"Beyond Computers" radio
Mon, 20 Jul 1998 17:25:41 PDT
From: Joseph Morlan
Birders,
You can hear a short bird watching piece I did for NPR on "Beyond Computers" tomorrow, Tuesday 7/21 at 1 PM on KALW 91.7 FM. My segment will probably be about 25 minutes into the hour.
I haven't heard it yet, so I don't know how good it will be.
--
Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA 94044
SF Birding Classes begin Sept 9th
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan
California Bird Records Committee
http://www.wfo-cbrc.org/cbrc
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Tue, 21 Jul 1998 14:55:00 PDT
From: Steve Glover
East Bay Birders,
As many of you heard on the Birdbox, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo was picked up near Richmond on Saturday and taken to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum for rehabilitation. Amazingly enough this is the first county record. I called today and talked to Susan Heckley. I told her I was interested in taking a picture of the bird to document the record. Even better, she is going to send me a picture of the bird. As of now the bird is not doing well and may not make it so it doesn't need me taking pictures of it. She had already talked to Steve Laymon. From the description Steve told her it was a male but they have not yet determined if the bird is the eastern form or western form. He apparently assumes that the bird was a post-breeding wanderer from the Sac[ramento] Valley. Does anyone know a good source for the separation of eastern and western? I have no idea how to tell them apart.
Steve Glover
Reply #1 Reply #2 Subject List
Re: Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Tue, 21 Jul 1998 21:50:45 PDT
From: Joseph Morlan
Steve Glover wrote:
Does anyone know a good source for the separation of eastern and western? I have no idea how to tell them apart.
See "A Reassessment of the taxonomic status of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo" by Franzreb and Laymon (Western Birds 24:17-28, 1993).
Also a complex formula which separates 75 to 90% of known-sex birds is on page 56 of Identification Guide to North American Birds - Part I by Peter Pyle (1997 Slate Creek Press).
Hope this helps.
--
Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA 94044
SF Birding Classes begin Sept 9th
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan
California Bird Records Committee
http://www.wfo-cbrc.org/cbrc
Next Reply Original Message Subject List
Eastern Wood-Pewee songs now online
Wed, 22 Jul 1998 09:50:56 PDT
From: Joseph Morlan
East Bay Birders,
Thanks to a major contribution from Art Edwards on the birds of Mines Road and the Livermore Valley I have added a great site guide to Mines Road. These pages may be accessed by clicking on Alameda County on the California County Birding Pages.
Thanks to a contribution from Mark Eaton I have placed two wav files of the
song of the Eastern Wood-Pewee at Mono Lake on my web site. I also made some
interesting sonograms of the vocalizations which you can view. Go to my home
page at
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/
and follow the links to "California Birding."
Also the discussion in the account of the Masked Booby at Ano Nuevo has now been updated to reflect the recent proposed split published in the current issue of The Wilson Bulletin.
Feedback is always welcome.
Enjoy!
--
Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA 94044
SF Birding Classes begin Sept 9th
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan
California Bird Records Committee
http://www.wfo-cbrc.org/cbrc
SAFETY ALERT (fwd)
Mon, 27 Jul 1998 09:15:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: Emilie Strauss
Sorry--it's not a bird, but I think it's of interest.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 15:17:42 -0700
From: Patsy Shaughnessy @Haas.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: SAFETY ALERTTo Everyone:
Please read the following safety alert from UCPD.
>From: UCB Police News
>Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 14:55:03 -0700 (PDT)>-----------------
>SAFETY ALERT:
>Mountain Lion Sighting
>General Campus Community
>July 21, 1998>On Thursday, July 16th, a Mountain Lion was sighted in the area of the Botanical Gardens. Subsequent to the sighting, the mountain lion's presence was confirmed by campus zoologists. If you are planning be in the hills east of the Berkeley Campus, we ask that you please be careful and keep this sighting in mind.
>To get more information regarding what to do if you should encounter a mountain lion, please point your web browser to:
http://amber.berkeley.edu:4254/police/ca072198.html>Report any mountain lion sighting on University property immediately to UCPD at 642-6760.
>AdÆn Tejada
>Lieutenant, Community Outreach
>UC Berkeley Police>for
>Victoria L. Harrison
>Chief of Police>-----------------
Patsy Shaughnessy
Facilities Manager
Haas School of Business
Tel: (510) 642-4617
Fax: (510) 642-4700
Solitary and Semipalmated Sandpipers
Mon, 27 Jul 1998 14:38:42 -0700
From: Mike Feighner
Greetings East-Bay-Birders:
As online East-Bay-Bird reporting activity has been near non-existent, I thought I would point out two bird box reports for Alameda County:
On Thursday Art Edwards reported a Solitary Sandpiper at Frick Lake in Livermore. I tried for the bird on Friday after John Luther had seen the bird. I stayed until about 6 PM not to see the bird. I tried again between 8 and 9 AM Saturday before heading out for some county birding in the north-land. I missed it again. Shortly after I left Art Edwards found the bird. It would be nice to hear subsequent reports on this bird.
Also, on Saturday John Sterling birded Hayward Shoreline where he reports finding the Arctic Tern and a Semipalmated Sandpiper.
It would be nice to hear subsequent reports as I need both sandpipers for Alameda County.
More details can be obtained by calling the bird box at (415) 681-7422.
Thanks and good birding,
Mike Feighner, Sunnyvale, CA
Fwd: Mono Shorebird Count Aug 22
Tue, 28 Jul 1998 14:57:35 -0700
From: Douglas G. Shaw
Hello All:
I am forwarding this post for Vivek.
Doug Shaw
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 98 14:27:16 PDT
To: south-bay-birds
Subject: Mono Shorebird Count Aug 22Please also forward to CALBIRD (I am temporarily off the list) if it hasn't appeared there yet.
Thanks,
Vivek Tiwari
Santa Clara, CA
---------------------
Volunteers Needed for the Mono Lake FALL SHOREBIRD COUNT, Saturday, August 22, 1998. This is a chance to explore remote parts of Mono Lake and count shorebirds, ducks, and other birds. Since 1994, Mono Lake has risen over 9 feet!! Help us monitor birds as changes to lakeshore habitat occur. THE LOWDOWN: Plan on a half to full day hiking beginning early in the morning. Weather can be toasty in August, so be prepared with layered clothing and sun protection. Bring plenty of water and food for up to a full day in the field. There's a high probability of hiking through some mud or soggy areas, so expect to get your feet wet. Participants need to have a working knowledge of the common shorebirds. Working knowledge of waterfowl is also a plus. A spotting scope and 4WD vehicle would be useful, but not necessary. A pot luck at Dave Marquart's place will follow that evening. CONTACT: Bartshe (Bar-shay) at 760.647.6595 or e-mail bartshe@monolake.org at the Mono Lake Committee for more information/to volunteer.
CL: Indigo Bunting
Tue, 28 Jul 1998 15:40:59 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello everyone,
Hope everyone is having a good summer. There hasn't been a lot to report out here in Contra Costa, especially with all the atlasing going on. On Friday, the 24th, I went out to Richmond in search of a frigatebird but no such luck. I did have 5 adult Black Oystercatchers fly by the Richmond Marina. All 5 were moulting the same primaries. 5 Least Terns flew by to the island at about 6:30 am. This is the highest count out there and the first i've been able to find in the Richmond area. I also saw a Brant from Pt. Isabel. The tern and the Brant were county year birds which gives me 236. Very interesting was a visit this morning to Piper Slough at the north end of Bethel Island. The Indigo Bunting was not in the spot it has occupied since late May but there was a or the adult male a ways down the trail. The bird was singing when we got there. When we pished it went nuts and started chipping. It did a loop around us several times, seemingly to the edges of his territory. The tree and willows he seemed most partial to also contained a female Lazuli Bunting who was carrying food. From deep in the bushes we could hear several other chipping noises, basically similar to the male except perhaps a little higher pitched. The female was carrying food into the bush. We assume that the chipping was young birds but we never saw them. The questions are as follows: Is this the same adult male? This spot is pretty close to where the male had been on territory for almost 2 months but was defintitely outside of the previous territory. I saw the bird there less than 3 weeks ago and in 10 trips never saw it leave there. Did I overlook a 2nd male? Has this male moved in more recently and thus not the original mate of the female we saw today? It will be interesting to see what the offspring look like if I can find them. Anyway, to reach the new location park at the north end of Bethel Is. Walk up onto the levee and go left. In a few hundred yards follow the trail as it bends left. In a few hundred yards the trail goes right and then quickly left. Quickly you will get as far south as the levee goes. At this spot the levee goes right. At this turn a levee drops down to the left. The bunting was just down below the levee. This sound complicated but really isn't. If you look at a map the trail is basically shaped like a U with a few extra angles in it. The bird is in the southeast corner of the U.
Good luck,
Steve Glover
MacGillivray's Warbler at Tilden Park
Wed, 29 Jul 1998 15:59:15 PDT
From: Doug Greenberg
My son Robbie and I watched a female MacGillivray's warbler feeding in tall weeds along the Wildcat Canyon road about a half-mile north of the Tilden Park Nature Center last Friday morning, July 24. Alan Kaplan, the naturalist present at the Center at the time (and my son's summer day camp instructor) seemed excited about the sighting, so I am guessing this species is not reported often at Tilden at this time of year.
--Doug Greenberg