[EBB Sightings] Swainson's Hawks; Western Gull Chicks

Swainson's Hawks are still at the vole diner (Byron and Lindemann) near 
Livermore. Besides the hawks, the field was thick with ravens and crows, 
lots of blackbirds, and a few Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons - all 
snarfing voles in mutual amity most of the time. Over on Grant Line Road 
and Mtn. House Parkway, a lone Black-Necked Stilt had joined the party. 
I saw only two or three hawks there, though; it was mostly ravens.

At Lake Merritt, it looks as though a Western Gull is raising a clutch 
of chicks on the island nearest the nature center. At any rate, Thursday 
  I saw three banty-hen-sized chicks with black gull beaks and no flight 
feathers at all hanging out under the bush nearest the center. The 
chicks were all a sort of dirt brown, except for their heads, which were 
cream colored and covered densely with black spots the size and shape of 
their eyes. A Western Gull adult spent a fair amount of time sitting 
near them, but I saw no interaction; the gull was ignoring the chicks 
and the nearby ducks, and the only unusual thing it did was run off a 
night heron that seemed to be approaching the chicks....

Anybody else seen these birds? Have I guessed right as to what they are?

-- 
- Hilary Powers - hilary at powersedit.com - Oakland CA -
-   Freelance copyediting and developmental editing  -
-      The edit you want, when you want it done.     -