Point Isabel Regional Shoreline
Thu, 3 Feb 2000 14:31:05 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
It was a lovely morning for Alan Kaplan's East Bay Regional Park District birdwalk this morning at Point Isabel Regional Shoreline. The highlight of the morning came right at the beginning before we left the parking lot - good views of a Peregrine Falcon up on one of the two radio towers. Otherwise it was mostly the expected birds. Tide was very high, so the shorebirds were clustered out on the breakwaters - an impressive mass of birds, but a bit too far for good identification with binoculars.
Here's the group list for the morning:
Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus)
Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis)
Clark's Grebe (Aechmophorus clarkii)
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) - see note below
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
American Wigeon (Anas americana)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Greater Scaup (Aythya marila)
Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)
Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata)
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)
Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus)
Black Turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala)
Dunlin (Calidris alpina)
dowitcher (Limnodromus sp.)
Western Gull (Larus occidentalis)
Rock Dove (Columba livia)
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
California Towhee (Pipilo crissalis)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta)
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)
The apparent Greater White-fronted Goose flew low overhead with a small group of Canada Geese - it might possibly have been a domestic goose or hybrid, though all the features we could see in its brief passage were consistent with Greater White-fronted.
One of the people on the walk mentioned that a pair of American Kestrels have been regulars in the 1200 block of Scott St in El Cerrito (near the recycling center). She said that they often feed on hummingbirds, but that she has been unable to find any sign of the bill among the scant remains of the meal. Is it likely that they would swallow the bill?
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
More on the Smew
Thu, 03 Feb 2000 18:12:18 -0800
From: Lillian Fujii
Hi birders. This is a belated report. On Saturday, January 29, Becca Freed, Steve Hayashi and I had the great fortune of having decent scope views of the Smew. Great fortune because the Smew managed to avoid most of the people who went to Tracy on Saturday.
We were walking along a long stretch of levee (between the gate and the dairy) at about 3 PM when the Smew flew in out of nowhere (it seemed) and landed "upriver" from us - in the direction we were walking. The only other birder on that stretch of the levee was the son of the gentleman mentioned in the message forwarded by Don Lewis. The bird stayed in the vicinity for a while, allowing us to get closer and better views through a scope. After a while, the bird flew past us and landed downriver, still well in scope view. It then flew again, its initial flight pattern bringing it straight towards us. We waited motionlessly as it flew closer; however, before it reached us, it angled away from the levee out over the field, and when well past us, flew back towards the river. It was going in the direction of the dairy, where many birders were congregated, but we believe, avoided those birders, as no one in the group saw the bird.
The bird is every bit as skittish as Steve Glover reported, but also every bit as stunning as Don Lewis reported, so even if your chance of seeing the bird is not good, I would not discourage anyone from trying. Echoing Steve Glover's advice, your best chance of seeing the bird from land is to spread out along the levee. If you are in a large group, your chances decrease sinificantly. If there are people standing on the bridge, I would wager that your chance of seeing the bird from the vicinity of the bridge is close to zero.
Access to the levee is from the driveway next to the first house just before the bridge, on the right, as you head from the freeway to the bridge. The lady of the house is very friendly but don't disturb her if she is not outside. Access to the levee at that point is public. The people at Sam's store are also friendly.
I would recommend going sooner rather than later. The bird tries to avoid people (necessary survival trait for a duck) whether on land or in a kayak. If there is too much boating activity, the bird may choose to leave even though there is an abundance of small fish in the river. Happy birding and, the Smew is worth the effort.
Lillian Fujii
Contra Costa County, Los Vaqueros Reservoir
info
Fri, 4 Feb 2000 15:14:25 PST
From: Steve Glover
Hello everyone,
Today I went out to Piper Slough at the north end of Bethel Island, and then stopped for a while at Martinez Regional Shoreline.
It was quite foggy in the Central Valley today and it didn't really burn off until about noon. The most interesting birds were out on the water that used to be Little Frank's Tract before it flooded many years ago. Some of your maps may show land just north of Bethel Island, but there isn't.
69 species there included the following:
House Wren 1
Lincoln's Sparrow 12
Virginia Rail 3
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1, rare here, especially in winter
Eared Grebe 3
Lesser Scaup 12Greater Scaup - at least 5, 4 of them males (This is the first time that I have recorded this species here. The scaup, when they are present, are usually in the far reaches of the open water there and not close enough to identify. Today many were in within 50 yards.)
Horned Grebe 1, rare here
Red-breasted Merganser - one female, possibly the same bird present on and off in recent winters
There were also some geese over Webb Tract to the north although most could not be seen in the fog, only heard. I did see Greater White-fronted Geese on many occasions, and a flock of 30 Snow Geese and 7 Ross's Geese flew southeast over where I was standing.
Four River Otters also provided some good entertainment. They are usually easy to find when there are lots of birds on the water as they scare the bejeebers out of swimming birds, especially coots. If you notice the coots scurrying in every direction it is probably otter induced.
Later I went to Martinez Regional Shoreline to look through the scaup flock. There were only about 300 scaup present while I was there. As Denise said, they are nearly all Greaters, probably 95%. There were also 5 Canvasbacks, 40 Surf Scoters and 2 female Barrow's Goldeneyes (no Commons though).
I also had a sleeping scaup-type duck out there that I am not sure what to think about. Unfortunately it was asleep virtually the whole time I was there. It was a female-type bird with an obvious short tuft. It wasn't anywhere near long enough to actually begin to droop back down the neck but the bird could easily be found with binoculars as even when sleeping the pointy tuft was very obvious. There was a slight amount of white around the base of the bill that was not as tidy as it would normally be on scaup but it never stayed awake long enough to determine the structure of the bill. The body appeared very similar to nearby female Greater Scaups in color with the breast perhaps being slightly less rust-tinged with more gray diffused into the brown. The back, however, did not strike me as being nearly as dark in comparison with the flanks as female Tufteds that I have seen. The few female tufteds that I have seen have struck me as overall fairly dark brown and this bird did not. Differences between it and nearby Greater Scaup that were also asleep were, I think, far too subtle. There seems to me a strong possibility of a Tufted Duck X Scaup hybrid for this bird although without good looks at head and bill shape I wouldn't even attempt a guess as to which scaup it might be. If anyone gets out there in the next few days and sees this bird I would love to know your thoughts.
Finally, it would appear as if the Los Vaqueros watershed is now open to the public. Although I did not have time to visit I did come across a trailhead with maps. From I-580 in Livermore go north on Vasco Rd towards Brentwood. In about 10 miles or so you will come to a traffic light. This is Camino Diablo. Go left. Turn left again on Walnut. The trailhead is near the corner. According to the map if you continue on Walnut you will reach the watershed office where you can purchase the needed permit. It will be interesting to see what birds are attracted to this newly-constructed reservoir. If anyone ventures out there please let me know what you see.
Steve Glover
Dublin, CA
EBRPD to review grazing policy
Fri, 4 Feb 2000 16:35:05 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
According to an article in today's Contra Costa Times, the East Bay Regional Park District "plans to reassess its grazing policy." Ted Radke, board member from Martinez is quoted as saying, "We have clear standards that were established roughly 10 years ago. It's time to revisit them." He estimated that it would take 6 months to a year for preparation of a revised grazing policy.
Pat O'Brien, district general manager, is quoted as saying that the new status of species such as the red-legged frog led to the review. He said that an internal review by district land managers and biologists is already underway.
The article speculates that there might be some connection between the review and "a possible park maintenance tax that may be put on the November ballot."
You will find the article at
http://www.hotcoco.com/news/environment/stories/grazing_20000204_wct.htm
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
http://www.best.com/~folkbird/