Arrowhead Marsh (Oakland) yesterday
Sat, 15 Sep 2001 10:08:15 -0700
From: Mike Ezekiel
Like many of us, I finally found some time to get out at look at something beautiful other then the horrors on TV.
At Arrowhead Marsh [Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline, Oakland] yesterday for an hour before dark, I saw the usual, but very large gang of 5,000 shorebirds, gulls and waterbirds which have been there now for weeks - dowitchers, godwits, Black-bellied Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, Willets, yellowlegs, Western and Least Sandpipers, Killdeer, egrets and Great Blue Herons, American Avocets, Black-necked Stilts and so forth. Among the Western and Ring-billed Gulls were also Herring Gulls, Elegant Terns and Forster's Terns. For the first time in a while, there were ducks other then Mallards - a Lesser Scaup and several American Wigeon.
As I did so, however, I was aware that I was standing virtually within the flight path of the Oakland airport seemingly pointing a large, black thing on a tripod in the direction of planes which have once again begun to fly and might very well look suspicious - what a dreadful thought to have to intrude into our harmless, and at times like these, inconsequential hobby.
Mike Ezekiel
Oakland
Re: Common Terns in Alameda
Sat, 15 Sep 2001 09:53:41 -0700
From: Mike Feighner
Lillian and East Bay Birders:
Yesterday morning I checked out the Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary in Alameda, in Alameda County. The cement wall across from Bayview Dr and Court St (the street sign is missing!) was covered by over 50 terns, three of which were these "regular" Common Terns, and six were Elegant Terns. The beach was packed with shorebirds, but I was able only to pick out Black-bellied Plovers, Sanderlings, and Marbled Godwits.
Mike Feighner, Livermore, CA, Alameda County
Original Message Subject Index
Sooty Shearwaters in bay
Sat, 15 Sep 2001 10:06:24 -0700
From: Neil Whitehouse
Whilst competing in the Friday night yacht race out of Berkeley, Lina Prairie and I saw 4 Sooty Shearwaters about half a mile from the shoreline.
Neil Whitehouse
Marin Headlands and Richmond Marina Bay
Sat, 15 Sep 2001 21:05:41 -0700
From: Mike Ezekiel
I set out late to go up to the hawk overlook at Hawk Hill in Marin Headlands - but found the official Golden Gate Raptor Observatory folks on their way downhill since it was still foggy at 1:30 PM when I arrived.
After several hours - with very moderate number of Sharp-shinned, Cooper's and Red-tailed Hawks - I went down to the willows in front of the overgrown pond on the other side of the road from Rodeo Lagoon. A mixed flock of Bushtits and Chestnut-backed Chickadees heralded the presence of several yellow warblers - Yellow, Orange-crowned, and Wilson's Warblers. There was also an Empidonax - probably Hammond's Flycatcher - and a Hairy/Downy Woodpecker too far away for even the scope.
Following that I checked the pond at Corte Madera Marsh - not much there but the several American White Pelicans.
I haven't been to the Richmond shoreline in a while, so I went to the Marina Bay end - parking at the Shimada Park and walking (south?) towards the slough. Best bird there was a Wandering Tattler - did someone report this previously or is this a good bird for the spot? Nothing else unusual - lots of dowitchers, Willets, Marbled Godwits, Black-bellied Plover, Western and Least Sandpipers, several Black Turnstones.
Good birding.
Mike Ezekiel