Today we went birding at Eastshore State Park in Berkeley, CA as part of World Shorebirds Day. We walked about three miles and did a shorebirds count as well as looked at other birds, flowers, and butterflies.
The habitat includes rocky shoreline, mudflats, bay, grasslands and coastal scrub. Weather was sunny and in 60’s most of walk and started just after high tide.
We saw a total of 44 different birds including a Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid). The best bird of the day was a Say’s Phoebe. The best behavior was watching a Red-tail Hawk catch and eat a rat. Observed another Red-tail Hawk being chased by Crows. Also of note was a Surf Scoter sitting on the shore (sick?), and a group of three Black Oystercatchers.
Native plants in bloom included California Poppies, Zauschneria, Gumplant, Lizard Tail, Sticky Monkeyflower, and Coyote Bush. The most plentiful plant in bloom and attractor of birds, insects including butterflies was Fennel. Also in flower was the weed Bristly Ox-tongue.
Butterflies included Anise Swallowtail, Monarch, Gray or Common Hairstreak, and Cabbage White.
click read more to see bird list
Bird List Eastshore State Park 9/6/15
43 species (+1 other taxa)
Canada Goose 9
Mallard 8
Surf Scoter 3
Ruddy Duck 1
Horned Grebe 1
Clark’s Grebe 2
Double-crested Cormorant 8
Brown Pelican 1
Great Egret 1
Snowy Egret 2
Red-tailed Hawk 2
American Coot 1
Black Oystercatcher 3
Black-bellied Plover 1
Killdeer 6
Spotted Sandpiper 3
Willet 5
Whimbrel 4
Marbled Godwit 3
Black Turnstone 25
Least Sandpiper 6
Western Sandpiper 2
Western Gull X
California Gull X
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) 1
Forster’s Tern 8
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) X
Mourning Dove 1
Anna’s Hummingbird 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Black Phoebe 3
Say’s Phoebe 1
American Crow X
Bushtit 10
European Starling X
Yellow Warbler 1
Savannah Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 3
California Towhee 5
Red-winged Blackbird X
Brown-headed Cowbird 10
House Finch 5
Lesser Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 7
Natural History Wanderings 
Never heard of Bristly Ox-Tongue but certainly recognize the images. Calflora says /Pichris echioides/ UC Davis says /Helminthotheca echiodes// /So UC Berkeley and UC Davis don’t agree.
I prefer /Pichris/ because it’s easier to pronounce. Rusty
> WordPress.com > Sandy Steinman posted: “Today we went birding at Eastshore State Park > in Berkeley, CA as part of World Shorebirds Day. We walked about three > miles and did a shorebirds count as well as looked at other birds, > flowers, and butterflies. The habitat includes rocky shoreline, mudf” >
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By: rfscalf on September 6, 2015
at 2:37 PM
You get to use Pichris as it is the current name. Helminthotheca echiodes is an old name. The more recent Calflora does use Pichris echiodes and references Helminthotheca echiodes as not an active name. It certainly was plentiful today. I have sometimes referred to it as a dandelion, but that really isn’t at all accurate. It is just a rather weedy and common alien composite.
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By: Sandy Steinman on September 6, 2015
at 8:36 PM