Re: Patterson Pass on Saturday
Mon, 5 Apr
2004 09:23:33 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hi all,
Rich's Blue Grosbeak in Patterson Pass is extremely early and it would be a good idea for someone who has the time to hop on out there and try to see the bird. I never managed to find one at Piper Slough before April 20 though my sample size isn't terribly large. Checking the Salton Sea book I found that the earliest record down there is April 13 so this bird is truly significant.
Good birding,
Steve Glover
Dublin
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Re: Patterson Pass on Saturday
Mon, 5 Apr
2004 12:00:41 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
From: Rich Cimino
Yes I tend to agree. The earliest I have ever had a Blue Grosbeak in Patterson Pass has been April 16th. I have records going back 20 years now. So I do urge birders to support my call for a visual identification - "I-we" really do need a visual identification "for the record." Some additional words however, this year has struck me as having early volume of Black-headed Grosbeaks in the Bay Area. On Friday another living in Pleasanton informed me of a Western Tanager on Santa Rita Rd at 7:30 AM in the trees in front of the Amador High School. I did go try to locate the bird around 5 PM. The bird was not relocated. This also notched up my curiosity regarding the Patterson Pass Blue Grosbeak's arrival.
As I suggested to birders this is a long weekend - maybe other birders traveling east can also begin the Patterson Pass Blue Grosbeak search. (?)
Thanks for reading this.
Rich Cimino
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Early spring arrival records
Mon, 5 Apr 2004
16:27:16 -0700
From: Debbie Viess
There is no question that our climate is changing, and increasingly earlier dates of spring arrivals should reflect that. If you have any doubts that global warming is a fact and not a theory, I would recommend that you read the excellent article, "On Thin Ice," in the current Orion magazine. For us, at this point at least, it's a curiosity. For the I�upiaq whalers of Barrow, it's the end of a way of life.
Debbie Viess
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Blue Grosbeak at Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve
Thu, 8 Apr 2004 12:21:22 -0700
From: Debbie Viess
Today, at Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve (Oakland Hills), I heard and saw a singing male Blue Grosbeak.
Debbie Viess
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Cooper's Hawks in Berkeley
Thu, 8 Apr 2004
14:09:15 -0700
From: Rita & Leonard
A pair of Cooper's Hawks, presumably the same pair, has nested for several years in the area around Russell St & Pine Ave (Berkeley, Elmwood district). Last year they moved to a tree on busy Ashby Ave, west of Pine. This year, we watched a new nest develop in a large elm but never actually saw the birds. Today, I was able to view one adult in the nest. The young generally hatch around mid-May, leave the nest to hop on branches around June 6, but don't actually fly away for another week or so.
Rita & Leonard
Re: Blue Grosbeak at Huckleberry Botanic Regional
Preserve
Thu, 8 Apr 2004 15:15:01 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
From: Rich
Cimino
Yes!!!! I heard my first Patterson Pass Blue Grosbeak this last Saturday the 3rd of April. This is good news for me. I will be out early Saturday morning seeking a visual of the bird I heard. Debbie, where is and how do I reach Huckleberry Preserve from Hwy 680 or 580? For some odd reason, Blue Grosbeaks are a real treat to see each spring.
Good Birding
Rich Cimino
Pleasanton
Editor's Note: Huckleberry Preserve is in the Oakland Hills on Skyline Blvd, just south of Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, which is turn is just south of the intersection with Grizzly Peak Blvd.
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Re: Blue Grosbeak at Huckleberry Botanic Regional
Preserve
Thu, 8 Apr 2004 18:59:43 -0700
From: Debbie Viess
This is in response to all of the public and private messages. As to my identification as Blue Grosbeak, it was a song that I'd never heard before, so I wrote down the notes (my 30-year-old musical training sometimes comes in handy!), and checked it against my song tapes. It was a very beautiful, loud, rich, melodic warble, rising and falling, in two phrases, with an upward slur on the first, and a downward slur on the second. After a period of time, the bird flew out and perched in clear view, but in bad light. I have really, really, good new binoculars, but could get no color off of it - i.e., it looked all dark. It was a heavy bodied, largish bird, bigger than a bunting, smaller than a robin. It had a short, conical beak. It was being harassed by a hummingbird who was on its (the hummer's) territory. I have never heard or seen this bird here before, and I've hiked this trail literally hundreds of times. It may well be a transient. I saw and heard it along the upper trail, beyond the first lookout, and where the trail dips into a bright, open area with a last view of the ranch below in the canyon. It was before the look-out with the bench. I first heard it singing in the trees lining the trail just before the opening, then it flew to just beyond and above the opening.
Look left towards Sibley Preserve for views of the Golden Eagles. While I was there today, I also saw Red-shouldered, Red-tailed and Cooper's Hawks, over the canyon and Roundtop. Earlier in the week, great views of a Winter Wren, Wrentits (nice white eyebrow), Allen's Hummingbirds and displaying Wilson's Warblers. It's a great place to botanize, too.
Debbie Viess
To get there from Hwy 580: take Hwy 13 towards Berkeley, to the Park Blvd exit. Go left on Mountain Blvd (your first stop sign), right on Snake Rd. Go up Snake, stay straight (don't make the sharp left on Snake, at the very beginning) and it'll become Shepherd Canyon Rd. Stay on Shepherd Canyon until you reach Skyline Blvd, go left Take Skyline to the park, Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve - it's well marked. Tread lightly, this is one of my favorite places in the world.
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