[EBB Sightings] Great-tailed Grackles in Castro Valley

Greetings Birders.

Today I was out birding in Lake Chabot Park and when I got back to my car - which I'd parked at the Willow Park Golf Course - I heard an unusual, raucous sound coming from a tree by the parking lot.  Just as I looked up, a pair of GREAT-TAILED GRACKLES flew off across the parking lot to the west.

For a minute I thought I was still in Texas, but no I came home yesterday.  And oddly, the 5th edition of the National Geo appears to show Great-tailed Grackles as resident in the Bay Area.  Birds of Northern CA reports about 10 records as of 1988 and attempted nesting in S.F. in the 80's.

No telling if the birds will stick around the golf course, but for any ABYers or others who want to try for them, this is where I saw them originally:  Enter the golf course from Redwood Rd. in Castro Valley.  As you drive in, go straight until you see parking spaces on your right.  The birds were in a tree between the parking lot and the golf course just beyond the parking spaces that are reserved for the pro shop.

Good birding,
Emily Serkin
Castro Valley