Las Gallinas, take 2
Sun, 1 Nov 1998 13:19:17 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
Bob Lewis forwards the report on the Sunday section of the Albany Adult School visit to Las Gallinas Sewer Ponds north of San Rafael. He says that yesterday's report of Rusty Scalf's visit "certainly helped us today to not miss the Sora and White-fronted Geese. Excellent views of most of the ducks, as well as the Sora."
Pied-billed Grebe 10, Eared Grebe 1, Western Grebe 1, Clark's Grebe 1, American White Pelican 15, Double-crested Cormorant 10, Great Blue Heron 1, Great Egret 4, Snowy Egret 6, Black-crowned Night-Heron 10, Greater White-fronted Goose 2 (with Canada Geese), Canada Goose 70, Green-winged Teal 6, Mallard 200, Northern Pintail 6, Cinnamon Teal 4, Northern Shoveler 30, Gadwall 25, American Wigeon 30, Canvasback 10, Ring-necked Duck 12, Bufflehead 2 males, Ruddy Duck 20, Turkey Vulture 14, White-tailed Kite 2, Northern Harrier 1, Sharp-shinned Hawk 1, Red-tailed Hawk 2, American Kestrel 3, Sora 1 (swimming[!] across corner of far pond), American Coot 75, Western Sandpiper 25 (in flight), Bonaparte's Gull 1, Ring-billed Gull 4, Mew Gull 20 (riding the sewage-treatment merry-go-round), Forster's Tern 2, Rock Dove 40, Black Phoebe 3, Say's Phoebe 2, American Crow 10, Common Raven 2, Marsh Wren 2, Loggerhead Shrike 1, European Starling 10, Yellow rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 4, California Towhee 1, Savannah Sparrow 4, Song Sparrow 1, Golden-crowned Sparrow 2, White-crowned Sparrow 2, Red-winged Blackbird 200, Western Meadowlark 4, Brewer's Blackbird 100, House Finch 10, House Sparrow 1
Posted to EBbird by Larry Tunstall
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
http://www.best.com/~folkbird/
Shell Marsh
Sun, 01 Nov 1998 19:45:45 -0800
From: Mike Feighner
East Bay Birders:
This afternoon I birded around Shell Marsh in Contra Costa County which you can access off of I-680 at Marina Vista/Waterfront exit and driving east to the marsh. Here I had a swift Merlin fly over. Most of the birds were at the far south end. So, I drove south on I-680 and exited at Arthur and turned left under the freeway and headed north on Cabrilho to the end. Here I had to look over the fence, but the viewing was great as the birds were closer and the sun was behind me.
Here there were Pied-billed Grebes, Bufflehead, Shovelers, Green-winged Teal, Savannah Sparrows, Mallard, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Cinnamon Teal, Black-necked Stilts.... I was hoping for a Eurasian Wigeon or a Blue-winged Teal, but I guess I can't ask for everything.
The Merlin and the Green-winged Teal were new Conta Costa County birds for me, putting me finally at 200, just 100 behind Steve Glover.
Don't forget to vote Tuesday. I already sent in my absentee ballot. We need more environmentalists in government.
By the way, we don't need to add the "EBB" [in the Subject: line]. It's done
for us by default. --
Mike Feighner, Livermore, CA
Lake Merritt
Sun, 1 Nov 1998 20:23:17 -0800
From: Graham Etherington
Hi all, I spent the last couple of hours of light at Lake Merritt this evening (Sunday). Here is a list of the more interesting birds I had. All the birds listed were around the islands near the nature centre.The Cattle Egret was viewable from next to the 'birds only' area.
Cattle Egret - 1
Barrow's Goldenye - 5 (3 drakes)
Bufflehead - 9+ (3 drakes)
Canvasback - 16
Lesser Scaup - 41
Thayer's Gull - 5 (all 1st winters)
Glaucous-winged Gull - c7 (plus a couple of X Western hybrids)
Forster's Tern - 20+
White Pelican - 1
Egyptian Goose(!) - 1
No sign of the Redheads that were seen last week.
All the best,
Graham Etherington
UC Berkeley
(510) 664-2867
Shimada and Aquatic Parks
Sun, 1 Nov 1998 21:15:24 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
Rusty Scalf's Golden Gate Audubon Society walk this morning (Nov 1) was scheduled for Shimada Friendship Park and the Richmond Marina. We met at Shimada and walked to the marsh south of the University of California Richmond Field Station (is this what is called Hoffman Marsh?). Unfortunately the tide was too high to see much in the way of shorebirds, so we worked our way out to the point south of Richmond Marina Bay, where some nice new trails and viewing "piers" have been installed. After seeing what we could see in that area, the tide was still too high to go back to the marsh and the Marina area seemed to be almost entirely clear of water birds, so we decided to drive down to Berkeley's Aquatic Park, where we finished out the morning.
It was nice to see big rafts of scaup in Richmond Inner Harbor, along with quite a lot of Western/Clark's Grebes, some smaller grebes, and at least one loon. We had good views of a lot of birds, including 3 Redhead drakes and a small group of Buffleheads (3 males, several females) at Aquatic Park.
The group was quite spread out a good part of the time, so my list that follows probably doesn't include everything that was seen by all the participants (and may include a few things that most people didn't see).
Shimada Friendship Park and vicinity, Richmond:
Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Eared Grebe, Western Grebe, Clark's Grebe, Brown
Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Snowy Egret, Canada Goose, Mallard, American
Wigeon, scaup sp, Bufflehead, Ruddy Duck, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, American
Coot, Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer, Long-billed Curlew, Least Sandpiper,
Western Gull, Mourning Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Black Phoebe, Marsh Wren
(heard), American Pipit, Savannah Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Red-winged
Blackbird, House Finch
Aquatic Park, Berkeley:
Pied-billed Grebe, Eared Grebe, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant,
Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Mallard, Northern Pintail,
Redhead, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Red-shouldered Hawk, American
Coot, Black-bellied Plover, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Greater
Yellowlegs, Willet, Marbled Godwit, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin,
dowitcher sp, Ring-billed Gull, Western Gull, Forster's Tern, Mourning Dove,
American Crow, Fox Sparrow, House Finch
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
http://www.best.com/~folkbird/