2016 Oakland CBC – chilly air, warm crowd
By Ilana DeBare
The 76th annual Oakland Christmas Bird Count began with a chilly dawn outside and ended with a warm crowd inside.
Over 270 people signed up for the Oakland count on Sunday, December 18, which last year had more participants in the field than any other CBC in the world.
Participants enjoyed crisp, clear skies, while navigating around patches of frost on the grass and black ice on some roads. Afterwards, they gathered in Berkeley for the annual compilation dinner with summaries from most of the 30 count circles, ably emceed by compilers Bob Lewis and Dave Quady.
The preliminary total (with not all teams reporting yet) was 178 species, similar to last year’s total of 179. However, the number of individual birds seemed to be down, possibly due to the cold weather.
“We had very few birds. I think they were frozen to the branches,” reported Douglas Vaughan, who co-led the Tilden Park North count team.
The Best Bird of the count was awarded to a Wilson’s Warbler sighted on Bay Farm Island.
Dave Quady reported that:
Other nice finds included a Brant at Pt. Isabel, single Red-necked Grebes off Oakland’s Estuary Park and in San Leandro Bay, single Common Gallinules on Bay Farm Island and on Lafayette Reservoir, Snowy Plovers on Alameda, nice numbers of Surfbirds off Emeryville, a Lesser Yellowlegs at Arrowhead Marsh, adult Bald Eagles seen over three areas, single Say’s Phoebes in residential areas of Berkeley and Oakland, a Tree Swallow over Briones Reservoir, a House Wren at Upper San Leandro Reservoir, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in Tilden RP, and a Swamp Sparrow at the San Pablo Reservoir boat launch.
The sighting of 25 Western Snowy Plovers on Crown Beach in Alameda was particularly gratifying. In 2014, Golden Gate Bird Alliance worked with the East Bay Regional Park District to erect educational signage and cordon off a section of beach where a few of those threatened shorebirds had taken to roosting. Based on the number during the count, clearly the efforts to provide them with a safe roosting spot are paying off!
Sadly, the count turned up no Tricolored Blackbirds — the third year in a row this species has been absent. Tricolored Blackbirds were among the most numerous birds in California in the 19th century, but today they are in serious trouble due to loss of marshes and nearby foraging habitat along the coast and in the Central Valley.
The Oakland count compilers will issue a final report within the next couple of months, and National Audubon will release national data for the 2016 count next fall.
In 2015, Oakland had the most sightings of any CBC for several species. They included Ridgway’s Rails, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and — a perennial favorite of the Oakland count — California Towhees.
In this year’s count, participants described a fun day in the field that was shared by both beginning and experienced birders. That’s a tribute to the welcoming spirit of the count compilers and team leaders.
“We had five first-time birders who all had a great time and said they’d be back next year,” said Jim Roethe, who led the team covering Orinda Village.
“How many species you find in a count is pretty much determined by geography,” Dave Quady said. “What isn’t [determined by geography] is how many people spend the day in the field enjoying themselves and counting birds.”
The count received prominent coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as photo coverage from Lafayette Reservoir in the East Bay Times and short advance stories on NBC Bay Area and KQED.
Photo albums are available on Facebook with pictures from the count itself and from the count dinner. (You should be able to view the albums e4ven if you don’t have a Facebook account. If you have photos to add from your count circle, email Ilana at idebare@goldengatebirdalliance.org.)
Next year’s Oakland count will take place on Sunday, December 17, 2017. Mark your calendars, hold on to that warm scarf, and start practicing your gull and sparrow IDs!
