[EBB Sightings] sat dec 11: cycling berkeley to richmond on the s f bay trail

Saturday December 11, 2004
Blair and I checked out the GGAS Berkeley-to-Richmond
Bicycle Birding trip coming up on Saturday, January
29. It was a perfect day for cycling on the S.F. Bay
Trail. We started birding at Aquatic Park in Berkeley,
where we saw Black-crowned Night-Herons in the bushes
at the pond adjacent to Potter St., and on the main
pond a pair of Hooded Mergansers which were spooked by
a kayaker. Then it was over I-80 on the lovely
bicycle/pedestrian bridge. The S.F. Bay Trail is in
fine shape here now. At the Berkeley Meadow, accessed
by the first gate north of University Ave. on the
access road parallel to I-80, we saw a Northern
Harrier circling, and on the wire was a kestrel and
also a group of House Finches with a lovely red-orange
tint. In Albany, just north of Buchanan there was a
huge flock of American Avocets coming down onto the
water. At Richmond Marina Bay, we saw a Common Loon
right off of the pier at Salute Restaurant. A few
blocks of street cycling brought us around to Seacliff
Drive and over the hill to Brickyard Cove and
Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline Park where we saw a
couple of Greater White-fronted Geese and some Common
Mergansers. There were other birds along the way,
including lots of White-crowned and Golden-crowned
Sparrows. Then we went through the tunnel and to
Richmond BART for a ride all the way home, taking half
an hour to return from a five-hour trip.


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kathy jarrett
kathy_jarrett at yahoo.com


		
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