Fall Migration Shorebirding in Oakland

    This week we find ourselves staying with our nephew and his husband in the highlands of Oakland, California.  Naturally, they both work, so Sandra and I needed to find something to occupy a day in early September.  Luckily, I remembered that this was the time when fall shorebird migration occurs.  Not only that, but San Francisco Bay, in the past, had been well known as a very good spot for shore birding.

     But how would the birding be in 2021 in Oakland?  Well, in this day and age we naturally turn to our digital devices and Mr. Google suggested the Elsie B Roemer Bird Sanctuary in Alameda (a community on the bay front of Oakland) which, as it turns out,  is just a twenty minute drive from Andrew's home in Montclair.  

   So with Ms. Google as our navigator, we  headed down to the bay. We were prepared for few quick thrusts on a series of freeways, but those arteries were clogged and she directed us down a series of city streets,  As we descended, things got a bit older and shabbier.  When we passed under the  I-880 and made the turn south towards the bridge that would lead us into Alameda, (which is an island). We passed half a mile of shanties built under the freeway.  In Portland the homeless live mostly in tents, which lack a sense of permanence.  This village under the 880 is made of wooden pallets and nylon tarps and does not appear temporary in the least.  It reminded me of shanty towns outside places like Mazatlan and Buenos Aires that a few decades ago we had the luxury of deploring.  Not so any more.

A bevy of plovers, one still showing his summer black belly.

    Finally in Alameda we were directed to the waterfront, where a turn onto Shoreline Drive rewarded us with a long boulevard facing the water, and in a short half block, the Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary.  I don't know what I expected, at the minimum a gate, and a parking lot.  Here we utilized ample street parking, walked across the thoroughfare and took advantage of a short, nicely maintained pier that extended just fifty feet over the salt marsh.   In addition to a short chain link fence, this was the Roemer Sanctuary.

    Up to this point I was relying on my ancient memories as to just when fall migration takes place and the quality of birding on the flats of the bay.  As we strode to the railing on this short pier, we found ourselves in bird watching heaven.  No more questions...this was fall migration in full swing.  Although it was halfway between low and high tide, there were lots of shorebirds.  Big ones, little ones, some with short beaks and, Hold the presses! Is that a long billed curlew?  Before we could enjoy the many pelicans that were sailing nearby, I had spotted a bird that I have seen only a couple times before, decades in the past.

Marbled Godwits Kibitzing on the Alameda Shore

     The long billed curlew has a bill significantly longer than his body.  Here we found many whimbrels, similar birds who sport long decurved bills. They are found occasionally on the sandy beaches of Oregon. The only time I have seen the long billed curlew was on its upland breeding grounds, in a field of grass in eastern Washington.  These birds had descended from their summer home on the prairie to the coast.  Some will winter as far north as San Francisco, but many will head south to Mexico and beyond. In this instance it was really useful to have the whimbrels there for comparison. 

     As we scanned the birds feeding near the pier, I spotted a small plover, buffy above and white below that was feeding just above the wet marsh.  I watched him for a while before deciding that this was a snowy plover. the snowy plover was never common; even in the 70s one didn't see them very often and I have only seen a few, none in a long time.  It is not uncommon when one goes to the beach to see signs directing you away from grassy dunes where these birds breed, but it actually seeing one of these rare birds is another matter.  

A Trio of Avocets Prancing Through the Shallows

    We had headed south to Oakland Dowitchers hanging out in with our binoculars, but without a field guide to the birds.  As we looked around the pier, that in essence constitutes the refuge, we found three placards, miraculously unblemished by grafitti, that served as a pretty good guide to the birds we were seeing.  Here we found both whimbrels and long billed curlew, but plovers were under represented.  Neither the semipalmated plover or the killdeer, both common birds, or the snowy plover, were pictured.  Later work on the internet confirmed this sighting.

    After a bit we noticed that about fifty yards south, where the road curves away from the beach, a trail leads along the marshy shoreline.  We walked south and down the trail.  Here, pathways lead a little further out into the marsh and we were in this way able to get closer to the birds, who seemed oblivious to this respectful approach.  There were huge congregations of larger plovers, both golden and black bellied, and lots of long billed dowitchers.  

God Bequeathing  the Avocet and her Bill.

   As we looked further down the beach, I spied some long legged white shorebirds that in a trice I identified as avocets.  I've seen a few more avocets than long billed curlews, but none in a very long time.  They breed in upland marshes and, at the end of the summer, migrate south and to the coast.  Here we found large number of these elegant birds.  

    In addition tho her distinctive plumage, the avocet has been blessed with a recurved bill, a bit unusual (though hardly unique) in the world of shore birds.  In his ongoing effort to fill every niche, the Dear Good Lord bequeathed upon the avocet a most curious manner in which to procure her daily bread.  Knee deep in the rich, marshy broth, she bends forward and briskly whisks that recurved bill back and forth just under the surface, capturing a beak full of toothsome organisms.  Yum. To our delight, Sandra and I both had a chance to witness this singular feeding behavior.

    On our way back up the beach we ran across several lovely flowers associated with a spreading succulent on the edge of the marsh.  We have found that this is ice plant, invasive and unwanted, but bearerof loveley blossoms..  After enjoying the ice plant we watched a group of avocets prance together through the shallows and we got one more excellent look at a long billed curlew showing off his magnificent proboscis.  It was a great day on the Alameda shore.

The invasive ice plant raises her happy blossoms to greet fall migration.

jeff