Las Gallinas
Mon, 05 Jun 2000 09:06:05 -0700
From: Sheila Dickie
At Las Gallinas Sewage Treatment Plant in Marin County on Saturday June 4 I saw a female Wilson's phalarope in breeding plumage. I don't know if this unusual or not, but as it was the first time I had ever seen one there, I thought I would post it to this list. No other phalaropes seemed to be around. Bird was located in pond three at the end nearest to the plant and keeping company wading with a few stilt and a yellowlegs. Also at Las Gallinas lots of nursery activity in the Canada Goose and Mallard arena, again in pond 3. Other species included: Kildeer, Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, Red-winged Blackbirds, Black Phoebe, 8 Snowy Egrets altogether in Pond 3, American Kestrel (1), Cormorant (1), Turkey Vulture being mobbed by blackbirds, House Finch, Mockingbird, several Jack Rabbits, California Quail (heard), 2 Caspian Tern.
Sheila Dickie
Berkeley
Editor's Note: To reach Las Gallinas sewage plant, take Hwy 101 north and exit east on Smith Ranch Rd at the north edge of San Rafael. At the end of the road, just before you enter John McInnis County Park, turn left on the road leading to the sewage plant. Continue past the headquarters building to a small parking lot near the ponds.
Fwd: Invitation to join northbaybirds
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2000 04:42:12 -0700
From: Mike Feighner
Hello Birders:
From time to time birders have submitted e-mail reports from Marin County with the side note that this was "outside the area". Well, there is a new birding listserve just for that now. It's called North-Bay-Birds and covers birding in Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Lake, and Solono Counties. See below:
Mike Feighner, Livermore, CA
Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2000 04:56:26 +0000
From: northbaybirds Moderator
Subject: Invitation to join northbaybirds
To: Mike FeighnerHello,
This is an invitation to join the northbaybirds group, an email group that I moderate at eGroups, a free, easy-to-use email group service. By joining this group, you'll be able to easily send messages to fellow group members using just one email address. eGroups also makes it easy to store photos and files, coordinate events and more.
Here's my introductory message for you:
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I have set up a discussion group for birds in Sonoma, Marin, Napa, Lake, and Solano counties. The group will focus on sightings and distribution.
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TO JOIN THIS GROUP, simply go to our site athttp://www.egroups.com/invite/northbaybirdsand click the "JOIN" button
If you do not wish to join the northbaybirds group, just ignore this invitation.
Regards,
Moderator, northbaybirdsSPECIAL NOTE FROM eGroups: Because eGroups values your privacy, it is a violation of our service rules for moderators to add subscribers to a group against their wishes. If you feel this has happened, please notify us at abuse@egroups.com
East Contra Costa on 5 June
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 16:48:42 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello everyone,
On Monday, 5 June, I birded for a few hours in eastern Contra Costa County. At Marsh Creek Reservoir on Marsh Creek Rd west of Brentwood (and east of Clayton) there were 3 different families of Wood Ducks. One female had five nearly full grown young, another had ten tiny young and the third had 12 tiny young. Wood Ducks are very rare breeders in the county.
At the nearby intersection of Marsh Creek Rd and Camino Diablo there is a large thistle field with a large dead snag in the middle. A male Blue Grosbeak was singing from the snag. While I watched it the bird dropped down into the thistle and copulated with a female. There are no nest records for the county away from the true delta; this is still in the hills even though not by much. There was also a Lark Sparrow carrying nest material there.
At the sewage ponds at the east end of Camino Diablo there was a Cinnamon Teal with tiny young, a Common Moorhen with a fledgling, a Song Sparrow fledgling, a Loggerhead Shrike carrying food, and a pair of Western Kingbirds building a nest on a chain-link fence.
Good luck,
Steve Glover
Dublin, CA
New listserv announcement and clarification
Thu, 8 Jun 2000 21:45:49 -0700
From: Doug Shaw
There seems to be some confusion on the new listserv for northbay birds. Mike Feighner did me a favor by promoting the listserv. I am the moderator of the group, not Mike. I am posting the directions again here for anyone that may be interested.
I have formed a new discussion group on sightings and distribution of birds in Sonoma, Marin, Napa, Solano, and Lake Counties. The listserv is called " northbaybirds " [NBB]. To subscribe send an e-mail to:
northbaybirds-subscribe@egroups.com
Doug Shaw, Santa Rosa, CA
Original Message Subject Index
Wildcat Canyon Regional Park
Thu, 8 Jun 2000 22:56:56 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
Alan Kaplan's East Bay Regional Park District birdwalk this morning marked a great success (for the first time in a few years) at finding Grasshopper Sparrows on the northern edge of Wildcat Canyon Regional Park. From the Clark Rd trailhead, we made our way up the Clark-Boas Trail to its junction with the Belgum Trail at the top of the ridge. Despite cool, breezy, and overcast weather (and a brief rain shower), there were quite a lot of birds to be seen and heard.
Most striking were about six Grasshopper Sparrows singing from perches (mostly on artichoke thistle!). This would suggest that there may be a breeding population of two dozen or more sparrows in this general area, since there is a lot of good habitat that we did not visit. From the trailhead, the trail climbs the side of a ridge and then comes out onto a grassy gentle slope for some distance up the hill. Some of the sparrows were in this area, just after the trail tops the little ridge. The others were near the junction with the Belgum Trail at the top of the ridge.
It is worth noting that only the higher sparrows were inside the regional park. Those on the lower slope are in an easement that is the sight of a planned residential development, currently the subject of some controversy in the neighborhood.
The other highlight of the morning was the number of flyovers that might not be expected on a list from a location with no body of water.
Here is my best attempt to capture the group's observations:
Double-crested Cormorant (flyover)
Great Egret (flyover)
Turkey Vulture
Osprey (flyover)
Red-tailed Hawk (soaring, perched, and mobbed by blackbirds)
California Quail
Caspian Tern (at least 4 flyovers, 1 carrying food)
Rock Dove
Band-tailed Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Nuttall's Woodpecker (heard only)
Downy Woodpecker
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Violet-green Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit (heard only)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (heard only)
Bewick's Wren
House Wren (1 nesting in equipment near trailhead)
Wilson's Warbler
Spotted Towhee
California Towhee
Lark Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Lazuli Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Purple Finch
House Finch
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA