Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco in El Cerrito
Wed, 14 Jan 2004 21:14:34 -0800
From: Russ Wilson
Oregon Dark-eyed Juncos visit my patio daily to clean up scraps from the suet feeder, and today was the second time this winter that I've observed a Slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco feeding with them. Its all-gray back was very distinctive.
As a bonus, a pair of Downy Woodpeckers spends considerable time at the suet.
Russ Wilson
El Cerrito
Original Message Subject Index
Band-tailed Pigeons in Orinda yard
Thu, 15
Jan 2004 10:49:23 -0800
From: Kitty O'Neil
It's been very birdy here in my yard in north Orinda. Just had a small flock of Band-tailed Pigeons visit the berry bush in the backyard. New yard bird!
Kitty
Kitty O'Neil
Orinda, CA
Black-and-white Warbler at Lake Merritt, Oakland
Thu, 15 Jan 2004 10:54:45 -0800
From: Bruce Mast
The Black-and-white Warbler turned up again this morning at Lake Merritt, in downtown Oakland. It was associating with a mixed flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Bushtits, chickadees, kinglets, etc, working the live oak trees just to the right of the Children�s Fairyland entrance. In Black-and-white Warbler fashion, it stuck to the live oak tree trunks. I first found the bird in the trees just over the purple mushrooms (you�ll understand when you get there) but the flock worked both sides of the fence. At times, the warbler foraged as low as waist height. The flock also included a Townsend�s Warbler and (caution!) a probable Black-throated Gray Warbler. I just got a glimpse of the latter but I�m confident I saw the black bib, which would distinguish it from the Black-and-white Warbler. Happy hunting!
Bruce Mast
Oakland, CA
Original Message Next Reply Subject Index
Burrowing Owl at Arrowhead Marsh, Oakland
Thu, 15 Jan 2004 14:15:27 -0800
From: Travis Hails
The Burrowing Owl remains in the reclaimed section of the Arrowhead Marsh in Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline, Oakland.
It can be found by walking from the road across the marsh on the path between the marsh and the new parking lot. If you stand with your back to the large parking-lot sign "H2", and sight towards the tan bridge over the entrance to the marsh (north), the head of the owl is on the green "horizon," with red pickleweed behind it.
I have located the owl from the path along the canal, but I cannot describe the place to stand. It is only a few yards further to the point described above.
The Say's Phoebe remains on the fence between the parking lot and the marsh, about half way across the marsh.
Travis Hails
Re: Some thoughts on Allen's Hummingbirds
Thu, 15 Jan 2004 17:29:53 PST
From: Brian Fitch
I've tried identifying Selasphorus hummingbirds for some years by the tail feathers when all else was in doubt, and have only succeeded a few times when they hovered quite close. Of those less than a handful of successes, all were Allen's Hummingbirds. And an adult male Allen's Hummingbird was found last week in Golden Gate Park here in San Francisco.
Brian Fitch
Original Message Subject Index
Black-throated Gray Warbler in yard near Lake Merritt,
Oakland
Thu, 15 Jan 2004 18:31:50 -0800
From: Robert Smith
Greetings
Regarding the possible Black-throated Gray Warbler near Lake Merritt in Oakland, there has been a male one, off and on, at my feeder since 30 December 2003. I live near the intersection of Oakland & Grand Aves, about 1.2 miles from Lake Merritt. It is usually seen with a male Townsend's Warbler. I last spotted it below my feeder on 13 January in the late afternoon.
Robert Smith
Original Message Next Reply Subject Index
Mystery "peep" at San Leandro Marina
Thu, 15 Jan 2004 23:05:31 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
I am forwarding this message to the list for Gary Baker:
I was on my mid-week bike ride today and decided to extend it to the end of the peninsula that stretches north from the south end of the San Leandro Marina Park toward the Oakland International Airport runway. Out at the rocks at the North tip of the peninsula there was a solitary peep:
About 7 inches with a nearly 2-inch thin yellow bill with a black tip. Dark feathers ran from the top of the bill across the crown and fanning out down to the back of the black eye continuing around nearly to the chin. There was no eye ring or dark stripe through the eye like Sibleys shows for the spotted sandpiper. The legs were as yellow as the bill. I didn't see the spot on the breast. He was a motley character with some brown down the sides of the breast. He stood, bent legs, without moving. All in all, it seems to have been a spotted sandpiper except for the large round white patch covering the face from near the back of the eye to the bill.
Spotted sandpiper in some transition?
Gary
Posted to EBB by Larry Tunstall
Original Message Subject Index