[EBB Sightings] Oakland CBC Results, December 17, 2006

Bay Area Birders:

The 66th Oakland Christmas Bird Count was held yesterday (Sunday) in  
glorious weather that made for a vastly more pleasant count than the  
year before.  You can read about some aspects of the count at
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/18/ 
BAGI7N1F7T1.DTL

Our preliminary Count Day total (some areas not yet heard from, rare  
birds not yet reviewed) was 174 species, close to our recent average.   
Thanks to the nearly 200 birders who contributed to this successful  
count.

On Count Day we missed five species usually found recently:
	Cackling Goose
	Tufted Duck
	White-winged Scoter
	Cattle Egret (the long-lived Lake Merritt bird has evidently passed  
from the scene)
	Ruddy Turnstone.

Our Count Week extends from Thursday, December 14 through Wednesday,  
December 20.  If you see any of these missing species, or already saw  
one, or know of someone who sees one during Count Week that MIGHT be  
within the Oakland Count Circle, please send me a note with date and  
time, exact location, number of individual birds, etc.  Please report  
any unusual species, too!  Thanks.

Birders found these unusual species yesterday:
	Ross's Goose -- Lew Galbraith Golf Course
	Lesser Yellowlegs -- tidal pond just south of the ferry terminal on  
Bay Farm Island
	Wandering Tattler -- northeast edge of Treasure Island
	Surfbird -- west end of the derelict Berkeley pier
	Common Murre -- southwest side of Yerba Buena Island, north of the Bay  
Bridge
	Palm Warbler -- Children's Fairyland near Lake Merritt
	Swamp Sparrow -- in a closed area of the proposed Alameda National  
Wildlife Refuge (chosen as the 	count's Best Bird)

With apologies for posting out the the Oakland area, thanks again, in  
advance, for reporting any potential additions to the Oakland CBC.

Dave Quady
Berkeley, California
davequady at att.net