Arrowhead Marsh at low tide, February 6
Mon, 7 Feb 2000 02:25:45 -0800 (PST)
From: Richard Mix
We (Ann Callaway and I) had a number of ducks by the Arrowhead Marsh [Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline, Oakland] late Sunday afternoon:
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
Horned Grebe
Western Grebe - very restless, though we didn't get the full running display, more like treading water
Surf Scoter
Cinnamon Teal
Green-winged Teal
American Wigeon
Ruddy Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye (I can't make the iridescent color appear purple from any angle; it seems rather the same green as the Common Goldeneye.)
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Canvasback - only one
Mallard
American Coot
Finally, an odd scruffy duck with an upturned tail, without an obvious white ring at the neck but otherwise very like a female goldeneye with a prominent white patch on the wing. What was disconcerting is that it was quite a bit smaller than the coots! Has anyone else noticed it near the bridge?
We saw most of the usual shorebirds following the tide out, except that the turnstones must have taken a good head start.
Good birding,
Richard Mix (El Cerrito)
Burrowing Owl continues at Berkeley Marina
Tue, 8 Feb 2000 18:14:47 -0800
From: David Lai
Today at 4:15 PM, I watched the Burrowing Owl for a half hour. It never moved the whole time I was there. It was in the same location as it has been reported in the past.
It was located just south of the northeast corner of César Chávez Park north of the Berkeley Marina. It stayed out of public eye, sitting on a rock just below the rocks at trail level. If you walk north along the trail along the eastern side of the park, leave the main trail just before you get to the corner. This is a small paved turnout with a bench. Position yourself closer to the water and scan north along the rocks between the trail and the water. If you search for it directly from above, you will probably startle it and scare it away, because it is so close to the trail.
David
Contra Costa County on February 8
Thu, 10 Feb 2000 12:35:57 PST
From: Steve Glover
Hello everyone,
A bit of a belated report. On Tuesday I took Luke Cole on a birding tour of the county in an attempt to find him some new county "ticks."
The heavy fogs around the bay completely ruined our hopes of looking for loons, Harlequin Duck, etc. At the north side of the Albany Crescent, we did see 30+ Red Knots and 4 Semipalmated Plovers. There was also a male Lesser Scaup, which I have found to be somewhat unusual here over the years. At Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline, we briefly looked for the Sage Thrasher but did not see it. The Eurasian Wigeon was not present at the pond. There were a few Selasphorus hummingbirds, likely Allen's, zipping aroung the eucalyptus. At the cove at Sandpiper Spit (which is at the end of the road past Miller/Knox near the harbor), there were 14 Black Turnstones.
We then gave up and headed inland. We went to Tilden Regional Park and birded the Monterey pines at Inspiration Point. Here we had the specialty birds for the area such as Band-tailed Pigeon, Winter Wren, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-breasted and Pygmy (30+) Nuthatches and Varied Thrush.
We then went east and briefly birded the north end of McNabney Marsh. This is accesible from the Marina Vista offramp from I-680, just before the Benicia Bridge Toll Plaza. Amonst many dabbling ducks was a male Eurasian Wigeon.
We then went east to Oakley and visited Iron House Sanitary District. Bonaparte's and Mew Gulls were foraging over the first pond, as they usually are. Nine Cattle Egrets were in the field just beyond the ponds. There were gulls circling over the area near the outhouses so there was obviously water there but we didn't have time to go that far.
At Piper Slough we had 2 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. Four Yellow-billed Magpies were at the Delta Rd nestsite near Knightsen, this being the most reliable spot in the county for this species. At Holland Tract, at the east end of Delta Rd, we scoped out at least 4 male Yellow-headed Blackbirds amongst hordes of Red-winged and Tricolored Blackbirds. There was also a Ferruginous Hawk sitting out in one of the fields.
By the end of the day we had 120 species, not bad considering the fog in the morning.
Steve Glover
Dublin, CA
Tilden Regional Park Nature Area
Thu, 10 Feb 2000 19:27:53 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
The rain stopped just long enough to allow perfect weather for Alan Kaplan's East Bay Regional Park District birdwalk this morning in the Tilden Nature Area. Three of us joined him for a stroll along the road to Jewel Lake, then back along Upper Packrat Trail.
Highlight of the morning was the large number of Varied Thrushes - there must have been at least a dozen in that short stretch, along with lots of American Robins. Also fun was a good observation of a Steller's Jay doing a very credible imitation of a Red-shouldered Hawk call - didn't quite have the volume, but otherwise just about perfect. We did see a pair of real Red-shouldered Hawks near the parking lot just before the walk.
Otherwise pretty much the standard winter birds.
After the walk, as the rain began pouring down, Stephen Boddington (from Britain via Brussels) and I drove up to Lake Solano [on the Solano/Yolo county border north of Vacaville] to try to find him a Hooded Merganser (thanks to Steve Glover for the good suggestion on location). We got ahead of the rain and had time to walk through the picnic area before it began to rain heavily there. In the lake were lots of Ring-necked Ducks and Buffleheads, and two pair of Hooded Merganser. We also saw Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglet, Nuttall's and Downy and Hairy Woodpecker, Hermit Thrush, and no doubt would have had much more except that there was too much water on the binoculars to see anything. Before heading home, we did drive along Putah Creek a short distance upstream and got a great view of another male Hooded Merganser, this one with crest erected beautifully.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Burrowing owls at Martin Luther King Shoreline,
Oakland
Sat, 12 Feb 2000 16:18:01 -0800
From: Courtenay Peddle
Hello folks,
Not only is there a Burrowing Owl at the Swan Road entrance to the shoreline, but on Saturday, I saw a pair at the burrow where a brood was fledged last year. Yahoo!
Join me Sunday at 9:30 AM at the fishing pier for a Golden Gate Audubon Society bird walk.
If I don't see you there, Good Birding!
Courtenay