[EBB Sightings] Ferruginous Hawk & Western Kingbird-Marsh Creek Trail

Trip Report- Big Break and Marsh Creek Trail GGAS Bicycle Trip
Oakley-Eastern Contra Costa County
Saturday, March 29, 2008
We started at 10 am at the trailhead at Fetzer and Jordan Lanes in
Oakley with 9 people and cold, windy and overcast weather. A short
distance from the trailhead are the sewer ponds of the Ironhouse
Sanitary District. Here we saw a large number of Bonaparte?s Gulls,
many of which already had the black head and some still had the white
head with the black spot behind the eye characteristic of the winter
bird. The bright orange legs could be seen on those standing on the
islands in the pond. At about 1 mi. from the trailhead is a toilet and
a few picnic tables. From here we saw a Ferruginous Hawk fly into a
nearby field and White Pelicans flying over. Near where the trail
crosses East Cypress Road we saw a Western Kingbird, a Red-shafted
Flicker, and a Kestrel. We had lunch on the banks of Marsh Creek
somewhere near Delta Road, where the sun finally came out and we
watched the sheep, turkey and chickens in a local backyard. We got back
to the trailhead at 2 pm having covered about 10 miles.
The number of birds is similar to what we saw last year about the same
time. On this trip we saw 45 species; the Sandhill Crane and the
Red-tailed Hawk were seen from the car on the way into Oakley and the
rest on the EBRPD Marsh Creek Trail.

American White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Green Heron
Canada Goose
Mallard
Gadwall
Common Goldeneye
Bufflehead
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
American Kestrel
California Quail
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-necked Stilt
Bonaparte's Gull
Herring Gull
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker, red-shafted
Black Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Barn Swallow
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Marsh Wren
Northern Mockingbird
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Song Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
House Finch
House Sparrow (I)


kathy jarrett
kathy_jarrett at yahoo.com


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