Endangered Birds

Endangered birds in the Alameda Creek watershed

California Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris obsoletus)

Status: Federally endangered, state endangered
Habitats: Mudflats, tidal sloughs and shallow water habitats in pickleweed and cordgrass marshes, with nearby higher vegetated zones to provide protection at high tide
Threats: Destruction of tidal marsh habitat, invasive predators such as red foxes and feral cats, pesticides
Locations in Alameda Creek watershed: Coyote Hills Regional Park, Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service article on California Clapper Rail

Fact Sheet from the EPA about California Clapper Rail

Western Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia)

Status: state species of special concern
Habitats: Open, dry, sparsely vegetated land with available rodent burrows, adequate food supply, and perches for horizontal visibility. Generally prefer burrows abandoned by ground squirrels and other small rodents. Found mostly in grasslands, irrigation banks adjacent to intensive agriculture and small patches of grassland surrounded by urban development
Threats: Habitat loss to urban development, persecution of ground squirrels, and intensive agricultural practices, eviction from development sites, destruction of burrows through disking and grading, pesticides, predation by nonnative or feral species, habitat fragmentation, vehicle strikes, electrified fences, collisions with wind turbines, shooting and vandalism of nesting sites
Locations in Alameda Creek watershed: Warm Springs Unit of Don Edwards NWR, Camp Parks, Dublin, Livermore Airport, North Livermore, Springtown, Patterson Pass

Center for Biological Diversity information page on Western Burrowing Owl

Tri-Colored Blackbird (Agelaius tricolor)

Status: state species of special concern
Habitats: Wetlands and grasslands; nesting takes place in native emergent marshes, hay and grain fields, blackberry thickets and other flooded and upland habitats
Threats: Loss of native marshes and wetlands to land conversions for vineyards, orchards and urban development; and excessive predation
Locations in Alameda Creek watershed: Small numbers in Livermore Valley and at Patterson Pass

Center for Biological Diversity information page on Tri-Colored Blackbird