[EBB Sightings] Elegant Terns

Wed. ~7:30 am while taking the V bus to SF I noticed 100s of white 
"larger than ususal" birds  at  the Emeryville shoreline where the Freeway 
from Berkeley joins the freeway from Oakland. Unfortunaely traffic was 
good and the bus was fast so I couldn't figure out what they where. 
Thursday afternoon when traffic was slow I had my "emergency monocular" 
with me and maybe 50 similar birds in the same location  at  ~6:15 pm, 
though I still couldn't identify them. Guess I'll have to check it out 
this week end;(
This week we've had a female Townsend's Warbler in our yard several 
times in the Monterrey Cypress. (Montclair: back yard adjacent to Larry 
Lane and Cobbledick Creek, tributary of Sausal Creek).
  Red Tails have also been training a juvenile to catch and eat rats! 
Quite comical to see the juvenile trying to keep hold of them on the top 
of the Redwood trees.
Win

Phila Rogers wrote:
> 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 
> 
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