Hayward Regional Shoreline
Sat, 7 Aug 1999 21:12:01 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
This morning [Saturday], Ore Carmi and I joined Dave Riensche's East Bay Regional Parks birdwalk at the Winton Ave entrance to Hayward Regional Shoreline. In addition to Dave's usual fascinating digressions on a variety of nature topics (for example, "scatophagia" nicely illustrated for us by a young jackrabbit at very close range), we saw a goldeneye and some phalaropes (probably Red-necked) in the second pond south of the W Winton Ave parking lot.
We walked south to the more northern of the two bridges in the Cogswell Marsh. When Dave and most of the birders turned back, Ore and I and a few others continued southward. We found some more phalaropes in the westernmost pond of the Hayward Marsh (these seen closely enough for definite identification as Red-necked), but did not spot the Arctic Tern or its offspring. We did meet Lew Cooper's Golden Gate Audubon Society walk traveling toward us from the Interpretive Center. After a short bit of combined birding, the groups split up and headed for our respective vehicles, ending a pleasant morning of birding with remarkably mild and nonwindy weather out near the bay.
Here's my list of what Ore and I spotted along with some sightings by others in the groups. The GGAS group also saw Black Skimmers and Snowy Plovers before we met them.
Western or Clark's Grebe (Aechmophorus sp.)
Brandt's Cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) - 2 flying over
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Great Egret (Ardea albus)
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
Gadwall (Anas strepera)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) - 1 tiny duckling seen
White-winged Scoter (Melanitta fusca)
goldeneye (Bucephala sp.)
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)
White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus)
Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus) - adults and at least 2 juveniles
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)
Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris) - 1 swimming channel in Cogswell Marsh
Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus)
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) - adults with juveniles
American Avocet (Recurvirostra americanus)
Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus)
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)
Black Turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala)
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)
dowitcher (Limnodromus sp.)
Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus)
Western Gull (Larus occidentalis)
Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens)
Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri)
Least Tern (Sterna antillarum)
Rock Dove (Columba livia)
Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus)
Common Raven (Corvus corax)
Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris)
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
California Towhee (Pipilo crissalis)
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)
American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Little Blue Heron at Coyote Hills
Sun, 8 Aug 1999 16:55:44 EDT
From: Bill Scoggins
Sunday, 8 August 1999, 11:30 AM
The molting Little Blue Heron remains in the main marsh at Coyote Hills Regional Park. I was joined by Rose Firestone, Anthony Fisher, and Bonnie Marzo this morning for great views of the little blue preening and fishing in shallow water next to the cattails.
Directions: From the Visitors Center parking lot go north on the paved Bay View Trail about 150 yards; look across the pond to the area underneath Lizard Rock.
Happy birding,
Bill Scoggins
Castro Valley
http://members.aol.com/coyotehrp/
This weekend (Tilden and Point Richmond)
Mon, 9 Aug 1999 00:18:50 -0700 (PDT)
From: Richard Mix
With Ann Callaway I got in some evening birding this weekend, begining with Point Richmond Friday. At high tide, there wasn't much of interest beyond a Belted Kingfisher and a large tern that whizzed by near the Red Oak Liberty. The beak seemed about heavy enough for Caspian Tern, though without the dark mark I expected to make out at such close range. But it gave a call that was not harsh at all, more like the description of the Royal Tern's 'bleating' than the 'sharp' call of the Elegant Tern. Or, as seems to often be the case, is there a far larger repertoire than the guides suggest?
Saturday began with a Cooper's Hawk across the street; I ran out the door at the sound of a Spotted Towhee on steroids, a species still missing from the yard list here next to Canyon Trail Park. The noise turned out to be rather a Northern Mockingbird too upset to do any mimicking. He was soon joined by four others, after we noticed the frozen hawk on our neighbor's balcony, not even a respectful distance from the hummingbird feeder. The male accipiter appeared not more than 25% taller than what I took for a 2 x 10 rafter, but the round tail feathers and squarish head favored Cooper's. Perhaps it's time to pay a visit, taking a tape measure.
I still wanted to find a sitting Band-tailed Pigeon, so we went back to Seaview Trail at Tilden. At 6:00 PM, the breeze was stiff but not freezing, and on the east side of the ridge we watched large families of Olive-sided Flycatchers, mostly silent but some of them playing like swallows. Finally Ann spotted a flying pigeon down the slope, and when it landed I could gaze my fill at the back of its neck. Though it often turned a profile, the bill blended into the shadows, alas. Before we left we saw 3 more flying in the distance. They looked very pale and a little purple from the top; only the photo in the Audubon Handbook shows the rich orange-brown of the breast that was so striking at my first encounter with this species.
This Sunday, a 4:30 PM walk with Debra Golata and John Harris from Point Isabel turned up many shore birds, but the highlight was a pair of phalaropes just before the 51st St. trail. These were difficult; the backs were very mottled and obviously molting and the necks were not quite a recognizable plumage. One bird had a black stripe down the side and red toward the throat; the dark stripe down the back also proved dark red in good light. We thought probably Wilson's Phalarope, but the bill was not longer than the head, nor shorter as in the presumably exaggerated drawings we consulted. I glimpsed a Black Skimmer in the distance, recognizable by the black back and un-gull-like flight.
Richard Mix
Looking for a spotting scope
Mon, 9 Aug 1999 17:01:52 -0700
From: Rebecca Freed
Hi all,
I've decided it's time to get a scope - I'm thinking about the Nikon Fieldscope ED. Has anyone had experience with that scope?
Rebecca Freed
Berkeley CA