Richmond shoreline on Friday
Sat, 25 Sep 1999 15:21:50 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
On Friday morning, Alan Kaplan and I went exploring along the bayshore of Richmond - not so much birding as scouting possible locations for Alan's birdwalks. We found a few places that may be new to some of you.
There is a new East Bay Regional Parks trail in North Richmond along part of the lower course of Wildcat Creek (which begins on Vollmer Peak in Tilden Regional Park and flows through Wildcat Canyon Regional Park). The trail is probably only about half a mile in length, but it has some nice riparian birding areas along it. It's called Wildcat Creek Regional Trail, and the parking lot is on the west side of Richmond Parkway between Pittsburg Ave and Gertrude Ave.
We had time only to walk the western part of the trail toward the Bay. It is a nice example of the new approach toward engineering for storm drainage - a winding creek channel on a wider floodplain bounded by earthen levees. It looked as if the upstream section of the trail might have more of a riparian woodland habitat. We had good looks at a Lincoln's Sparrow, a briefer glance at a probable Savannah Sparrow, and lots of more common species such as House Finch, Black Phoebe, and Song Sparrow. At the west end of the trail are a couple of viewing platgorms that look out over the marsh along the southern end of San Pablo Bay. We saw a White-tailed Kite and a Northern Harrier hunting the marsh. With a good scope, you would have a great (though distant) view from here of hundreds of gulls on the big landfill to the northwest.
South of Miller/Knox Regional Park there is now a small park area at Ferry Point (actually Point Richmond). Of historical interest here is the old pier providing railroad access to San Francisco ferries, and the Victory ship Red Oak Victory tied up nearby (though you can't see much of it right now). This spot does provide good scoping out over the bay and along the end of the long breakwater extending from Brooks Island (we saw only Brown Pelicans and cormorants out there on Friday). The East Bay Parks district has just purchased the land between the main Miller/Knox park and Ferry Point, so these areas should eventually be connected as a continuous park. There also are plans to connect the Richmond Marina and Miller/Knox by trail as part of the Bay Trail, but that segment definitely does not exist as yet (despite what it says on some of the signs north of Point Isabel).
A new observation deck has been opened at the south end of Harbour Way next to the new ferry terminal (service to San Francisco begins on Monday). This spot gives a nice scope view of Brooks Island and the beaches at the beginning of the long breakwater, providing an alternative angle to the view from Vincent or Shimada Parks. There's also an amazingly long brick factory building here that apparently dates back before the Kaiser shipyards - at least it seems to be there in an aerial view of Richmond in 1935. Does anyone know anything about the history of this building?
Finally, for anyone who hasn't yet discovered it, the new Vincent Park at the mouth of the Richmond Marina Bay is now complete and quite a lovely little spot to view shorebirds, scope Brooks Island, and just enjoy the view and (usually) the brisk breezes. To get there, take Marina Bay Parkway from Hwy 580 all the way to Shimada Friendship Park and just continue to the end of the street (which changes its name to Peninsula Drive after passing Shimada Park).
We did our best to convince ourselves that we could have seen a Harlequin Duck if one were on Brooks Island, but even with a 45 power scope (and on a cold day when heat waves should have been minimal), I certainly wouldn't have bet on the identity of most of the birds I could see on the Island or the breakwater! However, I could see that it might be possible with a better scope and lots of practice and patience.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Reply #1 Next Reply Subject Index
Re: Richmond shoreline
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999 17:00:49 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
I know this isn't directly related to birds, but I did pose the question here, so I'll relay the answer for those (like Alan and me) who like a little history with their urban birding. The long brick building at the south end of Harbour Way in Richmond was a Ford Motor Company factory, built in 1931. When they were unable to get space for expansion, Ford moved to Milpitas in 1954. After that, the University of California used the building for book storage and special projects. We did notice a sign still existing over one door that said "Library Bindery," so I assume that the building has been abandoned since UC stopped using it. This info came from a little library research (handily, the El Cerrito library is only a couple of blocks from my house).
More on topic, Rusty Scalf e-mails that the Wildcat Creek Regional Trail is in his Breeding Bird Atlas block. Pintails, Gadwalls, and Cinnamon Teal nest there. He also has seen an "obviously mated" pair of Green Herons there for two years, but has failed to spot any definitive evidence of nesting. So, if anyone sees the Green Herons with young or a nest or carrying nesting material or food, etc., be sure to let Rusty know (or e-mail me and I'll pass it along).
Best wishes, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Original Message Next Reply Subject Index
From: Steve Glover
Re: Richmond shoreline
Sat, 25 Sep 1999 17:53:12 PDT
Hello Larry and everyone,
Just a quick question about the Wildcat Creek area in North Richmond. Is there now, or planned to be in the future, access to the west (roughly) side of the channel? This is the side with the row of riparian vegetation. This has always struck me as an area of great potential for migrant and vagrant songbirds but it is really too far across the channel to bird from the other side.
Also, if you happen to go to this spot, remember that the Richmond Sewer Ponds are right next door. The ponds along Richmond Parkway sometimes have good shorebird habitat (the left-most one does currently). You can also barely see into one of the back ponds if you walk out the trail and peer over the fence.
Steve Glover
Original Message Subject Index
Piper Slough, Bethel Island, Sept 25
Sat, 25 Sep 1999 18:03:29 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello everyone,
I took advantage of a very rare calm day in east county today. Of course no wind at this time of year = hot, and today was no exception. There were no real rarities but plenty of birds around and a few locally uncommon ones. Tree Swallows were again, or still, on the move. Today I estimated roughly 2000 flying west although I didn't pay as close of attention as I did the day before yesterday.
Amongst warblers there were 9 Wilson's Warblers, 3 Black-throated Gray Warblers, 11 Yellow Warblers and a single "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warbler (my first this fall). There were also 4 Willow Flycatchers and 2 Warbling Vireos.
Two gambelii White-crowned Sparrows were in, as was my first Hermit Thrush of the fall. A streaky juvenile Cedar Waxwing was around all morning, the first bird I can remember seeing in this plumage in the East Bay (although most waxwings tend to fly over rather than sit perched).
Other highlights included a Swainson's Hawk, an immature Red-shouldered Hawk (pretty rare here although it breeds very locally at a few sites in east county), and a flyover male Yellow-headed Blackbird (also hard to come by here).
Steve Glover
Dublin
Good time-lapse photos of kestrels growing up
Sat, 25 Sep 1999 21:09:16 -0700
From: Judy
Good time-lapse photos of kestrels growing up:
http://www.linz.at/umwelt/natur/falken/eindex.htm