Banded Aleutian Canada Goose at Hayward Regional Shoreline
Sun, 01 Feb 2004 07:01:06 -0800
From: Peter Dramer
As the flock of Aleutian Canada Geese at Hayward Regional Shoreline tend to remain in a tight feeding flock, only Kevin Hintsa has noted that one of them has a blue neck band inscribed with "14A" in white. When I returned to confirm, the sneaky goose was standing apart from the group with neck upright - the goose version of thumbing ones nose I suppose.
I have submitted the info and will share the news if and when I hear back.
Peter
Swamp Sparrow at Arrowhead Marsh, Oakland
Sun, 01 Feb 2004 11:57:29 -0800
From: Bob Brandriff
East Bay Birders:
Barbara and I birded Arrowhead Marsh in Oakland this morning at high tide. Although we had no luck with the Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow, we did see a Swamp Sparrow. It was in the brush at the edge of the shoreline 75 yards east of the boardwalk (i.e., opposite side from where the Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow had been reported). After a while it flew about 10 yards directly north into the marsh and vanished.
Good birding!
Bob Brandriff
Berkeley, CA
Original Message Next Reply Subject Index
Black-and-white Warbler and Tufted Duck at Lake Merritt,
Oakland
Sun, 1 Feb 2004 14:38:09 -0800 (PST)
From: Bob Power
Hi all:
Pamela Llewellyn and Michael Butler led a most excellent field trip for Golden Gate Audubon Society this morning at Hayward Regional Shoreline (W Winton Ave trailhead). Lots of neat stuff observed; hopefully they'll report.
After Winton Ave, I drove to Lake Merritt in Oakland for Black-and-white Warbler hunt version 6. Success was had, as the Black-and-white Warbler was seen quite well a few trees to the northeast of the entrance to Children's Fairyland. Additionally, the female Tufted Duck was resting peacefully at the head of the scaup flotilla near the Rotary Nature Center on the eastern arm of the lake.
Good birding,
Bob Power
Original Message Next Reply Subject Index
Hooded Mergansers at Berkeley Aquatic Park
Sun, 1 Feb 2004 17:37:52 -0800 (PST)
From: John Poole
Hi Birders!
Took a trip to Berkeley Aquatic Park at about noon. There were a male and a female Hooded Merganser in the middle pond.
John Poole
Hayward Regional Shoreline and San Leandro Marina
Sun, 1 Feb 2004 20:47:58 PST
From: Bob Richmond
San Leandro Marina:
Hayward Shoreline:
San Lorenzo Community Park:
Good Birding
Bob
Yellow-and-red-shafted Northern Flicker
Mon,
02 Feb 2004 23:01:10 -0800
From: Michael Butler
I went to Inspiration Point in Tilden Regional Park (Berkeley Hills) today at about 4:00 PM hoping for a good brisk walk after all of the heavy rain, just before the half-mile marker there was a healthy looking mountain lion on the righthand side of the trail up on the hill.
Just after the 2-mile marker where the trail comes to a fork, there were a couple of Northern Flickers. One was very close on the ground and had bright yellow shafts on the underside of its tail feathers - it also had a faint red crescent on the nape of it's neck - but when it flew away it appeared to have salmon or light red on the underside of its wings. Has anyone else ever seen something like this or should I get my eyes examined?
Also on the walk back I heard at least 2 California Thrashers singing.
Michael Butler
Re: Yellow-and-red-shafted Northern Flicker
Tue, 3 Feb 2004 07:38:56 -0800
From: Roger Hartwell
From 1979 to 1983, the Vertebrate Reference Collection at Sonoma State University had several "hybrid" flicker skins with features of both forms (including one skin that had both red and black "moustaches" - side by side). At the time Sonoma State did not have a lot of unique specimens, so perhaps one could eventually find many combinations out there if you see enough individuals.
Regarding the mountain lion at Inspiration Point: can you give me a fairly exact location so I can place it on a map in our GIS species-database. Also, can you give me a relative weight (say 70 to 80 pounds for females; 100+ to120 pounds for males). And can you gauge if it was male or female? Or perhaps a young animal? Can you give me the date and time of sighting? And finally, how certain are you that it was a mountain lion (100% is fine if you're sure). If you can give me this information, I will enter it into the data base as from Michael Butler.
The flicker sounds harder to locate, but perhaps you can do that too (again, with time and date).
Thanks for your help,
Roger D. Hartwell
EBMUD, Fisheries and Wildlife
500 San Pablo Dam
Road
Orinda, CA
Original Message Subject Index
Allen's Hummingbird in Oakland hills
Tue,
3 Feb 2004 10:08:14 -0800
From: Johan Langewis
An Allen's Hummingbird made its first appearance in my yard in the Oakland hills this year (my yard description). Over the last 12 years, arrival dates have been between January 19 and February 15, so this year is about average.
Johan Langewis
Oakland
Black-and-white Warbler still at Lake Merritt, Oakland
Tue, 3 Feb 2004 12:28:30 -0800
From: Stephen Long
East Bay Birders,
After numerous attempts, I finally saw the Black-and-white Warbler at Lake Merritt in Oakland. I arrived at Children's Fairyland around 8:15 AM today, and started, as I have in the past, on the right side of the entrance, searching the trees on both sides of the fence near the concrete mushroom planter (for concrete mushrooms). There was no activity, so I started drifting around Fairyland to the left of the entrance. Well down the path, near the trees that border the circular bandstand, I encountered a feeding assemblage in the oaks. Heartened by seeing Townsend's Warblers and Yellow-rumped Warblers, I carefully looked at every movement. I didn't need to be so careful because the Black-and-white Warbler came over to me and dropped down onto some branches directly in front of my face (about 30 feet away). The assemblage also included Bushtits (cloud), Hutton's Vireo (1 singing), Lesser Goldfinch (3+), Red-breasted Sapsucker and Nuttall's Woodpecker (1 each, never on the same tree at the same time),Oak Titmouse (2), Chestnut-backed Chickadees, American Robins and 1 Hermit Thrush (not exactly participating in the feeding assemblage). Both the Black-and-white Warbler and the sapsucker were new county birds for me (numbers 196 and 197).
Stephen Long
Oakland, CA
Original Message Next Reply Subject Index
Swamp Sparrow at Arrowhead Marsh, Oakland
Tue, 03 Feb 2004 17:01:30 -0800
From: Kay Loughman
This morning at high tide Jean Lucken and I birded Arrowhead Marsh in Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline, Oakland. We relocated the Swamp Sparrow found Sunday by Bob and Barbara Brandriff. The bird was in the area to the left of the boardwalk, i.e. in the place reported for the Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow - for which we were also looking, but did not find. In the same area were several Marsh Wren, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Savannah Sparrow, among many other species. We also saw many Clapper Rail and one Virginia Rail.
Kay Loughman
Berkeley
Original Message Next Reply Subject Index