[EBB Sightings] YELLOW RAIL, Arrowhead Marsh; LONG-TAILED DUCK, Lake Merritt

I admonished Bob's class that if they want to enjoy good birds, they need to
position themselves next to Bob to see everything he finds. Today proved
that in spades.

After Chris and I took leave of the remaining Yellow Rail admirers (we got
better looks than Bob's pictures suggest, honest!) we headed over to Lake
Merritt to check on the Redhead and company. We immediately found her but
before we could get serious about studying the Goldeneyes, the Long-tailed
Duck popped up. Ecstatic, I immediately called Bob to tell him to hustle
down here (but I didn't scream "Booooooob" because that would have been a
crude anatomical reference). I then called the hotline, only to learn that
Bob had already been here and done that.

I don't have too much experience with Long-tailed Ducks, especially at such
close range, but this one looks like a first-winter male to me. It shows
most of the characteristics of the adult winter male but still has a dark
eye and a short tail. The gray feathers over the back are also shorter than
depicted in Sibley's adult male illustration. The all-white chest and black
band up behind the neck had me a little puzzled but internet photos of
juvenile male Long-tailed Ducks seem to indicate this is part of normal
plumage progression.

Postscript: I forgot to mention in my Friday post from Lake Merritt that
there were two Wild Turkey hens placidly grazing in one of the flower
planters next to the geodesic bird cage. I suspect these are the same two
birds I saw on a neighbor's front lawn a few months ago. They don't act very
wild but then none of the Lake Merritt birds do.

Bird on,

Bruce Mast
Oakland


-----Original Message-----
From: sightings-bounces at diabloaudubon.com
[mailto:sightings-bounces at diabloaudubon.com] On Behalf Of Bob Power
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2008 1:55 PM
To: ebbsightings ebbsightings
Subject: [EBB Sightings] YELLOW RAIL, Arrowhead Marsh;LONG-TAILED DUCK, Lake
Merritt

Hi all,

I met Bruce Mast at dawn at Arrowhead Marsh to do some
high-tide rail scouting. Our Palo Alto Adult School
birding class joined us at 8:15 to hear my "Clappers
and nothing else" report.  Shortly thereafter, Chris
Harbard called out a SORA adjacent to the walkway that
leads to the walkway that extends into the marsh and
had a patch of marsh with hidden Virginia Rails. A
half hour of Clapper viewing was good, but quiet. Our
entire class was spread out on the walkway looking for
anything that moved.  John Dunec, alerted me to an "I
think I've got something" and I hustled to his scope. 
Swimming slowly behind the barest hint of cover was a
small rail with a short yellowish bill, extensive
yellow-orange in the face and nape and extensive
yellow streaking down the back --YELLOW RAIL--. I
looked for three seconds, took a deep breath, turned
to the walkway where Bruce and Chris had the Virginia
Rail and Sora staked out, and screamed
"Brrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce!" I thought it
was 1984 all over again and Born in the USA had just
been released.
Emily Serkin was on the bird shortly thereafter, Bruce
and Chris got on the bird. Rusty Scalf, Dolores Butkus
and Rusty's Albany Adult School Class joined the
throng.  I think somewhere between 35 and 40 of us
got, for a yellow rail, exquisite extended views of
this bird.  

After half an hour of staring at the yellow rail, we
retired to Lake Merritt for the 2nd half of the class
to study Scaup and Goldeneye.... normally a noble and
enlightening pursuit, but today a bit anti-climactic. 
No sooner had we started scanning the ducks for
Barrow's Goldeneyes, than a male LONG-TAILED DUCK
popped up foraging around the long skinny floats on
the west side of the islands opposite the nature
center.  The male TUFTED DUCK put in an up close
appearance as well.

Pictures of the Yellow Rail and the Long-tailed Duck
are posted at:
http://flickr.com/photos/14935921 at N00/

Good birding,

Bob Power
Oakland, CA



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