[EBB Sightings] Eastern Alameda County Olhone Audubon trip results:

This morning 20 birders assembled off of HY 580 and El Charo Road in
Pleasanton to visit three different habitats .
Zone 7 water district; There two bridges over Las Positas Creek on El Charo
used by Northern Rough-winged and Cliff Swallows for nesting.
When Jim Ross and I arrived B4 8 AM we found no Swallows feeding which I
found odd.
A few second laters Jim spotted a Merlin ( richardsonii) on the wooden pole
closest to the bridge over looking the nesting area.
At 8:45 the Merlin launched himself  the pole.
As 20 of us viewed, he launched himself with  swift sudden speed  and
acrobat moves directly in front of the mud nest attached to the bridge.
The Swallows panicked and bolted from their nest.
At our eye level,  to close for scopes the Merlin made several spectacular
passes and then grabbed a swallow in flight.
He returned the pole and had breakfast.
Larry Thompson of Livermore was on the trip with his DSLR 500 mm lenses and
snapped some fine photo's.
On to Patterson Pass.
We arrived later than I perfected 10AM.
Birding was slow until road marker 5.80 when a Chipping Sparrow appeared
along with Bullocks Oriole-nest building, Lark Sparrows, Orange crown,
Audubon's and Myrtle Warblers and Bewick's Wren.
At road marker 6.04 in the willows for well over a half hour we viewed five
warblers, Orange-crowned, Wilson's, Common Yellowthroat, MacGillivray's and
NASHVILLE Warbler.
The NASHVILLE Warbler was very cooperative and appeared often fully on
exposed in twig ends.
We probably had twenty minutes watching the NASHVILLE Warbler.
There was speculation among several birders that there may have also been a
Red-eyed Vireo in the willows or for sure a Vireo species. 
I didn't see the bird myself. But Larry Thompson had a few shots of the
bird which he'll circulate later.
We concluded Patterson Pass with a single Burrowing Owl.
Missing today was the Spotted Towhee, Yellow and Black-throated Gray
Warblers which had been seen on Saturday.
Also typically the Blue Grosbeaks' return to Patterson Pass on or close to
April 16th, today the 13th no Blue Grosbeaks were seen or heard.
On to Springtown Preserve in north Livermore, where we joined with Native
California Plants Society Biologist Heath Bartosh to learn about the alkali
plant community present in the preserve.
**Google: Springtown Preserve for recently launched web site and bird list,
plus conservation data bits.**
Western Kingbirds, Golden Eagle, and 60+ Long-billed Curlews in flight.
I'm not going to list the expected birds  such as - meadowlarks,
blackbirds, red-tail hawks, etc,etc..
However the total trip count for the three habitats is 51.
Regards
Rich Cimino
Ohlone Audubon trip leader






Richard Cimino
Pleasanton, Alameda County, Cal.