Black-throated Gray Warbler
Thu, 5 Apr 2001 13:49:20 PDT
From: Mark Rauzon
Saw my season's first Black-throated Gray Warbler, male, near Lake Anza today in Tilden Regional Park [Berkeley Hills]. Also many Wilson's Warblers, males only, plus a Rufous Hummingbird.
mark rauzon
Lafayette birds
Thu, 05 Apr 2001 15:44:57 PDT
From: Jim Tietz
Hi
I saw 2 Cooper's Hawks today fly over the house. One was an immature and the other was an adult. The immature circled up high and then headed north. It looked small and was probably a male. The other may be nesting locally. It looked like a big female.
Two Violet-green Swallows over the house as well with a few White-throated Swifts.
Jim
Hooded Orioles in El Cerrito
Thu, 5 Apr 2001 22:58:36 -0700
From: Russ Wilson
Greetings -
The following is my first contribution to this great birding resource: What is better than a yard bird? A patio bird! Today at 7 AM a male Hooded Oriole was feeding from a hummingbird feeder on our patio, about 6 feet from our kitchen window. What a delight! And another male was in the shubbery nearby. I think a female was also present, but I had only a brief glimpse of it.
The orioles are right on schedule. For many years they have arrived in our neighborhood during the first week in April. They used to nest in our fan palm, but now I think it's too tall for them. We bought the Washington palm about 45 years ago, and were told that it was a dwarf variety and would grow to no more than 5 feet tall. It's now about 75 feet tall.
Russ Wilson
Richmond Marina Bay
Thu, 05 Apr 2001 23:24:56 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
This morning at Richmond Marina Bay [former Richmond Inner Harbor], a pair of Horned Grebes in lovely breeding plumage were near the southeast corner of the harbor. At least 30 Clark's and Western Grebes were in the harbor, close enough for good comparisons with binoculars. A Pelagic Cormorant, two Red-throated Loons, and a Common Loon were in the harbor as well. And two Caspian Terns were doing fancy chases with much raspy noise overhead.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Spring arrivals at Mt Diablo
Fri, 6 Apr 2001 10:35:58 PDT
From: D. Gail DeLalla
Spring Greetings to EBB,
Bullock's Oriole male and Western Kingbird were both on Mount Diablo on Sunday, April 1. The oriole was along Stage Road and the kingbird was near the Macedo Ranch entrance.
D. Gail DeLalla
Peregrine nest and Wood Ducks
Fri, 06 Apr 2001 11:29:01 -0700
From: Nat Weber
On Tuesday April 3 I was at Hayward Shoreline and off in the distance I saw what looked like a pair of Peregrine Falcons fly from the shore area to the first power pole before the bridge toll booths. There was a nest in the top portion of the pole. I was close to the Interpretive Center and at that distance I could only tell it was a Peregrine by the flight pattern. Was that a Peregrine? Is that a regular nesting site?
Regarding the discussion of Wood Ducks, I stopped by the Upper San Leandro Reservoir [near Moraga] yesterday and saw two pairs of Wood Ducks at the same bridge mentioned by Don Lewis. This is the most I have seen there. I first saw Wood Ducks there in 1995 and have seen at least a few every year, but never saw the 10 juveniles last year. In 1998 I saw 3 juveniles after the water receeded. The water level at the bridge does not come up until late winter around February. Some low-rain years when I first began birding in 1993 the reservoir water level didn't seem to make it to the bridge. The water level for the last five years has been quite high. I suspect that if there are no pools of water they will find another area to nest.
Nat Weber
Contra Costa birds
Sun, 8 Apr 2001 17:30:13 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello all,
I have been spending a lot of time doing breeding bird atlasing in some less than glamorous birding spots, particularly in the suburban areas of Concord and Pittsburg.
Way back on March 15 I stopped at a park in Concord called something like the Markham Nature Center. From Ygnacio Valley Rd heading toward Clayton turn left onto Cowell Rd. It will come up quickly on the right. I believe the sign says it closes at 3. Anyway, on March 15 there were 2 White-throated Sparrows and a female Western Tanager that was surely wintering, a rarity in Contra Costa, especially away from feeders. Already nesting were Anna's Hummingbird, Bushtit and Black Phoebe.
A visit there again on April 3 yielded a Nashville Warbler and nesting Mallard, Red-shouldered Hawk, Oak Titmouse and Chestnut-backed Chickadee.
Yesterday there was a Cattle Egret along Willow Pass Rd in Pittsburg, just across from the PG&E plant. There are very few county records from anywhere west of the Antioch Bridge. On Hess Rd off of Ygnacio Valley Rd there was a Loggerhead Shrike nest with young already old enough to raise quite a ruckus.
Today I birded Black Diamond Mines south of Antioch with John Ascher. Near the parking lot were a White-breasted Nuthatch carrying nest material and an Anna's Hummingbird feeding young still in the nest.
We headed to the south end of the park where the coal mining town of Stewartsville once stood. In that area were numerous Rufous-crowned, Lark and Chipping Sparrows, Western Kingbird, 4 to 5 Rufous Hummingbirds, numerous Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, 2 Golden-crowned Kinglets, a Black-throated Gray Warbler and a pair of Turkey Vultures investigating a possible nest site in a cliff.
On the return there was a Grasshopper Sparrow singing on the Stewartville Trail about a quarter-mile above the parking lot.
Happy Birding,
Steve Glover
Cooper's Hawk at Huckleberry Preserve
Mon, 09 Apr 2001 15:01:17 -0700
From: Tom Condit
On Saturday morning, April 7, Marsha Feinland and I were hiking at Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve in the Oakland Hills. About one-quarter of the way northbound on the Huckleberry Trail between the junction with the East Bay Skyline Trail and the Huckleberry Nature Trail, we heard a loud "Kek!" from the hillside below us, but were unable to see the origin of it. Then a largish bird flew right past us, up the trail and around a bend. In the glimpse we had of it, it looked more like a duck than anything else.
A little further down the trail we heard the "Kek!" again, this time from uphill. We found a male Cooper's Hawk perched on a branch and tearing at a small mammal of some sort. It turned on the branch and appeared to pick something else up, then turned around and returned to its prey. Then it gave the "Kek!" again and flew off.
The duck-like appearance in flight was caused by the fact that the white undertail coverts were so fluffed out that they looked like white outer tail feathers in flight, giving the tail a much broader look. I don't know of any reason undertail coverts would be fluffed out like this other than (a) to sit on a nest or (b) to pull out down for lining a nest. I think it safe to assume that we have at least one pair of Cooper's Hawks nesting at Huckleberry.
Tom Condit
Clapper Rail, American Pipits, Spotted Sandpiper,
Tree Swallows
Mon, 09 Apr 2001 23:45:59 -0700
From: Lillian Fujii & Steve Hayashi
A belated report:
1. On April 7, Stephen Davies' Golden Gate Audubon Society shorebird class saw Clapper Rail at Mitigation Marsh (Arrowhead Marsh area of Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline). This is apparently the first report of Clapper Rail in the mitigation area. There was also a flock of about 100 American Pipits in the barren field adjacent to the fenced/mitigation area, as well a flock of about 12 (don't remember) flyover American White Pelicans.
2. On April 7 at the Albany Bulb shoreline that Larry Tunstall recently mentioned, there was a Spotted Sandpiper with spots.
3. On April 8, we checked "our" bluebird boxes in Pinole and Briones Reservoir area of Contra Costa County (we just monitor them for someone else). Tree Swallows had begun building nests in 5 of 6 boxes.
Lillian Fujii and Steve Hayashi