Date: 1/20/26 10:11 am From: Zac Denning via groups.io <zdenning1...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Waterfowl movements
This morning on my sky watch over my house in central Albany, there were
nice movements of mostly smaller flocks of waterfowl, with around 15
different flocks ranging from 12-90 birds each. This was likely connected
to the ENE winds, which were strongest around 7am this morning.
160 Greater White-fronted Geese (identified visually), 26 Cackling, 11 Snow
Geese (with one smaller individual that might have been Ross’s), 40 goose
sp, 2 duck sp, 2 American White Pelicans. This seems to have been a decent
year in the east bay for Greater White-fronted Geese in particular. Also
nice robin movements, plus waxwings and a good number (7) of American
Goldfinches. The gulls were also soaring early with the breeze, with 2
Glaucous-wingeds breaking up the usual California Gull juggernaut over
inland neighborhoods.
Date: 1/19/26 10:40 am From: Ethan Monk via groups.io <z.querula...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Herring Spawn and misc.
This morning at about 8:45 AM I scoped Brooks Island and noticed what was evidently a herring spawn occurring in the eelgrass beds behind (on the south side of) the island . I estimated 3000 Double-crested Cormorants, 400 Brandt's Cormorants, lots of diving ducks and gulls, etc., many visibly pulling herring out of the water. Nothing unusual, but I only had about 35 minutes to spare. These numbers of Brandt's Cormorants are indicative of herring presence, and you only see large numbers in Contra Costa County, in my experience, at herring runs. Typically this species is scarce and vastly outnumbered by Double-c Cormorants e.g. on Jan. 8th of this year, I estimated 2800 Double-c to 20 Brandt's at this location. Herring runs are typically monitored pretty heavily by from-shore fishermen, but the location on Brooks Island is--obviously--not accessible to them. So no idea how long this spawn has been going on for. It's possible they were just starting, or possibly winding down... but I *felt *like it was not winding down. Earlier this morning I was at Pt. Isabel, where a quick scan of the bay revealed significantly more Aech. grebes than I have been seeing recently here. An individual tally turned up 223 Western Grebes, 79 Clark's, and 390 "slash." My most recent careful count here was Dec. 31st, where I counted 9 Western, 23 Clark's, and 124 "slash." I am unsure whether these large numbers of grebes have anything to do with the herring close by.
While I am here, yesterday I spent the day putzing around the delta. The visibility was absolutely horrendous until about 12:30-1 o'clock. Despite this, I counted a fair number of Lesser Yellowlegs spread between locations: 2 on Jersey, 8 on Bethel, and 4 on Sandmound Rd. Visibility was so horrendous on Holland and Palm Tracts when I checked them I had no idea if there was even shorebird habitat... but there has been some recently. Elsewise... on Taylor Rd. I found a Phainopepla, only my second for Bethel Island, and one nice Slate-colored Fox Sparrow among the sooties. Allen's Hummingbirds seem to not be in yet, per a fruitless check of Bethel Harbor. And Mute Swan numbers seem lower this winter... I only noticed a handful on Bethel Island yesterday, but I talked with Roger Muskat a couple days ago who was telling me about a flock of 600 he just counted. Oh, well.
Date: 1/15/26 3:54 pm From: JENNIFER FURY via groups.io <jennyfuzzy...> Subject: Re: [EBB-Sightings] Peregrine Falcon at Stege Marsh
That girl had a big meal!!Cheers,Jennifer Fury Saltwater is the cure for everything, sweat, tears, or the sea 🌊 -------- Original message --------From: "Nat Smale via groups.io" <smale...> Date: 1/15/26 3:49 PM (GMT-08:00) To: <cmlyneis...> Cc: Birds East Bay <EBB-Sightings...> Subject: Re: [EBB-Sightings] Peregrine Falcon at Stege Marsh hi Claude,
Nice photos! With the streaked breast and brown backsides, that should be a juvenile (1st year). I think that I saw the same bird a couple of times over the last two weeks at the same location.
Nat
On Jan 15, 2026, at 10:20 AM, Claude Lyneis via groups.io <cmlyneis...> wrote:
I was out testing a new telephoto lens north of Point Isabel Wednesday and saw a Peregrine Falcon at least 200 feet away on a power line. I saw it several times between 12 and 1:30. I am wondering about its age, since it doesn’t match the photos of mature Peregrine Falcons. There were also about 25 Black Skimmers on the mudflats as has been reported recently.
Two photos of the Falcon and one of the Black Skimmers on Flickr.
Date: 1/15/26 3:49 pm From: Nat Smale via groups.io <smale...> Subject: Re: [EBB-Sightings] Peregrine Falcon at Stege Marsh
hi Claude,
Nice photos! With the streaked breast and brown backsides, that should be a juvenile (1st year). I think that I saw the same bird a couple of times over the last two weeks at the same location.
Nat On Jan 15, 2026, at 10:20 AM, Claude Lyneis via groups.io <cmlyneis...> wrote:
I was out testing a new telephoto lens north of Point Isabel Wednesday and saw a Peregrine Falcon at least 200 feet away on a power line. I saw it several times between 12 and 1:30. I am wondering about its age, since it doesn’t match the photos of mature Peregrine Falcons. There were also about 25 Black Skimmers on the mudflats as has been reported recently.
Two photos of the Falcon and one of the Black Skimmers on Flickr.
Date: 1/15/26 10:19 am From: Claude Lyneis via groups.io <cmlyneis...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Peregrine Falcon at Stege Marsh
I was out testing a new telephoto lens north of Point Isabel Wednesday and saw a Peregrine Falcon at least 200 feet away on a power line. I saw it several times between 12 and 1:30. I am wondering about its age, since it doesn’t match the photos of mature Peregrine Falcons. There were also about 25 Black Skimmers on the mudflats as has been reported recently.
Two photos of the Falcon and one of the Black Skimmers on Flickr.
Date: 1/13/26 8:35 pm From: Cheryl Foster via groups.io <cherylafoster...> Subject: Re: [EBB-Sightings] 2025 Oakland CBC Final Report
Hi, Bruce,
Marjorie Powell, Lyla Arum, Cindy Pfost and I had a Loggerhead Shrike
at Alameda Creek, Stables Staging Area on Saturday. I wish we had it for
the CBC but I hope knowing they are still here helps.
Congrats, Dawn and Viviana, on another successful CBC!
Cheryl
On Tue, Jan 13, 2026 at 8:00 PM Bruce Mast via groups.io <cathrasher4=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> Thank you Dawn and Viviana for a wonderful write-up and yet another
> excellently coordinated count!
>
> At the risk of being a downer, I'll just note that the missing bird that
> personally makes me sad is Loggerhead Shrike. If my memory serves, they
> used to be regular at the Oakland Airport and would show up occasionally at
> Arrowhead Marsh. We've missed them so many times in recent years that their
> absence is no longer remarkable. Probably also other sad stories like that
> in the data but that's the one that sticks with me.
>
> Bruce
>
> On Tue, Jan 13, 2026 at 5:25 PM Dawn Lemoine via groups.io <lemonbirder=
> <gmail.com...> wrote:
>
>> The Oakland CBC compilers are pleased to present the final report of our
>> 2025 count. We hope you enjoy the narrative, the map and the many
>> pictures taken by our participants.
>>
>> 2025 Oakland CBC - eBird Trip Report
>> <https://ebird.org/tripreport/438782> >>
>> Please disseminate this widely, especially to those who allowed us to
>> access areas generally not open to the public.
>>
>> We look forward to seeing you at next year's count on Sunday
>> 20-December-2026. Please mark your calendars now.
>>
>> Good birding.
>> Viviana & Dawn
>> --
>> Oakland CBC Compilers,
>> Viviana Wolinsky
>> Dawn Lemoine
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
Date: 1/13/26 8:07 pm From: Bruce Mast via groups.io <cathrasher4...> Subject: Re: [EBB-Sightings] 2025 Oakland CBC Final Report
Thank you Dawn and Viviana for a wonderful write-up and yet another
excellently coordinated count!
At the risk of being a downer, I'll just note that the missing bird that
personally makes me sad is Loggerhead Shrike. If my memory serves, they
used to be regular at the Oakland Airport and would show up occasionally at
Arrowhead Marsh. We've missed them so many times in recent years that their
absence is no longer remarkable. Probably also other sad stories like that
in the data but that's the one that sticks with me.
Bruce
On Tue, Jan 13, 2026 at 5:25 PM Dawn Lemoine via groups.io <lemonbirder=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> The Oakland CBC compilers are pleased to present the final report of our
> 2025 count. We hope you enjoy the narrative, the map and the many
> pictures taken by our participants.
>
> 2025 Oakland CBC - eBird Trip Report <https://ebird.org/tripreport/438782> >
> Please disseminate this widely, especially to those who allowed us to
> access areas generally not open to the public.
>
> We look forward to seeing you at next year's count on Sunday
> 20-December-2026. Please mark your calendars now.
>
> Good birding.
> Viviana & Dawn
> --
> Oakland CBC Compilers,
> Viviana Wolinsky
> Dawn Lemoine
>
>
>
>
Date: 1/13/26 5:25 pm From: Dawn Lemoine via groups.io <lemonbirder...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] 2025 Oakland CBC Final Report
The Oakland CBC compilers are pleased to present the final report of our 2025 count. We hope you enjoy the narrative, the map and the many pictures taken by our participants.
Date: 1/13/26 7:18 am From: Rosalie via groups.io <barhowarth...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Virginia Rail at Heather Farm
Spotted a Virginia Rail at the Heather Farm natural lake yesterday morning right where I often see the Sora.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/RrpkX1uRyoGKwp5q6 Barry Howarth
Date: 1/11/26 5:59 pm From: Bruce Mast via groups.io <cathrasher4...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Atlas birding and White-throated Sparrow
Hello fellow birders, I went out and compiled my inaugural California Bird Atlas <https://www.californiabirdatlas.org/> survey checklists today, focusing on my home block of Oakland East CW. I covered the Morcom Rose Garden fairly thoroughly and then took a quicker swing through Piedmont Park. Of possible broader interest, I encountered a White-throated Sparrow near the Wildwood Avenue entrance to Piedmont Park. It was foraging mid-story in a Live Oak tree with one or more White-crowned Sparrows. I was at the stairs that descend straight downhill towards the playing fields. The sparrows moved off to my left, towards the elementary school. I'm guessing the sparrows move around a fairly large patch so no guarantees where they will be located next.
In breeding bird news, male Anna's Hummingbirds are displaying and there are probably nesting females around, though I didn't succeed in locating any nests today. Oak Titmice seem to be refreshing their territorial boundaries--interesting to hear the counter-singing males match each others' songs for what seems like forever and then, on some secret cue, they both switch to a different song they both know. I also heard singing Song Sparrows, Bewick's Wrens (no surprise), Lesser Goldfinches, and a Hutton's Vireo.
The most confusing behavior I encountered was a female Nuttall's Woodpecker who continually harassed a male for almost half an hour and eventually chased him away. She kept up a quick succession of loud rattle calls, to which the male responded each time with clucks. The female came closer and closer to the male and then started hopping around him, rattling and giving quick side to side bows.According to Birds of the World, this is agonistic behavior, not courting. I have no idea what the dispute was about.
I’m pretty new to birding and newer to this list, but had the very exciting
experience today of watching a red-tailed hawk with some binocs and seeing
it land and then… start fussing with some twigs! Per group rules I won’t
say the exact nest location but it’s close to my home and I’m excited to
(quietly and unobtrusively) observe them daily, hopefully spot some
juveniles in a few months. Feel very fortunate to live in Berkeley and see
raptors almost every day.
Date: 1/9/26 8:46 am From: Megan Jankowski via groups.io <mindfuldocumentation...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] California’s First Statewide Breeding Bird Atlas HAS LAUNCHED
Hi everyone, please see below and join the effort to document California's
breeding birds! You simply join and contribute using eBird. See below for
the link to more info and the quick start guide. Locally Anna's
hummingbirds are nesting, and I saw a Red-tailed hawk carrying nesting
material lately.
This is a 5 year effort, so much more to come, but it's easy to join and
get started!
Megan Jankowski
Oakland
Begin forwarded message:
*From:* "Van Pierszalowski via groups.io" <vanpierszalowski=
<gmail.com...>
*Date:* December 31, 2025 at 20:39:21 PST
*To:* <calbirds...>
*Subject:* *[CALBIRDS] ** Launches Tomorrow, January 1, 2026*
*Reply-To:* <vanpierszalowski...>
Hi Birders,
Tomorrow marks the launch of California’s first statewide Breeding Bird
Atlas, a community-powered initiative to document breeding birds across the
state and generate the science needed to guide habitat protection,
restoration, and long-term conservation planning for decades to come.
This landmark effort is being led by *California Bird Atlas*
<https://www.californiabirdatlas.org/> (CBA), an independent nonprofit, in
collaboration with state agencies, thousands of volunteers, and dozens of
partner organizations.
All birders are now officially invited to join the project by visiting the
new *California Bird Atlas eBird website
<https://ebird.org/atlascalifornia/home>*. Simply click “*Join Project*”
(or “Log In to Join Project”) and you will automatically be able to
contribute checklists to the Atlas project.
The Atlas is fully integrated with the eBird mobile app. If you submit
checklists on mobile, this *Quick Start Tutorial video
<https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8Z3kbqiO9rw>* provides a brief overview.
Please visit the *About <https://ebird.org/atlascalifornia/about>* page for
resources, basic guidance, and everything you need to begin contributing to
this statewide initiative.
We encourage *all checklists submitted year-round to be entered through the
Atlas project*, even if they don’t include breeding behavior. While we are
still a few months from peak breeding season, you can learn more about
species with a history of breeding in January in California by reading *this
article <https://ebird.org/atlascalifornia/news/early-breeders-jan>*.
We will be growing our team, expanding resources, and continuing to build
this grassroots movement in the coming months. As we launch, early
donations are especially impactful — supporting training, field tools, and
outreach in the first critical months. We’re a nonprofit, and every
contribution is tax-deductible and genuinely appreciated. If you have the
means, please consider making a gift today to help the Atlas start strong —
your support right now truly matters. *Donate
<https://donorbox.org/california-bird-atlas> here
<https://donorbox.org/california-bird-atlas>*.
With gratitude and excitement for what we’ll build together,
*Van Pierszalowski*
Executive Director,
California Bird Atlas (CBA)
email: <van...>
Date: 1/8/26 1:36 pm From: Ed Yong via groups.io <edyong209...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Hot Mountain Bluebird Winter
As Isabelle Reddy and several others have noted, mountain bluebird numbers are wild right now. After last winter when the birds seemed unusually hard to find, they’re back in force at the now-defunct Cedar Mountain Winery. At one point, I did a full 360 sweep while standing amid the vines, and counted 105 individuals. I’ve conservatively estimated 170 which is pleasingly close to the CBC count of 175. Just a glorious experience with a stunning species. The birds don’t always stick around so I would urge folks to hang out with them over the next week or so if possible.
I don’t think Google recognizes Cedar Mountain Winery anymore so aim for Reuss Road, stop about halfway along (say (37.6613708, -121.6654616)) and prepare to bathe in blueness.
Date: 1/7/26 9:19 pm From: Derek via groups.io <dlheins...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Eastern Alameda CBC recap from December 19.
The 17th annual Eastern Alameda Christmas Bird Count, originally led by
Rich Cimino and Jeff Miller, was held on Friday, December 19th in pleasant
weather (no pun intended). Our 78 participants finished the day having
found 144 species, a couple below our historical average but the highest
count in the last 6 years. We tallied a total of 25,743 birds, which is
significantly lower than our 30,512 average but higher than the average of
the last 5 years.
We added no new species to our count circle, but did have some notable
sightings. There were 2 Redheads at Poppy Ridge Golf Course, a Common Loon
off El Charro Road, 42 Long-billed Curlews north of I-580 near Livermore
Avenue, and 175 Mountain Bluebirds in one flock near Tesla Road.
Species missed included Cinnamon Teal (second year in a row), Black-crowned
Night Heron, Sora, Common Gallinule, Black-necked Stilt, Lewis’s
Woodpecker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, House Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet and
Common Yellowthroat.
We had high counts for Greater White-fronted Geese (213), American Pipits
(328), Orange-crowned Warbler (7), Bald Eagle (13), Anna’s Hummingbird
(307), Common Raven (360 versus less than 100 average the first 10 years),
and American Kestrel (122 being higher than our first 10 year average).
Some species with notable low counts:
· 325 Mallards was down from our historical average of 511.
· 158 Ring-necked Ducks; the average our first 10 counts was 330
· 4 Common Goldeneyes ties for lowest count versus historical average
of 24
· 28 Common Mergansers is less than half our historical average
· 129 Wild Turkeys was our lowest count to date
· 40 Double-crested Cormorants was our lowest count versus 220 average
· 19 Great Blue Herons was our lowest count versus 33 average.
· 9 White-tailed Kites continued a low trend; the average of our
first 10 counts was 43.
· We also had lowest ever counts of Sharp-shinned Hawks, Steller’s
Jays and Western Scrub-jays. Other species seeing consistent declines are
Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Loggerhead Shrike, Yellow-billed Magpie, Northern
Mockingbird, Tricolored Blackbird and House Sparrow.
We would like to thank all of the participants and also Lawrence Livermore
Labs, East Bay Regional Parks, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
and Koopmann Family Ranch for allowing us access to areas normally off
limits.
Date: 1/6/26 9:18 pm From: Alexander Henry via groups.io <awhenry...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Heron Bay/Tony Lema/San Lorenzo Creek Mouth Avian Fiesta
This afternoon/evening, Sharon Jue and I visited the Heron Bay/Tony Lema Golf Course area, as accessed from the end of Lewelling Boulevard. There was simply an exceptional level of bird activity, and the outing became arguably one of the best birding sessions either of us have ever had in the East Bay.
When we arrived, the tide was very high (7.5 feet or so), though not quite as high as the king tides of the previous few days (when there were 8+ foot tides in this area). There were many hundreds of shorebirds roosting in ponds in the marshes. This included a Lesser Yellowlegs, as well as several Greater Yellowlegs, over a dozen Long-billed Curlews, a couple dozen Stilts, over 250 Avocets, over 400 Dowitchers, and a few Willets and Calidrids. There were also good numbers of dabbling ducks throughout the marsh, including Shovelers, American Wigeons, Mallards, and Green-winged Teals.
Tony Lema Golf Course was hosting incredible goose diversity and abundance, as least by Alameda County standards. There were over 100 Greater White-fronted Geese and Canada Geese, 50-100 Cackling Geese, and 11 “white geese”. The variety of “white geese” was quite nice, and fun to study. There were 8 Snow Geese, a mixture of adults and juveniles and one juvenile “Blue Goose”. There was also 1 clear Ross’s, 1 probably Ross’s, and 1 possibly a hybrid. It seemed like a bit of a spectrum. Were we just overanalyzing 3 Ross’s Geese? Definitely an interesting and somewhat confusing flock to study.
There were also 3 Blue-winged Teal and some Cinnamon Teals in the big golf course pond.
By the time the sun was setting, the tide had fallen quite a bit, and expansive mudflats around the San Lorenzo Creek Mouth were beginning to be exposed. Thousands of shorebirds and gulls coated these mudflats; the number of gulls seemed at least 5 times as many as normal.
Around this time, rail activity picked up quite a bit. A dusk chorus of Ridgway’s Rails and Soras filled the air, with the occasional Virginia Rail grunting. We didn’t see any Virginia Rails, but we saw 3 species of rail plus Coots ;). Some sparrows were also somewhat active around dusk, and we heard a Swamp Sparrow calling at dusk. A Barn Owl was flying over the marshes at dusk while a Snipe flew around calling.
Overall, it just seemed incredibly birdy. The gulls at San Lorenzo Creek Mouth and geese at Tony Lema Golf Course especially seemed exceptional. Hoping this area can get some more coverage in the coming days or weeks! And would love to hear other people’s opinions on the “white geese” flock.
Date: 1/6/26 4:05 pm From: Bruce Mast via groups.io <cathrasher4...> Subject: Re: [EBB-Sightings] Preliminary results from Saturday's Richmond CBC
Thank you Derek for the great report! Your report can be a model for CBCs
everywhere. :-)
Bruce Mast
Oakland
On Mon, Jan 5, 2026 at 8:49 PM Derek via groups.io <dlheins=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> As some of you may recall, Saturday was a very wet day, the second in a
> row for our fledgling five-year old Richmond CBC circle. But in defiance of
> the weather forecast, a record 201 enthusiastic birders participated,
> including a group of local Girl Scouts. Over half of our birders were new
> participants to the Richmond CBC and we hope they keep joining us for
> future counts!
>
> As preliminary result, we have logged 178 species,which is above our count
> average, but noteworthy given the most challenging conditions we've faced
> to date:
>
> Regarding the birds we saw on Saturday:
>
> - We had 7 new species bringing our count day life list to 204:
> Long-tailed Duck and Red-necked Grebe at Point Molate, Violet-green
> Swallow north of San Pablo Reservoir, Northern Rough-winged Swallow at
> Dotson Marsh, Vega Gull at Landfill Loop, Tennessee Warbler and Summer
> Tanager continuing at Booker T Anderson Park. Noah Arthur ID'd the Vega
> Gull, the third ever recorded in Contra Costa County (he had one at
> Miller/Knox in 2013).
>
>
> - Some other notable sightings were our only Ring-necked Pheasant,
> Caspian Tern and Short-eared Owl at Mare Island; a Snowy Plover at Point
> Pinole; 67 Black Skimmers at Meeker Slough; a Black Rail at Landfill Loop;
> a Rock Wren at Point Molate; a Pacific Loon at Richmond Marina. Our
> boat only made it out to Brooks Island before returning to port due to the
> blustering weather, but they did spot a Heermann's Gull among all the Brown
> Pelicans.
>
>
> - Looks like we're down to one Black Scoter at Richmond Marina; Bob
> Lewis noted that it seems to be mournfully whistling more than usual.
>
>
> - Every year has its missing species and this year was no exception.
> One would think all the recent rains would enhance habitats for waterfowl,
> but some of our biggest misses were Cackling Goose, Wood Duck, Blue-winged
> Teal and Cinnamon Teal. We also did not see Burrowing Owl or Pine Siskin,
> but siskins haven't been seen in the East Bay this winter.
>
>
> - I would say the most noteworthy count was of Band-tailed Pigeons,
> but that might be a theme across our local CBC's. Forest Chapman's group
> hiking Crockett Hills Regional Park logged 938, the highest count in eBird
> history for a single checklist in Contra Costa County. We totaled around
> 2,200 for the day.
>
>
> - Trends are a little difficult to interpret based on five years of
> the count with inconsistent weather and tides, so not much to report here.
> It should be noted that Bushtits, which won last year's award for
> consistent counts, must love to dance in the rain as the 784 counted
> were 30% above normal. The 1,504 crown sparrows were about 40% less than
> normal, with towhees also down by roughly the same proportion. American
> Robins were in abundance with 1,919 being almost triple our previous
> average.
>
> In addition to all the great birds we found on Saturday, birders have also
> a few more count week species (Wednesday Dec 31 through tomorrow, January
> 6): Cackling Goose, Short-billed Dowitcher, Common Murre, Lesser
> Black-backed Gull, American Redstart and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. If you
> find something interesting in the circle tomorrow that might add to our
> list, email Derek.
>
> This year's count day really demonstrated the resilience of our birding
> community. We didn't let the weather dampen our spirits as we supported
> this important international community science project. Golden Gate Bird
> Alliance initiated this count circle to bring attention to birds in
> Richmond and the local communities, and we hope to strengthen this bond in
> the years to come by encouraging communities in the count circle to
> celebrate our collective love for birds and the habitats we share.
>
> Thank you everyone for your support in this year's count, and we can't
> wait to see you all again next year!
>
> Derek Heins and BreeAnn Crofts
> Richmond CBC compilers
> <richmondcbc...>
>
>
>
>
>
Date: 1/5/26 8:49 pm From: Derek via groups.io <dlheins...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Preliminary results from Saturday's Richmond CBC
As some of you may recall, Saturday was a very wet day, the second in a row for our fledgling five-year old Richmond CBC circle. But in defiance of the weather forecast, a record 201 enthusiastic birders participated, including a group of local Girl Scouts. Over half of our birders were new participants to the Richmond CBC and we hope they keep joining us for future counts!
As preliminary result, we have logged 178 species,which is above our count average, but noteworthy given the most challenging conditions we've faced to date:
Regarding the birds we saw on Saturday:
- We had 7 new species bringing our count day life list to 204: Long-tailed Duck and Red-necked Grebe at Point Molate, Violet-green Swallow north of San Pablo Reservoir, Northern Rough-winged Swallow at Dotson Marsh, Vega Gull at Landfill Loop, Tennessee Warbler and Summer Tanager continuing at Booker T Anderson Park. Noah Arthur ID'd the Vega Gull, the third ever recorded in Contra Costa County (he had one at Miller/Knox in 2013).
- Some other notable sightings were our only Ring-necked Pheasant, Caspian Tern and Short-eared Owl at Mare Island; a Snowy Plover at Point Pinole; 67 Black Skimmers at Meeker Slough; a Black Rail at Landfill Loop; a Rock Wren at Point Molate; a Pacific Loon at Richmond Marina. Our boat only made it out to Brooks Island before returning to port due to the blustering weather, but they did spot a Heermann's Gull among all the Brown Pelicans.
- Looks like we're down to one Black Scoter at Richmond Marina; Bob Lewis noted that it seems to be mournfully whistling more than usual.
- Every year has its missing species and this year was no exception. One would think all the recent rains would enhance habitats for waterfowl, but some of our biggest misses were Cackling Goose, Wood Duck, Blue-winged Teal and Cinnamon Teal. We also did not see Burrowing Owl or Pine Siskin, but siskins haven't been seen in the East Bay this winter.
- I would say the most noteworthy count was of Band-tailed Pigeons, but that might be a theme across our local CBC's. Forest Chapman's group hiking Crockett Hills Regional Park logged 938, the highest count in eBird history for a single checklist in Contra Costa County. We totaled around 2,200 for the day.
- Trends are a little difficult to interpret based on five years of the count with inconsistent weather and tides, so not much to report here. It should be noted that Bushtits, which won last year's award for consistent counts, must love to dance in the rain as the 784 counted were 30% above normal. The 1,504 crown sparrows were about 40% less than normal, with towhees also down by roughly the same proportion. American Robins were in abundance with 1,919 being almost triple our previous average.
In addition to all the great birds we found on Saturday, birders have also a few more count week species (Wednesday Dec 31 through tomorrow, January 6): Cackling Goose, Short-billed Dowitcher, Common Murre, Lesser Black-backed Gull, American Redstart and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. If you find something interesting in the circle tomorrow that might add to our list, email Derek.
This year's count day really demonstrated the resilience of our birding community. We didn't let the weather dampen our spirits as we supported this important international community science project. Golden Gate Bird Alliance initiated this count circle to bring attention to birds in Richmond and the local communities, and we hope to strengthen this bond in the years to come by encouraging communities in the count circle to celebrate our collective love for birds and the habitats we share.
Thank you everyone for your support in this year's count, and we can't wait to see you all again next year!
Derek Heins and BreeAnn Crofts Richmond CBC compilers <richmondcbc...>
Date: 1/3/26 11:36 am From: Idell Weydemeyer via groups.io <iwgarden...> Subject: Re: [EBB-Sightings] Richmond Christmas Bird count assignments
Hello to Derick,
I am so sorry but I cannot participate in the feeder watch this time after all.
Best wishes for a great rest of the day! I look forward to the result summary.
Idell Weydemeyer in El Sobrante
From: <EBB-Sightings...> <EBB-Sightings...> On Behalf Of Derek via groups.io
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2025 9:37 PM
To: East Bay Birds <EBB-Sightings...>
Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Richmond Christmas Bird count assignments
If you registered for the Richmond CBC, you should have received an email this morning from <richmondcbc...> <mailto:<richmondcbc...> informing you of your assignment to a count area within the circle including area leader name and contact info. If you think you registered, but don't see the communication, contact us at <richmondcbc...> <mailto:<richmondcbc...> ASAP. Please provide your cell phone number to help us expedite the process of getting you registered and assigned to an appropriate count area.
Date: 1/1/26 8:36 pm From: Zac Denning via groups.io <zdenning1...> Subject: Re: [EBB-Sightings] A Year of Alameda Birding: 2025
Ed,
Your big year is truly an accomplishment. It’s impressive by any measure,
but especially for someone who started relatively recently!
But more than the total, I appreciate the thoughtful approach you bring to
birding; like you’re focused on enjoying the birds (plus their ecology and
surroundings), and not only on the number. The number is impressive, but
the approach is what counts most in my book.
Speaking of books, we’ll all look forward to the latest book when it’s out.
Congratulations,
Zac Denning
On Thu, Jan 1, 2026 at 9:01 AM Ed Yong via groups.io <edyong209=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> Happy new year, everyone.
>
>
>
> 2025 was a deeply troubled year, but birding, as always, provided a salve.
> Some of you know that I moved to the Bay Area in 2023, feel deeply into
> birding that year, and spent 2024 trying to see as many birds as I could in
> my home county of Alameda. I initially figured that in 2025, I’d be more
> limited in my ability to bird locally because I had a book to write and a
> lot of travel to do. But as it happened, I successfully finished the book
> (out spring ‘27) and somehow managed to find *a lot* of birds—289 in
> total.
>
>
>
> The full list is at the bottom of this email and *here’s a Google Drive
> folder
> <https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/145YUy-DKe-HMeTebf6XjuXptjr402iiR?usp=sharing>* > with photos or recordings of almost every species. (Fair warning: they vary *wildly
> *in quality.)
>
>
>
> Chasing birds is just one of many ways of birding, and a silly and
> sometimes maddening game—but also an extremely fun and rewarding one. And
> for a baby birder, it’s an absolutely phenomenal learning experience. It
> forces you to pore over the minutiae of identification, to practice
> ear-birding, to understand and predict bird behavior, to explore a wide
> variety of hotspots and habitats, to pay close attention to seasonal and
> tidal cycles, to plug yourself into the local community both human and
> non-human, to learn to differentiate solid reports from dubious ones, and,
> above all else, to spend lots of hours in the field. And after spending
> 2024 doing all of the above, 2025 felt richer, easier, and more joyful. I
> felt like I had a substantially better understanding of both the land and
> the birds, and that I was started to *recognize *the birds instead of
> just *identifying* them.
>
>
>
> 2025 was also an *amazing* year for Alameda. We had multiple sightings of
> some great migrants, including common terns, pectoral and solitary
> sandpipers, chestnut-sided and palm warblers, Pacific golden-plovers,
> lesser black-backed gulls, clay-colored and Brewer’s sparrows, Ross’s
> geese, and apparently three separate black-chinned hummingbirds at
> Creekside. From mid-October, fall migration delivered a two-month streak of
> absolute bangers, including a sharp-tailed sandpiper seen at close range in
> perfect light, a Leach’s storm-petrel viewed from shore, a red-naped
> sapsucker and a bar-tailed godwit (yay!) who both hung around for ages, a
> black-throated green warbler in Estuary Park of all places, a yellow-billed
> loon who turned Crab Cove into Crabless Cove, a rock sandpiper who led to
> calls to surveyors’ offices, and a green-tailed towhee who adopted a pink
> laundry basket. And let’s not forget the big trend of 2025, which was birds
> showing up in the *worst* possible habitats. Consider the American dipper
> who spent an evening at the tiniest creek at Lake Temescal, the northern
> waterthrush of Middle Harbor who hung out next to a decaying seal carcass,
> the Townsend’s solitaire at MLK who didn’t get the memo about junipers and
> mountains, and the Cocos booby who decided to land in the middle of the
> lawn in Crab Cove. The birds were all over the place. So, apparently, was I.
>
>
>
> Here are the headlines, with all numbers referring to species totals:
>
>
>
> - *Total Alameda bird count: *289, beating my total from last year by
> 9.
> - *New county birds: *20
> - *Lifers: *7 (Cocos booby, Townsend’s solitaire, long-eared owl,
> Baird’s sandpiper, Leach’s storm-petrel, tundra swan, rock sandpiper, and
> last year’s nemesis, the black rail)
> - *Birds documented with either photos or recordings: *286, which was
> everything except parasitic jaeger (too far and fast), scaly-breasted munia
> (flyover, tho technically I have a rubbish recording with one call), and
> pigeon guillemot (no battery in camera, gnnnh)
> - *Rarities *(defined as birds that eBird flags as rare *throughout
> the year*): 58
> - *Rarities first found by me: *8 (blue grosbeak, pigeon guillemot,
> parasitic jaeger, pectoral sandpiper, black scoter, Brewer’s sparrow,
> Costa’s hummingbird, bar-tailed godwit)
> - *Misses* (i.e. reviewer-confirmed species seen by others in
> Alameda): Only 14, which is wild to me, and almost all were flyovers,
> feeder visitors, one-hit wonders, or birds whose records were initially
> withheld.
>
> I don’t think you can really compare people’s numbers since everyone has
> their own rules for their lists. For the sake of transparency, here are
> mine:
>
>
> - *The list reflects your position. *Some folks only count birds that
> are physically *in the county*; I’m in the camp that counts the birds
> they see* from the county. *This is consistent with eBird’s guidelines
> but more importantly, it better reflects what I think birding is about.
> Censusing birds within an abstract, human, geopolitical boundary is,
> frankly, *not it*. For me, birding is an act of extending your senses
> as far as possible to appreciate the living world around you. As such, an
> egocentric frame of reference just makes more sense. You plant yourself in
> place and watch the birds as they go where they like. (People who feel
> differently can dock harlequin duck from my total, and potentially other
> seawatched birds.)
> - *No playback. *If birders near me ask to use it, I won’t object, but
> I won’t use it myself. Birds are a gift, and playback feels like greedily
> snatching that gift instead of positioning yourself to receive it.
> - *Heard-only counts. *Birding is a multisensory affair, and there are
> many species I’d rather hear than see. But I try to get a recording of all
> heard-only birds to check the IDs. Merlin is helpful, but confirms nothing.
> HO birds this year included common poorwill, black rail, winter wren,
> yellow-breasted chat, and owls: northern pygmy, northern saw-whet, and
> western screech.
> - *Try to get proper documentation. *No to written description,
> sketches, or anything else that is first processed by your senses, fallible
> and bias-prone as they are. Yes to photos and recordings.
> - *All reports confirmed by eBird reviewers. *Self-explanatory. Thanks
> to the reviewers, and especially to Teale Fristoe for tirelessly keeping
> the county data’s shiny.
> - *Usual eBird rules:* No dead birds, escapees, or exotics. I don’t
> count the recurring Swinhoe’s white-eyes of Creekside Park even though they
> count in my heart. And I don’t count hybrids even though, as Megan
> Jankowski says, they should count three times.
>
> Huge thanks to everyone who I spent time in the field with; friends in my
> groupchats; the many people who found cool rarities (with a special
> shout-out to Sharon Jue who found *so many*); everyone who shared reports
> of East Bay birds and especially people who did so quickly; and every
> single person who has worked to conserve the places that we and the birds
> rely on.
>
>
>
> On that final note, and in the spirit of giving back to nature as much as
> we take from it, I have donated $5 per species to the Golden Gate Bird
> Alliance.
>
>
>
> Happy new year, everyone. Let hope, as always, be the thing with feathers.
>
>
>
> - E
>
>
>
>
>
> And now, the birds:
>
>
>
> 1. Snow goose
> 2. Ross’s goose
> 3. Greater white-fronter goose
> 4. Brant
> 5. Cackling goose
> 6. Canada goose
> 7. Tundra swan
> 8. Wood duck
> 9. Blue-winged teal
> 10. Cinnamon teal
> 11. Northern shoveler
> 12. Gadwall
> 13. Eurasian wigeon
> 14. American wigeon
> 15. Mallard
> 16. Northern pintail
> 17. Green-winged teal
> 18. Canvasback
> 19. Redhead
> 20. Ring-necked duck
> 21. Tufted duck
> 22. Greater scaup
> 23. Lesser scaup
> 24. Harlequin duck
> 25. Surf scoter
> 26. White-winged scoter
> 27. Black scoter
> 28. Long-tailed duck
> 29. Bufflehead
> 30. Common goldeneye
> 31. Barrow’s goldeneye
> 32. Hooded merganser
> 33. Common merganser
> 34. Red-breasted merganser
> 35. Ruddy duck
> 36. California quail
> 37. Wild turkey
> 38. Ring-necked pheasant
> 39. Rock pigeon
> 40. Band-tailed pigeon
> 41. Eurasian collared-dove
> 42. Mourning dove
> 43. Common poorwill
> 44. Vaux’s swift
> 45. White-throated swift
> 46. Black-chinned hummingbird
> 47. Anna’s hummingbird
> 48. Costa’s hummingbird
> 49. Calliope hummingbird
> 50. Rufous hummingbird
> 51. Allen’s hummingbird
> 52. Ridgway’s rail
> 53. Virginia rail
> 54. Sora
> 55. Common gallinule
> 56. American coot
> 57. Black rail
> 58. Black-necked stilt
> 59. American avocet
> 60. Black oystercatcher
> 61. Black-bellied plover
> 62. Pacific golden-plover
> 63. Killdeer
> 64. Semipalmated plover
> 65. Snowy plover
> 66. Hudsonian whimbrel
> 67. Long-billed curlew
> 68. Bar-tailed godwit
> 69. Marbled godwit
> 70. Short-billed dowitcher
> 71. Long-billed dowitcher
> 72. Wilson’s snipe
> 73. Wilson’s phalarope
> 74. Red-necked phalarope
> 75. Spotted sandpiper
> 76. Solitary sandpiper
> 77. Lesser yellowlegs
> 78. Willet
> 79. Greater yellowlegs
> 80. Ruddy turnstone
> 81. Black turnstone
> 82. Red knot
> 83. Surfbird
> 84. Ruff
> 85. Sharp-tailed sandpiper
> 86. Sanderling
> 87. Dunlin
> 88. Rock sandpiper
> 89. Baird’s sandpiper
> 90. Least sandpiper
> 91. Pectoral sandpiper
> 92. Western sandpiper
> 93. Parasitic jaeger
> 94. Pigeon guillemot
> 95. Common murre
> 96. Bonaparte’s gull
> 97. Heermann’s gull
> 98. Short-billed gull
> 99. Ring-billed gull
> 100. Western gull
> 101. American herring gull
> 102. Glaucous gull
> 103. Lesser black-backed gull
> 104. California gull
> 105. Glaucous-winged gull
> 106. Iceland gull
> 107. Black skimmer
> 108. Least tern
> 109. Caspian tern
> 110. Forster’s tern
> 111. Common tern
> 112. Elegant tern
> 113. Pied-billed grebe
> 114. Horned grebe
> 115. Red-necked grebe
> 116. Eared grebe
> 117. Western grebe
> 118. Clark’s grebe
> 119. Red-throated loon
> 120. Paciifc loon
> 121. Common loon
> 122. Yellow-billed loon
> 123. Leach’s storm-petrel
> 124. Cocos booby
> 125. Brandt’s cormorant
> 126. Pelagic cormorant
> 127. Double-crested cormorant
> 128. American bittern
> 129. Black-crowned night heron
> 130. Snowy egret
> 131. Green heron
> 132. Great egret
> 133. Great blue heron
> 134. American white pelican
> 135. Brown pelican
> 136. Turkey vulture
> 137. Osprey
> 138. White-tailed kite
> 139. Golden eagle
> 140. Sharp-shinned hawk
> 141. Cooper’s hawk
> 142. Northern harrier
> 143. Bald eagle
> 144. Red-shouldered hawk
> 145. Swainson’s hawk
> 146. Red-tailed hawk
> 147. Ferruginous hawk
> 148. American barn owl
> 149. Western screech-owl
> 150. Great horned owl
> 151. Northern pygmy- owl
> 152. Burrowing owl
> 153. Long-eared owl
> 154. Short-eared owl
> 155. Northern saw-whet owl
> 156. Belted kingfisher
> 157. Red-naped sapsucker
> 158. Red-breasted sapsucker
> 159. Acorn woodpecker
> 160. Downy woodpecker
> 161. Nuttall’s woodpecker
> 162. Hairy woodpecker
> 163. Pileated woodpecker
> 164. Northern flicker
> 165. American kestrel
> 166. Merlin
> 167. Peregrine falcon
> 168. Prairie falcon
> 169. Olive-sided flycatcher
> 170. Western wood-pewee
> 171. Willow flycatcher
> 172. Hammond’s flycatcher
> 173. Western flycatcher
> 174. Black phoebe
> 175. Say’s phoebe
> 176. Vermilion flycatcher
> 177. Ash-throated flycatcher
> 178. Tropical kingbird
> 179. Cassin’s kingbird
> 180. Western kingbird
> 181. Hutton’s vireo
> 182. Cassin’s vireo
> 183. Western warbling vireo
> 184. Loggerhead shrike
> 185. Steller’s jay
> 186. California scrub-jay
> 187. Yellow-billed magpie
> 188. American crow
> 189. Common raven
> 190. Chestnut-backed chickadee
> 191. Oak titmouse
> 192. Horned lark
> 193. Tree swallow
> 194. Violet-green swallow
> 195. Northern rough-winged swallow
> 196. Barn swallow
> 197. Cliff swallow
> 198. Bushtit
> 199. Wrentit
> 200. Ruby-crowned kinglet
> 201. Golden-crowned kinglet
> 202. White-breasted nuthatch
> 203. Pygmy nuthatch
> 204. Red-breasted nuthatch
> 205. Brown creeper
> 206. Blue-gray gnatcatcher
> 207. Rock wren
> 208. Canyon wren
> 209. Northern house wren
> 210. Pacific wren
> 211. Winter wren
> 212. Marsh wren
> 213. Bewick’s wren
> 214. European starling
> 215. California thrasher
> 216. Sage thrasher
> 217. Northern mockingbird
> 218. Western bluebird
> 219. Mountain bluebird
> 220. Townsend’s solitaire
> 221. Varied thrush
> 222. Swainson’s thrush
> 223. Hermit thrush
> 224. American robin
> 225. Cedar waxwing
> 226. Phainopepla
> 227. Scaly-breasted munia
> 228. House sparrow
> 229. American pipit
> 230. House finch
> 231. Purple finch
> 232. Pine siskin
> 233. Lesser goldfinch
> 234. Lawrence’s goldfinch
> 235. American goldfinch
> 236. Lapland longspur
> 237. Snow bunting
> 238. Grasshopper sparrow
> 239. Chipping sparrow
> 240. Clay-colored sparrow
> 241. Brewer’s sparrow
> 242. Lark sparrow
> 243. Fox sparrow
> 244. Dark-eyed junco
> 245. White-crowned sparrow
> 246. Golden-crowned sparrow
> 247. White-throated sparrow
> 248. Bell’s sparrow
> 249. Nelson’s sparrow
> 250. Savannah sparrow
> 251. Song sparrow
> 252. Lincoln’s sparrow
> 253. Swamp sparrow
> 254. California towhee
> 255. Rufous-crowned sparrow
> 256. Green-tailed towhee
> 257. Spotted towhee
> 258. Yellow-breasted chat
> 259. Yellow-headed blackbird
> 260. Western meadowlark
> 261. Hooded oriole
> 262. Bullock’s oriole
> 263. Red-winged blackbird
> 264. Tricolored blackbird
> 265. Brown-headed cowbird
> 266. Brewer’s blackbird
> 267. Great-tailed grackle
> 268. Northern waterthrush
> 269. Black-and-white warbler
> 270. Tennessee warbler
> 271. Orange-crowned warbler
> 272. Nashville warbler
> 273. MacGillivray’s warbler
> 274. Common yellowthroat
> 275. American redstart
> 276. Northern yellow warbler
> 277. Chestnut-sided warbler
> 278. Blackpoll warbler
> 279. Palm warbler
> 280. Yellow-rumped warbler
> 281. Black-throated gray warbler
> 282. Townsend’s warbler
> 283. Hermit warbler
> 284. Black-throated green warbler
> 285. Wilson’s warbler
> 286. Western tanager
> 287. Black-headed grosbeak
> 288. Blue grosbeak
> 289. Lazuli bunting
>
>
>
>
>
>
Date: 1/1/26 7:37 pm From: Bruce Mast via groups.io <cathrasher4...> Subject: Re: [EBB-Sightings] A Year of Alameda Birding: 2025
A hearty congratulations to Ed for a truly amazing big year! It's worth
noting that Ed's tally is the highest annual total for Alameda County that
has been published on eBird. I'm also pretty confident that there are no
higher annual totals from the pre-eBird era. Well done!
Bruce Mast
Oakland
On Thu, Jan 1, 2026 at 9:01 AM Ed Yong via groups.io <edyong209=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> Happy new year, everyone.
>
>
>
> 2025 was a deeply troubled year, but birding, as always, provided a salve.
> Some of you know that I moved to the Bay Area in 2023, feel deeply into
> birding that year, and spent 2024 trying to see as many birds as I could in
> my home county of Alameda. I initially figured that in 2025, I’d be more
> limited in my ability to bird locally because I had a book to write and a
> lot of travel to do. But as it happened, I successfully finished the book
> (out spring ‘27) and somehow managed to find *a lot* of birds—289 in
> total.
>
>
>
> The full list is at the bottom of this email and *here’s a Google Drive
> folder
> <https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/145YUy-DKe-HMeTebf6XjuXptjr402iiR?usp=sharing>* > with photos or recordings of almost every species. (Fair warning: they vary *wildly
> *in quality.)
>
>
>
> Chasing birds is just one of many ways of birding, and a silly and
> sometimes maddening game—but also an extremely fun and rewarding one. And
> for a baby birder, it’s an absolutely phenomenal learning experience. It
> forces you to pore over the minutiae of identification, to practice
> ear-birding, to understand and predict bird behavior, to explore a wide
> variety of hotspots and habitats, to pay close attention to seasonal and
> tidal cycles, to plug yourself into the local community both human and
> non-human, to learn to differentiate solid reports from dubious ones, and,
> above all else, to spend lots of hours in the field. And after spending
> 2024 doing all of the above, 2025 felt richer, easier, and more joyful. I
> felt like I had a substantially better understanding of both the land and
> the birds, and that I was started to *recognize *the birds instead of
> just *identifying* them.
>
>
>
> 2025 was also an *amazing* year for Alameda. We had multiple sightings of
> some great migrants, including common terns, pectoral and solitary
> sandpipers, chestnut-sided and palm warblers, Pacific golden-plovers,
> lesser black-backed gulls, clay-colored and Brewer’s sparrows, Ross’s
> geese, and apparently three separate black-chinned hummingbirds at
> Creekside. From mid-October, fall migration delivered a two-month streak of
> absolute bangers, including a sharp-tailed sandpiper seen at close range in
> perfect light, a Leach’s storm-petrel viewed from shore, a red-naped
> sapsucker and a bar-tailed godwit (yay!) who both hung around for ages, a
> black-throated green warbler in Estuary Park of all places, a yellow-billed
> loon who turned Crab Cove into Crabless Cove, a rock sandpiper who led to
> calls to surveyors’ offices, and a green-tailed towhee who adopted a pink
> laundry basket. And let’s not forget the big trend of 2025, which was birds
> showing up in the *worst* possible habitats. Consider the American dipper
> who spent an evening at the tiniest creek at Lake Temescal, the northern
> waterthrush of Middle Harbor who hung out next to a decaying seal carcass,
> the Townsend’s solitaire at MLK who didn’t get the memo about junipers and
> mountains, and the Cocos booby who decided to land in the middle of the
> lawn in Crab Cove. The birds were all over the place. So, apparently, was I.
>
>
>
> Here are the headlines, with all numbers referring to species totals:
>
>
>
> - *Total Alameda bird count: *289, beating my total from last year by
> 9.
> - *New county birds: *20
> - *Lifers: *7 (Cocos booby, Townsend’s solitaire, long-eared owl,
> Baird’s sandpiper, Leach’s storm-petrel, tundra swan, rock sandpiper, and
> last year’s nemesis, the black rail)
> - *Birds documented with either photos or recordings: *286, which was
> everything except parasitic jaeger (too far and fast), scaly-breasted munia
> (flyover, tho technically I have a rubbish recording with one call), and
> pigeon guillemot (no battery in camera, gnnnh)
> - *Rarities *(defined as birds that eBird flags as rare *throughout
> the year*): 58
> - *Rarities first found by me: *8 (blue grosbeak, pigeon guillemot,
> parasitic jaeger, pectoral sandpiper, black scoter, Brewer’s sparrow,
> Costa’s hummingbird, bar-tailed godwit)
> - *Misses* (i.e. reviewer-confirmed species seen by others in
> Alameda): Only 14, which is wild to me, and almost all were flyovers,
> feeder visitors, one-hit wonders, or birds whose records were initially
> withheld.
>
> I don’t think you can really compare people’s numbers since everyone has
> their own rules for their lists. For the sake of transparency, here are
> mine:
>
>
> - *The list reflects your position. *Some folks only count birds that
> are physically *in the county*; I’m in the camp that counts the birds
> they see* from the county. *This is consistent with eBird’s guidelines
> but more importantly, it better reflects what I think birding is about.
> Censusing birds within an abstract, human, geopolitical boundary is,
> frankly, *not it*. For me, birding is an act of extending your senses
> as far as possible to appreciate the living world around you. As such, an
> egocentric frame of reference just makes more sense. You plant yourself in
> place and watch the birds as they go where they like. (People who feel
> differently can dock harlequin duck from my total, and potentially other
> seawatched birds.)
> - *No playback. *If birders near me ask to use it, I won’t object, but
> I won’t use it myself. Birds are a gift, and playback feels like greedily
> snatching that gift instead of positioning yourself to receive it.
> - *Heard-only counts. *Birding is a multisensory affair, and there are
> many species I’d rather hear than see. But I try to get a recording of all
> heard-only birds to check the IDs. Merlin is helpful, but confirms nothing.
> HO birds this year included common poorwill, black rail, winter wren,
> yellow-breasted chat, and owls: northern pygmy, northern saw-whet, and
> western screech.
> - *Try to get proper documentation. *No to written description,
> sketches, or anything else that is first processed by your senses, fallible
> and bias-prone as they are. Yes to photos and recordings.
> - *All reports confirmed by eBird reviewers. *Self-explanatory. Thanks
> to the reviewers, and especially to Teale Fristoe for tirelessly keeping
> the county data’s shiny.
> - *Usual eBird rules:* No dead birds, escapees, or exotics. I don’t
> count the recurring Swinhoe’s white-eyes of Creekside Park even though they
> count in my heart. And I don’t count hybrids even though, as Megan
> Jankowski says, they should count three times.
>
> Huge thanks to everyone who I spent time in the field with; friends in my
> groupchats; the many people who found cool rarities (with a special
> shout-out to Sharon Jue who found *so many*); everyone who shared reports
> of East Bay birds and especially people who did so quickly; and every
> single person who has worked to conserve the places that we and the birds
> rely on.
>
>
>
> On that final note, and in the spirit of giving back to nature as much as
> we take from it, I have donated $5 per species to the Golden Gate Bird
> Alliance.
>
>
>
> Happy new year, everyone. Let hope, as always, be the thing with feathers.
>
>
>
> - E
>
>
>
>
>
> And now, the birds:
>
>
>
> 1. Snow goose
> 2. Ross’s goose
> 3. Greater white-fronter goose
> 4. Brant
> 5. Cackling goose
> 6. Canada goose
> 7. Tundra swan
> 8. Wood duck
> 9. Blue-winged teal
> 10. Cinnamon teal
> 11. Northern shoveler
> 12. Gadwall
> 13. Eurasian wigeon
> 14. American wigeon
> 15. Mallard
> 16. Northern pintail
> 17. Green-winged teal
> 18. Canvasback
> 19. Redhead
> 20. Ring-necked duck
> 21. Tufted duck
> 22. Greater scaup
> 23. Lesser scaup
> 24. Harlequin duck
> 25. Surf scoter
> 26. White-winged scoter
> 27. Black scoter
> 28. Long-tailed duck
> 29. Bufflehead
> 30. Common goldeneye
> 31. Barrow’s goldeneye
> 32. Hooded merganser
> 33. Common merganser
> 34. Red-breasted merganser
> 35. Ruddy duck
> 36. California quail
> 37. Wild turkey
> 38. Ring-necked pheasant
> 39. Rock pigeon
> 40. Band-tailed pigeon
> 41. Eurasian collared-dove
> 42. Mourning dove
> 43. Common poorwill
> 44. Vaux’s swift
> 45. White-throated swift
> 46. Black-chinned hummingbird
> 47. Anna’s hummingbird
> 48. Costa’s hummingbird
> 49. Calliope hummingbird
> 50. Rufous hummingbird
> 51. Allen’s hummingbird
> 52. Ridgway’s rail
> 53. Virginia rail
> 54. Sora
> 55. Common gallinule
> 56. American coot
> 57. Black rail
> 58. Black-necked stilt
> 59. American avocet
> 60. Black oystercatcher
> 61. Black-bellied plover
> 62. Pacific golden-plover
> 63. Killdeer
> 64. Semipalmated plover
> 65. Snowy plover
> 66. Hudsonian whimbrel
> 67. Long-billed curlew
> 68. Bar-tailed godwit
> 69. Marbled godwit
> 70. Short-billed dowitcher
> 71. Long-billed dowitcher
> 72. Wilson’s snipe
> 73. Wilson’s phalarope
> 74. Red-necked phalarope
> 75. Spotted sandpiper
> 76. Solitary sandpiper
> 77. Lesser yellowlegs
> 78. Willet
> 79. Greater yellowlegs
> 80. Ruddy turnstone
> 81. Black turnstone
> 82. Red knot
> 83. Surfbird
> 84. Ruff
> 85. Sharp-tailed sandpiper
> 86. Sanderling
> 87. Dunlin
> 88. Rock sandpiper
> 89. Baird’s sandpiper
> 90. Least sandpiper
> 91. Pectoral sandpiper
> 92. Western sandpiper
> 93. Parasitic jaeger
> 94. Pigeon guillemot
> 95. Common murre
> 96. Bonaparte’s gull
> 97. Heermann’s gull
> 98. Short-billed gull
> 99. Ring-billed gull
> 100. Western gull
> 101. American herring gull
> 102. Glaucous gull
> 103. Lesser black-backed gull
> 104. California gull
> 105. Glaucous-winged gull
> 106. Iceland gull
> 107. Black skimmer
> 108. Least tern
> 109. Caspian tern
> 110. Forster’s tern
> 111. Common tern
> 112. Elegant tern
> 113. Pied-billed grebe
> 114. Horned grebe
> 115. Red-necked grebe
> 116. Eared grebe
> 117. Western grebe
> 118. Clark’s grebe
> 119. Red-throated loon
> 120. Paciifc loon
> 121. Common loon
> 122. Yellow-billed loon
> 123. Leach’s storm-petrel
> 124. Cocos booby
> 125. Brandt’s cormorant
> 126. Pelagic cormorant
> 127. Double-crested cormorant
> 128. American bittern
> 129. Black-crowned night heron
> 130. Snowy egret
> 131. Green heron
> 132. Great egret
> 133. Great blue heron
> 134. American white pelican
> 135. Brown pelican
> 136. Turkey vulture
> 137. Osprey
> 138. White-tailed kite
> 139. Golden eagle
> 140. Sharp-shinned hawk
> 141. Cooper’s hawk
> 142. Northern harrier
> 143. Bald eagle
> 144. Red-shouldered hawk
> 145. Swainson’s hawk
> 146. Red-tailed hawk
> 147. Ferruginous hawk
> 148. American barn owl
> 149. Western screech-owl
> 150. Great horned owl
> 151. Northern pygmy- owl
> 152. Burrowing owl
> 153. Long-eared owl
> 154. Short-eared owl
> 155. Northern saw-whet owl
> 156. Belted kingfisher
> 157. Red-naped sapsucker
> 158. Red-breasted sapsucker
> 159. Acorn woodpecker
> 160. Downy woodpecker
> 161. Nuttall’s woodpecker
> 162. Hairy woodpecker
> 163. Pileated woodpecker
> 164. Northern flicker
> 165. American kestrel
> 166. Merlin
> 167. Peregrine falcon
> 168. Prairie falcon
> 169. Olive-sided flycatcher
> 170. Western wood-pewee
> 171. Willow flycatcher
> 172. Hammond’s flycatcher
> 173. Western flycatcher
> 174. Black phoebe
> 175. Say’s phoebe
> 176. Vermilion flycatcher
> 177. Ash-throated flycatcher
> 178. Tropical kingbird
> 179. Cassin’s kingbird
> 180. Western kingbird
> 181. Hutton’s vireo
> 182. Cassin’s vireo
> 183. Western warbling vireo
> 184. Loggerhead shrike
> 185. Steller’s jay
> 186. California scrub-jay
> 187. Yellow-billed magpie
> 188. American crow
> 189. Common raven
> 190. Chestnut-backed chickadee
> 191. Oak titmouse
> 192. Horned lark
> 193. Tree swallow
> 194. Violet-green swallow
> 195. Northern rough-winged swallow
> 196. Barn swallow
> 197. Cliff swallow
> 198. Bushtit
> 199. Wrentit
> 200. Ruby-crowned kinglet
> 201. Golden-crowned kinglet
> 202. White-breasted nuthatch
> 203. Pygmy nuthatch
> 204. Red-breasted nuthatch
> 205. Brown creeper
> 206. Blue-gray gnatcatcher
> 207. Rock wren
> 208. Canyon wren
> 209. Northern house wren
> 210. Pacific wren
> 211. Winter wren
> 212. Marsh wren
> 213. Bewick’s wren
> 214. European starling
> 215. California thrasher
> 216. Sage thrasher
> 217. Northern mockingbird
> 218. Western bluebird
> 219. Mountain bluebird
> 220. Townsend’s solitaire
> 221. Varied thrush
> 222. Swainson’s thrush
> 223. Hermit thrush
> 224. American robin
> 225. Cedar waxwing
> 226. Phainopepla
> 227. Scaly-breasted munia
> 228. House sparrow
> 229. American pipit
> 230. House finch
> 231. Purple finch
> 232. Pine siskin
> 233. Lesser goldfinch
> 234. Lawrence’s goldfinch
> 235. American goldfinch
> 236. Lapland longspur
> 237. Snow bunting
> 238. Grasshopper sparrow
> 239. Chipping sparrow
> 240. Clay-colored sparrow
> 241. Brewer’s sparrow
> 242. Lark sparrow
> 243. Fox sparrow
> 244. Dark-eyed junco
> 245. White-crowned sparrow
> 246. Golden-crowned sparrow
> 247. White-throated sparrow
> 248. Bell’s sparrow
> 249. Nelson’s sparrow
> 250. Savannah sparrow
> 251. Song sparrow
> 252. Lincoln’s sparrow
> 253. Swamp sparrow
> 254. California towhee
> 255. Rufous-crowned sparrow
> 256. Green-tailed towhee
> 257. Spotted towhee
> 258. Yellow-breasted chat
> 259. Yellow-headed blackbird
> 260. Western meadowlark
> 261. Hooded oriole
> 262. Bullock’s oriole
> 263. Red-winged blackbird
> 264. Tricolored blackbird
> 265. Brown-headed cowbird
> 266. Brewer’s blackbird
> 267. Great-tailed grackle
> 268. Northern waterthrush
> 269. Black-and-white warbler
> 270. Tennessee warbler
> 271. Orange-crowned warbler
> 272. Nashville warbler
> 273. MacGillivray’s warbler
> 274. Common yellowthroat
> 275. American redstart
> 276. Northern yellow warbler
> 277. Chestnut-sided warbler
> 278. Blackpoll warbler
> 279. Palm warbler
> 280. Yellow-rumped warbler
> 281. Black-throated gray warbler
> 282. Townsend’s warbler
> 283. Hermit warbler
> 284. Black-throated green warbler
> 285. Wilson’s warbler
> 286. Western tanager
> 287. Black-headed grosbeak
> 288. Blue grosbeak
> 289. Lazuli bunting
>
>
>
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Date: 1/1/26 6:30 pm From: Kir Pridatko via groups.io <Kirill.Pridatko...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Local interest: Redhead in Valle Vista
Happy New Year, East Bay!
A REDHEAD Drake was present today at around 4 PM in EBMUD Valle Vista Staging Area (permit required).
Other sightings - a pack of feral pigs, a crawfish, and a bobcat.
Date: 1/1/26 9:01 am From: Ed Yong via groups.io <edyong209...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] A Year of Alameda Birding: 2025
Happy new year, everyone.
2025 was a deeply troubled year, but birding, as always, provided a salve. Some of you know that I moved to the Bay Area in 2023, feel deeply into birding that year, and spent 2024 trying to see as many birds as I could in my home county of Alameda. I initially figured that in 2025, I’d be more limited in my ability to bird locally because I had a book to write and a lot of travel to do. But as it happened, I successfully finished the book (out spring ‘27) and somehow managed to find a lot of birds—289 in total.
Chasing birds is just one of many ways of birding, and a silly and sometimes maddening game—but also an extremely fun and rewarding one. And for a baby birder, it’s an absolutely phenomenal learning experience. It forces you to pore over the minutiae of identification, to practice ear-birding, to understand and predict bird behavior, to explore a wide variety of hotspots and habitats, to pay close attention to seasonal and tidal cycles, to plug yourself into the local community both human and non-human, to learn to differentiate solid reports from dubious ones, and, above all else, to spend lots of hours in the field. And after spending 2024 doing all of the above, 2025 felt richer, easier, and more joyful. I felt like I had a substantially better understanding of both the land and the birds, and that I was started to recognize the birds instead of just identifying them.
2025 was also an amazing year for Alameda. We had multiple sightings of some great migrants, including common terns, pectoral and solitary sandpipers, chestnut-sided and palm warblers, Pacific golden-plovers, lesser black-backed gulls, clay-colored and Brewer’s sparrows, Ross’s geese, and apparently three separate black-chinned hummingbirds at Creekside. From mid-October, fall migration delivered a two-month streak of absolute bangers, including a sharp-tailed sandpiper seen at close range in perfect light, a Leach’s storm-petrel viewed from shore, a red-naped sapsucker and a bar-tailed godwit (yay!) who both hung around for ages, a black-throated green warbler in Estuary Park of all places, a yellow-billed loon who turned Crab Cove into Crabless Cove, a rock sandpiper who led to calls to surveyors’ offices, and a green-tailed towhee who adopted a pink laundry basket. And let’s not forget the big trend of 2025, which was birds showing up in the worst possible habitats. Consider the American dipper who spent an evening at the tiniest creek at Lake Temescal, the northern waterthrush of Middle Harbor who hung out next to a decaying seal carcass, the Townsend’s solitaire at MLK who didn’t get the memo about junipers and mountains, and the Cocos booby who decided to land in the middle of the lawn in Crab Cove. The birds were all over the place. So, apparently, was I.
Here are the headlines, with all numbers referring to species totals:
* *Total Alameda bird count:* 289, beating my total from last year by 9.
* *New county birds:* 20
* *Lifers:* 7 (Cocos booby, Townsend’s solitaire, long-eared owl, Baird’s sandpiper, Leach’s storm-petrel, tundra swan, rock sandpiper, and last year’s nemesis, the black rail)
* *Birds documented with either photos or recordings:* 286, which was everything except parasitic jaeger (too far and fast), scaly-breasted munia (flyover, tho technically I have a rubbish recording with one call), and pigeon guillemot (no battery in camera, gnnnh)
* *Rarities* (defined as birds that eBird flags as rare throughout the year ): 58
* *Rarities first found by me:* 8 (blue grosbeak, pigeon guillemot, parasitic jaeger, pectoral sandpiper, black scoter, Brewer’s sparrow, Costa’s hummingbird, bar-tailed godwit)
* *Misses* (i.e. reviewer-confirmed species seen by others in Alameda): Only 14, which is wild to me, and almost all were flyovers, feeder visitors, one-hit wonders, or birds whose records were initially withheld.
I don’t think you can really compare people’s numbers since everyone has their own rules for their lists. For the sake of transparency, here are mine:
* *The list reflects your position.* Some folks only count birds that are physically in the county ; I’m in the camp that counts the birds they see from the county. This is consistent with eBird’s guidelines but more importantly, it better reflects what I think birding is about. Censusing birds within an abstract, human, geopolitical boundary is, frankly, not it. For me, birding is an act of extending your senses as far as possible to appreciate the living world around you. As such, an egocentric frame of reference just makes more sense. You plant yourself in place and watch the birds as they go where they like. (People who feel differently can dock harlequin duck from my total, and potentially other seawatched birds.)
* *No playback.* If birders near me ask to use it, I won’t object, but I won’t use it myself. Birds are a gift, and playback feels like greedily snatching that gift instead of positioning yourself to receive it.
* *Heard-only counts.* Birding is a multisensory affair, and there are many species I’d rather hear than see. But I try to get a recording of all heard-only birds to check the IDs. Merlin is helpful, but confirms nothing. HO birds this year included common poorwill, black rail, winter wren, yellow-breasted chat, and owls: northern pygmy, northern saw-whet, and western screech.
* *Try to get proper documentation.* No to written description, sketches, or anything else that is first processed by your senses, fallible and bias-prone as they are. Yes to photos and recordings.
* *All reports confirmed by eBird reviewers.* Self-explanatory. Thanks to the reviewers, and especially to Teale Fristoe for tirelessly keeping the county data’s shiny.
* *Usual eBird rules:* No dead birds, escapees, or exotics. I don’t count the recurring Swinhoe’s white-eyes of Creekside Park even though they count in my heart. And I don’t count hybrids even though, as Megan Jankowski says, they should count three times.
Huge thanks to everyone who I spent time in the field with; friends in my groupchats; the many people who found cool rarities (with a special shout-out to Sharon Jue who found so many ); everyone who shared reports of East Bay birds and especially people who did so quickly; and every single person who has worked to conserve the places that we and the birds rely on.
On that final note, and in the spirit of giving back to nature as much as we take from it, I have donated $5 per species to the Golden Gate Bird Alliance.
Happy new year, everyone. Let hope, as always, be the thing with feathers.
Date: 12/28/25 8:31 pm From: Cathy Bleier via groups.io <csbleier...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Booker T Anderson
Late but satisfied Summer Tanager pursuit. Also a Red-breasted Sapsucker (plus 2 pairs of Downy and Nuttalls) and other stuff. I missed a credible sighting of the Varied Thrush that Steve Powell saw today, and the Red-shouldered Hawk was awol. The Eucalyptus has begun to bloom, so the Yellow-Rumped Warblers were everywhere.
This is Richmond CBC Area 12, Richmond Urban, in case you're interested for future counts. A little migrant and rarity trap, this one...
Date: 12/28/25 2:43 pm From: Ethan Monk via groups.io <z.querula...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Tufted Duck, 2nd hand
Hi all,
Teri Wills is reporting a male Tufted Duck at Martinez Reg. Shoreline. Teri left it ambiguous if she think it is “for sure” or not (issues with hybrids etc.) but the one photo I saw looks pretty promising.
