Changes at Hayward Shoreline Interpretive
Center
Sun, 5 Dec 1999 20:21:32 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
Beginning this month, the Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center is open to the general public only on weekends, 10 AM to 5 PM. There are school programs at the center during the week, so the restrooms might sometimes be accessible, but I wouldn't count on it (see update).
The Center will be closed from December 20 through January 4.
A new Wetlands Resource Center in the Interpretive Center is now open on weekends (and by appointment on some weekdays) with books, videos, and CD-ROMs about wetland ecology, management, and restoration. Teachers, students, and the public are encouraged to use these resources.
For further info, call (510) 881-6751 or visit
http://www.hard.dst.ca.us/hayshore/
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Editor's Note: The shoreline trails remain open daily as usual.
Yard birds
Tue, 7 Dec 1999 15:54:00 -0800
From: Bob Brandriff
East Bay birders:
There is a Slate-colored Junco and two White-throated Sparrows coming to our platform feeder. One of the sparrows is a tan morph but the other one seems to be a mix. That is, behind the bright yellow lore, the front half of the supercilium is white and the back half tan. Hopefully, they'll stick around for the Oakland Christmas Bird Count.
Good birding.
Bob
Bob Brandriff
1061 Park Hills Rd.
Berkeley, CA 94708
(510) 548-1504
Re: Yard birds
Tue, 07 Dec 1999 16:30:31 -0800
From: Rusty Scalf
Bob Brandriff wrote:
There is a Slate-colored Junco and two White-throated Sparrows coming to our platform feeder. One of the sparrows is a tan morph but the other one seems to be a mix. That is, behind the bright yellow lore, the front half of the supercilium is white and the back half tan.
I wonder if a White-throated Sparrow that seems to be a 'mix' might be a young white morph bird in transition plumage. Is that possible? I had the impression that the morphs were like the black or gold of a Labrador Retriever, a single gene effect that is all one or the other.
If I'm wrong someone please correct me.
Rusty Scalf
Original Message Subject Index
Birds at Lake Merritt Channel
Wed, 8 Dec 1999 21:41:05 PST
From: Anthony Fisher
Had some business to attend to at Laney College today. Took the opportunity to bird the section of channel between 7th and 10th streets that connects the Lake to the "Oakland Estuary". The kid and I saw 30 to 40 Goldeneye including approximately 10 Barrow's Goldeneye. A few Mallards, a Greater Scaup and several American Widgeon rounded out the flock. Also on the water: a Clark's Grebe and a Pied-billed Grebe.
There were quite a few gulls around, including: Ring-billed Gull, California Gull, Western Gull, Glaucous-winged X Western Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, and one I called a first-year Thayer's Gull. It seems I am seeing more Glaucous-winged Gulls this year than previous years. Anybody else feel this way?
There were land birds o' plenty too. A flock of American Goldfinch in a Redwood. A (red-shafted) Northern Flicker. Resident Song Sparrows (they nest in the Pampas Grass along the channel banks). A large chaos of American Robins and Cedar Waxwings darted between the safety of a Eucalyptus and the bounty of a Pyracantha, gobbling the bright red berries.
All in all, 15 minutes well spent. Never underestimate the sublime restorative power of watching birds!
Anthony Fisher