[EBB Sightings] White-Winged Scoters continue in Alameda

Found the male white-winged scoter at 10:30 yesterday morning at the same
location on Ferry Point Road at the seaplane lagoon at Alameda Point in
Alameda. In addition, we sighted a second male white-winged scoter further
along the road in the NE corner of the lagoon. It was about 100 feet
offshore. We did not see any females. Note: Alameda Point is the name of the
former naval air station, not a geographic feature. 

Here is a quick way to find the lagoon: Drive to Alameda and head to the
west end of the island. You will find the defunct naval base (Alameda Point)
there. Drive onto the base and look for large ships docked near the SE
corner of the base. They are visible from most places on the base. Drive to
the ships and you will see a large rectangular lagoon just to the north.
Ferry Point road runs along the eastern side of the lagoon. Look for the
scoters along this road. 

Alice: As of last nite, Southshore beach and Crab Cove remain closed. Do not
know when they will reopen. Call Crab Cove Visitor Center for status. To my
amazement, we have been finding snowy plovers every day on Southshore beach
near the intersection of Shoreline Drive and Sunset Road. The best birding
we have found is at a moderate low tide at Crab Cove and at the viewing
platforms off of Bayview Drive on the SE side of the island about 1/4 mile
NW of the Bay Farm Bridge. Look for the public access shoreline signs on the
right side of Bayview as you head toward the bridge. Besides the usual
shorebirds we saw 59 red knots there day before yesterday. Unfortunately, we
also found 65 lightly oiled black bellied plovers.  Best time to go is a
moderate low tide before noon; after that the birds are up-sun. I don't have
anything planned for Tues. Give me a call or email time and place, would
enjoy tagging along. 510-769-0918.

Lisa: Yes that was me. After that, I signed up to be on the Oiled Wildlife
Care Network/International Bird Research and Rescue (OWCN/IBRRC) field team
for wildlife recovery during oil spills. It is a year-long training program.
Luckily the team had gotten HAZWOPR certifications this summer, so we were
able to participate in this oil spill. I was activated about 10 days ago and
have been doing day-long surveys since then. The low point was spending two
days in a kayak chasing oiled coots on Bay Farm Island. I have a newfound
respect for coots. The high point was working with a USGS biologist and a
USFWS biologist catching clapper rails in Elsie Roemer refuge. We caught 3
and found 1 oiled. The last recovery team (myself and a field biologist from
PRBO) was deactivated last nite. All total, the recovery teams collected
around 50 birds, most of them alive. I don't know the status of the live
birds that went to IBRRC for rehab. 

To learn more about OWCN and IBRRC, here are their web sites:

http://www.owcn.org/

http://www.ibrrc.org/

Here is the OWCN blog on the spill. It provides daily reports and pix on how
the wildlife recovery went:

http://owcnblog.wordpress.com/


Good Birding

Harv Wilson