Mitchell Canyon on Sunday
Sun, 18 Apr 1999 20:30:54 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
This morning Ore Carmi and I birded Mitchell Canyon, going up Red Road to a saddle a little way past the junction with Black Point Trail (total one-way of about 2 miles and 600 ft climb). Weather was warm, not windy, and sunny. For the most part, birds were staying hidden. We heard a lot of birds, but it was very hard to see them. Thus, for the species we didn't know by sound, it was very hard to get IDs. There were two groups and a number of individual birders there. One person told us he had seen Nashville, Black-throated Gray, and Hermit Warblers, but we didn't get any of these. We thought we heard Black-headed Grosbeak and Hammond's Flycatcher, but were not sure enough of these sounds to call them positive IDs. There were lots of swallows, but we never got good enough looks to make IDs, other than that they were not Barn Swallows.
There were Lesser Goldfinches, Wrentits, and Bewick's Wrens all over the place!
Here's our list:
Turkey Vulture, Northern Harrier, Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, California Quail (heard), Mourning Dove (heard), White-throated Swift, Anna's Hummingbird, Selasphorus hummingbird, Acorn Woodpecker, Nuttall's Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Hutton's Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Steller's Jay, Western Scrub-Jay, American Crow, unidentified swallows, Oak Titmouse, Bushtit, Bewick's Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet (heard), Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Western Bluebird, Hermit Thrush (heard), Wrentit, California Thrasher (heard), European Starling, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Wilson's Warbler (heard), Spotted Towhee, California Towhee, White-crowned Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark (heard), Lesser Goldfinch
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Concord Naval Weapons Station
Wed, 21 Apr 1999 14:14:28 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello everyone,
This morning Jill Hedgecock and I had access to the Concord Naval Weapons Station near Concord. Her atlas block is in the southerly inland portion. The area is mostly open grassland (and missile bunkers) with isolated eucalyptus clumps and a streamcourse with cottonwoods but little understory. The only migrants detected were a singing Yellow Warbler along Port Chicago Hwy (near where the protestors camp), a Rufous Hummingbird, and an out-of-place Acorn Woodpecker. Acorn Woodpeckers that are safely called migrants are pretty rare in the county. As far as nesting birds we had the following: Northern Rough-winged Swallow (2 pairs under Highway 4), Black Phoebe, Cliff Swallow, Mourning Dove (flushed off of a nest with eggs), Bushtit, Starling, Loggerhead Shrike (2 begging juveniles already off of the nest), Red-tailed Hawk (2 pairs with nests, both in eucalyptuses). The highlight was easily 4 Great Egret nests and 5 Great Blue Heron nests in a eucalyptus just east of the town of Clyde. These are the first Great Egret nests for the atlas and I was seriously wondering if we would get them or not. There could easily be more rookerys in isolated eucalyptus clumps in north county so keep an eye out.
Steve Glover
Wildcat Canyon
Thu, 22 Apr 1999 17:45:19 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
Ore Carmi and I birded Wildcat Canyon this morning. The wind became steadily stronger all morning, so it was hard to see many birds. I had to depend heavily on Ore's steadily improving ear for calls and songs. I did spot a Western Tanager in a eucalyptus near our starting point at Alvarado Staging Area, but it disappeared before Ore got a look at it. We worked our way south to Rifle Range Road before giving up in the rising gale and heading home. Highlight was a female Purple Finch singing heartily while balancing precariously in the wind on the very tip-top of a conifer.
Here's our combined list for the morning:
Double-crested Cormorant (flyover), Turkey Vulture, Cooper's Hawk (heard and possibly seen), Red-shouldered Hawk (possible), Red-tailed Hawk, Mourning Dove, Anna's Hummingbird, Selasphorus hummingbird, Nuttall's Woodpecker, Pacific-slope Flycatcher (heard), Black Phoebe, Hutton's Vireo, Warbling Vireo (heard), Steller's Jay, Western Scrub-Jay, Tree Swallow, Violet-Green Swallow, Cliff Swallow (possible), Barn Swallow, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Bushtit, Red-breasted Nuthatch (heard), Bewick's Wren, Brown Creeper (heard), American Robin, Wrentit (heard), California Thrasher (heard), Cedar Waxwing, Orange-crowned Warbler (heard), Yellow-rumped Warbler, Townsend's Warbler, Wilson's Warbler (heard), Western Tanager, Spotted Towhee, California Towhee, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-winged Blackbird (heard), Brown-headed Cowbird (heard), Purple Finch, Lesser Goldfinch
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
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