Hayward Shoreline Bicycle Birding
November 14, 2009
Leader(s): Kathy Jarrett
# of participants: 11
# of species: 67
Eleven stalwart souls started out at 8:30 in rain which was not in the forecast and persisted on and off for the better part of 1.5 hrs. At a little pond in a housing development on the SF Bay Trail where it jogs inland between Lewelling and San Lorenzo Creek was a Wood Duck and Common Moorhens. Where Bockman Channel enters the bay an Osprey was perched. Arriving at the Oro Loma Marsh at high tide, we were greeted with a magnificent number of shorebirds. From the landfill area just west of the W. Winton Ave. parking area we could look down on the Cogswell Marsh and see N. Shovelers everywhere. We also saw American Wigeons, Green-winged Teals, Gadwalls and Ruddy Ducks and Mallards along the way. We had a 67-species day that turned sunny and warm by lunchtime at the Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center, where there is currently an excellent display of plastic detritus collected over a 10 year period from Kehoe Beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore. Some of us crossed Hwy. 92 on the pedestrian/bicycle bridge and ventured a mile or so into Eden Landing Ecological Preserve. Those who arrived on BART and went into the Preserve rode 22 miles. It is always great to bird with an enthusiastic group!