Patterson Pass Road, Friday
Sun, 10 Oct 1999 11:12:28 -0700
From: Courtenay Peddle
Hello folks,
I was able to spend a couple of hours birding Patterson Pass Road [east of Livermore] Friday from 10 to noon. Here's the list:
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus)
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) - see comment below
Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)
Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus)
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Nuttall's Woodpecker (Picoides nuttallii)
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Common Raven (Corvus corax)
Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus)
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii)
swallow species, probably Cliff Swallow (quien sabe)
Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)
Lesser Goldfinch (Carduelis psaltria)
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
Golden-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia atricapilla)
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis)
Canyon Towhee (Pipilo fuscus)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta)
Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus)
I saw 34 Red-tailed Hawks, including one dark morph.
Good birding!
Courtenay Peddle
El Cerrito
Sun, 10 Oct 1999 13:47:45 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
This morning I did a little birding just up the hill from my house in El Cerrito around Huber Park. There is a nice little woodland just uphill from the main part of the park, but I found the surrounding residential area even more interesting.
The highlight was a small flock of California Quail (2 males, 2 females) in a small vacant lot with a sizeable clump of very thick brush, not far from the intersection of Shevlin & Terrace Drives. I also found a pair of Red-breasted Sapsuckers in a tree on block-long Hancock Way. There were lots of Golden-crowned Sparrows, and I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of male Purple Finches along Terrace Dr.
After that, I drove up to Rifle Range Rd and walked down its fireroad extension into Wildcat Canyon Regional Park. There were quite a few mixed flocks of Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Bushtits moving through the trees along the trail, and I spotted a Hermit Warbler with one flock. Fox Sparrows were quite numerous in the undergrowth near the trail, and I saw both Wrentit and Spotted Towhee also nearby. As on Thursday at Sibley, there seemed to be a surprising lack of soaring birds - I saw only one Turkey Vulture and one Red-shouldered Hawk.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
GGAS Trip: End of Grant Ave
Sun, 10 Oct 1999 16:58:52 -0700
From: Rusty Scalf
This is the result of today's Golden Gate Audubon Society trip, which began at the west end of Grant Ave, San Leandro / San Lorenzo Calif. (We were on both sides of the line.)
Tide was quite low, but when we started was already marching in. Shorebird viewing got better and better, though the sought-after knot was never found.
11 participants from 3 Audubon chapters (Ohlone, Mt. Diablo, and Golden Gate).
61 species, Many thousand of shorebirds and a nice assortment of raptors.
Pied-billed Grebe
Aechmophorus sp. (1 distant)
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Canada Goose
Green-winged Teal
Mallard
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Surf Scoter (quite distant)
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Osprey
Red-tailed Hawk
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
American Kestrel
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher (a few by voice)
dowitcher sp.
California Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Western Gull
Forster's Tern
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Black Phoebe
Common Raven
Marsh Wren (heard)
Mockingbird
European Starling
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
California Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow (heard)
White-crowned Sparrow
Western Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
San Pablo Reservoir, Oct 5
Sun, 10 Oct 1999 18:11:53 -0700
From: Tom Condit
Here's what I saw last Monday on a walk up the west side of San Pablo Reservoir, via Orinda Connector Trail from trailhead at Camino San Pablo and Bear Creek Road to Oursan Trail to Old San Pablo Trail to San Pablo boat launching area. (You need an EBMUD trail permit for these trails. They're obtainable at the EBMUD office in downtown Oakland, at Lafayette Reservoir, and I think at some watershed headquarters and EBRPD offices.)
Double-crested Cormorant (many)
Great Blue Heron (four)
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Canada Goose (many)
Mallard (quite a few)
Turkey Vulture (at least six)
Osprey (two, one with a fish)
Red-tailed Hawk
California Quail (one perched on a shrub, others hiding but vocal in area)
American Ccoot (only one!)
Killdeer (two)
gull sp.
Forster's Tern (many)
Mourning Dove (about four)
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker (only two!)
woodpecker sp. heard tapping, but not seen
Tree Swallow (a handful over the reservoir)
swallow sp.
Steller's Jay (about six, but more heard)
Western Scrub-Jay (two or three, but more heard)
American Crow (two)
Common Raven (two)
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (many more heard than seen)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (six or seven in a small flock - never saw this before)
American Robin (about four)
Townsend's Warbler (one seen clearly, possibly others in same tree)
Golden-crowned Sparrow (one immature - my first of the season)
White-crowned Sparrow (about a dozen, all immature)
Dark-eyed Junco (many)Black-tailed deer (two)
Fox Squirrel (at least six)lizard sp.
Dragonflies
Small butterflies
Flies in general
If any of you fish, the tackle shop proprietor says folks are having good luck with trout and catfish, fair to poor with bass and crappies. No shore fishing here.
Not much water yet in the area where the wood ducks hang out in winter.
Tom Condit