Piper Slough and Big Break Trail
Thu, 3 Jun 1999 15:14:11 PDT
From: Denise Wight
Hi EBB Birders,
Piper Slough at the [north] end of Bethel Island Rd. was very productive this morning. The lack of wind and cool overcast may have helped. We saw 2 Yellow-breasted Chats well, 1 male Black-chinned Hummingbird (there were 2 males on Tuesday), and 3 male Blue Grosbeaks. There were also 2 Willow Flycatchers, a Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Bullock's Orioles, Western Kingbirds, and more. We never heard Lazuli Bunting or the Indigo Bunting. We heard Yellow Warbler (seen on Tuesday), but encountered no exceptional migrants.
From Big Break Trail we could see two male Redheads on the Ironhouse ponds.
Please take note:
Tuesday, we were told by a workman to walk only on the levees, and not on
the dirt area below!
Denise Wight
Martinez, CA
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Piper Slough 6/2/99
Thu, 3 Jun 1999 15:19:11 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello atlasers and East Bay Birders,
This morning I took advantage of the weather which was ideal for vagrants. Naturally I didn't find any, but at least the wind has died. At Piper Slough today I had the following highlights:
Ring-necked Pheasant - 2 family groups, finally a confirmation for that block. I also heard some calls from the young, something I had never heard before.Barn Swallow - Young begging from the nest
Western Wood-Pewee - One, somewhat late
Common Yellowthroat - Fledglings in several spots
Blue Grosbeak - Several singingBlack-chinned Hummingbird - 2 or 3 males and a female sitting on a nest in a willow. I think that this is the first confirmation for the atlas.
Western Scrub-Jay - Fledglings heard at 2 locations
Hooded Oriole - Female carrying food into a palm at the end of Bethel Island Rd
Yellow Warbler - One male, presumably a somewhat late migrant
Yellow-breasted Chat - At least 4 but probably 5 singing
Willow Flycatcher - One
Nuttall's Woodpecker - Adult feeding young still in nest
Swainson's Thrush - One
Other birds included Green Heron, Caspian Tern, Black-headed Grosbeak, Bullock's Oriole, and Lazuli Bunting.
The male Indigo Bunting from last year does not appear to have returned this year, at least not to last years spot. There is a lot of dumptruck traffic very close to the site however.
Good birding,
Steve GLover
Re: Piper Slough and Big Break Trail
Thu, 3 Jun 1999 16:07:51 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello East Bay Birders,
In her report for Iron House Denise Wight mentioned that she and her group had 2 male Redheads. This is a significant record as there are no county records for such a late date. It is a bit early to pin these birds down as "summer" as they could be very late migrants but I have no county records after February! This is always a hard bird to find in the county so there are admittedly very few records to compare it with. In addition there are probably records that have never been published for later in the spring. Still, this is exceedingly late.
The few East Bay nest records come from southern Alameda County and are so old that they are mentioned in Grinnell and Miller (1945)!
Steve Glover
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Weekend fieldtrip listings
Thu, 3 Jun 1999 18:44:47 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
Sorry, folks, but it's been a hectic week or two. I just added some more birding fieldtrips to the listings for June 5 and 6, although most of these are out of the immediate East Bay area.
I'll try to stay farther ahead for the rest of the month!
Oh yes, there's also a recent Rex Burress essay about Wood Ducks and nest boxes on the EBBC site. And I've made a couple of changes and additions on the links page.
Happy birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
http://www.best.com/~folkbird/
EBBC website:
http://www.best.com/~folkbird/EBBC/
Wildcat Gorge Trail, Tilden Regional Park
Thu, 3 Jun 1999 20:20:26 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
This morning Alan Kaplan led a birding walk along Wildcat Gorge Trail in Tilden Regional Park, beginning near the Pony Ride and working our way toward Lake Anza. There were a number of birds singing near the beginning of the trail and the Meadows area (which Alan says was a model airplane field a couple of decades ago). But the highlight of the walk came not too far from Lake Anza when we emerged from thickly wooded areas along Wildcat Creek to a grassy hillslope above us on our left. We stood here for a long time, with more and more birds appearing up the hillside and then coming down to pose at close range for us. Finally, with time for the walk running out, we simply headed back to the starting point without ever completing the walk to Lake Anza. On that hillside we saw a pair of Lazuli Buntings (female carrying nesting material), a pair of Black-headed Grosbeaks, both American and Lesser Goldfinches, hummingbirds, Song Sparrows, and others.
Here is my list of the group's observations on the walk:
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) - pair flying over
Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) - heard only
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) - heard (might have been jays)
Band-tailed Pigeon (Columba fasciata) - one flying over
Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Allen's Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin)
Pacific-slope Flycatcher (Empidonax difficilis) - heard only
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
Hutton's Vireo (Vireo huttoni) - heard only
Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus) - heard only
Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)
Tree Swallow and/or Violet-green Swallow (Tachycineta sp.)
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens) - adults seen, immatures heard
Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)
Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus)
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata) - heard only
Wilson's Warbler (Wilsonia pusilla)
Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)
California Towhee (Pipilo crissalis)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)
Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus)
Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena)
Lesser Goldfinch (Carduelis psaltria)
American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)
Happy birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA