[EBB Sightings] July -- the month of terns

Dear Birders:

Following the suggestion of others, three of us (Ron Sullivan, Joe Eaton, and I) went yesterday to Middle Harbor -- that seldom-visited regional park in a mostly-forgotten section of west Oakland.  We were rewarded with the opportunity to observe all four tern species likely to be seen this month.  To compare them in the same location was especially rewarding.  Wishing that I had a recorder, I tried to commit to memory their distinctive calls.

There were five Least Terns - two were resting and preening on the beach.  The others were actively fishing, extracting what looked like small fish from the shallows.  Watching them hover or in quick flight on flickering wings, appearing unconstrained by gravity, makes the spirits soar.

Middle Harbor is also a fine location for shorebirds.  Seeing this restored marsh in an urban landscape of stacked containers, over-reached  by enormous gantries, with a dramatic city scape of the Bay Bridge and the SF skyline is 'worth the price of admission' (which, of course, is free).


Phila Rogers