Lime Ridge Bird Walk
Sat, 5 May 2001 14:52:58 -0700
From: Maury Stern
On a bird walk for the Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation today at Lime Ridge, we saw 3 Lawrence's Goldfinches at the eastern ridge line with a flock of Lesser Goldfinches going between grasses, mustard, and nearby live oak trees. Other notable birds were: a Red-tailed hawk nest with an unfledged young, Olive-sided flycatcher, many Ash-throated flycatchers, Western Kingbirds (one pair at a nest), Swainson's thrush, 8 or more Western Tanagers, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Lark Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows singing and Bullock's Orioles.
Good birding,
Maury Stern
Mitchell Canyon again
Sat, 05 May 2001 22:05:45 PDT
From: Jim Tietz
Hi everyone-
I went to Mitchell Canyon (south of Clayton, in Mount Diablo State Park) yet again and birded from 8:30 AM to 5 PM. I had an inclination that all the east winds might have blown a Gray Flycatcher over our way and well I was right. I hiked the Mitchell Canyon Rd to the Red Rd and went right and then went left at the top of that trail to the top of the hill which is exactly what I did last week. The birding was actually sort of slow down in the canyon, but with lots of Lazuli Buntings, Pacific-slope Flycatchers, and Swainson's Thrushes. The birding picked up a bit once I got to the Red Rd. The most notable bird here was a Canyon Wren that was calling jeet repeatedly from a live oak and sounding like a weird Hutton's Vireo. It finally got my attention and as I strolled over to the tree, a rusty blur flashed by across the road, across the creek, and up the chapparal covered hillside. Hoping to see the bird a little, I pished at it which elicited one little song. But one little song from a Canyon Wren is always an added bonus in the chaparral.
The higher I got on this road the better the birding got. Where the live oaks cover the trail an adult male Western Tanager was being shadowed by a young male trying to learn the tricks of the trade. This plumage is not illustrated in the Sibley Guide, but it was easy to identify. It's head was slightly less red, the flight feathers and tail were brown, the rump was green, and the upper wing bar was thin and white. Up until the Red Road I had not seen any Townsend's Warblers or Hammond's Flycatchers. In these oaks were 2 of both and a few Swainson's Thrushes and Pacific-slope Flycatchers. I think this was actually a pretty good day for both of the latter species. Just before the trail turns to the left is where the blue oaks start and where the birding gets really good. A flock of around 12 Black-headed Grosbeaks and 8 Lazuli Buntings started flying around nervously as I approached. Several Townsend's and Hermit Warblers, a young male Bullock's Oriole, and a Rufous-crowned Sparrow were all singing in here as well.
When I rounded the corner, I birded the back side of the oaks and had a lifer: a hybrid Hermit Warbler X Townsend's Warbler. It was probably a backcross to Hermit as that is most what it looked like. It was a male with a black throat cut straight across the bottom. Below that it had a small patch of yellow on the chest and moderately heavy streaking on the sides. The face was yellow with a small vague dusky patch. I wasn't able to see the mantle color unfortunately. A little further up the trail from here is where the gray pine starts and appropriately enough that is where the Gray Flycatcher was. It perched mostly in the lower boughs wagging its tail and would frequently sally out to catch insects off the top of the grass. The face, crown, and back were medium gray. The wingbars and tertial edgings were white and not too broad and did not contrast strongly with the dark wing. The wing projection was about one-third the tertial projection and the tail was fairly long looking. The eyering was white, and round without any teardrop effect. The belly was pale yellow, the chest had a medium gray vest, and the throat was white. The bill was long and thin and the mandible was orange with a sharply cut off black tip. The head was not crested like a Western or Hammond's, and I never saw this bird flick its wings. It called twice a dry whit very much like Dusky.
Other than birds the butterflies and dragonflies were spectacular today and I saw a gray fox and a coyote.
And now for the list.
10 Turkey Vulture
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
2 Cooper's Hawk
4 Red-tailed Hawk (1 adult dark)
1 Golden Eagle
8 California Quail
6 Mourning Dove
4 White-throated Swift
15 Anna's Hummingbird
4 Acorn Woodpecker
5 Nuttall's Woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpecker
4 Hairy Woodpecker
2 Northern Flicker
2 Olive-sided Flycatcher
3 Western Wood-Pewee
4 Hammond's Flycatcher
1 Gray Flycatcher
20 Pacific-slope Flycatcher
2 Black Phoebe
15 Ash-throated Flycatcher
3 Western Kingbird
25 Cliff Swallow
2 Violet-green Swallow
5 Steller's Jay
15 Western Scrub-Jay
1 Common Raven
1 Chestnut-backed Chickadee
8 Oak Titmouse
50 Bushtit
2 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Canyon Wren
20 Bewick's Wren
4 House Wren
25 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
6 Western Bluebird
16 Swainson's Thrush
1 American Robin
15 Wrentit
2 Northern Mockingbird
4 California Thrasher
2 European Starling
2 Cassin's Vireo
5 Hutton's Vireo
10 Warbling Vireo
8 Orange-crowned Warbler
7 Townsend's Warbler
2 Hermit Warbler
1 Hermit X Townsend's Warbler (hybrid)
1 MacGillivray's Warbler
15 Wilson's Warbler
4 Western Tanager
20 Black-headed Grosbeak
16 Lazuli Bunting
20 Spotted Towhee
15 California Towhee
5 Rufous-crowned Sparrow
4 Sage Sparrow
10 Dark-eyed Junco
6 Red-winged Blackbird
2 Western Meadowlark
6 Brewer's Blackbird
1 Bullock's Oriole
3 Purple Finch
2 House Finch
8 Lesser Goldfinch
Costa's Hummingbird still in Berkeley
Sun, 06 May 2001 23:13:59 -0700
From: Lillian Fujii & Steve Hayashi
The male Costa's Hummingbird was seen again today (May 6, about 3:30 PM) on the wires above about 1611 Berkeley Way, Berkeley. Western Tanagers were feeding in the eucalyptus across the street from where the hummingbird perches.
Lillian Fujii and Steve Hayashi
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