Wandering Tattler at Richmond Marina Bay
Sun, 15 Oct 2000 14:18:48 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
Just before noon today, I saw a Wandering Tattler teetering on the low concrete wall at the water's edge in Richmond Marina Bay near the new Rosie the Riveter monument. It didn't stay long at this spot, but probably it will be somewhere around the edge of Marina Bay (formerly Richmond Inner Harbor Basin) for a while.
Between Shimada Friendship Park and Point Isabel was a widely dispersed raft of well over 1,000 Ruddy Ducks with hundreds of Aechmophorus grebes scattered among them. There were probably lots of other species in the crowd as well, but, without a scope, coots were the only ones I could be sure of.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Re: Late (?) Black-headed Grosbeak
Mon, 16 Oct 2000 09:43:36 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello all,
Dave Quady wrote:
What "late dates" have others recorded for this species [Black-headed Grosbeak]?
Sorry about the long delay as I have been on vacation. It might be surprising to note that there are actually about 10 records from November through early December from Alameda and Contra Costa Counties and even a few that apparently wintered successfully. Nearly all have come from yards with feeders.
Steve Glover
Original Message Subject Index
Wandering Tattler still at Richmond Marina
Bay
Thu, 19 Oct 2000 20:22:29 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
I spent a few hours this morning wandering around Richmond Marina Bay and Meeker Slough.
The Wandering Tattler, still all by itself, was at the waterline on the south shore of Marina Bay (the former Inner Harbor Basin).
Highlight of the morning for me was sitting on a bench close to the crumbling pier near the north end of the straight section of Bay Trail north of Point Isabel, watching a mixed flock of Willets, Dunlin, Least Sandpipers, and Western Sandpipers working the mudflat almost at my feet. It was a great opportunity to study the little guys at very close range.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
White-throated Sparrow
Fri, 20 Oct 2000 10:30:25 PDT
From: Collin Murphy
Dear EBBers,
At 9 AM this morning on the way to Lake Anza, Tilden Regional Park, Contra Costa County, I saw a perfectly marked White-throated Sparrow enjoying blackberries on the west side of Lake Anza Rd. The lake and environs had a family of Pied-billed Grebes with 6 juveniles, two Double-crested Cormorants, 3 Ring-necked Ducks, about 2 dozen Mallards, 4 American Coots, a Belted Kingfisher, a Northern Flicker, a Black Phoebe, among others.
Happy birding, Collin Murphy
Winter Wren
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2000 15:41:16 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello all,
Had a Winter Wren in my backyard this afternoon for the first time in the two years I have lived here. Although there is some riparian (willows and Valley Oaks) in the creek behind the house, the bird was within my yard in a patch of ivy measuring about a square yard! Fortunately it was giving it's distinctive double tick calls with an occasional grouping of three or I would have missed it.
Steve Glover
Dublin
Martin Luther King Regional Shoreline
Sun, 22 Oct 2000 16:11:44 -0700
From: Courtenay Peddle
Hello folks,
A fine weekend for birding at Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline and Mitigation Marsh [near the Oakland Airport]. The list that follows is the composite for Saturday and Sunday.
Best birds:
Saturday: a taiga Merlin, which was doing such a poor
job of hunting peeps that I guess it's a young 'un. Sunday: a Common Snipe,
which may be one of a pair I found last weekend (it's a good Oakland bird);
and a Golden Eagle, the first of the season.
The Dunlins are back in force,
perhaps 4,000 at ebbing high tide on Saturday.
Here's the list:
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)
Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis)
Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis)
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
American Wigeon (Anas americana)
Cinnamon Teal (Anas cyanoptera)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Great Egret (Ardea alba)
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus)
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)
Merlin (Falco columbarius)
American Coot (Fulica americana)
Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)
Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)
Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus)
Black Turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala)
Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus)
Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri)
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)
Dunlin (Calidris alpina)
Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago)
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana)
Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
California Gull (Larus californicus)
Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens)
Western Gull (Larus occidentalis)
Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri)
Rock Dove (Columba livia)
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon)
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Common Raven (Corvus corax)
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)
California Towhee (Pipilo crissalis)
Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta)
Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus)
Good birding!
Courtenay Peddle