[EBB Sightings] Good Birding by Car

The Patterson Pass site should be accessible for you
and your friend.  From the pullout on the side of the
road, only a few steps are required to get to the side
of the canyon and peer down the embankment.

To get there, take I580 east towards Livermore, and
exit at South Vasco.  When you come to Patterson Pass
Rd (at a signal, just pass the overpass over the
railroad), turn left.  In a mile, Patterson Pass
crosses Greenville Rd, and becomes a small country
road.  At that crossing, zero your odometer.  Also
watch the little white mileage markers on the side of
the road.  The turnout where I saw the Blue Grosbeak
is just past milemarker 6.21, on the right.

For a nice loop drive, continue driving/birding on
Patterson pass rd east to I580.  Take I580 south to
Corral Hollow Rd.  Exit and go west on Corral Hollow
Rd.  You'll drive past an exposed cliff with swifts
and holes that look promising for owls.  Also, you'll
pass the Carnegie off-road area, and Livermore Lab's
Site 300.  The road eventually becomes Tesla Rd in
Livermore, and you connect back to Vasco Rd.   This is
like a mini-version of the Mines Rd drive.

I haven't had the chance to bird Mines Rd yet (hard
with 2 small kids), but you can find an excellent
driving/birding description in the book "Birding
Northern California" by John Kemper.  For an excerpt,
see:
http://www.cvbirds.org/SiteGuides/DPCMR.pdf

For more birding-by-car (and while you're out this
way), try the San Luis NWR 10-mile auto tour.  
http://away.com/gorp/resource/us_nwr/ca_sanl6.htm
http://www.fws.gov/pacific/sanluis/sanluis_info.htm

The Central Valley and Klamath Basin have other
auto-tours, but that's out of the scope of this forum.
 I'd welcome any other suggestions.

Good luck,
Bill Clark
Livermore, CA
--- Arlene Gemmill  wrote:
> Could some kind souls and/or knowledgeable birders
> please give me the scoop
> on birding Mines Road currently.
> 
> I want to take a friend birding in the next few
> weeks.  However, she needs
> to bird from the car and is only able to walk/hobble
> a few steps.
> 
> My recollection of the Mines Road trip (I did it in
> 1995) described in the
> Jean Richmond book is that it would be ideal for my
> disabled friend.
> 
> Also, I saw recent mention of the Patterson Road
> birding and would apprecite
> more information. Isn't that in vicinity of
> Livermore?
> 
> Any advice or information on good birding trips by
> car at this time of year
> greatly appreciated.
> 
> I live carless in S.F. so know little about East Bay
> in May (except Wild Cat
> Canyon).
> 
> TYIA,
> 
> Arlene
> 
> _______________________________________________
> You got this message because you visited 
> www.diabloaudubon.com and subscribed to the mailing
> list 
> Sightings at diabloaudubon.com
> 
> To unsubscribe, ask questions, change your
> subscription, or learn how to post to the list,
> visit the list information page at 
http://www.diabloaudubon.com/mailman/listinfo/sightings
> 
> Archives of past messages for Sightings are at
http://www.diabloaudubon.com/mailman/private/sightings
> 
> Archives of past EBB messages are at
http://www.diabloaudubon.com/ebb/archive/archindex.html
> 
> Posts to this list average 100 to 120 per month.  
> 

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com