[EBB Sightings] Bonaparte's gulls & Merlin at Don Edwards NWR (Newark)

I was relieved to find no evidence of the oil spill
along the shorelines and marshes at Don Edwards NWR in
Newark today. 

Cool birds: six Bonaparte's gulls next to the levee
across the big pond about two miles east of the stop
sign at the Visitor Center parking lot.  A seventh
Bonaparte's was busily feeding with about a dozen
eared grebes in a pond a half mile closer to the stop
sign.

Coolest bird: a merlin perched atop a telephone pole
near the staff buildings down by La Riviere Marsh.  A
male kestrel was on the tallest pole (the one with the
gray box), and a Say's phoebe was on the wires, and
the next pole over held the merlin. 

The marsh had its own version of Half Moon Bay's
"raptor buffet" going on today.  While the merlin and
kestrel were on their poles and the female RTHA
watched her mate from the electrical tower across from
the entrance gate to the refuge, two female harriers
and the male RTHA were up and hunting at the same time
over the marsh.  The shorebirds were in a dither.  One
of the harriers caught something and mantled like
crazy over it on the ground to keep it from the
others.  She must have been standing on it because I
could see her eating even though I couldn't see
anything in her talons. 

Earlier, from near the hunting shack, I'd watched a
female harrier dive-bomb her smaller mate way out over
the ponds.  The two showed talons to each other, then
seemed to be playing (bonding, I suppose) as they
twisted and turned and climbed in ever-tighter
circles, always with the female "chasing" the male. 

Remarkable to see only one black-necked stilt at the
refuge today! 

46 species in all (list below).

Near the Dumbarton Bridge:
Greater scaups
Female surf scoter (1)
Clark's grebes
Brown pelicans
Great egrets
Western gulls
Willets

On or near the ponds:
Ruddy ducks
No. shovelers
Bonaparte's gulls (7)
eared grebes
coots
Least sandpipers
Sanderlings
Brewer's blackbirds

Near the Learning Center and Hunting Shack:
Golden-crowned sparrows
White-crowned sparrows
Starlings
White-tailed kite hover-hunting (1)
scrub jays
double-crested cormorants
song sparrows
yellow-rumped warblers
common yellowthroats
pied-billed grebes
black phoebes
killdeer

In trees by the Visitor Center parking lot:
ruby-crowned kinglet (1)
bushtits
northern mockingbirds

La Riviere Marsh environs:
RTHAs
kestrel (1)
Ca. towhee
House finches
Turkey vulture (1)
merlin (1)
marsh wren (2)
Say's phoebe (1)
greater yellowlegs
Cooper's hawk (? accipiter spp)
No harriers
crows
gadwalls (2)
snowy egrets
green-winged teal (4)
black-necked stilt (1)


Stephanie Floyd
Fremont

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