[EBB Sightings] Brushy Peak

Birders,

This morning Pat and I birded the recently opened Brushy Peak  
Regional Preserve near Livermore.
While observing a LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE from the parking lot we noticed a  
PRAIRIE FALCON above the ridge behind the smaller but equally  
ferocious predator. There was a SAY'S PHOEBE at the park residence,  
the first of several. Heading up Brushy Peak Trail we soon flushed  
the first of many AMERICAN PIPITS.  A few minutes later we spotted a  
MERLIN sitting on a fence post; we had 3 on the day. Further up the  
trail Pat got on a COOPER'S HAWK sitting in a cottonwood tree  
consuming a large rat. It had a metal band on its left leg. (The  
hawk, not the rat.) As we approached the point where Brushy Peak  
trail doubles back, we heard the tremolo song of a LESSER NIGHTHAWK  
coming from the eucalyptus grove on the hillside above us. (Yes, I  
know it's the wrong place at the wrong time, but that's my story and  
I'm sticking with it!)

Because Brushy Peak Regional Preserve is a new birding venue I've  
included below a complete list of the birds we saw at the park today.  
This is an area of mostly wide-open spaces with lots of distant  
raptors. Take your scope. For directions and a map: http:// 
www.ebparks.org

Yesterday, while riding our bikes out to Las Trampas Regional  
Wilderness, Pat and I saw an immature FERRUGINOUS HAWK, at first  
perched and then in flight, halfway between Crow Canyon Rd and the  
north end of Bollinger Canyon Rd. It looked suspiciously similar to  
the one that perched across the street from our house last week.

Dennis and Patricia Braddy
San Ramon


In the order seen:

Brewer's Blackbird
European Starling
Common Raven
Northern Mockingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
Prairie Falcon
Brown-headed Cowbird
Northern Flicker
Ring-billed Gull
Western Scrub-Jay
Say's Phoebe
House Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
American Pipit
Savannah Sparrow
Western Meadowlark
Merlin
Red-tailed Hawk
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Yellow-rumped Warbler
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Black Phoebe
Tree/Violet-green Swallow
Cooper's Hawk
Hermit Thrush
Song Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Nuttall's Woodpecker
House Finch
Lesser Nighthawk
Anna's Hummingbird
American Kestrel
Turkey Vulture
American Robin
Killdeer
Rock Pigeon