More migrants in Berkeley
Tue, 20 May 2003
15:32:59 -0700
From: Doug Greenberg
This morning our beloved oversized black acacia tree hosted a couple of Yellow Warblers, plus a new species for our Berkeley backyard, a Hooded Oriole.
Let me add that my son and I birded Tilden Regional Park Nature Area last Friday, and the highlights for us were several Western Tanagers along the lower Laurel Canyon trail, plus a pair of Wrentits preening and grooming one another out in the open in some brush along the Wildcat Creek Trail. Where was my camera when I needed it?
Doug Greenberg
Western Bluebird or Lazuli Bunting?
Tue, 20
May 2003 16:53:15 -0700
From: Gary Baker
Hi all. I am new to the list and have heard a lot of mention of Lazuli Buntings in the East Bay Hills. I go out once or twice a week and see many Western Bluebirds but no Lazuli Buntings.
Now, the Western Bluebird has a beautiful substantially solid blue wing and a thin insect catching beak. A Lazuli Bunting has white wing bars and a thick gross beak.
How can it be that I see all Western Bluebirds and everyone else sees only Lazuli Buntings?
Gary
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Re: Western Bluebird or Lazuli Bunting?
Tue,
20 May 2003 18:40:39 -0700
From: Rusty Scalf
Buntings are a lot less conspicuous than bluebirds. I usually locate them by sound, then find the singer. Try listening to a recording. Then take a hike in a place that has an even mix of native trees, bushes and grass. Briones works pretty well. It's amazing how easy they are to overlook if you are birding visually.
Rusty
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Garin Regional Park, Hayward
Wed, 21 May 2003
00:38:39 -0700
From: Mark Wales
Yesterday at Garin Regional Park (Hayward) - well over 25 species including Bullock's Orioles, many Empidonax flycatchers (including nest), Lazuli Bunting, Swainson's Thrush, Ash-throated Flycatcher, many Bewick's Wrens, Nuttall's Woodpeckers. Also I watched a Western Scrub-Jay steal a dead mouse right out from under a feeding American Kestrel. I didn't think they were that predatory.
Also we've got Red-breasted Nuthatches appeared at Tyson Lake in Montclair (Oakland).
Mark
Re: Western Bluebird or Lazuli Bunting?
Wed,
21 May 2003 09:40:49 -0700
From: Tom Condit
Another good way to see them is to get on a trail overlooking bushes, scrub, or chaparral and hope to be able to look down on them. Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve and Redwood Regional Park (Oakland Hills) have appropriate areas. You'll still miss them if you don't hear them. I still don't have the song memorized, but I find that with enough altitude I can find the singer, usually *near* but not at the crown of a bush (i.e., next layer down). (I hope this makes sense.)
Tom
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Lazuli Buntings in Berkeley Hills
Wed, 21
May 2003 14:54:30 -0700
From: Becky Osborn-Coolidge
In the spring John and I regularly see Lazuli Buntings along Nimitz Way trail in Tilden Regional Park as well as Western Bluebirds. We begin hearing and seeing the buntings around the first of May, always in the same spots along the pathway. We watched a male and female chasing each other from bush to bush for several minutes on Friday. We were about 3.5 miles from the gate, where the path takes a fairly sharp curve to the right near a large live oak.
Becky
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Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland
Sun, 25 May
2003 17:00:01 -0700
From: Bruce Mast
Took a stroll around Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland this morning and was surprised to find a beautiful male Ring-necked Pheasant calling down in the eucalyptus grove on the back side of the hill. I guess the spot isn't all that far from the regional parks on the other side of Hwy 13 so maybe I shouldn't be so surprised.
The other highlights of the morning were a calling Olive-sided Flycatcher, four species of swallows (Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow, Violet-green Swallow, and Northern Rough-winged Swallow) and fledglings everywhere. Fledgling American Robins and Dark-eyed Juncos were abundant and I also turned up a fledgling Nuttall's Woodpecker (with Papa doing the feeding), Hutton's Vireo, Western Scrub-Jay, and California Towhee.
In addition to the usual local residents, other species of local interest:
I also had a singing Cassin's Vireo and Pacific-slope Flycatcher at the Oakland Rose Garden, off Grand Ave.
Bruce Mast
Oakland
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Re: Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland
Sun, 25
May 2003 17:03:00 -0700
From: Rusty Scalf
Bruce,
Do you think the White-crowned Sparrow was a late migrant, or a nesting Zonotrichia leucophrys nuttalli?
Rusty Scalf
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Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, Oakland Hills
Sun, 25 May 2003 21:42:03 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
Travis Hails' Golden Gate Audubon Society birdwalk this morning at Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve in the Oakland Hills turned out to be a good-sized group wandering through thick fog. Birding by ear was a necessity, but some birds made themselves visible nearby through the morning. A Lazuli Bunting sang near the small fenced enclosure on the Volcanic Trail, but it was just at the limit of visibility - even with a scope, the colors were barely visible.
After peering into the quarry where the maze was dimly visible but not the marsh, we headed back toward the parking lot and then out the Loop Trail on the south side of Round Top. With noon approaching, the small remaining group realized that we could now see a considerable distance. In the woods by the forking-off of the Skyline Trail, we found a family group of Brown Creepers near others of Dark-eyed Juncos and Chestnut-backed Chickadees. Shortly after that we saw a Pygmy Nuthatch in plain sight for some time, then juvenile Western Bluebirds, and a couple more glimpses of Lazuli Buntings. Back at the parking lot at the end of the walk, an Olive-sided Flycatcher sang from somewhere in the treetops to round off the morning.
Travis said that he had seen Rufous-crowned Sparrow and Lark Sparrow on his scouting trips to the park a few days before in sunlight. He also checked the Golden Eagle nest and it does not appear to be active this year.
Here is what I caught of a composite list for the group:
Good birding (and sunny skies), Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Editor's Note: On later thought, I believe that the American Crow ID based on a brief look by one person was eventually decided to have been mistaken.