Lawrence's Goldfinch flock south of Livermore
Fri, 19 Apr 2002 12:54:38 PDT
From: Phil Gordon
Greetings EBB'ers,
On 16 April I checked for the Northern Parula at Veteran's Park, Livermore, Alameda County, to no avail (only 1 Orange-crowned Warbler and a warbler song I couldn't identify?). Later at about 5:45 PM I found a flock of 12+ Lawrence's Goldfinches in a flowering patch of fiddleneck (Amsinckia spectabilis?). This seems to be an obligate food source at which I've noticed them in several counties of Northern California.
The exact location was from the East Shore Trail of Lake Del Valle found about a mile beyond the Park, off Arroyo Rd just before it is closed at the base of the Del Valle Reservoir Dam. Enter and park in the East Bay Regional Park District Arroyo Road Staging Area Parking Lot on the left (east) and walk through the trail gate for about 100 yards. Over the 1st rise a rusting pipe about 18 inches in diameter will be on your left (north) and the middle of the dam to your right, towards the Lawrence's Goldfinches. The Amsinckia is growing kneehigh with grasses in an old orchard (an Ash-throated Flycatcher was flitting and calling in these trees). The Lawrence's Goldfinches were at the back (south) of the orchard twittering in an evening chorus and flying between tree perches and fiddleneck. One could walk through the grasses for closer views. Lesser Goldfinches were also mixed in.
I found 41 species in the two areas that day (2 hours), including:
White-tailed Kite
Red-shouldered Hawk
California Quail
White-throated Swift
Acorn Woodpecker
Ash-throated Flycatcher
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Western Bluebird
Hutton's Vireo
Black-headed Grosbeak (male fed sand to a female that begged with hunger call)
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Western Meadowlark
Bullock's Oriole
Lawrence's Goldfinch
To reach this area from Hwy 580 going east, take Portola Ave to North L St, which at Hwy 84 becomes South L St, then at College Ave becomes Arroyo Rd. Continue to Veteran's Park (across from Wente Vineyards) and from there to the Arroyo Staging Area.
From Hwy 680 going north, take Hwy 84 (Vallecitos Rd) toward Livermore (where it becomes Holmes St), go right at Wetmore Rd (past Sycamore Grove Park) and right at Arroyo Rd. to the Arroyo Staging Area.
Happy Birding,
Phil Gordon
Hayward, Alameda County
Do Pelagic Cormorants nest inside the bay?
Sat, 20 Apr 2002 13:41:47 -0700
From: Rusty Scalf
This morning while atlasing at Point Molate, I saw a breeding-plumage Pelagic Cormorant in the water near Brother's Lighthouse station. Does anyone know what the status of this species is within the bay? By that I mean, as a breeding bird.
Thanks,
Rusty Scalf
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Re: Pelagic Cormorants
Sat, 20 Apr 2002 15:20:04 -0700
From: Rusty Scalf
Per the Pelagic Cormorant qustion I posted this morning. Larry Tunstall kindly pointed out the current atlas status at
And David Armstrong informs me that a dozen or so pair nest on Alcatraz Island, not too far away.
So a sighting at the Brothers Lighthouse island would not be unexpected. I didn't see any physical circumstances on that little island that would likely have nesting Pelagics as I believe they seek little grottos in cliffs. But I imagine that foraging birds can go quite a distance.
Rusty
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Del Puerto Canyon, San Antonio Rd, Mines
Rd
Sat, 20 Apr 2002 16:07:18 -0700
From: Mark Eaton
Despite nearly being blown off Hwy 5 on the way to Patterson, David Armstrong and I had a nice day yesterday, hampered somewhat by the wind. By the way, Lawrence's Goldfinches are everywhere this year - we tried to keep track of all the stops we had them but it became too tedious!
Other sightings of local interest (Del Puerto Canyon unless otherwise mentioned)
Merlin at MilePost 6.3
Nashville Warbler at MP 14.1
Rufous-crowned Sparrow - 3 at MP 5.0
Sage Sparrow - 2 or 3 at MP 10.0
Lawrence's Goldfinch (50+) at Summit Fire Station
78 species seen:
Pied-billed Grebe (22)
Green Heron (14)
Turkey Vulture (11)
Mallard (5)
Cooper's Hawk (23)
Red-tailed Hawk (1, 3)
Golden Eagle (4, 5, 12)
American Kestrel (3)
Merlin (12)
Prairie Falcon (5)
California Quail (13, 32)
American Coot (22)
Killdeer (2)
Greater Yellowlegs (5)
Mourning Dove (2)
Great Horned Owl (8)
Anna's Hummingbird (11)
Lewis's Woodpecker (24)
Acorn Woodpecker (19, 33)
Nuttall's Woodpecker (9, 34)
Northern Flicker (17, 33, 34)
Western Wood-Pewee (23)
Pacific-slope Flycatcher (19)
Black Phoebe (8)
Say's Phoebe (3, 14)
Ash-throated Flycatcher (7, 9, 34)
Western Kingbird (2, 6)
Hutton's Vireo (18, 28)
Steller's Jay (31, 32)
Western Scrub-Jay (12, 32)
Yellow-billed Magpie (11)
American Crow (1)
Common Raven (1)
Horned Lark (4)
Violet-green Swallow (19, 25)
Northern Rough-winged Swallow (8)
Cliff Swallow (2)
Barn Swallow (2)
Oak Titmouse (9, 17)
Bushtit (15)
White-breasted Nuthatch (19)
Rock Wren (10, 13)
Canyon Wren (15)
Bewick's Wren (15, 30, 34)
House Wren (16, 32)
Western Bluebird (24)
American Robin (19)
Wrentit (21, 29, 30)
California Thrasher (21)
European Starling (6)
American Pipit (9)
Phainopepla (6)
Orange-crowned Warbler (29)
Nashville Warbler (18)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (29)
Spotted Towhee (18, 29)
California Towhee (6, 34)
Rufous-crowned Sparrow (10)
Lark Sparrow (10)
Sage Sparrow (15)
Savannah Sparrow (2)
Song Sparrow (18)
Lincoln's Sparrow (18)
White-crowned Sparrow (3, 8)
Golden-crowned Sparrow (18)
Black-headed Grosbeak (17, 20, 29)
Red-winged Blackbird (1)
Tricolored Blackbird (26)
Western Meadowlark (2)
Brewer's Blackbird (4)
Brown-headed Cowbird (9)
Bullock's Oriole (6)
Purple Finch (29)
House Finch (6)
Lesser Goldfinch (29)
Lawrence's Goldfinch (6, 7, 16, 20, 25, 27)
American Goldfinch (6)
House Sparrow (26)
Locations:
1) Hwy 5
2) MP 0.6 along Del Puerto Canyon (Stanislaus County)
3) MP 1.0
4) MP 2.1
5) MP 3.2
6) MP 3.5
7) MP 3.8
8) MP 4.0
9) MP 4.6
10) MP 5.0
11) MP 5.6
12) MP 6.3
13) MP 7.0
14) MP 7.8
15) MP 10.0
16) MP 13.6
17) MP 14
18) MP 14.1
19) Frank Raines Park
20) Deer Creek Campground
21) MP 22.2 (Santa Clara County)
22) MP 22.7
23) Junction
24) San Antonio Rd. MP 0.3 north of junction
25) MP 0.6
26) MP 0.9
27) Summit Fire Station
28) Mines Road MP 2.0 south of the junction (Santa Clara County)
29) MP 3.0
30) MP 5
31) MP 7.8
32) Mines Rd. MP 14.0 south of the junction (Alameda County)
33) MP 12.8
34) MP 15(?)
Mark Eaton
San Francisco Field Ornithologists Web Site http://www.sffo.org
/
Personal Home Page http://home.pacbell.net/mweaton
Black-crowned Night-Heron at Tilden Nature
Area
Sat, 20 Apr 2002 16:46:35 -0700
From: John Poole
Dear Birders:
In addition to the expected birds, I found a Black-crowned Night-Heron in Tilden Nature Area (Berkeley Hills) at the small pond near the Little Farm. This is an uncommon bird for Tilden.
Good Birding!
John Poole
Re: Pelagic Cormorants
Sat, 20 Apr 2002 17:01:27 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Rusty and all,
In 1995 I had Pelagic Cormorants nesting at that exact spot. There were 21 birds and 3 nests on 19 April 1995, nine nests on 9 May 1995, and 13 nests on 21 May 1995. I was unable to get back there and see how they fared. This is the only nest record for the East Bay. In subsequent years I saw no signs of nesting though birds are often present there.
Though West Brothers Island is a bit of a ways from shore the Pelagic Cormorants are easy to pick out because, as Rusty mentioned, they nest on the steep sides of the rock. In my experience, any cormorant on the steep sides of the rock are Pelagics.
Also, Black Oystercatchers nest out on the rocks.
Steve Glover
Dublin
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