[EBB Sightings] Great-tailed Grackle

Steve,
Great job on the grackle! The brilliance of Bob's Alameda Big Year proposal
is very much in evidence here. I wouldn't have known where to look for a
grackle in this county and it never would have occurred to me to look behind
Pearson Sales. It will be interesting to track whether this is an outpost
for a new colony or just a wayward bird.

Bruce Mast
Oakland



-----Original Message-----
From: sightings-bounces at diabloaudubon.com
[mailto:sightings-bounces at diabloaudubon.com] On Behalf Of Steve Huckabone
Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2008 5:40 PM
To: EBB
Subject: [EBB Sightings] Great-tailed Grackle

Today my spouse and I headed for Berkeley Aquatic Park at first light and
where rewarded with 6 Red-breasted Merganser in the north pond at the north
end. However after about 2 hours we gave up on the Northern Waterthrush and
were happy to depart the area.

Next to Estuary Park and easily located the Palm Warbler and Townsend's
Warbler and also got the bonus bird Red-breasted Nuthatch. All were in the
pine trees on the estuary side of the yacht sales building. 

On to Lake Merritt where we enjoyed seeing several Barrow's Goldeneye at
close range where the tide enters the lake. We next found the Tufted Duck in
the lake by the Nature Center. The bird was in a large mixed flock of Scaup
and was so close that we could reach down and touch it! No bins required.

We dipped on the Tropical Kingbird at HRS on Winton Ave, so we decided to
drive through the industrial area from Winton going south. We cruised into
the back area of all the buildings and were rewarded with Great-tailed
Grackle. This location was at Cabot and Kidder behind a building marked
Pearson Sales.

Ending our day at Coyote Hill's RP looking for the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. It
took some time but we finally heard the bird then saw it foraging in the
brush along Quarry Trail as previously reported.

Steve Huckabone
Alameda County
Livermore California
USA


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