Northern Parula at Jewel Lake
Mon, 2 Jul 2001 20:36:27 PDT
From: Brian Fitch
This morning while trying to relocate the Rose-breasted Grosbeak from Sunday, we instead discovered a Northern Parula singing high in the willows at the south end of Jewel Lake. We were able to view the bird from the north end of the boardwalk, and we heard it intermittently from 9:30 to 10:30 AM, as we explored around the lake.
We did hear a short Grosbeak series around 9:15, which seemed faster and more fluid than the surrounding Grosbeaks, but we didn't hear it again and never sighted the source bird, which was near the ranger's residence on the Jewel Lake road.
Brian Fitch
Contra Costa County Breeding Bird Atlas
Wed, 4 Jul 2001 19:05:13 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello all,
For anyone interested, Joel Herr has updated the Contra Costa County Breeding Bird Atlas website to include all data from the first three years of the project, 1998 to 2000. The maps can be viewed at Joel's website at
Surprises so far include first county nest records of Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, California Gull, and Great-tailed Grackle, and this year, not reflected in the maps, the first nesting of Yellow Warbler in probably over 50 years and the first nesting of Say's Phoebe in 17 years.
Other interesting maps to check out include:
Species unknown as nesters into the 20th century, in some cases late into the 20th century, including Canada Goose, Red-shouldered Hawk, Common Raven, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling (unfortunately the most common and widespread bird), and Hooded Oriole.
Species not as common as once thought or declining: American Bittern, Short-eared Owls, Burrowing Owls, Northern Flicker, Orange-crowned Warbler, and Chipping Sparrow.
A few others have turned out to be more common than expected including Swainson's Hawk, Western Kingbird, Loggerhead Shrike, and as mentioned previously, American Robin and Common Raven. Look at the American Robin map and note that the right-hand 4 or 5 rows are in the Central Valley and note that many of the remaining squares are now red from the 2001 season.
Joel's website also includes hundreds and hundreds of checklists, a great selection of links, listing software, and free software for breeding bird atlases!
Any feedback would be appreciated!
Hope you enjoy!
Steve Glover
Dublin
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Re: Contra Costa County Breeding Bird Atlas
Wed, 04 Jul 2001 20:21:17 -0700
From: Doug Vaughan
Steve Glover wrote
... not reflected in the maps, the first nesting of Yellow Warbler in probably over 50 years ...
Where was this? Ironically, I found a singing male Yellow Warbler this morning, just west of Jewel Lake in Tilden Regional Park Nature Area. The first (I think) I've ever seen in Tilden Park, at least in mid-summer.
Doug Vaughan
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Yellow Warbler at Tilden Regional Park
Wed, 4 Jul 2001 23:15:33 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Doug and all,
You nailed it, Doug - the nesting was at Jewel Lake in Tilden Regional Park. It was confirmed there by Bob Brandriff and I think the Koundakjians. There was also another confirmation shortly thereafter on East Bay Municipal Utility District property near Pinole, found by Lillian Fujii and Steve Hayashi. As I mentioned in a previous post I had given up on getting these during the atlas as they have declined precipitously in the Bay Area in recent decades.
Steve Glover
Dublin
Original Message Subject Index
Fwd: Phainopepla in Chabot Regional Park
Thu, 05 Jul 2001 17:20:15 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
I'm forwarding this message to the list for Hillary Hansen.
Larry Tunstall
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2001 11:55:38 -0700
From: Hillary Hansen
Subject: Phainopepla in Chabot Regional ParkHello
Yesterday at the Bort Meadow area in Anthony Chabot Regional Park I'm sure I saw a Phainopepla preening its shiny dark self (a male) in a lone leafless tree. My book indicates that this is the very northern edge of its habitat, though, and the light was good enough to see that it was not simply a back-lit jay, plus it was smaller and slenderer and its crest was smaller and different. I now wish I had stayed long enough to see if it had white underneath, but though I didn't, I can't possibly see what else it could have been? Has anyone seen one of these lately?
Other highlights: a female Black-headed Grosbeak in the same clump of vegetation as a lovely, cooing bunch of California Quail.
Hillary H.
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Heermann's Gulls at Berkeley Marina
Thu, 5 Jul 2001 20:50:28 PDT
From: Brian Fitch
This may not be news, but we found a number of Heermann's Gulls at the Berkeley Marina this morning. I've seen 2 or 3 single immatures over the years in the East Bay, but never multiple adults together. Normal, or did the fireworks chase them bayward? They were on the south mudflats, the sailing area parking lot, in the marina proper, and on the fishing pier, and as they were actively foraging and flying about, I don't know how many there were in total; at least three though.
Brian Fitch