Ironhouse San. District: FRGU & SWSP
Sun, 15 Nov 1998 18:16:54 PST
From: Denise Wight
Hi E.B.Birders,
Thanks to Steve Glover posting the info about the trail being open, I had a great day on the OUTSIDE of Ironhouse Sanitary District in Oakley (for directions, read Steve's recent post). Highlights included:
Franklin's Gull - a first winter bird, in a field with Mew, Ring-billed, Boneparte's and Calif[ornia] Gulls. I watched and studied it for about 4 minutes until it yawned, stretched and took off to the east. Not one of the other 200+ gulls took flight. According to Steve's [Contra Costa County] list this is the 4th county record. Anyone birding anywhere in East Contra Costa should take extra care to check the gull flocks.
Swamp Sparrow - Just east of the picnic tables is an opening where one can see the marshy shoreline and see out into Big Break. I pished and a sparrow making a Black Phoebe-type call popped out of the reeds just east of the opening. I had 2 great looks. Both times the bird gave this distinctive call as it flew into view.
Common Snipe: I counted 21 in a flock that took flight. A bit later I was surprised to hear one make the "winnowing" noise they make with their tail feathers. I had never heard this before in [Contra Costa County] or outside the breeding season. Has anyone else?
Ferruginous Hawk - an adult being chased by a pair of Am[erican] Crows in the fields east of the main ponds.
Other highlights included 2 bright lutenscens-type Orange-crowned Warblers and a House Wren. In the area of Big Break, there were 3 American Bittern in one flock, hundreds of Tree Swallows headed west, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, and a Common Loon. Ignore the duck decoys.
It's amazing that I had 73 species and only 4 duck species (Mallard, Com[mon] Goldeneye, Bufflehead, and Ruddy Duck) and NO Rock Doves! The angle for viewing the pond is terrible, into the sun. Brush up on you duck silhouettes.
Mt. Diablo Audubon Society is having a field trip to the INSIDE of Ironhouse this Wednesday. Call Elizabeth Dicky at (925) 254-0486 for info.
Denise Wight
Martinez, CA
"Don't Forget To Look Up"
Red-naped Sapsucker at Ardenwood
Sun, 15 Nov 1998 18:17:17 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
Went on Jessica Sheppard's "birding by ear" walk at Ardenwood Regional Preserve (Ardenwood Historic Farm) in Fremont this morning (Nov 15). To prove her point, Jessica pointed out a mewing call that was new to her. We tracked it to a tree in the walnut orchard, and for some time we all stood around staring into this apparently empty tree from which the loud sound obviously was coming. Eventually somewhat spotted it - a woodpecker about a dozen feet above the ground, working on the trunk. Moments later someone declared it a sapsucker, and we then began trying to narrow it down to species. Like the one we saw in Briones Regional Park on Oct 8, this one seemed completely unperturbed to have several people a short distance away staring at it through binoculars and talking about it. So we had plenty of time to consult guidebooks and discuss fine points of plumage. In the end, there was complete consensus that we had a definite Red-naped Sapsucker. The tree was near the corner of the orchard nearest to the Patterson House; this tree and others nearby had lots of sapsucker holes, and our Red-naped was drilling a number of obvious new ones. [Note added on website: this bird was a male.]
At the beginning of the walk, Jessica mentioned that Steller's Jays had been seen in Ardenwood in the past few weeks, the first sightings there since naturalists began keeping bird records in 1985. Early in the walk, I pointed out a call that sounded like a Steller's, and we followed the sound to locate the birds in trees near the Patterson House lawn. We saw two individuals, and again had good looks so that there was no doubt about the identification.
After the walk was over, Ore and I saw about 7 Cedar Waxwings in the elm tree near the barns where Jessica had said they tend to congregate.
Here's my list for the morning:
Canada Goose, Turkey Vulture, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, gulls, Rock Dove, Mourning Dove, Anna's Hummingbird, Red-naped Sapsucker, Nuttall's Woodpecker, probable Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker (red-shafted), Black Phoebe, Steller's Jay, Western Scrub-Jay, Bushtit, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Cedar Waxwing, European Starling, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Townsend's Warbler, Golden-crowned Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon), Red-winged Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird, House Finch.
On Friday, just before dusk, I saw a Brown Creeper in Sunset Cemetery at the top of Fairmount Ave here in El Cerrito. It was on a tree just south of the lip of the (artificial) waterfall on the hillside inside the cemetery (not the one at the entrance).
Good birding,
Larry Tunstall
http://www.best.com/~folkbird/
EBbird website:
http://www.best.com/~folkbird/EBBC/