East Bay Birders:
Of local interest, there were two Red-necked Phalaropes on Jewel Lake in Tilden Regional Park Nature Area this morning. These juvenile-plumaged birds were very cooperative, offering excellent views. There was a smattering of western migrants as well, the highlight probably being a couple of Black-throated Gray Warblers bathing in the lake.
Good birding.
Bob
Berkeley, CA
Birders:
The two Red-necked Phalaropes that Bob Brandriff found at Jewel Lake this morning were still there at 2 PM. They were feeding actively along the north and east shorelines of the drawn-down lake, having great success with flies and less success with "minnows."
Nice find, Bob!
Dave Quady, who really must spend more time in Tilden Regional Park
Berkeley,
California
Original Message Subject Index
Pileated Woodpecker in Redwood Regional Park
Sun, 8 Sep 2002 09:15:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: John Harris
Folks,
This morning, at about 8:00 AM, I was at the intersection of the Graham and Dunn trails in Redwood Regional Park (this location is in Alameda County), when a Pileated Woodpecker flew directly overhead, calling, and landed on a bare section of trunk on a redwood on the ridge northwest of the trail intersection. After hanging out there for a few minutes, calling and occasionally tapping, it flew around and landed in a dead Monterey pine south of the trail intersection. Two non-birder friends had a view of this magnificent bird directly over their heads, perhaps 20 or 30 feet above them. It then flew off to the north. There are a number of dead Monterey pines in the area. This area of Redwood Park is heavily used by people walking their dogs (including me), bikers, equestrians, etc. Though not always a serene experience, it is worth checking out. The coastal-scrub-covered slopes near the trail intersection are a good spot for Wrentit, California Thrasher, Allen's Hummingbird, Anna's Hummingbird, etc.
John H. Harris
Biology Department, Mills College
Oakland, CA
Western Tanagers in Oakland Hills yard
Sun,
8 Sep 2002 09:19:09 PDT
From: Sylvia Sykora
A pair of juvenile (female?) Western Tanagers have been coming to our birdbath all week. They appear usually in the morning, bathe, and then take off. Today one had no trouble defending its portion of the bath from half a dozen American Robins, being very aggressive and opening the hostilities. They even spent some time on the ground near the seed bowl. I usually have one yard sighting each autumn but this is the first year that birds have hung around.
Sylvia Sykora
Oakland, near Skyline Blvd & Castle Dr, and Redwood
Park
Sunday September 8 at about 9:00 AM I found two Burrowing Owls in Livermore. The owls are located at the west end of Jack London Blvd about 100 yards from the transit bus parking area inside the airport fence. The field was not cultivated this year so the ground is bare, just the way they like it. Good birding.
Steve Huckabone
Alameda County
Livermore, Ca
Clapper Rail at Richmond Marina Bay
Fri, 13
Sep 2002 13:53:38 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
At Richmond Marina Bay (foot of Marina Bay Pkwy off Hwy 580) about 11 AM, a Clapper Rail was walking around in plain view on a mudflat in upper Meeker Slough, near the place where the flock of Mallards gather to wait for people to feed them. A Pelagic Cormorant was clinging to the side of the pilings in the mouth of the yacht harbor. Some Wilson's Warblers were in the trees at Shimada Friendship Park. A Spotted Sandpiper was working the rocks near the water line below the observation platform in the northwest corner of Vincent Park.
The tide was at about 3 ft, nearing the higher low tide for the day. Between Vincent Park and the dilapidated old pier along the Bay Trail, and between 9:30 and 11 AM, I saw most of the common winter shorebirds except dowitchers and Dunlin. White-crowned Sparrows were everywhere, and I heard a few songs. Ducks were limited to Mallards, a couple of Gadwalls, and a lone Ruddy Duck in the yacht harbor. Generally, there were hardly any birds on the still water.
Not far to the east of Meeker Slough, on the north side of the Bay Trail to Point Isabel, a massive "habitat restoration" project is underway that looks more like a strip-mining operation. This area is massively polluted. The site of the University of California Field Station was used for manufacture of explosives from 1870 to 1948. The area now known as the Zeneca property was first developed by Stauffer as a sulfuric acid manufacturing plant in 1897 and that use continued until 1970. Other agricultural products including herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides were produced there until 1997. Tests showed the soil and wetland water to be seriously contaminated with all these substances plus many heavy metals.
The contamination is so pervasive that studies concluded that the only option is a massive removal of the contaminated soil before habitat restoration can be carried out. The present operations involve the upland part of the UC Field Station property, to be followed by work on the wetlands. Work on the Zeneca site will follow later. See
http://www.ehs.berkeley.edu/pubs/flashpoint/23spring02/rfs.htmlfor more information.
The long-range plans look impressive:
The Richmond Field Station includes a rare remnant of upland coastal prairie that needs protection and an old eucalyptus grove where monarch butterflies gather in the winter. UC planners are looking at a post-remediation site design that will create a habitat corridor stretching from the marsh to the coastal prairie. They are also considering turning the concrete-lined ditch along the western boundary of the RFS into a creek. Restoring the crumbling pier at Stege Landing is another possibility.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Greetings EBB'ers,
This afternoon 2:30 to 3 PM, I stopped by Crab Cove in Alameda to walk the north portion of the bayside pathways. A Black Oystercatcher was bathing at the Crown Beach bay edge and flew to preen on one of the rocks just west of the Crab Cove Visitor Center (East Bay Regional Park District). Also, along with the half-dozen Brown Pelicans foraging and flying around were two immature Heermann's Gulls and one sub-adult Mew Gull.
About 40 Elegant Terns flew from the sandy beach as I drove south along Shoreline Dr, near the southern cement (outfall?) structure, just north of the Elsie Roemer Sanctuary sign.
Happy Birding,
Phil Gordon
Hayward, Alameda County