I am new to the island. I moved here in May 2022 after almost 30 years in Santa Cruz County. I was very active in the local birding scene in Santa Cruz, so when I got to Alameda, I was looking to build similar relationships here. I started by signing up for my first Oakland Christmas Bird Count (CBC) in December 2021—I was involved with my future wife, an Alamedan, so I was a frequent visitor to the island even before I moved here.
A Christmas Bird Count no longer takes place on Christmas, but on several weeks surrounding that date. Volunteers sign up for a particular “count circle” that encompasses 15 square miles (circle, square, I know, it is a little confusing). Suffice it to say that they cover an area that requires multiple teams of engaged birders who try to count all of the birds within that area in one day.
Since I became an Alameda resident, I have participated in the Lafayette Reservoir section of the Oakland Count, the Los Vaqueros Reservoir section of the Eastern Contra Costa Count, and Refugio Valley Road for the new Richmond Count (now in its third year). In 2023, I wanted to do my CBC on the island. This is my home now, and I had some favorite places I thought would make unique contributions to the count. Turns out I was right.
I live on the west end near Encinal High School. As a birder, I am always looking for patches of habitat that might hold interesting birds. In the Santa Cruz Mountains, there was lots of habitat and not much of a human footprint. The birds were everywhere. Here it is the opposite. Homes, schools, and businesses cover most of the island and habitat for birds is scarce. The edges of the island provide habitat spaces such as the Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary, Crab Cove, Alameda Point, the lagoons, the Oakland Estuary, and San Leandro Bay. The interior of the island has some parks but they are mostly set up for people, with ball fields and easy to maintain trees and shrubs, but they’re not necessarily great for birds and other wildlife.
In my exploration for places to bird, I did a Google map search using satellite view. I was looking for patches of green or bodies of water and — BINGO! — I found one close to where I live. On Mosley Avenue, not far from Target, is a body of water. I have taken to calling it “Mosley Marsh.” The City sees it as a “detention basin,” where storm water is pumped off the streets. The birds see it as a freshwater habitat, a type that is in short supply on the island and so one of special importance for some species. I have been birding this spot for more than a year and have regularly seen some species not found elsewhere on the island.
So this year, when I signed up for the bird count, I requested to be here on the island. I mentioned to the organizers that I had some special spots. They gave me my wish and I was assigned to cover the marsh, among other places.
For a few months prior, I had been helping students of Wood Middle School to identify birds. The teachers there are incorporating the study of birds into their science units and took walking field trips to Crab Cove and Elsie Roemer, where I met them to make field observations. The kids were so enthusiastic that some signed up to do the Christmas Bird Count. Having already worked with them, it was a natural fit for some of them to come with me.
On the morning of the count, the Alameda team assembled early in Washington Park. I ended up with another experienced adult birder along with two students and their mom. We set off for Mosley Marsh as the sun was rising.
The name “Mosley Marsh” does not appear on a map. It is not a city, county, or regional park. As a place where the City pumps water off the streets to avoid flooding nearby, it is surrounded by a chain link fence. The side of the fence that faces Mosley Avenue is slatted with black plastic, which makes it very hard to see the marsh, so I brought a step stool that would allow us to see over the fence. Some of the slats have the top few inches missing so tall people—like me—can see in. When I am by myself, I simply pull up, drop the tailgate of my truck and stand there to see over the fence.
Inside is a mostly rectangular pool of water that is rimmed by cattails. On the east side, nearest Bette Street, is a small peninsula that sticks out into the water and provides a bit more plant growth and a shoreline for resting ducks, gulls, egrets, and snipe.
As soon as I looked over the fence, I saw one of the surprises of Mosley Marsh. A beautiful male hooded merganser. Over on the peninsula were three normally secretive Wilson’s Snipe right out in the open. Unless you have permission to go out on the restricted portion of the Naval Air Station, this is the only place you will see them on the island.
We saw five ring-necked ducks, also very uncommon elsewhere. Gulls love this place for the fresh water, and many were bathing in the center of the pond, including an uncommon short-billed gull. When we had finished our circuit walking around the back side on Mitchell Avenue—where there are no slats and you can see directly into the pond—and through the parking lot of the Estuary Park soccer field, we had counted 24 species in 45 minutes.
We went off to our next destination to look for other species. We stopped at five more locations along the estuary and in the former Naval Air Station, counting another 27 species before the kids and their mom needed to leave us.
With a team of two remaining, we headed to the Encinal Boat Ramp and the back side of Paden Elementary School to count a few more species before rejoining the group at Washington Park for a quick lunch break and check-in.
After lunch I was on my own. I headed to the center of the island to count the only owl known or counted for the Christmas Bird Count on the island. It was just where I had seen it the day before, a barn owl nestled close up under the fronds of a palm tree in front of a nondescript apartment building. I had found the bird there the year before, raising chicks in the same spot. Where the chicks have scattered is not known.
My next assignment was several locations along the Oakland Estuary from the Fruitvale Bridge westward to Shoreline Park. I made six more stops bringing my share of the count to 60 species and about 1100 individual birds. A few notables were a Peregrine falcon staring down at me from the top of the bridge, Pelagic and Brandt’s Cormorants who are normally seen on the coast and a secretive Green Heron hiding in some bushes near Wind River Way.
The reflection of the sky and sailboat masts on the calm water of the marina along Shoreline Park was sublime. It made the close of the long day beautiful. I wanted to end on that note, but remembered there was a bird I had missed at Mosley Marsh early that morning. I knew it was likely the only place it would be seen for the Christmas Bird Count, so I hustled back over there before the light failed.
I pulled up and got out of my truck quietly and slowly. This bird is pretty skittish and secretive. It hides very easily in the cattails. I approached the fence with my binoculars and camera at the ready. I found a spot where a slat was missing, turned on my camera and brought it to my eye to look through the fence. I scanned the shore of the peninsula where the cattails came down to the water. Nothing.
I adjusted my stance to look through the narrow opening further to my left and there it was, out in the open on some rocks. I clicked the shutter as it moved back into the cattails and disappeared. The bird was a sora, a type of rail, about the size of a plump quail. It has a yellow, chicken-like beak, black throat, gray neck, and heavily patterned brown, black, and white back that works well to keep it camouflaged in cattails.
I was sad that the kids had not gotten to see it that morning, as they had shown a lot of enthusiasm for the birds we were seeing. However, I was glad for the fence and even the slats, as it kept the birds and their special habitat safe and hidden from the many dog walkers and stray cats. This place is unique for our island, and a refuge for many bird species that have special habitat requirements.
As many new housing units are being built right across the street on Mosley Avenue, I have learned that the empty lot just to the west of the “detention basin” is going through review to become a traditional park, with a children’s play area, pickleball courts, picnic tables, and two dog parks. I worry about the birds. Can we find a way to keep the area sheltered from the dogs and the noise of the pickleball courts? Maybe more importantly, can we find a way to allow birders and children to see into the area without disturbing it? I hope so, as I will likely be back again next year with a new group of students to see the secretive birds of Mosley Marsh.
Jeff Manker is a K-12 Education Advisor for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a member of the Golden Gate Bird Alliance (formerly Audubon), and co-chair of the East Bay Conservation Committee. He monitors the Corica Park Bald Eagles with Friends of the Alameda Wildlife Reserve (FAWR). For more information about Golden Gate Bird Alliance, free field trips, and FAWR, visit https://goldengatebirdalliance.org.
