East Contra Costa County Christmas Bird
Count
Sun, 24 Dec 2000 09:27:41 -0800
From: Jimm Edgar
Saturday, December 23, was the inaugural East Contra Costa County Christmas Bird Count. We had 137 species for the day, which may go up by 2 since Mike Feighner saw birds our other groups did not see. We had 30 counters out in 7 groups which included a boat at Big Break for the foggy morning. Highlights were a Swainson's Hawk, Canyon Wren and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher at Vasco Caves. It was a great beginning.
Jimm Edgar
co-compiler
Reply #1 Reply #2 Reply #3 Subject Index
East Contra Costa County Christmas Bird
Count
Sun, 24 Dec 2000 15:17:16 PST
From: Steve Glover
Hello all,
Yesterday, Saturday December 23, we conducted the inaugural East Contra Costa CBC. The count circle encompasses most of Big Break to the north, Holland and Palm Tracts, about half of Clifton Court Forebay, Vasco Caves, the northern half of Los Vaqueros Reservoir, Round Valley Regional Park and the Deer Valley Rd area.
Our total appears to have been 139 species (including two found independently by Mike Feighner), a nice total on the first try.
Highlights I know about included the following: Cattle Egret (16 at Holland Tract following a tractor, including several actually riding on the roof!), White-faced Ibis (6 at Holland Tract), Barrow's Goldeneye (female at Iron House Sanitary District), Osprey, Swainson's Hawk (3 dark-phase birds, presumably part of the nearby wintering flock, circling over Holland Tract - they are apparently pretty regular here in winter when someone is looking), a Merlin eating a male Tricolored Blackbird, Black Rail (2 heard at Iron House), Lesser Yellowlegs (1 at Holland Tract), Short-eared Owl (one at Iron House), Yellow-billed Magpie (at least 16 birds at several locations, a new high count for Contra Costa County), Canyon Wren (singing at Vasco Caves which are currently closed to the public, a new location for this species), Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (one at Vasco Caves), and Yellow-headed Blackbird (440) at Holland Tract, a new high count for the county by quite a bit. The blackbirds were with 5,000+ Tricolored Blackbirds in a newly flooded field. There were also about 190 Sandhill Cranes in the area.
Hope all of you have a nice holiday!
Steve Glover
Dublin
Original Message Next Reply Subject Index
Christmas Eve at Martin Luther King Jr Regional
Shoreline, Oakland
Sun, 24 Dec 2000 16:03:39 -0800
From: Courtenay Peddle
Hello folks,
Highlights of a few hours in early afternoon at Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline, Oakland, Alameda County, include a beautiful adult Peregrine Falcon perched on a rock between ponds 1 and 2 at Mitigation Marsh, sightings of Eurasian Wigeon drakes on San Leandro Bay (which, by the way, is entirely in Oakland!) and at the mouth of Damon Slough - I suspect they were two birds, but since I saw them 30 minutes apart, I cannot prove it, and three Blue-winged Teal drakes at the mouth of Damon Slough.
To reach the Damon Slough / Garretson Point area from the Nimitz Freeway (Hwy 880), take the Hegenberger Rd exit west toward the airport and turn right at the first possible traffic light. Drive to the the end of the road and turn left into the Regional Park parking lot. It's best at a lower tide.
Here's the complete list:
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Clark's Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Ruddy Duck
Canada Goose
Eurasian Wigeon
American Wigeon
Gadwall
Green-winged Teal
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Canvasback
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Bufflehead
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Peregrine Falcon
Clapper Rail -- good looks at 2 from the boardwalk over Arrowhead Marsh
American Coot
Marbled Godwit
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
dowitcher species
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Black-necked Stilt
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Western Gull
Forster's Tern
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Black Phoebe
American Crow
Common Raven
Common Starling
Marsh Wren
Bushtit
House Sparrow
House Finch
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
California Towhee
Western Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
62 species
Good birding!
Courtenay Peddle
Sibley field guide on Bay Area best-seller
list
Mon, 25 Dec 2000 17:21:04 -0800
From: Courtenay Peddle
Hello Birders,
Did anyone else notice that David Allen Sibley's The Sibley Guide to Birds is on the Bay Area best-seller list, according to the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle?
I wonder whether it'll make the top 10 in any other area.
Good Birding!
Courtenay
Editor's Note: It ranked #11 among nonfiction books; this was its first week on the chart. --Larry
East Contra Costa County CBC count-week
birds
Tue, 26 Dec 2000 18:14:54 PST
From: Steve Glover
Jimm and all,
Today John Ascher and I went back into the new East Contra Costa Christmas Bird Count circle to try to find some of the birds not found on Saturday.
We spent most of the day at Round Valley Regional Park on Marsh Creek Rd. A Hairy Woodpecker in the parking lot was a count-week bird. There was also an adult Red-shouldered Hawk there. We then headed out the Miwok Trail. After an uphill climb and then some downhill we noticed some promising looking Rufous-crowned Sparrow habitat uphill to the left amongst some rocks. Sure enough there were two of them up there (count week) along with a Say's Phoebe and a Rock Wren. Just after that 45 Greater White-fronted Geese flew over heading west.
We followed Miwok Trail all the way to the trailhead into the Los Vaqueros Reservoir area (they want a dollar to go in but there were no envelopes). Just inside the gate the uphill slope looked good for forest birds so we climbed cross-country to get in. Here were the desired Steller's Jays (count week), at least three of them. They were very inconspicuous. There was also a Hutton's Vireo (count week). Several little flocks of Cedar Waxwings were also here feeding on Toyon (count week).
We returned via the trail that runs along what is roughly the north side of Round Valley and were surprised to flush a Lewis' Woodpecker (count week). Two had been previously reported from this general area. To get to this bird on the way in: Just as you reach the spot where you enter Round Valley the Hardy Trail branches off to the left. Just a little further on the right is a barbed wire fence with a green gate. The bird was just about 100 yards through the gate. This is only the third I have seen in the county although they were apparently pretty regular in this area in the 1970s and 1980s. On the way back we added three Golden-crowned Kinglets at about the top of the hill on the way back to the car (count week). Other birds in the park included Golden Eagle, Prairie Falcon, and two Red-breasted Sapsuckers.
At Marsh Creek Reservoir there were 14 American White Pelicans.
At Clifton Court Forebay there was one Tundra Swan, 8 pelicans, a female Barrow's Goldeneye, 33 Common Mergansers, 145 Canvasbacks, 2 Redheads (count week), and several Glaucous-winged Gulls coming in to roost (count week). Near dusk a flock of 115 smallish Canada Geese flew over.
The total of count-week birds was 9 so including those we have 147 species for the count, more than I would have expected from the area.
Good birding,
Steve Glover Dublin
Original Message Next Reply Subject Index