[EBB Sightings] East CC Co. birds incl. Tufted Duck

Spent most of Sunday birding in the East Contra Costa County area with
Juan-Carlos Solis. Some highlights:

TUFTED DUCK continues at Clifton Court Forebay.  I spotted it in the west
slough about 100 feet southwest of the two dumpsters(where the fisherman
congregate) at 3:30 PM.

In the morning along Holland tract, we spotted large concentrations
(1,000+) of SANDHILL CRANES AND GREATER-WHITE FRONTED GEESE in the flooded
fields to the east of the Holland Tract road.  Raptors included
FERRUGINOUS HAWKS. Single YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS were spotted in 2
locations and over a 100++ TRICOLORED BLACKBIRDS were in blackbird flocks
in high concentrations. Other birds of note included ORANGE-CROWNED
WARBLER, LOGGERHEAD SHRIKES (including 3 by the Byron Airport), LESSER and
GREATER YELLOWLEGS, WILSON SNIPE, TUNDRA SWANS, AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN,
several BONAPARTE'S GULLS, and many LINCOLN SPARROWS.

We did a little owling at dusk and spotted a BURROWING OWL about 150 yards
from the northwest corner of Byron Hot Springs Road and Armstrong Road
north of the Byron Airport.

The two of us spotted 76 birds for the day between storms.

Ted Robertson

Lawrence Hall of Science
University of California
Berkeley, CA  94720-5200
510-642-4087