[EBB Sightings] Lake Merritt Franklin's Chat

The Franklin's Gull remains at Lake Merritt this morning, Saturday, April
30. I left it around 10:30 preening in the water just off the path between
the duck feeding area and the Embarcadero.

I also found a Yellow-breasted Chat singing in the Oak and Strawberry Trees
next to the Garden Center. I first spotted it around 9 am and it was still
there when I checked back around 10. By 10:30 it had either gone silent or
moved on. The trees are on the east side, between the Garden Center and the
Lawn Bowl Club. They are right next to the building, adjacent to the little
driveway that goes behind the Garden Center to an employee parking lot.

The female Tufted Duck is still cruising around the duck feeding area with
the remaining scaups.

Lots of breeding activity at the lake. I found a Black Phoebe nest, a
Chestnut-backed Chickadee nest, 2 Bushtit nests (1 possibly unoccupied but
the other definitely occupied), a Robin nest, and a Brewer's Blackbird nest.
I also found a family of fledged Oak Titmice. Of course, the islands are
over-run with nesting cormorants, Great and Snowy Egrets, night herons,
Canada Geese, and probably 1 Great Blue Heron nest. 

P.S. The Hooded Oriole pair seems to be firmly ensconced in the palms at the
intersection of Santa Clara Avenue and Crescent Street. They also show up
pretty regularly in the bottle-brush trees in our backyard.

Happy birding.

Bruce Mast
Oakland, CA
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