Iron House Sanitary District
Thu, 12 Nov 1998 13:56:15 PST
From: Steve Glover
East Bay Birders,
This morning I joined in on Mike Moran's birdwalk at Iron House San. Dist. in Oakley. In 2 hours we managed 52 species, the highlights being a male Hooded Merganser, a Ferruginous Hawk and some Golden-crowned Kinglets around the headquarters. I wrote down the list as we went so these are not in order: Killdeer, Great Egret, W[estern] Meadowlark, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black Phoebe, N[orthern] Mockingbird, Mallard, Am[erican] Crow, E[uropean] Starling, W[estern] Scrub-Jay, House Finch, N[orthern] Flicker, Long-billed Curlew (145), Am[erican] Goldfinch, Black-necked Stilt, Great Blue Heron, Red-tailed Hawk, Bufflehead (175), Gadwall (10), Bonaparte's Gull (250 but no first [county record] of Little Gull amongst them), N[orthern] Shoveler (15), Ruddy Duck (30), Greater Yellowlegs, Turkey Vulture, Am[erican] Pipit, Common Snipe (40+), Red-winged Blackbird, Long-billed Dowitcher (30), California Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Mew Gull, Eared Grebe (1), Com[mon] Goldeneye (1), Savannah Sparrow, Willet (1), Tree Swallow (10), Am[erican] Kestrel, Snowy Egret, Com. Yellowthroat, Song Sp[arrow], Marsh Wren, Downy Woodpecker, Sora, Spotted Towhee, White-crowned Sparrow, Dunlin (40), Virginia Rail, Least Sandpiper (25), Double-crested Cormorant, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Am[erican] Wigeon, Loggerhead Shrike.
There is no access to the area in the ponds but the good news is that the trail is now open that runs around the back between the ponds and the marsh. To get to the trail take Highway 4 east. Just before you get to the Antioch Bridge take the exit for Hwy. 4 (or have $2 ready). At the bottom of the ramp go right to Oakley. Turn left at the light on a street called Vintage Parkway and go over the overpass. At the bottom turn right on Walnut Meadows. Go all the way to the housing construction, the trailhead is on the left. This area has great potential for rarities and many species can be found at all times. This trail is a good place to hear Black Rails from but please do not use a tape. In Spring and summer at least they are very vocal.
Steve Glover
Feral cats
Thu, 12 Nov 1998 18:36:42 -0800 (PST)
From: Emilie
I am a great cat lover but...I don't approve of feral cats in our East Bay Regional Parks (EBRPD). Studies on free-ranging domestic cats have shown that some individuals have killed up to 1,000 wild animals per year.
On Thursday, Nov. 19 at 3 pm, the EBRPD will hold a hearing (agenda yet to be released) on the results of an 18-month cat feeding and trapping study. The American Bird Conservancy is asking for the park dept. to terminate the study within the next 6 months. 24 months should be adequate time for the animal rights groups who have volunteered to work on this project to finish their trapping operations. The ABC has legitimate concerns that the "study" is being used to shield what, in reality, is a cat-feeding operation. Your help is needed at the hearing to make sure that EBRPD does the right thing. No need to be brave - even a 30 second presentation would be great.
I attended the hearing 18 mo. ago and there were about 25 folks to speak up in favor of cats, and about 5 folks to speak up in favor of wildlife.
I will contact EBRPD over the next couple days to see if letters could be substituted for appearing at the hearing.
The hearing will be held at the EBRPD office located at: 2950 Peralta Oaks Court, POB 5381, Oakland, CA 94605-0381.
Thank you.
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Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve
Thu, 12 Nov 1998 18:43:04 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
Ore and I went on Elizabeth Dickey's Mt Diablo Audubon Society walk this morning at Sibley Preserve on Skyline Blvd in the Oakland Hills. The area was extremely "birdy" - so much so that it took a long time to move very far from the parking lot!
Highlights of the morning were a pair of Golden Eagles perched on one of the towers on Round Top. The smaller (presumably the male) soared over our heads for awhile, giving us great views, including lovely looks at the gold "stripe" on the leading edge of the inner wings. We also watched two small hawks (at least one a "Sharpie") harrassing two big Red-tailed Hawks in the air.
We walked around the Round Top Loop trail. Here's my list:
Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Golden Eagle, American Kestrel, Mourning Dove, Anna's Hummingbird, Northern Flicker (Red-shafted), Steller's Jay, Western Scrub-Jay, Common Raven, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Bushtit, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Bewick's Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, Wrentit, Yellow-Rumped Warbler (Myrtle), Spotted Towhee, California Towhee, Fox Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon), Lesser Goldfinch.
This afternoon at Lake Merritt I didn't have time to really look with care at the duck population, but I did see one male Barrow's Goldeneye, but no other Goldeneyes readily visible from the Nature Center. Someone reported to the naturalists a female Ring-necked Duck on Wednesday.
Good birding,
Larry
http://www.best.com/~folkbird/
Re: Feral cats
Thu, 12 Nov 1998 19:50:37 -0800 (PST)
From: Peter Rauch
On Thu, 12 Nov 1998, Emilie wrote:
On Thursday, Nov. 19 at 3 pm, the EBRPD will hold a hearing (agenda yet to be released) on the results of an 18-month cat feeding and trapping study.
It seems that a study would have a design, interim reports, a schedule for closure on the study, a final report. Are any of these available for this study?
It seems also that it would be difficult to go to a hearing to comment without benefit of having evaluated the study's work.
Peter
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