Local binocular source
Sat, 22 Jun 2002 15:23:48 -0700
From: Terry Coddington
Dear EBBers,
Since Joan asked, I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring for binocular sources: a store I like to trade at in San Francisco is Fireside Camera on Chestnut. I know these guys mainly for photography hardware, but I mainly like the smaller business style where they know their merchandise and can talk about the customer's needs. I bought binoculars there twice many years ago, and have been there lately for camera stuff. That said, I bought my latest binoculars from Christopher's, a mail order firm in Oklahoma, mainly because their catalog told me what I needed to know, and the price was right. Christopher's has ads in most bird mags.
Hope this helps.
Terry Coddington
Original Message Subject Index
Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline
Sun, 23 Jun 2002 18:11:26 -0700
From: Courtenay Peddle
Hello folks,
The Fall migration has begun, fully three days into Sumner! I had 74 Willets at Arrowhead Marsh [in Martin Luther King Jr Regional Park, Oakland, Alameda County] Sunday afternoon, as the tide receded, revealing food-filled mud. Here's my list:
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
scaup, species (Aythya)
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
Great Egret (Ardea alba)
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus)
Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris)
American Coot (Fulica americana)
Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus)
Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana)
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
California Gull (Larus californicus)
Western Gull (Larus occidentalis)
Caspian Tern (Sterna caspia)
Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri)
Rock Dove (Columba livia)
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia)
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris)
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)
Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata)
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus)
Good birding!
Courtenay Peddle
Nesting Western Gulls and Black Oystercatchers
near Berkeley Pier
Mon, 24 Jun 2002 11:39:41 -0700
From: Emily Serkin
Greetings.
On Sunday the rookery on the breakwater north of the Berkeley Pier (foot of University Ave in Berkeley), which Denise Wight described several weeks ago, was jumping. Lots of downy Western Gull chicks, two pairs of Western Gulls still displaying and a fight between two adults. But does anyone know what happened with the nesting attempt of the Black Oystercatchers? I saw 4 of them, two of which seemed to be a pair. (They were walking along and vocalizing together.) The other two looked like adults.
Good birding,
Emily Serkin, Hayward
Original Message Subject Index
Rose-breasted Grosbeak in Lafayette
Thu, 27 Jun 2002 20:30:01 -0700
From: Maury Stern
Tonight, an adult male breeding-plumaged Rose-breasted Grosbeak has been coming to my backyard feeders in Lafayette. It spent 2 hours at the sunflower seeds, periodically being sent on its way by the Steller's Jays, Western Scrub-Jays, Black-headed Grosbeaks, and even a California Towhee. My near neighbor, Harry Adamson, has lived in the neighborhood for 55 years and has seen Rose-breasted Grosbeaks 3 other times.
Unfortunately, I will be away for 11 of the next 14 days. If it should start coming regularly when I am here, I will give out my phone number for arranging visits.
Maury Stern