Windy big day in Contra Costa
Sun, 7 Nov 1999 20:39:50 PST
From: Steve Glover
Hello everyone,
Today I did a rather impromptu big day in Contra Costa County. It was so calm last night and not supposed to rain until this evening, so I thought what the heck. I managed to avoid the rain until about 4 PM but the winds came up at about 11:30 AM and stayed at about a steady 30 mph all day long. My total ended up being 136 species, which I didn't consider too bad considering the weather.
I started at 3:30 AM around the Bear Creek Rd entrance to Briones Regional Park. In this general area were Barn Owl, Great-horned Owl, and Western Screech Owl. I was not able to get Northern Saw-whet Owl up at Inspiration Point (Tilden Regional Park).
At daylight I birded the Monterey Pine grove at Inspiration Point. I always start my big days here, but don't try it on a weekday as you have to walk the road and there are way too many cars on weekdays. I usually bird my way back down towards Orinda to where the pines end. Today there was nothing unusual, but I got most of the regular stuff, including Hairy Woodpecker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Pygmy Nuthatch, 12+ Winter Wrens, Varied Thrush (abundant), Cedar Waxwing, Hutton's Vireo, Purple Finch, and Pine Siskin. I never saw any of these the rest of the day, so this is one of the most critical stops. Misses here were California Quail, Band-tailed Pigeon, and Townsend's Warbler.
Then I went down Spruce St, then Marin St to Hwy 580 and quickly got back off the freeway at Central Ave. The Peregrine Falcon was again on the radio towers and the Spotted Sandpiper from yesterday was still on the same rock. The tide was all the way in, so I had to get shorebirds in flight or on the distant breakwater, and as a result I missed a couple that I nearly always get (Long-billed Curlew!). The usual suspects were on the water such as Horned Grebe, Western Grebe, Clark's Grebe, and diving ducks, but I could detect nothing unusual except for 2 Eared Grebes out on the bay (where unusual) and 4 Northern Pintails.
I then went to the parks at the end of Marina Bay Parkway but mostly got more of the same. There were Black Turnstones on the breakwater at the mouth of the harbor. The highlight was a small flock of 10 Redheads. Despite the wintering flock just a couple miles away at Berkeley/Emeryville, this appears to be a new high count for Contra Costa County.
I then moved on to Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline. The maddening little Canada Geese and most of the regular flock were elsewhere today, but they did leave behind the young Greater White-fronted Goose. The male Eurasian Wigeon was also present. A Townsend's Warbler was in the pines, and an Eared Grebe was probably the first I have seen in the park.
On the nearby bay there was a Common Loon, and on the breakwater at the end of Brooks Island were 51 Brown Pelicans.
I stopped by the Richmond Sewer Ponds on the way back to central county. Yesterday there were 7 kinds of gulls there - today all seven were again present and had been joined by a Heerman's Gull, the first I have seen there. Enough checks of this spot will eventually yeild a Glaucous Gull, but not today.
I headed out Hwy 4 and birded the north end of McNabney Marsh [formerly Shell Marsh]. Six White Pelicans were still present, as were all the usual dabbling ducks. From there I went east on Hwy 4 to Railroad Ave. I take that over the pass to the Concord Pavillion and go left on Clayton Rd. to Mitchell Canyon. I elected to skip actually going into Mitchell as I felt I could get nearly all of the birds in the canyon elsewhere. I did get most of them but not all. This spot is much more crucial in Spring and Summer when migrant and nesting songbirds are around.
ALong Marsh Creek Rd were the usual Western Bluebirds, White-breasted Nuthatches, Acorn Woodpeckers, etc. I also had Rufous-crowned Sparrow and Rock Wren at the same spots where I always get them.
At Marsh Creek Reservoir, I added Ring-necked Duck and Canvasback, as well as Red-shouldered Hawk and Common Moorhen.
I then went past Brentwood to Iron House Sanitary District. Here the wind really made its presence felt, and there wasn't much point in staying long. I did get the crucial Common Yellowthroats, Marsh Wrens, Sora Rail, Virginia Rail, and Bonaparte's Gull. There were about 225 Bonies today, including one conspicuous one still in full alternate plumage with a beautiful black hood. The only Common Goldeneyes of the day were also on the ponds.
I drove over to Piper Slough [Bethel Island], but didn't even bother to get out of the car. I headed south to Holland Tract (missing magpies at both of my normal spots) and found that the Cattle Egrets were still present just across the bridge when entering the island and there were now 16. Tree Swallows were in the area. A pretty large blackbird flock farther on had Tricolored Blackbirds and at least 2 male Yellow-headed Blackbirds.
At the east end of Orwood Rd, I managed to pry out a couple of gray-headed Orange-crowned Warblers and a Lincoln's Sparrow.
Last stop was the Byron Hot Springs area. It started to rain just as I got there, but I did get a Golden Eagle sitting on a fencepost next to the road. I was planning to stay and look for Short-eared Owls which are here, but I gave up.
Easy birds missed included the following: Red-throated Loon (not in yet?), Pelagic Cormorant, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Osprey, Cooper's Hawk, Ring-necked Pheasant, California Quail, Semipalmated Plover, Black Oystercatcher, Long-billed Curlew, Short-billed Dowitcher, Band-tailed Pigeon, Burrowing Owl, Belted Kingfisher, Nuttall's Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, House Wren, and California Thrasher. At least 6 or 7 of these are species that I see virtually every single time I do a big day. I have days over 140 species for 6 months of the year, and 150 could be possible for November.
If anyone wants to know anything more specific please let me know.
Steve Glover
Dublin
Walnut Creek swans
Tue, 9 Nov 1999 22:01:11 PST
From: Steve Glover
Hello everyone,
I got an e-mail from Nat Weber who went to Heather Farms to look at the Tundra Swans that I reported secondhand the other day. I had feared that they would turn out to be Mute Swans but passed on the message intact anyway. They were Mutes. This species is now breeding as close as the Concord Naval Weapons Station and are causing a real headache on the Christmas Bird Count as they are constantly being called Tundras. Sorry for perpetuating the error.
Steve Glover
Original Message Subject Index
Important Lake Merritt public meeting
Wed, 10 Nov 1999 12:39:37 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
At 7 PM on Monday Nov 15, upstairs at the Lake Merritt boating center, there will be a very important meeting about the management of Lake Merritt in downtown Oakland. Councilmember Nancy Nadel is one of the sponsors of the meeting.
Among the items that almost certainly will be discussed is the plan being pushed by the Lake Merritt Institute and the Fish & Game people to stock the lake with trout and promote fishing programs there. The people pushing this plan are very hostile to any concerns about the birds in this oldest bird refuge in the US. They are attempting to promote the idea that any environmental concerns represent simply an attempt by wealthy whites to interfere with recreational opportunities for inner city youth. Of course, one of the underlying concerns is that hunting and fishing are declining in popularity as people become more environmentally minded, and the Fish & Game people get much of their revenue from those "sports." The hope is to hook more inner city youth on fishing as a sport. Of course, Lake Merritt is a tidal estuary with storm drains upstream and flood-control gates downstream, so the trout will simply be trapped in a lake that varies from fresh to salt water depending on the amount of rainfall. No studies have been done on what the trout will do to the other lifeforms in the lake but studies elsewhere are ominous. We certainly know that fishing hooks and lines have deadly results on the birds that supposedly are protected here.
For a long time, there has been an effort to take control of the lake away from the naturalists at the Rotary Nature Center who have primary responsibility for the birds. The Lake Merritt Institute (a private nonprofit organization with little-known sources of funding) claims to run the lake, but has little interest in wildlife. The city theoretically is responsible for the refuge (no longer a state-run wildlife refuge), but has much more interest in recreation and use of the area for big events to bring publicity to the city than in taking steps to help the birds. For years, most publicity issued by the city has shown the bird refuge as a small area around the nature center and the islands rather than the entire lake as established in law. The Alameda County Fish & Game has issued a pamphlet of "Places to Fish in Alameda County" that lists Lake Merritt as a place to fish for trout, even though fishing is not permitted at the lake.
In short, it is extremely important that people (particularly Oakland residents, but everyone can help) show up at this meeting to speak out for keeping Lake Merritt as a bird refuge and not allowing other uses to be given higher priority by the city.
For more information, contact Mary Prisic at the Oakland Parks & Recreation Dept, (510) 238-3092.
Best wishes, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Editor's Note: The people promoting the fishing program at Lake
Merritt feel that this message is full of inaccurate statements. They believe
that a hatchery and fishing program at the lake will both restore natural
organisms and be good for the birds. As far as I know, the main groups promoting
the fishing program are the California Department of Fish and
Game
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/coned/fishcity.html
and the Lake Merritt
Institute
http://www.netwiz.net/~lmi/index.htm
Responsibility for the bird refuge at the lake rests primarily with the
naturalists at the Rotary Nature
Center
http://www.lakemerritt.com/
These links should lead you to more information from people who know much
more about this topic than I do. --Larry
Re: Important Lake Merritt public meeting
Wed, 10 Nov 1999 14:23:20 -0800 (PST)
From: Peter Rauch
It looks like a mini-version of the nationwide cormorant "problem" that's becoming a high-stakes policy issue.
Peter
Original Message Subject Index