Re: Magic moment in the yard
Tue, 4 Jun 2002 08:50:44 PDT
From: George McRae
Aint it the best? I recently saw a hummingbird bathing at a little trickling waterfall at a branch of Baxter Creek in El Cerrito (bottom of Canyon Trail Park). He landed on the actual rock surface, at the crest of the fall. Held on and let the water pour all over him flapping away and all. after about 2 minutes he sailed off into a nearby branch and shook himself all over.
George McRae
Original Message Subject Index
June 2 in Marsh Creek Rd area
Tue, 4 Jun 2002 09:34:15 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello everyone,
On Sunday, June 2, I birded areas around Marsh Creek Rd east of Mount Diablo and then braved the winds to bird around Byron. I should mention that as the years go on the traffic gets heavier and heavier on this shortcut between Brentwood and Concord. I would suggest early on a weekend morning.
Just east of the intersection with Morgan Territory was a Downy Woodpecker nest with young inside, a Western Scrub-Jay fledgling, 2 singing Western Wood-Pewees and a calling Western Tanager that I presume to have been a migrant based on habitat.
In the next Breeding Bird Atlas block, which begins roughly at the fire station, had a healthy 44 species including an Ash-throated Flycatcher carrying food, a pair of Belted Kingfishers (new for this block), Western Wood-Pewee, a fledgling Steller's Jay, Red-shouldered Hawk, 2 late Swainson's Thrushes, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Hairy Woodpecker, Mallard (female with 5 tiny young), Northern Rough-winged Swallow (entering nest in bank), an occupied Acorn Woodpecker nest and an American Kestrel fledgling.
In the next block, at Round Valley Regional Park, I was only planning to use the bathrooms and check the riparian area around the lot for something interesting, but the Hardy Canyon Loop Trail looked kind of nice on the map. This turns out to be a big loop, maybe 5 miles, and quite a bit of it has few birds. I did end up with 43 species, though. Highlights included Ash-throated Flycatcher (occupied nest), a Western Bluebird fledgling, a pair of flyover Lawrence's Goldfinches, 2 singing Warbling Vireos at the very edge of blue oak savannah habitat (that I have to assume were migrants as the habitat didn't appear at all suitable), Loggerhead Shrike (fledgling), Rock Wren (at least 6 or 7 spots including a fledgling), an Anna's Hummingbird nest with young, a pair of Lazuli Buntings and an occupied Acorn Woodpecker nest.
Continuing east there was an occupied Common Raven nest just before the fork with Camino Diablo. It was precariously positioned on a tower I have seen them try to build nests on before but failed and sure enough the next tower down had another piece of nest that they appear to have given up on. Marsh Creek Reservoir was a little slow but had a young Common Moorhen and an Osprey circling around. I have no idea what it was doing there so late unless it is nesting somewhere nearby like Los Vaqueros Reservoir.
In the extreme southeast corner of the county, near where Contra Costa, Alameda, and San Joaquin Counties come together, there is a road called Herdlyn. About a mile down where there is a bridge, a guy was plowing a field on the left. Thats always a good sign and sure enough there were at least 63 Swainson's Hawks either in the field or in the air. Quite a sight. The birds I could get a look at appeared to be young birds with lots of white on the head, perhaps one-year-old birds not breeding. This is very similar in size and composition to a flock of 87 found by Bob Richmond on 17 June 1993 at nearby Mountain House Rd.
At dusk I birded the east end of Camino Diablo Rd. near Byron and though I saw about 7 Lesser Nighthawks I couldn't find the Short-eared Owl. Other birds included a shrike fledgling, a Burrowing Owl at a burrow, Green Heron, a Song Sparrow fledgling, and 2 Wilson's Phalaropes. I rarely get Wilson's Phalaropes in Contra Costa County, perhaps once a year.
Steve Glover
Dublin
On-line guide to birding sites in Contra
Costa County now updated
Tue, 4 Jun 2002 09:44:09 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello everyone,
I have updated my Contra Costa County birding-site guide on Joe Morlan's wonderful website, adding in quite a few new locations and changing some directions. It can be seen at
Note that there's no "www". While you are on the site, check out all of the other great stuff.
Steve Glover
Dublin
Cedar Waxwing nesting in Concord
Tue, 4 Jun 2002 13:26:50 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello all,
This morning I had just an hour or two to bird so I decided to visit a small park in Concord called Markham Nature Center (near Cowell Rd & Babel Ln). I only found the place a couple of years ago so I haven't been there more than 10 times but it seems like there is something interesting there every time. Today was more than I could have expected. Near the parking lot two birds flushed out of the creek and up into some willows. The first bird threw me for a loop since it was a very young bird with fluffy feathers still sticking out. The adult with it, to my amazement, was an adult Cedar Waxwing. Which made the field marks on the young bird make a lot more sense. I don't think the bird could have been out of the nest more than a few days. Unfortunately a group of school kids on a field trip picked that spot to try to catch some crawdads so I didn't see the birds again.
This park has a nice little stream running through it and more importantly there are a lot of exotics planted throughout, including a clump of redwoods a few feet away.
The Alameda County Breeding Bird Atlas had one record of nesting Cedar Waxwing and an older record of an adult feeding a cowbird. Contra Costa County had no nest records, though quite a few records of small flocks in June and July, which is of course very suspicious.
Cedar Waxwings do occasionally nest far from their normal range, including a nesting pair in coastal Orange County (!) in 1964, so I guess this should always be looked for.
Good luck,
Steve Glover
Dublin
Lawrence's Goldfinches and Grasshopper Sparrow
Tue, 04 Jun 2002 15:58:53 -0700
From: Rusty Scalf
This morning I ran my Breeding Bird Survey Route for the US Geological Survey (a 25-mile driven route with fifty 3-minute stops).
On the second stop, just south of the Valle Vista Staging Area of Upper San Leandro Reservoir, I heard what I feel strongly was a singing Grasshopper Sparrow. The rule of the BBS is that after three minutes (by a stopwatch) you have to move on. So there was no time to verify. I want to go back tomorrow morning and see if I can find it before I send in the paperwork.
Had Lawrence's Goldfinches on three stops along Alhambra Valley Rd all east of the Bear Creek Rd intersection.
Rusty Scalf