[EBB Sightings] More good Livermore birds on March 4.

Mar 3, I also birded Shadow Cliffs.

The Red Necked Grebe had swam to the SE end of the
lake without bothering to post anyone on this list...
so he took awhile to find.  Still in winter plumage,
but starting to get a faint blush of ruddy color on
his neck.  He hung out with Western and Clark's
Grebes.  Which isn't an ID cop-out... there actually
were both Western and Clark's together... as well as
pied-billed and eared grebes.  I'll post some pictures
this week.

Other highlights were the Osprey perched in trees
overlooking the swim beach, a pair of common
mergansers in the swim area, and cormorants and herons
actively nesting in the trees in the island in the
south-easternmost pond.

Bill Clark
Livermore

--- Adele  wrote:

> Today, Saturday, March 4, George Bing and I toook
> advantage
> of a sunny day to bird in the Livermore area, with
> good results.
> 
> Two male Eurasian Wigeons, which I first saw on Feb.
> 4, were
> at the Las Positas Golf Course, seen from Clubhouse
> Road, off
> Airport Road just S of Hwy 580.  They were with a
> flock of
> about 100 American Wigeons.
> 
> Two Burrowing Owls were near the W end of Jack
> London
> Blvd.  I had not seen them there since Oct. 1, 
> after which a
> truck drove over and caved in their burrow.
> .
> A pair of Great-tailed Grackles were at Shadow
> Cliffs Regional
> Park, at the swimming beach, and in the cattails at
> the end of
> the little creek just to the S, which is where they
> nested in 1999.
> 
> My previous earliest sightings have been May 10,
> 1999,
> May 22, 2003, and April 11, 2005.  Nesting was
> verified in
> 1999 and 2005.  This year's pair were seen by a park
> ranger
> on March 1 or 2.
> 
> Shadow Cliff's entrance is on Stanley Blvd. between
> Livermore
> and Pleasanton.  The entrance fee is $6 per day or
> $50-$60 for
> an annual pass.
> 
> The Red-necked Grebe, which I first saw Feb. 4, was
> there
> today, quite far across the lake from the swimming
> beach.
> 
> The White-throated Sparrow (tan-striped morph or
> immature?)
> which I first saw Nov. 19, 2005, and again Feb. 4,
> was along
>  the creekside trail just upstream of the bridge
> across the creek,
>  located S of the water slide.
> 
> Some other notable birds we saw at Shadow Cliffs
> included:
> 
> Double-crested Cormorant (in nest tree)
> Great Blue Heron (in nest tree)
> Osprey (flying overhead)
> Red-shouldered Hawk (on nest)
> Moorhen (near creek bridge)
> 
> Along the Arroyo Mocho creek upstream of Isabel
> Avenue
> we saw a pair of Hooded Mergansers.  A good
> viewpoint
> is 1 block E of the S end of Murdell Avenue, where
> we
> park in a little side street, and get on the
> creekside trail,
> where the creek ponds have a good variety of birds.
> 
> Many Wild Turkeys were at the Veteran's Hospital,
> near the S end of Arroyo Road.  Two pairs of Wood
> Ducks were in the hospital sewage settling ponds,
> and
> in the Arroyo Del Valle in Veterans Park.
> 
> A Barn Owl was in the old water tower on Vintage
> Ave,
> which is off Bess Ave, just N of the intersection of
> Arroyo Rd and Concannon Blvd.  I last saw it there
> on October 1, 2005.
> 
> Art Edwards
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