[EBB Sightings] Holland Tract and Other Contra Costa Locales

I touched down at a few spots in East Contra Costa yesterday. It was  
a beautiful day to be out: no rain, no bitter wind, no fog. Some of  
the sightings are listed below.

Holland Tract
Greater White-fronted Goose, 1,500
Tundra Swan, 20 -- flying over the tract and over Palm Tract just to  
the south
Ferruginous Hawk, 2
Yellow-billed Magpie, 1 -- on Delta Road on the way to Holland Tract  
[the first I've seen out there this winter]
Tri-colored Blackbirds -- among the flocks of Brewer's and Red-wings  
in the fields just past the 90-degree turn on Delta, going north

It was a banner day for raptors, with at least 9 Red-tails, 3 White- 
tailed Kites, 3 Northern Harriers, and 1 American Kestrel, in  
addition to the Ferrug. Many other raptors were flying north of the  
tract, but much too far away to identify with any certainty. I wanted  
to turn at least one into a Rough-legged.

Iron House Sanitary District
Bonaparte's Gull, 80
Mew Gull, 6
Sora, 1 [heard]
Virginia Rail, 4 [each heard in a separate location]
Orange-crowned Warbler, 2
Fox Sparrow, 2

The gulls were within the district property in and over the ponds.  
The other birds were in the marsh and willows blackberries along the  
Big Break trail, which skirts the water treatment plant.

Byron Airport
Burrowing Owl, 2 -- 1 west of Byron Hot Springs Road, the other north  
of Armstrong Road, past the airport
Loggerhead Shrike, 2 -- 1 in each location above

Like others this season, I was hoping for Short-eared Owl late in the  
day. Instead, I saw several parachutists gracefully drift down to the  
airport, one at a time. Only then did I realize that they were on the  
plane that had taken off just as I arrived--probably wanting a jump  
at sunset.

The East Bay Regional Park District has a map of the Big Break area,  
showing Iron House as well. The ERPD site provides handy links to  
Google and Yahoo maps. Steve Glover's helpful guide to the area,  
available on Joe Morlan's website, connects all these spots and  
mentions others.

Judith Dunham
Berkeley