April 27 in Mitchell Canyon
Sun, 28 Apr 2002 10:39:18 -0700
From: Bruce Mast
Spring is in full swing in Mitchell Canyon (Mount Diablo State Park near Clayton). Thanks to Bob (Hayward) and Karen (Oakland) for providing such great birdwatching company yesterday. Aside from a lingering Golden-crowned Sparrow, the place was hopping with spring migrants and nesting birds, all amid a profusion of wildflowers. Overall, the trip produced 52 species.
Best migrant of the day had to be the Costa's Hummingbird, first reported by Dennis Wolf on the Northern California Birdbox, April 22. Other migrant highlights included a number of Calliope Hummingbirds and a female Western Tanager.
It was also a great warbler day. In addition to numerous Orange-crowned Warblers and Wilson's Warblers, a mixed flock passed through with Nashville Warbler, Hermit Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Townsend's Warbler. Bob reported seeing Black-throated Gray Warbler, but I missed that one.
I was amazed out how visible different bird nests were. I observed Oak Titmouse and Western Bluebirds going in and out of their nesting cavities. We also had Warbling Vireo and Lesser Goldfinch nests. We found 2 Anna's Hummingbird nests. The second one was still building hers, which involved flying over to the Warbling Vireo nest and stealing nesting material! In addition to nests, we also observed Oak Titmouse and Dark-eyed Juncos feeding fledglings.
A number of summer breeders are back in the area (those marked with * are my personal firsts for the season):
Pacific-slope Flycatcher (several heard)
Ash-throated Flycatcher * (several heard and seen)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher * (many heard and seen)
Hutton's Vireo (several seen)
Lazuli Bunting * (many heard and seen)
Chipping Sparrow * (single individual at trailhead)
Black-headed Grosbeak (one seen, a couple heard)
Lawrence's Goldfinch (one pair seen)
And of course, let's not forget the permanent residents:
Mallard
Turkey Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
California Quail
Mourning Dove
Acorn Woodpecker
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Black Phoebe
Bewick's Wren
House Wren
California Thrasher (Back Creek Trail)
American Robin
Wrentit
Bushtit
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Bruce Lee Trail)
White-breasted Nuthatch
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
European Starling
Spotted Towhee
California Towhee
Lark Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
House Finch
Bruce Mast
Oakland, CA
Hayward Regional Shoreline
Sun, 28 Apr 2002 13:18:28 PDT
From: Bob Richmond
Today at the Hayward Regional Shoreline the following was seen:
Hermit Thrush - 1 at Winton Ave trailhead, was a fairly late record here.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1 at Winton, was one of the latest records here.
The only migrants seen were the usual ones - Orange-crowned Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, and Pacific-slope Flycatcher.
Golden-crowned Sparrows - 2 at Winton, were later than usual in spring.
Cedar Waxwing - they are now gone from the Winton Ave parking area.
Ross's Goose and Snow Goose - both are still at San Lorenzo Community Park.
At the Hayward Shoreline last Thursday:
Ash-throated Flycatcher - 1 at Winton, several are seen every spring here, but they are very rare in fall.
Cedar Waxwing - 12 to 18 were present at Winton.
Good Birding
Bob
Alum Rock Park & Coyote Hills Regional
Park
Sun, 28 Apr 2002 18:36:19 -0700
From: Matthew Dodder
All,
Today, Kelly Hayashi and I scouted out the Alum Rock Park location (Santa Clara County) for next week's Palo Adult School class trip. We were debating between two possible routes for my group and ended up deciding that both offered great opportunities. The shorter of the routes remained lower in the valley, close to the sheltered creek trail and we were able to find Western Wood-Pewee, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, House Wren, Brown Creeper, Warbling Vireo, Hutton's Vireo, Orange-crowned Warbler, Bullock's Oriole, Black-headed Grosbeak, and Spotted Towhee, all with little effort. Other interesting birds seen from the lower trail included Belted Kingfisher, White-throated Swift, and Northern Rough-winged Swallow. Raptors includedRed-tailed Hawks and Red-shouldered Hawks. The longer of the two possible routes climbed higher on the North Rim Trail and brought us into an open area with much grassland and dry chaparral where we saw Lazuli Bunting and were told by a Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society group that Western Kingbird could be found as well. We'll decide next week which area to take, but it seemed clear that the whole park was pretty birdy where ever we went.
Yesterday I led my class to Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont, where we had a great field trip. Beautiful spring weather inspired interesting breeding behavior, including nest building and much singing among the birds. Several species of warblers were heard only, but easily recognized. Common Moorhen was seen building a nest with its mate, and a Brown-headed Cowbird was harassed while trying to lay in a Song Sparrow nest. We concentrated primarily on the woodland area around "Hoot Hollow" and were treated to a Great Horned Owl on the nest with one or two young. Raptor numbers were down overall, but a large falcon (most likely a Peregrine Falcon) was briefly seen overhead near the owl. Waterfowl was hard to find as well, but on the Bay portion of our walk, we found many Greater Scaup on the open water and a late pair of American Wigeon on the South Pond. Other highlights included many Dunlin in breeding plumage and a Lesser Yellowlegs near the levee trail. Perhaps the biggest excitement of the day came from one of the smallest birds we saw. Among the many difficult-to-observe passerines in the trees we located two Hermit Warblers. This species has not been seen on any of our class outings before and was a lifer for most members of our team.
Coyote Hills, April 27
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Canada Goose
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
American Wigeon
Greater Scaup
Bufflehead
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Peregrine Falcon (probable)
Ring-necked Pheasant
California Quail
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet
Marbled Godwit
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
phalarope species (Red-necked Phalarope?, near toll plaza on Dumbarton Bridge, too much traffic to stop)
Forster's Tern
Rock Dove
Band-tailed Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Great-horned Owl
White-throated Swift
Anna's Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Selasphorus species
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Tree Swallow (seen copulating)
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Steller's Jay (heard only)
Western Scrub-Jay
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Oak Titmouse
Bushtit
Bewick's Wren
Marsh Wren
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
California Thrasher
Cedar Waxwing (flyover)
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler (heard only)
Yellow Warbler (heard only)
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Hermit Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler (heard only)
Spotted Towhee
California Tohwee
Song Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow (heard only)
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Matthew Dodder
Lime Ridge Open Space
Sun, 28 Apr 2002 20:09:38 -0700
From: Maury Stern
Today on a walk at Lime Ridge for Walnut Creek Open Space, we found 2 small flocks of Lawrence's Goldfinches. Three or four were at the top of the Lime Ridge Trail in an area of mustard and fiddleneck (see Phil Gordon's recent note). The other three were in the pine trees adjacent to the small pond at the first tee area, and can be seen from the parking lot.
Lime Ridge Open Space is in Walnut Creek near Ygnacio Valley Rd and Oak Grove Rd. There is a staging area at the end of Valley Vista across from the Boundary Oaks Golf Course.