[EBB Sightings] White-throated Sparrow Castle Rock Park

Started up into the group picnic area and the dam at Castle Rock Park in 
Walnut Creek this morning about 9:45.  A large oak has fallen across the 
road to the picnic area within the last few days and much of it has been 
cleared and dragged to a storage area near the parking lot.  The size of 
some of these oak branches amazed me.

I was watching both American Goldfinches and Pine Siskins working on the oak 
buds high above.  Beyond the logs, and just where the entry road bends 
right, is a bit of an open space next to the barbed wire fence.  A group of 
three oaks is adjacent to the open area.  Out of the low plants at the 
bottom of these oaks came a couple of Golden-crowned Sparrows and a nice 
White-throated Sparrow.  It was out in the open here for several minutes.

Continuing on past the fallen oak, with much of the smaller sawn pieces 
still along the creek, I started hearing the Bullock's Orioles calling from 
high in the oaks around the swimming pool.  A Nuttall's Woodpecker seems to 
be drilling a nest hole above the northwest corner of the pool.  Western 
Bluebirds were also in the trees around the pool.  A Western Kingbird was in 
the trees behind the basketball court.

Beyond the baseball field and going up the hill past the open cut on the 
right, an Orange-crowned Warbler was singing and visible on the left, as was 
a House Wren.

Up the Shell Ridge Loop to the right, I found Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and 
heard Wrentits.  A Fox Sparrow was scratching through the leaf litter in the 
creek bed.

I turned around just past the top of the dam, near the wind-cave rocks.  I 
did not hear or see any Rufous-crowned Sparrows here or along the hillside 
cut, and returned to my car by 12:15 with about 36 species.

Hugh B. Harvey
Walnut Creek