[EBB Sightings] Downtown Walnut Creek, Arrowhead Marsh

Hi, all.
  I, too was at MLK Shoreline yesterday--primarily to
find the house wren, which managed to elude me (unless
it was one of the unidentifiable shadows flitting in
the trees near the restrooms & gardening shelter).
Gorgeous day and lots of gorgeous waterfowl.
  Among those seen:
goldeneye--both types
ruddy ducks
mallards--of course
American wigeon
northern shoveler
bufflehead
green-winged teal
pintail
cinnamon teal
scaups--both types, I think
coots
gadwall (?)
grebes--horned, eared, western
great egret
snowy egret
western meadowlark
white-crowned sparrow
song sparrow
golden-crowned sparrow
yellowlegs--which kind I'm not sure
Anna's hummingbird
American crow
northern harrier, which was the explanation for a 
general panic among the ducks in the southwestern pond
Canada geese
avocet
  It being low tide, the rails were not to be seen.
  In my yard this morning I was a bit surprised to see
a black phoebe or two hanging around, joining the
house sparrows, house finches and (Oregon) juncos that
aren't so surprising. A couple of robins were making a
real racket in the trees.
  With this weather, do we assume the mythical
groundhog didn't see its shadow?
Cheers,
Alan Howe
North Oakland.

--- Scott Restivo  wrote:

> Most likely a recording. They do the same thing at
> Bishop Ranch 16 in San Ramon. Very disconcerting to
> birders, at least until you recognize what is going
> on. I have heard the Walnut Creek one when parking
> at the Olympic Place garage on the top level. Better
> would be for them to get Peregrine Falcons to swoop
> down on the Rock Doves.
> 
> On another note, I was at Arrowhead Marsh at high
> tide today (about 11:25 am). I went out on the
> wooden walkway that goes out over the marsh a
> shortways. Saw 6 different Clapper Rails, several
> very close to the walkway. I saw two swimming from
> one clump of grasses to another, looking like a kind
> of strange grebe. Always only saw them walking in
> the grasses before that, never swimming around.
> Also, nice views of green-winged teal and cinnamon
> teal not far out. Many, many other birds there also.
> 
> Scott R
> 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Hillary Heard 
>   To: Sightings at diabloaudubon.com 
>   Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 10:55 AM
>   Subject: [EBB Sightings] Downtown Walnut Creek
> 
> 
>   Thanks to all for the replies to my original
> message!
> 
>   After spending some time yesterday afternoon
> wandering around the office complex at S.California
> & Mt. Diablo I have reached the conclusion that this
> has GOT to be a recording of a falcon. When you stop
> and listen it is the same vocalization repeated
> several times, didn't bother with timing the
> interval but suffice it to say I considered leaving
> a nasty note on the property managers door. What a
> tease! I don't even think the darn recording works
> as there were a ton of pigeons all around the area
> (I think I even saw one of them yawn after the
> recording went off, clearly it was unconcerned by
> the imaginary falcon). What a strange way to try &
> scare off birds...about as effective as the plastic
> owls, when will people learn birds aren't dumb?
> 
>   I did console my self after this realization in
> knowing that I actually saw some LIVE birds during a
> mid-morning walk in Briones, the Ridge Trail (?)
> across the street from Acalanes H.S. on P.H. Road in
> Lafayette. A pair of Kestral's were vocalizing at
> the top of the first ridge behind the old horse
> stables and then a Prairie Falcon flew overhead,
> perhaps the instigator of the Kestrels noise. No
> Black Shouldered Kites but many other birds & who
> can complain about hiking in a t-shirt in February?
> 
>   -Hillary
> 


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