to anyone?
Based on physical description alone, I come up with only one possible species. And it's so unlikely, I'm loath to mention it in public. The bird was seen on the north side of the bulb, toward the east end of the plateau. It sat for several minutes on a float (about 12 by 24 inches), then swam west - toward the end of the bulb - and out of sight behind vegetation.
Please let me know what you think. Thanks.
Kay Loughman
Berkeley
RFI: Flycatchers at San Pablo Reservoir
Thu,
17 Jul 2003 12:26:23 -0700
From: Kitty O'Neil
I've decided to learn the flycatchers so I just spent the better part of an hour watching a flycatcher on the Old San Pablo Road Trail. (The trail that starts at Bear Creek Rd & Wildcat Canyon Rd and goes toward the San Pablo Reservoir - EBMUD Trail Permit required). The flycatcher had a dark head and back (almost rusty sometimes toward the tail) with a big domed head. No obvious wingbars. Sometimes it looked like it had a little vest and sometimes the chest looked dark. Once I thought I saw yellow underneath. It perched on a conspicuous branch high up in the trees (just south of the maintenance building) and sallied for insects. It had a full-sized baby with it which it fed (offspring was a lot lighter in color). Sometimes the two flew circles round each other as they moved to a new branch. The parent also preened a lot.
What are typical larger flycatchers along that trail?
Thanks, Kitty
Kitty O'Neil
Orinda, CA
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Re: Owls in Berkeley flatlands
Thu, 17 Jul
2003 15:17:18 -0700
From: Lisa Owens-Viani
Last night, 9:30 PM. Saw the same two Barn (?) Owls overhead again in the Berkeley flatlands, making the same repeated kek kek kek type vocalizations. This time one owl was headed toward the Bay; the other toward the hills. Seen near Bancroft Way & Action St.
Lisa Owens-Viani
Re: Flycatchers at San Pablo Reservoir
Thu,
17 Jul 2003 22:53:19 -0700
From: Kitty O'Neil
Looks like my flycatcher might be a Western Wood-Pewee or an Ash-throated Flycatcher. I am going back to San Pablo Reservoir Saturday morning and hope to have some company and help birding the trail from Bear Creek Rd to the water. Hopefully we can find the flycatcher and identify it.
Thanks for all the flycatcher suggestions.
Kitty
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Returnees and dispersers
Sat, 19 Jul 2003
11:47:31 PDT
From: Brian Fitch
Sightings during camp this week got a little more interesting. Kay Loughman's posting on the mystery duck made me think about how odd our continuing Common Goldeneye is, so next week it will hopefully receive more thorough scrutiny from us. It's unusually small and pale, and has been hanging out on the north side of the Albany Waterfront Park's peninsula [Albany Bulb]. I had assumed it to be a leucistic individual, but that was a quick assumption. We also saw our first Osprey of the summer there this week.
At the Berkeley Marina, Black Turnstones have returned, and Heermann's Gulls finally crossed the bay. Rio Wight found a fresh Barn Owl feather in C�sar Ch�vez Park, in the cypresses along the road. With Lisa's recent sightings from the flats, we'll have to give those trees some study next week too.
The heat seemed to pull in some eastern county birds to the Vollmer Peak section of Tilden. We found a pair of Ash-throated Flycatchers on the peak, heard Great Horned Owls dueting at 10:30 in the morning, and sighted our second-ever Bullock's Oriole, an immature bird, on the ridge south of Vollmer. Five minutes later, we had a Western Tanager fly over the ridge heading east, the earliest we've ever seen one. The bird was an adult male, though with no apparent orange in the face. Below us, on San Pablo Reservoir, American White Pelicans have been hanging out on the southeastern corner of the lake since at least last week.
Brian Fitch and crew