Shorebirds at Lake Merritt
Fri, 23 Aug 2002 10:41:14 -0700
From: Alison Purcell
Hello East Bay Birders,
I am currently evaluating the viability of attracting shorebirds to a restored wetland site at Lake Merritt in Oakland. So I would like to put these questions out to the group:
Does anyone have pictures or accounts of shorebirds at Lake Merritt and if so, where and when?
Do you know of any publications that discuss shorebirds and tolerance for disturbance by humans, pets, cars, etc?
Thank you for any help you can give.
Alison Purcell
Editor's Note: Send replies to me at "birds at folkbird dot net" and I'll pass them along to Alison.
Re: Puzzling owl in Tilden Regional
Park
Fri, 23 Aug 2002 18:25:24 -0700
From: Johan Langewis
In 1992 I had a similar puzzling owl flying around my yard at dusk in July. I was not able to get a good look at coloration due to the poor light conditions, but it too had a round head and all I could conclude was Short-eared Owl. It was also making strange whistling calls. At first I thought it was a neighbor whistling for his dog. Then late one afternoon I saw it in good light and suddenly an adult Great Horned Owl landed next to it and gave it a nestling American Robin to eat. The adult robins in the neighborhood were raising hell and flying around to no avail. Perhaps you saw a juvenile Great Horned Owl.
Johan Langewis
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Re: Puzzling owl in Tilden Regional
Park
Sat, 24 Aug 2002 11:38:28 -0700
From: Pamela Llewellyn
Yellowish on the back? Sounds like a Barn Owl to me. I know they're around.
Pamela Llewellyn
Environmental Coordinator, Harding ESE, Inc.
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Re: Puzzling owl in Tilden Regional
Park
Sat, 24 Aug 2002 14:05:21 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
Pamela Llewellyn suggested that the owl seen Thursday morning at Vollmer Peak in Tilden Regional Park may have been a Barn Owl. I don't think so. I've seen Barn Owls several times. This one did not have that blank white face with the appearance of a long nose. The face had more streaking and a yellowish cast to it.
Even more convincing, what I could see of the throat and upper breast was dark and patterned, not the light spotted breast of a Barn Owl.
Still and all, I have so little experience seeing owls that almost anything is possible. Brian Fitch's group was up there on Friday, but the fog was so thick that they couldn't see the area where I saw the owl. If it was a migrating bird, it's no doubt long gone by now.
Guess we'll just have to let the mystery be!
Thanks for the help, Larry
Larry Tunstall, El Cerrito CA
Original Message Subject Index
Hayward Regional Shoreline
Sat, 24 Aug 2002 17:36:06 -0700
From: Sheila Junge
This afternoon at high tide, Frank's Dump West was full of shorebirds. Something put them up a few times giving a small taste of what it must have been like when there were more birds and fewer people.
Both Least Terns and Snowy Plovers are still present. Also seen were Lesser Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstones, Black Turnstones, Red-necked Phalaropes, and Semipalmated Plovers, Black-bellied Plovers, Willets, Marbled Godwits, Western Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers and dowitchers. Long-billed Curlews flew in from Oro Loma Marsh as the tide covered the mudflats there.
One White-tailed Kite perched on a small island in Oro Loma Marsh near the southwest corner. It was completely surrounded by water. I was surprised to see it there rather than in the upland areas at the back of the marsh.
Good Birding!
Sheila Junge
Hayward, CA
Frank's Dump West is at Hayward Regional Shoreline. From the end of West Winton Ave. take either trail out to the bay and then head north along the Bay Trail. Frank's Dump West is the wetland just north of the radio towers. [Oro Loma Marsh is the next wetland north, north of Sulphur Creek. --Larry]
Final summer sightings
Tue, 27 Aug 2002 2125:38 PDT
From: Brian Fitch
On Monday at 2:30 PM at the Berkeley Marina, we found a Common Murre swimming in the southeastern corner of the Marina, where University Ave forks. It was around the concrete platform dock that has a basketball hoop at the back of it, and the bird appeared to be a nearly grown juvenile. Around 4 PM we saw a Loggerhead Shrike hawking from the fence at the entrance to the off-leash dog area at César Chávez Park.
Today, our last day of summer camp, we saw two Osprey flying south along the Vollmer Peak ridge, and found a Hammond's Flycatcher in fresh fall plumage, calling and flycatching in the pines on the top of Vollmer.
That's all for '02,
Brian Fitch and crew
Great-tailed Grackles in Livermore
Fri, 30 Aug 2002 20:28:29 -0700
From: Steve Huckabone
Over the past several weeks I've had a few of what I believe are Great-tailed Grackles visiting the platform feeder in my backyard. Interesting bird for Livermore. I have a few photos but no place to post for critique. Have any other Livermore or East Bay birders been seeing Great-tailed Grackles? In addition for the past two weeks I've had a Barn Owl day roosting in a backyard tree. Good birding.
Steve Huckabone
Alameda County
Livermore, Ca 94550
Hayward Regional Shoreline
Sat, 31 Aug 2002 20:03:16 -0700
From: Sheila Junge
This afternoon at Hayward's Landing in Hayward Regional Shoreline, I saw 2 Black Oystercatchers, first of the season. They were seen on a rising tide on one of the rows of rocks offshore and slightly north of Hayward's Landing. To reach Hayward's Landing: from the W Winton Ave access to Hayward Regional Shoreline, take either trail west to the bay. Hayward's Landing is the point where the channel between the two trails reaches the bay.
Sheila Junge
Hayward, CA
Black Oystercatchers in Richmond
Sat, 31 Aug 2002 21:27:00 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
Sheila Junge saw Black Oystercatchers at Hayward Shoreline. On Alan Kaplan's Thursday morning birdwalk at Point Pinole Regional Shoreline (north edge of Richmond), we saw 5 Black Oystercatchers on a receding tide on a gravel bar just below the cliffs near the fishing pier. Not long after, half a dozen American White Pelicans flew low overhead.
Good birding,
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA