[EBB Sightings] Tilden MacGillivray's Warbler yes, Grasshopper Sparrow no

Pamela Llewellyn and I spent the morning biking and birding along Nimitz Way
in Tilden Regional Park, Contra Costa County. Best bird of the morning was a
MacGillivray's Warbler just past milepost 1/4. The spot was quite birdy
overall but Pamela picked out one chip call that sounded unusual. She
tracked it down to the MacGillivray's in the blackberry vines on the east
(uphill) side of the trail.

Other goodies at that spot included a persistently singing Wilson's Warbler,
a silent Pacific-slope Flycatcher, and singing Purple Finches.

A little further down the road, we stopped at the sound of a House Wren and
discovered a pair apparently setting up house-keeping in a small cavity in
the snag. The same snag had a Red-breasted Nuthatch checking out another
hole. The adjacent snag had a Hairy Woodpecker busy drilling a new hole.

We rode out the Conlon Trail in search of Grasshopper Sparrows but came up
empty. We went about half-way down the trail before we ran out of time and
turned back.

I've posted a few diagnostic photos to a public folder, available here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=cathrasher4&target=ALBUM&id=5318
725681556242033&authkey=Gv1sRgCMC0zYvcte3aYA&feat=email 


Bruce Mast
Oakland