Gull chicks at Lake Merritt, Oakland
Wed, 11 Aug 1999 13:34:16 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
A memorial service and burial were held yesterday at Lake Merritt in Oakland for Helen, the White Pelican. For an affectionate and humorous (and mostly accurate) account, see
http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/helen11a.htm
and
http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/helenbox11.htm
The printed version in the Alameda County edition of today's San Jose Mercury News has some very nice photographs.
Stephanie Benevidez of the Rotary Nature Center naturalist staff just called me to report an unusual sighting today while she was out on the island planting some flowers on Helen's grave. She looked up to see two young gull chicks just a few feet away from her on the sand. She could not tell their species, but a pair of Western Gulls were in the tree overhead "barking" at her. She said that the gull chicks were about the size of 1.5-week-old Canada Goose goslings.
The site of Helen's grave is on the north end of the island farthest from the shore near the Rotary Nature Center. I haven't checked out this site myself, but you might be able to get a glimpse of the gull chicks with a scope from the shore north of the RNC, or with binoculars from a boat on the lake outside the log booms (boats are not allowed inside the booms near the islands). Those involved in the Breeding Bird Atlas who may want better confirmation of this significant apparent nesting should contact Stephanie or Pablo at (510) 238-3739.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Iron House Sanitary District, August 11
Thu, 12 Aug 1999 16:10:18 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello atlasers and East Bay Birders,
Yesterday, 8/11, I went out and birded the Iron House Sanitary District at Oakley in eastern Contra Costa County. The birding wasn't exactly overwhelming since there is currently no shorebird habitat but a few things were of interest.
Virginia Rails have returned, I heard 5 yesterday. I don't believe that they remained to nest there and certainly not that many did.A group of Mallards had 7 very tiny hatchlings.
2 Spotted Sandpipers, one with the spots still present
A Mourning Dove very hard at work carrying sticks into the willows. I wonder how many nestings this pair has already been through this year?
3 Orange-crowned Warblers
A Marsh Wren nest with young heard inside
2 Green Herons
One Pacific-slope Flycatcher, the only migrant passerine noted besides the Orange-crowned Warblers
Four Black-crowned Night-Herons flushed by a boat near the picnic tables
The story of the day was blackbirds. Some of you may recall that I had singing Yellow-headed Blackbirds in the marsh out there in April. Today they were either again or still present. It is hard to say how many as they were flying in and out of the cattails in small groups but I am sure there were 50+ males. I saw only a few females. Many of the birds were heavily in molt, most with missing tail feathers. None of the birds sang and I saw no birds carrying any food into the cattails. Can anybody guess why most of the Yellow-headeds had their mouths wide open as they flew in? The other species of blackbird were not doing this. Unfortunately I can't be sure exactly what is going on out there. Could they be nesting? Could they have already nested? Is this just a roost?
The most common blackbird out there was Tricolored Blackbirds. Again they were hard to count but there were surely 400+ males. Many of the groups flying in and out also contained what I assumed to be female Tricolors as most of the flocks seemed to be purely of one species and Red-wings were there in comparitively small numbers. Many of the flocks of Tricolors also contained a few young cowbirds.
A few other notes. A Black-headed Grosbeak, probably a post-breeding wanderer, was in my Dublin yard on July 19. This species definitely did not breed in the neighborheed. Today 2 Oregon Dark-eyed Juncos arrived in the yard, they also did not breed in the neighborhood.
Steve Glover
Sobrante Ridge Regional Preserve
Thu, 12 Aug 1999 21:24:07 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
This morning I made my first visit to Sobrante Ridge Regional Preserve off Castro Ranch Rd north of San Pablo Reservoir. It was an overcast morning but not very windy. The birds were mostly quiet and staying out of sight, so I didn't get a lot of species. There were quite a lot of calls that I didn't know (Ore was birding elsewhere), so I would imagine that a birder familiar with calls would have done much better. In addition to grasslands, there are oak woodlands, chaparral, a "manazanita forest," riparian habitats, and a small pond overgrown with cattails. I encountered two mixed flocks moving through the woods and riparian areas, so I would expect that some time sitting quietly (there are lots of picnic tables here and there) could yield nice rewards.
I parked at the upper entrance at the end of Coach Dr and walked the full loop on the Sobrante Ridge Trail (with a sidetrip to the Manzanita Loop), ending at the Wildlife Refuge Pond, then walking back up to the parking lot on sidewalks. This is about a 2.8 mile loop, going from about 500 ft elevation up to around 775 ft, then down to around 300 before climbing up again. It involves some steep downhill sections on rather slippery and sometimes rough trail.
Instead, I'd recommend stopping at the pond (on your left just after you turn from Castro Ranch Rd onto Conestoga Way) and perhaps walking a short distance on the Sobrante Ridge Trail over the first ridge to where the trail dips down into a small valley. This is where I saw one mixed flock including Bushtits and warblers, as well as hearing woodpeckers and jays and watching a hawk overhead. Then return to the car and drive up to Carriage Dr, left to Coach Dr, and right to the upper parking lot. From here you have a relatively level walk on a fire road all the way around the ridgetops, and you can take a short and moderately steep fireroad down to the manazanita grove. I found my other mixed flock along the ridge at the Broken Oaks Trail (a short side loop).
The manazanita grove is of interest because it is composed of the rare Alameda manzanita, found only here and at Huckleberry Regional Preserve. Pick up a park brochure for more info on the plants. I saw two people walking dogs near the parking lot - otherwise I had the park to myself. (From the many picnic tables and the extensive neighboring suburbs, I would assume that it might be much busier on a weekend.) In addition to undisturbed looks at birds, I saw rabbits and deer. The dogwalkers told me that they've seen quail and partridge, and the brochure says that Golden Eagles are found here.
Here's my list for the morning:
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
possible accipiter (Accipiter sp.) - spotted moments before it vanished over ridge
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) - juvenile
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) - heard only
Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)
swallows (Hirundinidae) - seen at distance, not identified
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens)
Oak Titmouse (Baeolophus inornatus)
Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)
Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii) - heard only
Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus) - heard only
Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata) - heard only
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) - among houses
Orange-crowned Warbler (Vermivora celata)
Wilson's Warbler (Wilsonia pusilla)
Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)
California Towhee (Pipilo crissalis)
Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus) - among houses
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)
Interestingly, I didn't spot any sparrows in all the grasslands, nor did I see any blackbirds at the pond.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA