Arrowhead Marsh Sunday morning
Sun, 12 Sep 1999 16:16:04 -0700
From: Courtenay Peddle
Hello folks,
At Arrowhead Marsh [Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline, Oakland] early Sunday, Kay Bloom, Barbara Haley, and I saw eight and heard two more Clapper Rails, between 7:30 and 8:30, while doing a Golden Gate Audubon Society survey. We also saw a Burrowing Owl, near the secondary burrow.
Also but not in the East Bay, on Saturday at Point Reyes, Don Schmoldt, Sally Walters, and I had 12 species of warblers, five of them vagrants: Blackburnian, Blackpoll, Chestnut-sided, Tennessee and American Redstart. Sightings were at Nunez and Mendosa ranches and the Fish Docks, where we had a jaeger fly over.
Good birding!
Courtenay Peddle
Question about Alameda County records
Sun, 12 Sep 1999 16:18:26 -0700
From: Courtenay Peddle
Hello folks,
Can anyone tell me who's the custodian of the Alameda County list? For example, if I wanted to know whether and when golden-plovers (Pluvialis dominica or fulva) have been seen in the county, who would I contact?
Thanks,
Courtenay Peddle
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Re: Question about Alameda County records
Sun, 12 Sep 1999 22:12:05 -0700
From: Mike Feighner
Courtenay:
At present there is no official custodian or field notes coordinator. It used to be Helen Green. So far no one has come forward as a replacement.
As far as Pacific Golden-Plover in Alameda County, I remember seeing one at Hayward Regional Shoreline on August 18, 1990.
A source of records may be Bob Richmond, but he is not on-line. He has the highest list for Alameda County.
Mike Feighner, Livermore, CA
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Quail family groups
Sun, 12 Sep 1999 22:22:27 -0700
From: Martha Lowe
Hey there birders,
I was out doing point counts with the Friends of Sausal Creek on Saturday in Joaquin Miller Park [in Oakland] and we saw a covey of at least 18 California Quail. The interesting thing was that there were at least three adult males and and possibly two adult females. Does anyone know if quail have nest helpers (one possible explanation) or if females are polygamous and the males all stick around to help out (another possibility) or if several family groups might band together (the last possibility I could come up with)??? Any other theories?
We also saw two female Western Tanagers in Dimond Park, along with a multitude of goldfinches (American and Lesser) and warblers (Wilson's and Yellow). And a Hutton's Vireo right out in the open, an unusual treat! Plus our resident Black Phoebe, who always shows up to say hi.
I am happy to have found this list and the website,
Martha
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Re: Question about Alameda County records
Mon, 13 Sep 1999 08:07:53 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Courtenay and all,
I am not the official list custodian of Alameda County, but I do have many of the records in my files. I have been through all 3 Audubon Society newsletters from the East Bay since their inceptions, as well as The Condor and North American Birds (in all its forms). I have not yet tackled the editor's notebooks.
Golden-Plovers are a problem because of the split a few years ago. The vast majority of the records are simply called Lesser Golden-Plover. About all I can really say is that both American and Pacific have been seen in Alameda County, and that Pacific has appeared much more often, as you would expect. There are even some older winter records from the county, all of which can safely be called Pacific based on the dates, as Americans are to my knowledge unknown in North America in winter.
Hope this helps, sorry I can't be more specific.
Steve Glover
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Re: Quail family groups
Mon, 13 Sep 1999 08:49:35 -0700
From: Mike Feighner
East-Bay-Birders:
A good source of scientific and historical information on the Calidfornia Quail can be found in the following book:
A. Starker Leopold, The California Quail, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1977. ISBN 0-520-05456-3, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 76-48003
Mike Feighner, Livermore, CA
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Re: Quail family groups
Mon, 13 Sep 1999 11:17:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tom Condit
I've seen Canada Geese grazing in very much the manner Martha describes in quail, with larger adults on the periphery and smaller ones in the center with goslings. I haven't the faintest idea whether there's any way to tell male and female geese apart.
Tom Condit
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Re: Quail family groups
13 Sep 99 12:41:28 -0700
From: Les Chibana
Many bird species form creches in which a few adults will look after the young from the broods of many other adults. Ostriches, a ratite, are well-known for doing this. Canada Goose, as pointed out by Tom Condit, also do this. I've seen a flock of 50+ California Quail with many juvenal plumaged birds. I haven't confirmed with any references that California Quail are documented a as creche-forming species, however.
Les Chibana
Palo Alto, CA
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Richmond on Sept 13
Mon, 13 Sep 1999 14:49:13 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello everyone,
I had an interesting morning of birding this morning in the Richmond area. From Point Isabel I had a Pacific Loon, possibly the first for September for the county. This is normally a hard bird to find even in mid-winter.
I then drove to S 51st St to work the fennel along the Bay Trail. To get there take Hwy 580 to the Bayview Exit (next exit north of Central) and go over the freeway. Turn left on S 51st St and park at the end. This is not the safest looking spot so if you want to take a longer walk in the interest of safety you can either walk north from Pt Isabel or south from the end of Marina Bay Parkway.
Either way, the only migrants were a Willow Flycatcher, a Yellow Warbler, and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. The warbler and gnatcatcher were in the willows behind the fence by the trailhead at S 51st St. In the cove to the north by the delapidated pier and on the incoming tide there were single Baird's Sandpipers, Red-necked Phalaropes, and Red Phalaropes. The Red Phalarope should be easy to find if it sticks around as it was mostly white and stuck out like a sore thumb. This is only the second one I have seen in the county. The Baird's was also nice and the first I know of from mudflats in the county.
At Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline there were very few migrants but there were 2 more Blue-gray Gnatcatchers in the willow across the street from the first parking lot (where the boardwalk is) and another Willow Flycatcher in the back lefthand corner of the park.
I then stopped at the Richmond Sewage Ponds on Richmond Parkway and was delighted to find that one of the ponds has great habitat at the moment. This will probably not last because there was water flowing in but for now it is well worth checking. Today there was a single Baird's Sandpiper and a single Pectoral Sandpiper. There was also a lone Common Snipe.
From the road I scoped the dump off in the distance and counted 68 Common Ravens, a new county high as far as I know. There were surely more as the dump is quite far away.
Good luck,
Steve Glover
Double-crested Cormorant colonies
Wed, 15 Sep 1999 14:54:59 PDT
From: Mark Rauzon
Hi Birders,
I'm new to the list and studying Double-crested Cormorants on the bridges. Thought you might be interested in the results of this year's data. There were 794 nests on the San Francisco Bay Oakland Bridge in 1999. In 1990, there were 465 nests.
Also looks like a colony developed at Lake Merritt two years ago; it held 12 nests this year. I'm interested in any observations of large concentrations of cormorants at the reserviors or any other local nesting colonies aside from Richmond Bridge and San Mateo tower colonies. Let me know.
Thanks and good birding,
Mark Rauzon, Box 4423, Berkeley, CA 94602