[EBB Sightings] Oiled bird survey from a kayak, Oakland airport, Shoreline Park (Bay Farm Island)

Hi all,

Today I went out in my kayak and spent several hours surveying the
area north of San Leandro marina, specifically the shoreline along the
Oakland airport runway, and then further around the Bay Farm Island
into the Shoreline Park.

My main target was the shore along the Oakland airport runway,
figuring that land-based birders might have a difficult time obtaining
permission for access, whereas I could at least eyeball the area from
the water through bins. (Even then, I had to stay out of the 150 yard
security zone marked with buoys. So if anyone could obtain permission
to get closer or to walk the shore, that would be ideal.)

Long story short, after much paddling and scrutinizing the shores, I
only saw one beached, obviously distressed bird, a Horned Grebe, in
the shoreline park portion of the Bay Farm Island. (It seemed to be
standing in the shallow water, not exactly "beached." But being a
grebe probably that's as far as it could ground itself. )

Actually I didn't find the bird; two land-based birders (I failed to
ask their names, sorry) had been observing it when I paddled along to
chat. They said they had been repeatedly trying to reach OWCN to
report this bird with no luck. (Also, this may be the same bird that
Rusty Scalf had mentioned seeing earlier this morning.)

Lacking special training or equipments, there was nothing we could do
but to watch. Sad. I may follow Pat Bacchetti's suggestion and look
into getting certified, etc., after this is all over.

One thing I forgot today was to take photographs for documentation, as
some has suggested. I even had my camera with me for that purpose but
totally forgot.

Another thing I learned was, as others have mentioned, it is very
difficult to judge whether a bird is oiled or not. In fact, observing
from a constantly moving kayak via binoculars, I had little hope of
making any detailed observations. So I just focused on looking for
beached birds, and basically ignored the swimming ones. (I doubt that
OWCN could catch the swimming ones anyway.)

Although I only saw one beached bird today, my fear is that still
swimming but oiled birds (noted by other birders) will start to turn
up on shores in the coming days, as their conditions deteriorate. I
hope everyone will be out keep checking the beaches and shores for
them.

Good birding,
-Akira

PS. I'm sure the other birders called in or emailed in the grebe
already. But if anyone would like to try to refind this particular
bird (and perhaps report with a new location and updated conditions?),
here is a map, along with a GPS trace from my paddle:

http://catnmore.com/Temp/OiledHornedGrebe.jpg