[EBB Sightings] bird activity is....mushrooming

Hi Steve et al,
 Re: the "Bells"... As I said, not sure what exactly I
saw, other than it was a drab greenish yellow vireo
with distinct spectacles. What else could it have
been? An oddly plumaged Huttons? 

I have never heard a mockingbird do a Swainson's song;
they are great mimics, but that one may be beyond
their abilities. Did only hear the first two notes of
the maybe olive sided..the explosive Quick, then
two...the Swainson's was the unmistakeable eerie
rising warble. If it was a mockingbird, then my hat is
off. I heard no typical mockingbird triplets, tho. 

If those birds are what I truly heard, then others
should be hearing and seeing similar evidence. I
appreciate the skepticism, just reporting my aural and
optical observations.   

Debbie Viess

Steve Glover  wrote:

> Hi all,
> As Joe mentioned, there is a report of nesting
> Bell's
> Vireos in Alameda County in 1932. There was a
> subsequent report from 1937 when a nest was found
> and
> the young banded (Gull V. 19 #7). The location was
> along Corral Hollow Road. The catch here is that
> Charles G. Sibley, in "The Birds of the South San
> Francisco Bay Region," states that the location of
> the
> 1932 record was just inside San Joaquin County. The
> same may also be true for the 1937 record. 
> 
> There have been no Alameda County records in the
> intervening 70+ years and there are zero records for
> Contra Costa County. 
> 
> Additionally, two other things argue against the
> possibility of a Bell's Vireo. First, the habitat at
> that location is completely wrong for a Bell's
> Vireo.
> Second, it is far too early for this species. For
> example, Bell's Vireos arrive in San Diego County
> about the third week of March.
> 
> Hope this helps,
> Steve Glover
> Dublin
> 
> --- Joseph Morlan  wrote:
> 
> > On Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:35:53 -0800 (PST), debbie
> > viess
> >  wrote:
> > 
> > >On Sunday at Lake Chabot, I heard the first
> > snatches
> > >of a Swainson's thrush song, and just maybe the
> > first
> > >few notes of an Olive Sided Flycatcher (Quick
> > Threee,
> > >hold the beers), too.
> > 
> > These would be unprecedented. According to
> Weston's
> > data from Berkeley
> > (cited in the Marin County Breeding Bird Atlas) 
> > 
> > Earliest Olive-sided is March 28th 
> > Earliest Swainson's Thrush is April 14th
> > 
> > For all of California (1972-1984)
> > 
> > Earliest Olive-sided is March 19th 
> > Earliest Swainson's Thrush is April 6th
> > 
> > Similar arrival schedules have been noted in Santa
> > Cruz County with data
> > going back 33 years:
> > 
> >
http://santacruzbirdclub.org/Spring%20Arrival%20Dates.htm
> > 
> > Clearly something very unusual is going on. 
> > 
> > -- 
> > Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA 94044   jmorlan (at)
> > ccsf.edu 
> > Birding Classes start Feb 5 in SF  
> > http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/
> > California Bird Records Committee  
> > http://www.wfo-cbrc.org/cbrc/
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