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Mines Road, near Livermore
Sun, 20 Jul 2003 08:40:47 -0700 From: Mike Feighner

Forwarding the following message from the CalBirds list to the group.

Mike Feighner, Livermore, CA, Alameda County

From: Sidd Ramachandramurthi
Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2003 1:41 PM
Subject: Trip Report: Mines Road, Livermore

Hi folks,

I birded Mines Road southwards from Livermore up to the Santa Clara county line this morning from 8 AM to 11 AM.

Avian Highlights:

• Wild Turkey (1 Male, 1 Female, 6 chicks) at the intersection of Mines Rd and DelValle Rd.
• Canyon Wren (1, singing in plain sight) at the 5.1 mile marker
• Nuttall's Woodpecker (1) at the 5.1 mile marker
• Phainopepla (2 Female) at the 5.1 mile marker
• California Thrasher (2) at the 12.1 mile marker
• Rufous-crowned Sparrow (3) at the 12.1 mile marker
• California Quail (1 Male, 1 Female, 1 tennis-ball-sized chick) at the 19.4 mile marker

I also saw good numbers of the usual suspects such as Yellow-billed Magpie, Ash-throated Flycatcher, California Towhee, Black-headed Grosbeak, etc.

Question:

What's a good place to look for Black-chinned Sparrow? Do they occur along Mines Road?

Thanks.

Sidd Ramachandramurthi
Mountain View, CA

Posted to EBB by Mike Feighner, Livermore

Subject Index

Re: Flycatchers at San Pablo Reservoir
Sun, 20 Jul 2003 09:03:37 -0700
From: Kitty O'Neil

Yesterday Larry Tunstall and I birded the trail from Bear Creek Road to the San Pablo Reservoir. We watched a few flycatchers for a long while and (verified by call) feel certain we were watching Western Wood-Pewees. What a pleasant thing to spend a morning learning a new bird.

What we saw (or heard):

• Clark's Grebe
• Western Grebe
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Canada Goose
• American Coot
• American White Pelican
• Caspian Tern
• Great Egret
• Snowy Egret
• Killdeer
• Sharp-shinned Hawk
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Turkey Vulture
• Mourning Dove
• Anna's Hummingbird
• Acorn Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Nuttall's Woodpecker
• Western Wood-Pewee
• Pacific-slope Flycatcher
• Violet-green Swallow
• Barn Swallow
• Steller's Jay
• Western Scrub Jay
• Chestnut-backed Chickadee
• Bushtit
• Oak Titmouse
• Red-breasted Nuthatch
• Brown Creeper
• Bewick's Wren
• American Robin
• California Towhee
• Spotted Towhee
• House Finch
• Lesser Goldfinch

Happy Birding!
Kitty

Kitty O'Neil
Orinda, CA

Original Message    Subject Index

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk no wimp
Sun, 20 Jul 2003 10:48:37 -0700
From: Steven

In my El Sobrante backyard (can see San Pablo Dam from kitchen window), this morning, and noticed hawk right overhead, seemingly circling in.

Not sure species, but did notice it holding tail unusually widely spread as it circled. Well, then it defecated and slipped into the 60-foot Monterey pines in neighbor's yards. As it did so, I noticed another hawk (juvenile Cooper's, still with head fluff) on a branch.

The first one is now perched and produces a bunch of falsetto croons and chirrups and squeaks, eventually it moves in on the Cooper's in an aggressive manner, but the Cooper's takes no bull and the other then goes elsewhere.

The Cooper's is still in the tree, I know 'cause I hear the Steller's Jay scolding as I type this.

Steven

Subject Index

Valle Vista Staging Area, Moraga
Sun, 20 Jul 2003 20:28:38 +0000
From: Bob Power

Hi all:

The Oakland Bird Club had a lovely if somewhat toasty walk in and around EBMUD's Valle Vista Staging Area at the north end of Upper San Leandro Reservoir in Moraga this morning. (An EBMUD Trail Permit is required.)

Birds seen, in rough taxonomic order:

• Pied-billed Grebe
• Great Blue Heron
• Great Egret
• Canada Goose
• Wood Duck
• Mallard
• Ruddy Duck (male in breeding plumage; exquisite)
• Turkey Vulture
• accipiter spp (First called Sharp-shinned Hawk; probable Cooper's Hawk)
• Red-tailed Hawk
• American Kestrel
• American Coot
• Killdeer
• Rock Dove
• Anna's Hummingbird
• Acorn Woodpecker
• Nuttall's Woodpecker (in nest cavity)
• Downy Woodpecker (with young)
• Northern Flicker
• Western Wood-Pewee
• Pacific-slope Flycatcher (heard but not seen)
• Black Phoebe
• Ash-throated Flycatcher
• Hutton's Vireo
• Steller's Jay
• Western Scrub-Jay
• Violet-green Swallow
• Chestnut-backed Chickadee
• Oak Titmouse
• Bushtit
• Red-breasted Nuthatch (heard but not seen)
• Bewick's Wren
• House Wren
• Wrentit (heard but not seen)
• Western Bluebird (many juveniles, including several in tree cavity, not bird box)
• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
• American Robin (and juveniles)
• Spotted Towhee (and juvenile)
• California Towhee
• Song Sparrow
• Dark-eyed Junco (juvenile)
• Black-headed Grosbeak
• Lessser Goldfinch
• American Goldfinch
• House Finch
• Loggerhead Shrike (impaled vole on barbed-wire seemed to mark his/her territory)
• Northern Mockingbird

Conspicuous by its absence: Red-shouldered Hawk.

That's it, good birding,

Bob Power
Alameda County
Oakland, CA

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