[EBB Sightings] East Contra Costa County 1/4/10: cont. TuftedD. + misc.

The male TUFTED DUCK continued today at Clifton Court Forebay, seen around 2:30 p.m. in the same spot as reported yesterday by Amy McDonald. For best looks, set-up your scope next to the dumpsters at the end of the dirt road peninsula (where all the fisherman usually park) and look south.


In addition I visited some other spots in east Contra Costa county including Holland Tract,  end of Orwood Road and around the town of Byron. The directions to various birding spots in CoCo written by Steve Glover and available on Joe Morlan's website were very helpful. I finished the day with 87 species including four introduced. Some of the more notable sightings of the day included:

Ferruginous Hawk (one flying over the outskirts of the town of Knightsen, one at Holland Tract, one off Camino Diablo in Byron)
Sandhill Cranes (Holland Tract, 400+ in one group seen north of Delta Ave just before the bridge/entrance to H.T. many small groups inside)
American White Pelicans (2 over forebay)
Greater-white Fronted Geese (200+ in flooded field Holland Tract, several groups flying over end of Orwood Rd. including one of at least 80 birds and later several more unseen in the fog over Forebay )
Snow Geese (2 groups of around 50 and 30 flying over end of Orwood Rd.)
Tundra Swans (19 flying over, 30 in flooded field end of Orwood Rd.)
Hooded Merganser (one female with Common Mergansers in the aqueduct/channel west of the Forebay)
Northern Pintail (single male flying over with GWF Geese over end of Orwood Rd.)
Long-billed Curlew (2 flying over Forebay)
Orange-crowned Warblers (5 in the blackberries near "Eucalyptus Island" CC Forebay, another at the end of Orwood Rd.)

Looking through blackbird flocks in the fields along Delta Ave. just outside the Holland Tract I found one each adult male Yellow-headed Blackbird and Brown-headed Cowbird plus the other three expected species.

Around dusk I biked along Byron Hot Springs Road west of the Byron Airport hoping for a Short-eared Owl which I didn't see. I had to settle for a Burrowing Owl (about 0.3 miles from turn off of Holey Rd. ) and dozens (maybe hundreds) of Horned Larks flying in from the west and landing in the fields along BHS Road.

Around this area there were also 10+ Eurasian Collared Doves with a like number of Mourning Doves.

Finally, in big patch of Coyote Brush and Dogwood/willow as you approach Eucalyptus Island on the north side of Clifton Court Forebay (from the main parking lot at the end of Clifton Court Drive, walk/bike along the levee toward the large stand of trees to the north), I heard repeated bursts of song that sounded like a thrasher. I was never able to locate the bird visually and upon arriving home and checking my Contra Costa Breeding Bird Atlas (S. Glover) I realized that CA. Thrasher was not noted in this part of the county. Wish I had tried harder to find the singer now, maybe just a very secretive and talented Northern Mockingbird, or ...

Good Birding,
Dominik Mosur