Prick up your ears
Wed, 16 Feb 2000 14:22:06 -0800
From: Ore Carmi
Hey all,
I heard a Hermit Thrush singing on the University of California - Berkeley campus yesterday. Keep your ears open!
ore
Western Screech Owl in Martinez
Wed, 16 Feb 2000 20:28:35 -0800
From: Lillian Fujii
Hi all,
Yesterday a colleage called to say that there was a little owl sitting in a tree outside of her office near downtown Martinez in Contra Costa County. I made it to the building before the doors were locked and was rewarded by the sight of a cute little Western Screech Owl in a tree about 15 feet from the window. I arranged for another friend to take a photo if it returned today but no luck. However, others in the building have apparently seen the owl before. happy and lucky birding.
Lillian Fujii
Coyote Hills & Big Break Trail on Feb 17
Fri, 18 Feb 2000 21:07:09 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
Thursday morning, Stephen Boddington, Ore Carmi, and I headed for Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont to join Willie & Friends on the Ohlone Audubon Society walk. On the way, we made a brief stop at Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center. The tide was so high that few birds were visible near the center. Most interesting were several Savannah Sparrows singing vigorously near the trail, a good part of their faces glowing bright yellow in the morning sun.
At Coyote Hills, the water was as high as I have ever seen it, with the boardwalk a few inches under the water. As a result, there were very few ducks or shorebirds to be seen. Although we found several duck species, most were represented by only a handful of individuals. The California Thrasher and a Selasphorus hummingbird posed nicely for us near the Visitor Center - the hummer had some green on the back, and majority opinion declared it an Allen's. We had good views of a Loggerhead Shrike on the hill west of the Visitor Center, and a Fox Sparrow was with the Golden-crowned Sparrows near the center. Highlight of the morning were 3 or 4 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers near the south end of the Quarry parking lot. They gave us great views over a long period of time, chasing each other around and sometimes coming within a few feet of the group.
At noon, we left to deliver Ore to his afternoon of work, and Stephen and I then headed out to eastern Contra Costa County. At the Big Break Regional Trail, we walked from the Jordan Ln trailhead to the picnic tables, enjoying very pleasant weather. Two or three Green Herons were near the beginning of the trail, and more than a dozen Cattle Egrets were on the rocky banks of the easternmost big pond. In the small marshes north of the big ponds, we got a glimpse of a Common Moorhen before it vanished in the reeds, but a Sora sat still in plain sight not far away for as long as we cared to look at it - we finally walked on, leaving it still sitting there.
Finally, we drove out to Piper Slough at the north end of Bethel Island Rd very late in the day. We didn't see a lot of birds because visibility for small birds in the brush was fading quickly. However, we were astonished to see what I estimated as between 1,000 and 2,000 American Coots, clustered together out in the slough. At first, they were strung out in vee-shapes across the slough, with a cluster at the point of the vee, and there was a lot of activity resembling a feeding frenzy. Before we left, however, they had all gathered together into a very compact group - so compact that it looked like a big black object floating on the water, covered with closely spaced little white polka dots (the bills). Does anyone know more about this behavior? Some of my references mention "wintering in large flocks." Do they sleep in this compact group, or was this just a chance temporary gathering?
Here are the lists I jotted down for the day. A few of the birds listed at Coyote Hills were seen by others in the group but not by me.
Coyote Hills:
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Great Egret (Ardea albus)
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
Gadwall (Anas strepera)
American Wigeon (Anas americana)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Cinnamon Teal (Anas cyanoptera)
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)
Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca)
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)
White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus)
Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus)
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) - several
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) - along road driving into park
Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)
California Quail (Callipepla californica) - just 1, in front of Visitor Center
American Coot (Fulica americana)
Allen's Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin) - lovely views near Visitor Center
Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus)
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)
Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)
Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis) - seen by 1 person before walk
Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)
Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) - at least 3
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
California Thrasher (Toxostoma redivivum)
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca)
Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)
Big Break:
Great Egret (Ardea albus)
Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)
Green Heron (Butorides virescens)
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)
White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus)
Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus)
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)
Sora (Porzana carolina) - great view, long looks
Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
American Coot (Fulica americana)
American Avocet (Recurvirostra americanus)
Bonaparte's Gull (Larus philadelphia)
Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon)
Downy or Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides sp.)
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris)
Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus)
American Pipit (Anthus rubescens)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata)
Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)
California Towhee (Pipilo crissalis)
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta)
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Piper Slough:
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus)
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)
Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)
American Coot (Fulica americana) - over 1,000 clustered in water
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) - 2 in gravel by tanks along road
Rock Dove (Columba livia)
Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon)
Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)
goldfinch (Carduelis sp.)
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA