[EBB Sightings] Elegant Terns

Dear Birders:

Before taking off my boots or hanging up my daypack, I wanted to let 
everyone know who might be interested about the Elegant Terns that have 
congregated along the Bay shore at the Emeryville Crescent.

This fog-free morning at 7:30 a.m. on the outgoing tide, I joined experts 
Charlotte Nolan and Bob Battagin for one of the final census of the year. 
>From our starting point along Powell Street near Water Gate, we could see a 
solid line of white edging the shore on the far side of the crescent. 
Through his scope, Bob identified the birds as Elegant Terns.

After surveying the closer-in birds -- a variety of shore birds but few 
birds on the open water -- we drove around to the south side of the crescent 
(along the approach to the Bay Bridge toll plaza) for a closer look.

We parked at the edge of the dead-end road full of construction activity and 
walked out across the marsh.  What a cacophony!  Bob estimated that there 
were at least a thousand birds.  Impressive enough, but then a Red-tailed 
Hawk cruised by and the birds arose in a blaze of white -- a dense river of 
white -- that swirled about until by some signal known only to them, they 
settled back down.  None of the birds appeared to be fishing, content for 
the time being to just hang out as a tight-packed group where personal space 
seemed to be defined as a feather apart.

I learned from my companions that this 'post-breeding dispersal' is 
characteristic of Elegant Terns and soon they will be returning south to 
where they bred and then on as far south as Peru for the winter.

Looking up Elegant Tern in my first bird book, a 1941 copy of Roger Tory 
Peterson's "A Field Guide to Western Birds," I discover that Peterson 
devotes only a few lines to the tern, listing the bird as a rare species 
found in the fall along the coast south of San Francisco.  In another 
example of "nothing stays the same," Elegant Terns now are found in the fall 
as far north as Washington state.

Another thing:  This particular piece of marsh has an interesting historical 
context as there are still a couple of old shanties sagging on their 
pilings.  Narrow down your vision to the salt grass, yellow-flowered gum 
weed, pickle weed, pilings and shanties and you are transported back to an 
earlier time.

About getting there:  Take the last East Bay exit and then turn sharply 
right before the bus(?) ramp. Park among the trucks and maybe let the 
workers know what you're up to.

Phila Rogers