[EBB Sightings] Oiled birds at Dumbarton Bridge DESFBNWR

Just off the Dumbarton Bridge in Newark, near the
fishing pier, the first bird I scoped at around 9 this
morning was an oiled eared grebe.  The bird was not
black with oil, but rather had dark brown streaks, was
wet and matted-looking, an overall dirty appearance. 
The bird preened non-stop for the entire hour+ that I
was out there. Next bird was a Clark's grebe with oily
streaks on its back; also constantly preening, but in
better shape than the eared grebe.  I also saw a
female scaup and a female surf scoter with some oil on
them; both birds were preening a lot but also diving. 


It was extremely frustrating to get nothing but a busy
signal on the toll-free oiled birds hotline (877#) for
over an hour!  Fortunately, a park ranger arrived on
the scene, also scoping for oiled birds, and I was
able to report the sightings to him.  He told me that
they plan to put boats in the water to go after birds
that are in trouble but haven't yet come to the shore.

I hope everyone who can will go out and look for oiled
birds and not give up on trying to find someone to
report them to.  



Stephanie Floyd
Fremont

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