At lunch today I was in downtown Pinole. I stood on a little footbridge to check out the ducks--just a bunch of mallards I thought. Well, one was different. Had the bright green head and a normal yellowish green bill, except it had a white crescent at the base of the bill like a blue-winged teal or female scaup, and a bright white chest like a shoveller. The back was all brown unlike it's companions. It was normal size, so no kind of goose hybrid, and it wasn't enclosed like all those strange ducks at Lake Merritt, so I don't think it's category of random domestic waterfowl. There seems to be a version of the Shoveller with this white crescent, so I'll stick with 2 species rather than 3. :) Maybe this is more common than I think, but I thought I'd post it.

If anyone's interested it's near Fernandez Park in Pinole. Just north of San Pablo Ave. between Tennant and Pinole Valley Rd. Follow the creek from San Pablo north to a footbridge.


Jay Dodge
Berkeley

Hi all,

I drove my route for the Eastern Alameda CBC this afternoon. I stopped counting
Kestrels at 20. Last year's entire circle had 133. Looks like it will be a good
year for Kestrels.

About a 1/2-mile north of 580 on Doolan Rd. is a wetland sink. There was a Wisp
of Snipe here (18).
About a 1/4-mile north of 580 on Livermore Ave there was a treefull of
Eurasian-collared Doves (12).

If you have time on your hands and want to see some nice country next Friday,
let me know. I can do this sector alone, but it would be more fun with company.


Good birding,

Bob Power
Oakland, CA

At about noon today there were three Hooded Mergansers( 2 male, 1 female) in Walnut Creek behind Trader Joe's at California and Newell. The creek has easy visibility at the edge of the parking lot.

Maury Stern

On 12/10/2010 12:56 PM, emilie strauss wrote:

This morning at Lake Merritt there was a male Tufted Duck in the
scaup flock at the El Embarcadero or Grand Lake Theater lobe of the
lake. The tuft was very short and only visible when the bird was
awake; it looked like a single dreadlock. The female Redhead was
still present.

My Black-Rail-wannasee guy and I spotted the Tufted Duck this afternoon
- just as described, with a weaselly one-dreadlock tuft. I think this is a different duck from the one I saw a week or so ago; that one had quite gray wings but a good thick tuft, while this one was recognizable from a block away by the whiteness of his wings.

We missed the Redhead. Missed the Black Rail too, surprise, surprise, but did find a Clapper Rail at Arrowhead Marsh, so the day wasn't completely de-railed. He picked up two lifers in the course of the day, and we both had a good time indeed.

There were several dozen goldeneyes on the back arm of the lake (by Grand and Lakeside) - perhaps a hundred or more, mixed Barrow's and Common, but we couldn't find the hybrid despite a lot of looking. The gondola came through and spooked them, and the whistling of their wings was truly magical.

PS Not sure if a male has been reported yet this season. Wasn't the
Tufted Duck reported earlier this season a female?

Nope - not the ones I've reported anyway. The last time I saw a female Tufted Duck on the lake is several years back - 2005, I think.

--
- Hilary Powers - hilary@... - Oakland CA -
- Freelance copyediting and developmental editing -
- "Making Word Work for You" - www.the-efa.org/res/booklets.php -
- The edit you want - online, on time, and on target -
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SAVE THE DATES: The 2011 Point Reyes Birding & Nature Festival will be held the weekend of April 29-May 1 and the Cordell Bank pelagic trip will be on Monday May 2.

More than 500 people from all over the United States attended Festival 2010 and participated in more than 50 lectures, events and field trips observing more than 200 species of birds.

At Festival 2011, some of California's preeminent birders will be leading trips and making presentations, including Rich Stallcup, Jules Evens, Lisa Hug and David Wimpfheimer. Internationally respected author and field-leader, Al Jaramillo, will be the keynote speaker.

MAILING LIST ENSURES EARLY NOTIFICATION: Trips sell out quickly! Be sure to send your email-address to 'prbnfestival at gmail.com' (use '@' instead of 'at') to ensure earliest notification of the opening of registration for the 2011 Festival (Your email-address will not be shared with ANYONE!).

Questions about the festival should also be directed to 'prbnfestival at gmail.com' (use '@' instead of 'at').

Will Wilson
Corte Madera

This morning at Lake Merritt there was a male Tufted Duck in the scaup flock at
the El Embarcadero or Grand Lake Theater lobe of the lake. The tuft was very
short and only visible when the bird was awake; it looked like a single
dreadlock. The female Redhead was still present.

-- Emilie Strauss
Berkeley, California

PS Not sure if a male has been reported yet this season. Wasn't the Tufted Duck
reported earlier this season a female?

The male Hooded Merganser continued yesterday at dusk on Jewel Lake (Tilden RP, accessible from the Nature Area for those new to the area). There were 2 females as well, all seen in the SW corner of the lake trying to hide among the rather large numbers of Mallards for this time of year. I had never seen a male before and it's a beautiful bird! Maybe these are the same females as in years past and one of them was enable to entice this fellow for winter companionship.

Male Bufflehead and 2 Pie-Billed Grebes as well.



Jay Dodge
Berkeley

Yesterday I was surprised to see 21 Double-crested Cormorants in the cement pond in Heather Farm Park of Walnut Creek. Today I counted 25. I have not asked if the pond was recently stocked with fish, but I cannot think of another reason.

Also in the same pond this morning was a female Hooded Merganser. It has been several years since I have seen one in the park.

Two male and two female Buffleheads have been present for several days.

The White-throated Sparrow came out of the bushes south of the equestrian area at 8 AM.

Hugh B. Harvey
Walnut Creek

There's a Yellow-rumped Warbler hanging out in my yard drinking
nectar from the Oriole feeder. It spends a lot of time chasing
Chestnut-backed Chickadees away and I wonder if it could be defending
its feeder as the Chickadees also spend a lot of time at the feeder.
The Yellow-rumped doesn't seem to be concerned with the Annas who
frequent the feeder, and they in turn ignore both the Chickadees and
the Yellow-rumped.

Charlotte Allen
c.allen@...

The first few times I saw this bird, it was in Lake Merritt at the inlet/outlet.  The tide was incoming, and the flock of goldeneyes & the hybrid were diving against the current.  It wasn't until sometime later that it was reported at Laney College.
 
Travis Hails

Today (Tues, Dec. 7), I hiked around Point Pinole Regional Shoreline in Richmond. I was unable to find the previous Brown Thrasher, but here're the consolation prizes:

Birds feeding in the toyon bushes near the beginning of the Bay View Trail included a female PURPLE FINCH (my first for Pt Pinole RS) and a Cedar Waxwing.

The birdy corner at the junction of the Bay View and Cook's Pt Trails included a Red-breasted Sapsucker and a tan-striped WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. This may be the same sparrow seen previously along the entrance trail.

A MERLIN flew past the Bay View Trail.

2 Lincoln's Sparrows -- one near the bridge over the RR tracks, the other with the sparrow flock near the pier.

2 White-tailed Kites -- one near the entrance, the other from the Marsh Trail.

1 Black Oystercatcher on the pilings near the pier.

Along the entrance trail was a hybrid male red/yellow-shafted Northern Flicker -- red nape, red mustache, orange wing linings.

Speaking of flickers, the last 2 days, late in the afternoon, I've seen a female apparent "Yellow-Shafted" Flicker from my back window at home in Pinole. She has a red nape, brown face, and gray head, consistent with yellow-shafted. The wing linings looked more golden than yellow to me when she flew, so either it was the lighting or she has a few red-shafted genes.

Good birding,
--
Laura Look
Pinole, CA

The second annual Eastern Alameda County Christmas Bird Count will be held
on Friday, December 17. Great birding, fun birders, and free dinner
afterwards!


The count circle is in the vicinity of the towns of Sunol, Pleasanton and
Livermore, and includes five East Bay Regional Parks, significant SFPUC
watershed lands along upper Alameda Creek, and exciting East Bay birding
hotspots such as lower Mines Road, Sunol Wilderness, Calaveras Reservoir,
Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and Springtown Preserve.



Our inaugural count last year had over 75 volunteers who found 144 bird
species in the count circle. Highlight species from 2009 included bald
eagles, well over 20 golden eagles, prairie falcons, northern pygmy-owls,
short-eared owl, burrowing owl, Lewis' woodpecker, 176 yellow-billed
magpies, rock wrens, canyon wren, tri-colored blackbirds, and
rufous-crowned, lark, vesper, and grasshopper sparrows.



You can find information about the count here:
http://www.alamedacreek.org/Upcoming_Events/CBC/CBC.htm



If you are interested in participating or being an area count leader, please
contact Rich Cimino, rscimino@..., (925) 353-0266.

Jeff Miller

I did not find any Blue-winged Teals at the pond where they were originally
reported (Garretson Point Staging Area, at the end of Edgewater Drive, Oakland).
In this pond were CINNAMON TEALS, NORTHERN SHOVELERS, MALLARDS, and GREEN-WINGED
TEALS. I finally found one male and probably two female BLUE-WINGED TEALS in
the creek near Damon Slough Staging Area. They were all sleeping, making
identification of the females difficult.

Along with many YELLOW-RUMPED, a female YELLOW WARBLER was in the eucs along the
bay, just to the north of the Garretson Point parking area. It showed the
distinctive yellow tail spots and plain yellowish face/underparts of Yellow
Warbler.


There were a lot of sparrows in the bushes, mostly WHITE-CROWNED and
GOLDEN-CROWNED, with a few FOX and SONG. STILTS, AVOCETS, DOWITCHERS, GREATER
YELLOWLEGS, KILLDEERS, etc were with the ducks in the pond.


Noah Arthur, Oakland

On 12/6/2010 10:00 PM, Kim Burgess wrote:

Last Friday and today I saw what looked like a Hooded Merganser and
Goldeneye hybrid male in Lake Merritt. He was located on the
westerly side of the lake, right in front of the apartment tower at 1
Lakeside Dr. Each time he was with a Common Goldeneye female. ...

Cool - I wonder if this is a new visitor or our regular hoodie/goldeneye cross.... That'd be a new location for our usual guy (who is apt to be near the Nature Center, up at 12th Street, or over at Laney College), and he tends to hang with the Barrow's Goldeneyes.

If you feed "hybrid goldeneye merganser lake merritt" to Google images, the first two pictures are our regular guy. Is that who you saw? The shoulder spikes are really distinctive.

--
- Hilary Powers - hilary@... - Oakland CA -
- Freelance copyediting and developmental editing -
- "Making Word Work for You" - www.the-efa.org/res/booklets.php -
- The edit you want - online, on time, and on target -
- Salamander Feltworks NOW LIVE - www.SalamanderFeltworks.com -

Last Friday and today I saw what looked like a Hooded Merganser and Goldeneye
hybrid male in Lake Merritt. He was located on the westerly side of the lake,
right in front of the apartment tower at 1 Lakeside Dr. Each time he was with a
Common Goldeneye female. I saw them around 4PM both days as I was walking along
the lake, but didn't notice them in the morning when going past the same
location.

A J Burgess, Dublin

With help from Kitty O'Neil, I was finally able to upload photos of the
possible 'PINK-SIDED' JUNCO from Lake Merritt to my rarity photos web page.
Here's the link to the photos:
www.fretnotgospel.com/narthur-birdsightings.html

Thanks to Kitty for re-sizing the photos so that they can be uploaded to a web
site.


Noah Arthur, Oakland

For those of you who tried and failed to follow the Picasa link to the
photos of the possible Pink-sided Junco, here's a simpler link that should
go through uncorrupted.

http://picasaweb.google.com/cathrasher4

From the main directory, you'll see the junco folder in the upper left hand
corner.

Bruce Mast
Oakland

Audubon Society Chapters, California Attorney General and Wind Companies
Reach Agreement on Altamont Pass
Old wind turbines to be replaced with new turbines that are safer for birds
(Berkeley, California, December 6, 2010) In cooperation with the
California Attorney General's Office, five
Bay Area Audubon Society chapters and Californians for Renewable Energy
(CaRE) have reached an agreement
with wind energy operators owned by NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, to
expedite the replacement of old wind
turbines in the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area with new, larger wind
turbines that are less likely to harm
birds.
Golden Gate Audubon, Santa Clara Valley Audubon, Mt. Diablo Audubon,
Ohlone Audubon, and Marin
Audubon joined the Attorney General's Office in negotiating an agreement
that addresses the state's need for
renewable wind energy and the state's obligation to protect resident and
migratory birds.
"Our agreement sets an aggressive schedule for removing the
old-generation turbines and replacing them with
new-generation turbines that should substantially reduce impacts to
birds," said Michael Lynes, Conservation
Director with the Golden Gate Audubon Society. "According to experts
studying the Altamont Pass, the
removal of the old turbines and replacement with properly-sited turbines
may reduce impacts to birds by as
much as 80%."
Altamont Pass was heavily developed for wind power generation in the
late 1970s and early 1980s, eventually
including more than 5800 turbines covering a 56 mi2 area in eastern
Contra Costa and Alameda Counties. These
lands at one time provided ample habitat for birds and still serves as
an important migratory corridor for Golden
Eagles and other raptors. For much of the last decade, the Bay Area
Audubon chapters and the operating wind
companies have struggled to agree on ways to reduce impacts to birds,
bats and other wildlife while fostering
the environmental and economic benefits of wind energy generation in the
Altamont Pass.
The new agreement reflects the consensus of the Alameda County
Scientific Review Committee that the only
way to significantly reduce impacts to birds and keep wind energy
generation in Altamont Pass is to remove the
old-generation wind turbines and replace them with better sited,
new-generation models. And, regardless of
whether the NextEra Energy Resources companies replace all of their
turbines on this expedited schedule, they
have committed to ceasing all operations of their old turbines by the
end of 2015, three years before they are
required to do so under their current permits.
"This agreement addresses the problem arising throughout the state:
balancing the need for renewable energy
generation with subsequent impacts to wildlife," said Bob Power,
Executive Director of the Santa Clara Valley
Audubon Society. "We appreciate NextEra leading the way in the Altamont
Pass to remove the old turbines and
properly install new ones that should significantly reduce risks to
birds. We are also mindful that impacts to
wildlife will continue and the Audubon chapters will remain engaged in
conservation planning and advocacy on
behalf of birds and other wildlife in the Altamont Pass and throughout
the Bay Area."
Golden Gate Audubon Society, Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, Marin
Audubon Society, Mt. Diablo
Audubon Society, and Ohlone Audubon Society are independent nonprofit
organizations dedicated to protecting
birds, other wildlife, and their natural habitats. They conserve and
restore wildlife habitats, connect people of all
ages and backgrounds with the natural world, and educate and engage Bay
Area residents in the protection of
our shared, local environment.
Contact: Mike Lynes, Conservation Director, Golden Gate Audubon Society,
510-843-6551,
mlynes@...

The Pleasanton detention pond on southwest side of Valley Ave. and
Laguna Creek Lane had 1500 Red-winged Blackbirds this afternoon about 2:25.
Take HY 680 to the Bernal exit headed east turn right on Valley Ave and
follow to the "turn about" the pond is on the southwest corner.
A low flying Red-tailed Hawk put about half - 750 each of the RWBB into
the air.
A few minutes later a Great Egret flew in low preparing to land, this
caused another large group of 600 + to take flight.
Then for several minutes additional smaller group's of RWBB continue to
fly out.
They all flew past the sports park baseball diamond field maybe 1000 ft
. in distance.
I drove around this agricultural field on Oak Vista Way to re-find the
RWBB which were easily seen in mass on the ground under the Cottonwood
trees.
Also in the area White-tailed Kites -2 , Wilson's Snipe - 2 and 45 Killdeer.
Zone 7 our local water carrier ( in Pleasanton ) this fall cut all the
field green growth on the islands in the detention pond closest to HY680.
Viewing the islands is much easier this year.
The eastern Alameda County - CBC is Friday December 17th.
Happy Holidays
Rich Cimino

Dear Birders:

The last couple of days juncos have been singing throughout my Berkeley Hills neighborhood.  Not only are they singing frequently and energetically, but they are including several song variations.

Why?  We're still two weeks away from the winter solstice and to begin declaring territory and attracting mates seems premature.  Still, bird song -- even the simple bell-like melody of one of the most abundant sparrows -- is especially welcome on these short, dark days.

Phila Rogers





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