[EBB Sightings] Two more Golden Crowns and a local seep

Dear Birders:

I went further afield late this afternoon in hopes of locating more Golden-crowned Sparrows and I was rewarded with two birds perched in the stalks of dry hemlock below Selby Trail just north of the two water tanks.

Walking south on the Selby Trail I took a spur trail that leads east to a fine park over view and flushed several California Quail who took refuge in the brush where they continued "clucking."  This is the only area in Tilden Park where I can reliably still hope to find quail.

I then backtracked to the tanks to check out the action at an active seep on the north side of the upper tank.  Water is leaking out in several places but EBMUD intends to replace(?) the tanks and seems disinterested in maintaining them.

As the sun slipped down toward the fog-filled Bay and the light took on that incomparable rich orange color of a late September day, bird activity increased.  A dozen or more juncoes sparred, Pygmy Nuthatches chittered in the tops of the pines and firs, and several robins dipped their beaks in and out of one of the puddles.  The low light played the enlarged silhouettes of tree limbs and flying birds against the high green walls of the water tank.  I lingered enchanted until the fast diminishing light sent me back down the trail while I could still see the way. 

--Phila Rogers