Estuary Park, Oakland
Mon, 27 Dec 1999 11:51:43 -0800
From: Jennifer Rycenga
Taking a cue from a previous poster to EBbird, Anthony Fisher, I managed to squeeze in a quick stop at the Estuary Park near Laney College, yesterday (Saturday Dec 26) morning, from 9:00 to 9:30 AM. Highlights included 4 Barrow's Goldeneyes (2 female, 2 male), one Spotted Sandpiper, and one third-winter Glaucous-winged Gull. All of these could be easily viewed west of 7th St.
Jennifer Rycenga
San Francisco
Re: Grebe in trouble
Mon, 27 Dec 1999 12:58:52 -0800
From: Kirk Swenson
Anne Hoff wrote about a Pied-billed Grebe at Berkeley Aquatic Park with a paper loop around its neck. She asked:
What does one do in a case like this?
We saw the same Pied-billed Grebe in the same situation last Thursday. We notified the folks in the bird rehab center and they said they'd keep an eye on it. The person we spoke to said there was nothing they could do until/unless the bird allows itself to be captured - i.e., if it comes to or near shore in a sufficiently weakened state that it can be approached with a net. Apparently, this particular grebe is able to function well enough that it has survived for several days with its impediment. I'm not sure there's any more to be done than letting things take their course from here.
Also on December 25 I saw a Red-shouldered Hawk in the Berkeley Meadow, easily visible from the Marina approach road. Lilian Fujii had reported one in October, and it was a pleasure to see!
There's been an adult Red-shouldered Hawk at Berkeley Aquatic Park periodically this fall/winter. Perhaps the same bird?
Kirk Swenson
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Ring-necked Duck at Lake Merritt
Mon, 27 Dec 1999 14:16:24 -0800
From: Cynthia Prada
A male Ring-necked Duck was seen on December 25th immediately adjacent to the Rotary Nature Center at Lake Merritt in Oakland.
C. Prada
Great Horned Owls
Mon, 27 Dec 1999 18:24:10 -0800
From: Don Lewis
The other morning at 7 AM I had two Great Horned Owls in my Lafayette backyard. One was atop a bare tree, hooting away. The other was on a bare branch about 20 feet off the ground and 100 feet from the first tree. Every time the higher owl hooted, the lower one answered with a sort of screech, not dissimilar to that of a Barn Owl. After a few minutes, the hooting owl flew much closer to the screeching one and they kept it up. The screecher finally flew off, immediately (and eagerly?) followed by the hooter.
Not once did the second owl hoot back; there was no normal duet.
The very last thing on my Peterson Bird Songs CD segment for Great Horned Owl is a short, quiet screech, which is I guess what I heard, except mine was long and emphatic, over and over.
I'm wondering how common this sound is? I presume that this was a courting couple. Does anyone know which sex hoots and which screeches back? (Please limit your comments to owls; this is a bird listserv). Is this sort of duet done when the affair is really heating up?
Don Lewis
Lafayette, CA
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Old Rare Bird Alerts on website
Tue, 28 Dec 1999 09:33:56 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
I've been working on posting Adam Winer's transcriptions of the East Bay RBAs from the BirdBox to the East Bay Birders Circle website at
http://www.best.com/~folkbird/EBBC/rba.html
These reports from 1995 through the present should be a useful tool in giving you an idea of places to look for interesting birds around the year.
Regarding a recent posting about an entangled grebe, you will find on the EBBC website a list of Bay Area bird rehab sites, with contact information or weblinks:
http://www.best.com/~folkbird/EBBC/rehab.html
The reassuring thing to know about cases like the one described (at Lake Merritt, we often see diving ducks with rubber bands through the bill and around the back of the head) is that most plastics and rubber disintegrate fairly rapidly in salt water. Thus, if the bird is able to feed itself, it should be able to survive until the entangling item falls off. If it can't feed itself, it will become weak enough to catch, and we hope that someone will find it and get help for it before it becomes too weakened to survive. A more dangerous problem is fishing line, which can become entangled with fixed objects (sometimes below water), causing a rapid death for the entangled bird before it can be caught and freed.
Best wishes, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Re: Great Horned Owls
28 Dec 99 12:51:01 -0800
From: Les Chibana
Don Lewis wrote:
The very last thing on my Peterson Bird Songs CD segment for Great Horned Owl is a short, quiet screech, which is I guess what I heard, except mine was long and emphatic, over and over.I'm wondering how common this sound is? I presume that this was a courting couple. Does anyone know which sex hoots and which screeches back? ... Is this sort of duet done when the affair is really heating up?
Over in the Santa Cruz Mountains along Skyline Blvd, along the border of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, we have quite a few Great Horned Owl (GHOW), many of them breeding birds. The screech sound that you describe sounds a lot like the contact call that the branchers (semi-fledged owls) make. It's not quite as hissy as Barn Owl, having more of a tonal quality. Admittedly, this seems very late for juvenile GHOW. The available recordings of owl sounds (and for many other species, for that matter) are far from comprehensive. I imagine that it's very difficult to collect complete sets of vocalizations for all parts of a range.
Les
Palo Alto, CA
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Plastics and birds
Date: 28 Dec 99 13:21:02 -0800
From: Les Chibana
Larry Tunstall wrote:
The reassuring thing to know ... is that most plastics and rubber disintegrate fairly rapidly in salt water.
Sorry that this is an off-topic for EBbird, but it's a sidebar to this issue. While recently visiting Midway and the wonderful albatross species that breed there, we were informed of the amount of plastics that these birds ingest on the open seas. Poking through dessicated carcasses of these birds, our naturalist-guides showed us how many pieces of plastics end up in their digestive tracts and are probably responsible for their death. A majority of the plastic was in the form of spent Bic-type cigarette lighters. The albatross seem to go after these items because of the bright colors and superficial resemblance to squid. It seems that these plastics, as well as pieces of sailboat parts last quite a while in salt water. A problem that one hardly expects in the middle of the Pacific.
Les Chibana
Palo Alto, CA
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