Re: EBMUD trail permits
Fri, 01 Feb 2002 10:56:50 -0800
From: Lory Poulson
Ranger Pat has supplied more accurate information for those desiring permits (gee, I completely forgot about the fee!):
OK. The real scoop on the EBMUD Trail Permits goes like this: They are available for $10 for 1 year or $20 for 3 years and may be acquired at any EBMUD business office, Lafayette Recreation Area, San Pablo Recreation Area (opens for the season February 15), Watershed Headquarters near Orinda, Moraga Park and Recreation as mentioned earlier, The Orinda Chamber of Commerce and Community Center, and some East Bay Regional Park District locations as well. If you go to any of the places mentioned you can get a permit on the spot. You can also request one via mail. Call 510.287.0459 and talk to Amy.
There is also a one-day permit available.
Ranger Pat
San Pablo Reservoir Recreation Area
7301 San Pablo Dam Road
El Sobrante, CA
Lory Poulson
Original Message Subject Index
Re: Bird deaths on freeway
Fri, 01 Feb 2002 13:40:23 -0800
From: Lisa Viani
Sylvia Sykora wrote:
Has anyone noticed large numbers of smashed bodies along freeways where the median is planted with pyracantha?
I have heard of huge problems like this back East, where thousands of birds are killed because berry bushes are planted in the medians. I wonder if we could try to get Caltrans to replant the median with something else.
Lisa Viani
Original Message Next Reply Subject Index
Tilden and Wildcat Canyon Regional Parks
Fri, 01 Feb 2002 10:02:23 -0800
From: Dustin Alcala
Hi all,
The vagaries of birding. You never know what you might any step you get into the field. Larry wanted to see a Bald Eagle and so did I. Sunday I did a loop hike from Lone Pine Picnic Area in Tilden Reigonal Park (Berkeley Hills) to Lake Anza, back to the Curran Trail, up to Inspiration Point, along the Nimitz Way to Havey Trail down into Wildcat Canyon Regional Park and then back to the Nature Center. I statred at 7:00 AM and finished about 1:00 PM.
My main target was Varied Thrushes. During the 75 minutes or so that I birdied Wildcat Gorge Trail and the near side of Lake Anza, I counted 34 individuals. Over the balance of the trip I saw 49 in total, all but one of the additional birds coming in Havey Canyon.
The hike along the ridge in Wildcat Canyon Park was disappointing, with a couple of notable exceptions. The large flocks of Western Bluebirds, Meadowlarks, etc., that had been there in November and December had disappeared and - with the exception of an explosion of Turkey Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks - there were only 3 other species of raptors up there. Two of those were seen while scanning San Pablo Reservoir. I found an adult Bald Eagle while scanning the area from the cattle guard and gate that delineates the border of the two parks. It was perched high in a tree on the far shore just 100 or 200 yards south of the large arm that thrusts northeast near the terminus of the reservoir. It was between the arm and the first bay south of it. The little bay had a structure that appeared to be standing in the water as opposed to floating in it. It was mostly white. I don't know if this area is visible from the road or not. Ranger Pat, maybe you could comment if you read this. I saw the bird later from the road at the first viewing area with benches that face east. I had an Osprey at this time diving for lunch.
The disappointment of not seeing Western Bluebirds on the ridge was mitigated by a family of them a little south of the Havey trailhead along Wildcat Canyon. I had the same or another Osprey in flying west over this area.
Lots of expected birds were missed and the only other real highlight was a count of 11 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 8 of which were at Inspiration Point or in the groves immediately north of there. I ended with a lower-than-expected total of 61 species for the day.
Concerning the thrush invasion, on Sunday there were hundreds of American Robins feeding in areas that they usually aren't found in, while the huge flocks usually found flying over Tilden Park were gone. Also, from my balcony in University Village I've been seeing 20 to 30 robins feeding on the lawns each evening for the last few weeks. Last winter I rarely had more than a couple of pairs at any given time.
Dustin Alcala
Albany
Nature events calendar online
Fri, 1 Feb 2002 15:30:03 -0800
From: Derek Heins
Does anyone know what happened to the Nature Events Calendar website that was until recently available at http://www.best.com/~folkbird/calendar/ ? I found it very useful as it was one place to go to find high-quality, usually free, nature trips covering all of northern California.
Derek Heins
Piedmont
Re: Nature events calendar online
Fri, 01 Feb 2002 16:28:29 -0800
From: Kay Loughman
Derek: The address changed slightly. It's still there, and still a great web site:
Kay Loughman
Berkeley
Original Message Subject Index
Re: Tilden and Wildcat Canyon Regional Parks
Fri, 1 Feb 2002 16:22:36 -0800
From: Pat Matthews
The structure that Dustin refers to "standing" in Scow Canyon (the long eastern-thrusting arm of San Pablo Reservoir, which is the inlet of Oursan Creek) is one of our floating restrooms, known as SS Relief.
Congrats on the Bald Eagle!
Ranger Pat
San Pablo Reservoir Recreation Area
Original Message Subject Index
American Robins in Oakland CBC
Fri, 01 Feb 2002 23:19:45 -0800
From: Kay Loughman
EBBirders:
The message below was posted to the CalBirds listserve. As it pertains to East Bay birding, I am re-posting it, with permission of the writer.
Kay Loughman
DATE: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 12:43:45 -0800
FROM: Clyde A Morris
SUBJECT: [CALBIRDS] American Robins in OaklandWe just finished totaling the numbers for the Oakland Christmas Bird Count. In addition to calling it the Year of the "Dusky-capped Flycatcher", we are calling it the "Year of the Thrushes". We recorded a record number of American Robins: 29,421. Based on our data set from 1974 to 2001, the mean is 6,825, median is 3,916, standard deviation is 7,088 and percent deviation is 103. Our low year had 1,203 and our previous high was 21,403 in 1977.
Also of interest were our numbers of Hermit Thrushes (294) and Varied Thrushes (349) which were the 2nd highest numbers of these species recorded for the Oakland CBC. The previous high years had 314 Hermit Thrushes in 1977 and 1,637 Varied Thrushes also in 1977.
This winter, we had American Robins in our tiny Fremont backyard for the first time.
Go Thrushes!
Clyde Morris & Joelle Buffa