Skip to content
  • Home
  • 2022 Birdathon
    • Birdathon 2022 Home Page
    • Birdathon Field Trips
    • The Bay Birding Challenge
    • Birdathon Fundraiser Campaigns
    • Fundraising Tips
  • About Us
    • About Our Staff
    • About Our Board
    • Our Commitment to Diversity
    • Job Opportunities
    • GGAS in the News
    • Strategic Plan
    • Annual Report
  • Blog
  • Osprey Cam
  • Contact Us
    • Join/Renew
    • Donate
    • Other Ways to Give
    • Planned Giving
    • Member Login
    • Corporate Partnerships
Golden Gate Audubon Society
Golden Gate Audubon Society
  • Education
    • Speaker Series
      • Past Speakers
    • Eco-Ed for Kids
    • Adult Education Classes
    • Rotary Nature Center
  • Conservation
    • Conservation Info
    • Bird-Friendly Coffee Club
  • Volunteer
  • Bird With Us
    • Field Trips
    • Travel with GGAS
    • SF Bay Ospreys
    • Birding Sites
    • Birding Resources
    • Christmas Bird Counts
      • CBC Feeder Watchers
    • The Gull
    • Golden Gate Birder Blog
  • Archives
    • Trip Reports by Year
    • Past Speakers
    • The Gull Archives
    • GGAS Press Releases
    • Travel with GGAS – Past Tours
  • Donate
  • Join
Golden Gate Audubon Society
  • Education
    • Speaker Series
      • Past Speakers
    • Eco-Ed for Kids
    • Adult Education Classes
    • Rotary Nature Center
  • Conservation
    • Conservation Info
    • Bird-Friendly Coffee Club
  • Volunteer
  • Bird With Us
    • Field Trips
    • Travel with GGAS
    • SF Bay Ospreys
    • Birding Sites
    • Birding Resources
    • Christmas Bird Counts
      • CBC Feeder Watchers
    • The Gull
    • Golden Gate Birder Blog
  • Archives
    • Trip Reports by Year
    • Past Speakers
    • The Gull Archives
    • GGAS Press Releases
    • Travel with GGAS – Past Tours
  • Donate
  • Join
 

Oakland CBC: From Fog to UFO’s

By Ryan Nakano and Viviana Wolinsky

The fog is thick. The air, brisk. A small group of “early birders” strike out before the sun has time to show its face. It’s barely 5 a.m., and Dave Quady shines his flashlight after sensing a movement in the trees at the end of a side street near Claremont Canyon. At the edge of the beam, a Western Screech-Owl, the first bird seen and documented for this year’s Oakland Christmas Bird Count. Even before the Western Screech-Owl sighting, the group heard Great Horned Owls shortly after 4 a.m., softly calling as the birders emptied out of their vehicles near signpost 28. 

“We listened to them for a while and went a bit further down Claremont Avenue, not wishing to attract smaller owls into the bigger owls’ neighborhood because they might be preyed upon,” Quady reminisced. “That’s when I saw the Western Screech-Owl and it was very, very satisfying.” 

Fog amongst the trees at Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserce on the day of the Oakland CBC.
Fog amongst the trees at Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve on the day of the Oakland CBC by Patrick Coughlin

The day, as early and as gloomy as it was, was off to a great start.

As time went on, the sun eventually broke through the fog and more and more groups of birders gathered and dispersed, splitting off into smaller groups to cover 30 areas within the 15-mile diameter Oakland count circle. Two-hundred and sixty participants organized into teams via the impassioned work of Oakland CBC co-compilers Viviana Wolinsky and Dawn Lemoine. Eighty-seven of these birders were participating in the Oakland CBC for the very first time and 44 participants were beginning birders [or quite new to birding].

Utilizing  eBird, the online tool that tracks bird sightings worldwide, for the first time in the Oakland CBC history as the main form of documentation, the groups submitted their bird observations tallying a preliminary number of 184 different species seen on December 19, 2021. 

Black Turnstone at Albany Bulb on Oakland CBC by Alan Krakauer

Out of all these species, one was designated the “Best Bird” of the count. Its claim to fame rests primarily on its very first sighting on the day of the Oakland count, a count with records that date back to 1938. 

Seen by the Emeryville Crescent group, over 45 Black Skimmers, tern-like birds with strikingly large red and black underbite bills, were spotted at Radio Beach area with peeps, ducks, gulls, and terns. Fifty-nine were seen by boat earlier in the day, most likely the same grouping of birds.  

North Boat group sighting of an osprey and a group of Black Skimmers in the background by Mark Rauzon
North Boat group sighting of an osprey and a group of Black Skimmers in the background by Mark Rauzon

Runner up to the Black Skimmers, was a pair of Townsend’s Solitaires seen in Redwood Park, a species which has only shown up twice to the Oakland Count in the past 80 odd years. Other birds in consideration were a Western Tanager and a Swainson’s Thrush, each remarkable for the time of year, a Great-tailed Grackle and the Scaly-breasted Munias rarely seen on the Oakland CBC.  

And then there was the seen, but unidentified. In the late afternoon soaring high above the Sequoia Golf Course near the Oakland Zoo, a bird with a long dark-greyish head and very long and thin wings captured the attention of 6-8 birders standing on the green. Observed for a total of four minutes, this UFO floated against the clouds with a group of swifts before disappearing from sight. In eBird, the sighting could only be tracked as “bird sp.” but the best guess from area leader Su Cox was some kind of Booby. Unfortunately, for the count, this was the one that got away. 

Dunsmuir group trying to identify the mystery bird flying above the Sequoia Golf Course by Lyla Arum

At the end of the day, the sighting was still documented in one of 305 checklists submitted to the Oakland CBC eBird trip report. Around 9 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo the 81st Oakland CBC ended as it began, with the sound of a Great Horned Owl calling out in the dark. 

PrevPreviousSF Bay Ospreys 2021 Season
Next2021 SF Christmas Bird Count ReportNext
Facebook Instagram Youtube Twitter

Follow Golden Gate Birder by email

Click to follow our blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Subscribe

Loading...
Saved by a Pigeon
May 3, 2022
Annie + Grinnell 4EVA
April 8, 2022
Progress towards a Point Molate park
April 1, 2022
From the Trees to the Streets to Safety
March 29, 2022
On the Greater Sage-Grouse Lek
March 16, 2022
Bess Petty: Bird Artist
March 11, 2022
Richmond Christmas Bird Count Takes Its Maiden Voyage
January 28, 2022
Being a Bird Ambassador
January 21, 2022
2021 SF Christmas Bird Count Report
January 14, 2022
SF Bay Ospreys 2021 Season
December 16, 2021

Our Mission

The Golden Gate Audubon Society engages people to experience the wonder of birds and to translate that wonder into actions which protect native bird populations and their habitats.

Home page photo of an Anna’s Hummingbird by Parham Pourahmad. Home page photos rotate on an occasional basis. If you have a Bay Area bird photo you would like us to consider, email us at rnakano@goldengateaudubon.org.

Home page bird illustrations by Tex Buss. We are grateful for her generous donation of time and talent!

Facebook Instagram Youtube Twitter

Contact Us

Golden Gate Audubon
2530 San Pablo Avenue, Suite G
Berkeley, California 94702

Phone: 510.843.2222

Office hours: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 12 noon, or by appointment

The Golden Gate Audubon Society  is a
not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Our federal tax ID number is 94-6086896

Manage your GGAS account online

Now you can manage all your GGAS business online — renew your membership, update your contact information, view past donations, or sign up for events such as classes, Birdathon or the Christmas Bird Count. Click here to access your account. (You’ll need to create a login name and password if you don’t have one already. If you forget your password, click on the “forgot your password” link.) You can also sign up for our new GGAS Chat to get updates on trips, talk with other members, and more!

© 2022 Golden Gate Audubon Society | All Rights Reserved
All photos on this site belong to the photographers and may not be used without written permission.
  • About Us
    • About Our Staff
    • About Our Board
    • Job Opportunities
    • Our Commitment to Diversity
    • GGAS StrategicPlan
    • GGAS in the News
  • Education
    • Speaker Series
      • Past Speakers
    • Eco-Ed for Kids
    • Adult Education Classes
    • Rotary Nature Center
  • Conservation
    • Conservation Info
    • Bird-Friendly Coffee Club
  • Volunteer
  • Bird With Us
    • Field Trip Information
    • Travel with GGAS
    • SF Bay Ospreys
    • Birding Resources
    • Christmas Bird Counts
    • The Gull
    • Golden Gate Birder Blog
    • Birdathon 2021
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • Member Login
  • GGAS Archives
    • Trip Reports by Year
    • Past Speakers
    • The Gull Archives
    • GGAS Press Releases
    • Travel with GGAS – Past Tours
  • Contact Us
    • Join/Renew
    • Other Ways to Give
    • Planned Giving
    • Member Login
    • Volunteer Hours Reporting
  • Blog
  • Donate