Tilden Regional Park and Albany Mudflats
Sun, 29 Aug 1999 18:43:47 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
This morning I (and a fairly large group) joined Rusty Scalf's Golden Gate Audubon Society walk at Tilden Regional Park. The overcast was at hilltop level, though it was not particularly cold. We walked from the Visitor Center some distance past Jewel Lake down Wildcat Canyon, and I've seldom seen and heard so few birds in that area of Tilden. I'm hoping someone will post a report from Alan Kaplan's simultaneous East Bay Regional Parks walk to see if they had as few birds as we did. We were giving Rusty a hard time about the walk description in The Gull, which promised that "Tilden should be alive with migrant warblers, vireos, flycatchers as well as resident birds." (Rusty insisted that he didn't write the blurb.)
Here's my listing of what was seen and heard by any of the group:
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) - flyover
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) - heard only
Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens)
Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)
Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) - heard only
Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)
Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus) - heard only
Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata) - heard only
Wilson's Warbler (Wilsonia pusilla)
Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) - heard only
California Towhee (Pipilo crissalis)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Lesser Goldfinch (Carduelis psaltria)
There were so few birds and Rusty was feeling so guilty that he suggested we adjourn to the northern edge of Golden Gate Fields parking lots to look for shorebirds on the Albany Mudflats. Someone produced a tide table and we found that it was about an hour past low tide - not ideal, but we should find something to look at there.
Indeed, the tide was out a bit too far for the best populations (but there was a lot of construction equipment in the viewing area near the freeway, anyhow). So, we made our way out to the north side of "The Bulb" to a spot overlooking the water's edge. Standing in a pile of rubble from the recent eviction of the homeless camp there, we observed the following:
Great Egret (Ardea albus)
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)
Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)
Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus)
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)
Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)
Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri)
Dunlin (Calidris alpina) - just one seen (a little early)
dowitcher (Limnodromus sp.)
California Gull (Larus californicus)
Western Gull (Larus occidentalis)
Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri)
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)
Not a wildly exciting outing, but a pleasant morning nonetheless.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Re: Early evening bird walks
Mon, 30 Aug 1999 21:04:14 -0700
From: Judy
Repeating my earlier inquiry with my home town as requested:
Hi, I live in Oakland near Alameda. I work full time so I catch up on sleep on the weekend AM's. Aren't there any people wanting to go for evening - just before sundown - walks, weekends preferred, weekdays may be OK if not far away.
Cherry-headed Conures in Berkeley?
Tue, 31 Aug 1999 10:55:15 -0700
From: Rebecca Freed
Hi all,
Does anyone know of resident wild parrots in the East Bay? I saw a pair of them flying around Sixth and Delaware (just below San Pablo) one evening last week. I wonder whether they're recent escapees or if the San Francisco flock is spreading out...
Becca Freed
Reply #1 Reply #2 Subject List
East Contra Costa County birds
Tue, 31 Aug 1999 15:19:26 PDT
From: Denise Wight
Hi E.B.Birders,
Today at Piper slough there were 2 Willow Flycatchers, 2 Black-chinned Hummingbirds, 1 Hooded Oriole, and little else to report. The only warbler was one Wilson's Warbler. The wind picked up by 9:00 AM.
Along Byron Highway, there were 3 Swainson's Hawk foraging behind a tracker, and at least 3 Burrowing Owls were seen along Bruns Rd at noon.
Denise Wight
Black Skimmers at Hayward Regional Shoreline
Tue, 31 Aug 1999 18:52:09 PDT
From: Peter Dramer
A note of interest to those interested in the skimmers. After all nesting birds at Hayward Shoreline completed their efforts one pair of skimmers has taken up a solitary nest and they have produced at least three eggs.
Initally, it would seem that a solitary nest on open ground would be more subject to predation. In fact, it seems that, the ravens at least, key in on the nesting "season" rather than on one isolated nest. The skimmers will scurry off after the occasional passing red-tail but seem to have few worries.