Arrowhead Marsh, Oakland
Thu, 28 Oct 1999 22:58:57 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
This morning, Ore Carmi and I headed down to Arrowhead Marsh to see the reported mobs of shorebirds. We arrived too early for the road into Arrowhead Marsh (the gate opens at 8 AM), so we took a detour up to Doolittle Pond first. During the hour we were there, many large flocks of Brown Pelicans flew over, generally heading from Alameda southward along the coast. At least 300 pelicans flew over, the large majority of them immatures. Dozens landed in Doolittle Pond, several dozen more landed in Airport Channel west of Arrowhead Marsh, and the rest seemed to head on south.
Around 8:30 AM, we drove into the Arrowhead Marsh parking lot. This was just about low tide, so the new Mitigation Marsh was relatively deserted. We looked near the bridge for the Rock Wren but didn't find it. After walking toward Hegenberger Rd on the San Leandro Creek Trail West and scanning the new marsh for some time, we returned to the old Arrowhead Marsh as the tide was beginning to come in. Now a person was fishing under the bridge, so it wasn't surprising that there was no sign of the Rock Wren. However, we did see quite a lot of Clapper Rail activity as the mudflats disappeared. We saw one brief "fight" between Clapper Rails, and others called loudly and flew across the channels, as well as walking quietly on the dwindling mudflats. Although we didn't see any wildly exciting birds, there was plenty to look at to keep us happily occupied for the morning.
As we left a little after 11 AM, with the tide rising, flocks of shorebirds were coming from all directions into the new marsh.
On the way home, we made a brief stop at Lake Merritt in downtown Oakland. We found 2 male and 3 female Canvasbacks, and several scaups that looked to me to all be Lesser Scaup, although the light was poor and the plumage was still a bit scruffy in most cases. This time I saw several Snowy Egrets on the islands, but still no Great Egrets.
Here are our lists for the morning.
Doolittle Pond:
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)
Greater Scaup (Aythya marila)
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)
American Coot (Fulica americana)
Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus)
Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)
Western Gull (Larus occidentalis)
Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri)
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) - heard only
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) - heard only
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata) - heard only
Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) - heard only
California Towhee (Pipilo crissalis) - heard only
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicana)
Arrowhead & Mitigation Marshes:
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)
Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis)
Clark's Grebe (Aechmophorus clarkii)
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
American Wigeon (Anas americana)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors)
Cinnamon Teal (Anas cyanoptera)
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)
Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)
Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris)
American Coot (Fulica americana)
Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
American Avocet (Recurvirostra americanus)
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)
Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus)
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)
Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)
Black Turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala)
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)
Dunlin (Calidris alpina)
dowitcher (Limnodromus sp.)
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
Western Gull (Larus occidentalis)
Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri)
Rock Dove (Columba livia)
Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris) - heard only
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) - heard only
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
American Pipit (Anthus rubescens)
Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)
California Towhee (Pipilo crissalis)
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta)
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicana)
Lake Merritt:
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) - immature
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Canvasback (Aythya valisineria)
Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)
American Coot (Fulica americana)
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
Western Gull (Larus occidentalis)
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Northern California Christmas Bird Count dates
Sat, 30 Oct 1999 17:23:25 -0700
From: Kay Loughman
East Bay Birders:
The first listing of the 1999 Northern California Christmas Bird Count dates is now available on the Golden Gate Audubon Society web site:
http://www.audubon.org/chapter/ca/goldengate/Conservation/ggasCBC99.htm
We will try to update the web page two or three times before the counts begin. If any of you know of other counts which should be listed, please contact me directly at 510-841-7428.
Thanks.
Kay Loughman