Dave, center, in the green vest—pictured from a previous canyon walk—with Marilyn Goldhaber, right, and Ray Johnston and Sharon Muneno, left, (Sally Sherman was also with us on this year's walk).
Once again our intrepid little group of birders, led by Dave Quady, headed out on a chilly morning before dawn to listen for owls. After hearing the hoot of a Great Horned Owl, all retreated home to warm up with coffee and breakfast before regrouping at 8 A.M. at the top of Claremont Canyon. We saw thirteen bird species, all expected in Claremont Canyon at this time of year.
A week following our bird walk, Dave was back in Claremont Canyon for the Golden Gate Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count, which he organizes and co-leads in Oakland. Of the 279 people participating in Oakland's count this year, eleven were assigned to Claremont—Dave's area, which includes wildlands, parks, and residential streets from Claremont Avenue in the Canyon south to Lake Temescal. In Claremont Canyon, birders tallied 45 species and roughly 185 individual birds—not bad, given the downpour that ended the count early. A blog post describing the count written by one of the Claremont area participants can be found here. Come join us when we take our spring bird walk in April or May, and, of course, there is always next December.
Here is a list of the thirteen bird species we saw or heard on December 8:
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Band-tailed Pigeon
Great Horned Owl
Northern Flicker
Steller's Jay
California Scrub-Jay
Common Raven
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Townsend's Warbler
Dark-eyed Junco
