Local-interest birds
Sat, 15 Jul 2000 14:37:45 PDT
From: Brian Fitch
I'm just putting out some recent local-interest sightings for whoever's interested.
American White Pelicans: 15 over Briones Reservoir on 5 July; flocks ranging from 4 to 22 over the Albany waterfront on 6 July, 13 July, and twice on 11 July.
Common Murre: chick rescued at Albany beach (by Golden Gate Fields racetrack parking lot) on 13 July and taken to the rehab center at Aquatic Park.
Pygmy Nuthatch: 2+ on Vollmer Peak in Tilden Regional Park on 14 July, at the same spot where they bred in 1998; the first time I've seen them in Tilden since then.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher: Wildcat Creek by the Gillespie Youth Camp in Tilden; my first sightings in Tilden; 7 July and 12 July.
MacGillivray's Warbler: a male at Wildcat Creek, south of the Pony rides in Tilden.
Rufous-crowned Sparrow: I'm not familiar with the overall status in the East Bay, but I had never seen this species in Tilden or Wildcat Regional Park until last year when a pair bred on the north slope of Vollmer Peak. This year I've seen 2 or 3 birds, each of the last 4 weeks at different sites between Vollmer and Big Springs.
A Regional Parks map of Tilden shows the sites mentioned in that park.
Brian Fitch
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Re: Local-interest birds
Sat, 15 Jul 2000 15:12:03 -0700
From: Tom Condit
Brian Fitch wrote:
Rufous-crowned Sparrow: I'm not familiar with the overall status in the East Bay, but I had never seen this species in Tilden or Wildcat Regional Park until last year when a pair bred on the north slope of Vollmer Peak.
If I'm remembering right, a few years ago I called the old Rare Bird Alert to report singing Rufous-Crowned Sparrows on the Big Springs Trail. Joe Morlan responded that they were resident in that canyon.
Tom Condit
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Green Heron at Aquatic Park in Berkeley
Mon, 17 Jul 2000 12:16:21 -0700
From: Rebecca Freed
Saturday morning at Aquatic Park in Berkeley I spotted a Green Heron with bright orange legs. A common species, I know, but the first time I've managed to spot one, and not something I've heard reported at Aquatic Park before.
Rebecca Freed
Berkeley CA
Re: Local-interest birds
Mon, 17 Jul 2000 12:28:39 -0700
From: Emilie Strauss
Tom Condit wrote:
If I'm remembering right, a few years ago I called the old Rare Bird Alert to report singing Rufous-Crowned Sparrows on the Big Springs Trail. Joe Morlan responded that they were resident in that canyon.
Yes, Rufous-crowned Sparrows are resident on the Big Springs Trail in Tilden Regional Park (Contra Costa County). Another place to see them is on the Space Science Trail (there might be another name for this trail), which runs parallel to and just west of Grizzly Peak Blvd south from the University of California Space Science Center (Alameda County). Look for them about 1 mile south of the Space Science buildings in the steep monkeyflower and California sage habitat.
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Green Heron in Marin
Mon, 17 Jul 2000 12:57:12 -0700
From: Sheila Dickie
There is also a Green Heron at Las Gallinas Sewer Ponds in Marin. When I checked the bulletin board yesterday, someone had posted a sighting of one in the channel that runs under the footbridge when you first enter the ponds within the last week. I did not see it yesterday.
Also, a bit late reporting, but on July 4 about 100 White Pelicans were riding the thermals above the ponds at Las Gallinas, and about 60 landed in Pond #3 and were sunning themselves on the bank. They flew in in batallions of about 30 from the Bay. Maybe part of the flock that I caught a glimpse of when I was coming back on Hwy 101 north from Corte Madera shopping center July 8 (I assume that is Corte Madera Marsh).
Sheila Dickie
University of California, Berkeley
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Hayward Shoreline
Mon, 17 Jul 2000 15:16:16 PDT
From: Bob Richmond
Today at the Hayward Shoreline the following was seen
Eared Grebe - 23, included 5 pairs of adults with young. Three pairs had 2 young, one pair had 3 young, and the other pair had only 1.
Blue-winged Teal - 13, included 4 males, 5 females, 4 ducklings about 1 week after hatching.
Lesser Scaup - 29, included 3 females with ducklings. Two had 5 ducklings and the other had 6.
Black Skimmer - only 1 seen.
Western Tanager - 1 seen in a marsh.
Good birding
Bob
Falconer's lost Prairie Falcon
Mon, 17 Jul 2000 17:12:38 PDT
From: Mark Rauzon
Seen on a telepole off Park Blvd in Oakland: sign with color photo of falconer's bird which read:
"Lost Praire Falcon
Glenview
July 15,
531-8516"
Also seen - Red-shouldered Hawk screaming at traffic.
Mark Rauzon