Possible Summer Tanager
Mon, 27 Mar 2000 07:10:27 -0800 (PST)
From: Karen Peterson
Hi everyone
At the Tilden Nature area about noon on Sunday the 26th I saw what was identified by others as a Summer Tanager! The bird was yellow with olive wings and back, no wing bars, with blotches of red on the cheeks, neck, rump, and vent area. It looked somewhat like the eastern female in the National Geographic guide 2nd edition, or like the molting Scarlet Tanager without the dark wings. I see that it winters in Southern California, but I didn't expect to see it here and was completely at a loss. It was located above the Visitor Center, beyond and to the left of the fenced-in animal area. I went down to the Visitor Center to report it and they said 2 other people reported it as a definite Summer Tanager which they saw very early on the road to Jewel Lake.
Karen Peterson
Reply #1 Reply #2 Reply #3 Reply #4 Reply #5 Subject Index
Cassin's vs Purple Finch?
Mon, 27 Mar 2000 12:03:56 -0800
From: Martha Lowe
Hi,
I saw and heard what I think was a Cassin's Finch today. It was singing in the hedge outside my door. By sight I thought it was a Purple Finch but its song was all over the place! Lots of mimicking - from Bewick's Wren to Steller's Jay. On my Peterson's CD-Rom it says for Cassin's Finch that "the complicated song of the male often includes brief imitations of other birds". Does anyone know if Purple Finches mimic as well? The bird I heard was almost as good as a mockingbird! Do Cassin's show up here regularly? I didn't get such a good look at the bird but it appeared to have a more intense red patch on its head - a la Cassin's.
Oh, the Hermit Thrush is still singing in the neighborhood - it is either farther away than I think it is or singing rather sub voce - and there was one checking out the finch this morning. Is anyone else still seeing Hermit Thrushes?
Thanks,
Martha
Re: Spring Arrivals
Mon, 27 Mar 2000 12:36:13 -0800
From: Ore Carmi
Scott Hein wrote:
The cowbirds can't be far behind....
The cowbirds are back in Berkeley since at least Saturday.
ore
Original Message Subject Index
Mitchell Canyon, March 25
Mon, 27 Mar 2000 13:37:50 -0800
From: Tom Condit
Well, it must be spring ... Marsha Feinland and I saw our first mystery flycatcher of the season at the junction of the Mitchell Canyon and Eagle Peak Trails (a few yards from the Mitchell Canyon parking lot in Mount Diablo State Park, south of Clayton) on the edge of Mount Diablo. My guess is that it was an immature Western Wood-Pewee: dark gray above, light below, wing streaks but no obvious wing bars, no apparent crest, no facial markings at all that I could see - but Marsha said she saw a light half-circle behind the eye with her 9Xs. With exemplary planning, we had brought neither field guides nor writing material, so that's the best I can do.
Oak Titmouse singing vigorously from a tree by the parking lot, and later one carrying nesting material into the same tree. Bewick's Wrens and titmice (titmousies?) singing along the trail up Mitchell Canyon.
Still lots of wildflowers and many, many orange-tipped Sarah [Sara orangetip butterflies] flitting about.
Tom Condit
White-throated Sparrow in El Cerrito
Mon, 27 Mar 2000 13:52:06 -0800
From: Larry Tunstall
A White-throated Sparrow made a brief appearance in my yard this morning. It was either an immature bird or the "tan stripe" morph still in molt, but the yellow lores and white throat were quite distinct. A little earlier, an immature Golden-crowned Sparrow had been here. I have a regular flock of around 20 to 25 White-crowned Sparrows over the winter, with the occasional Golden-crowned Sparrow showing up, but this is the first time I've seen a White-throated Sparrow. Another first was a Hermit Thrush that visited briefly on Saturday.
I'm located a few blocks north of the El Cerrito Plaza BART station.
On Sunday morning at Tilden Regional Park, I was puzzled by a hummingbird perched in the tree that grows in one of the "nature ponds" (in the meadow behind the stone drinking fountain along the road between the Visitor Center and Jewel Lake). The hummer appeared to be sitting in bright sunlight, and I was able to walk almost entirely around the bird, observing it at fairly close range through binoculars. The head, throat, and upper back appeared to be a flat black - the only irridescent color I could see was a bright golden flash from the edges of the gorget when the sun was behind me. In particular, I was unable to see any hint of purple at the lower edge of the gorget. The breast was a purplish gray, with white under the tail. The lower back had a distinctly bluish green color. The bird seemed smaller than an Anna's Hummingbird, about the size of a Selasphorus.
Earlier in the morning, Karen Peterson and I had seen similar golden flashes from a Selasphorus hummingbird up along Upper Packrat Trail. All things considered, considering that no likely visiting hummer has the appearance I saw, my best guess is that the mystery bird was a Selasphorus with the light playing tricks on me to disguise the color patterns.
The Hutton's Vireo nest is still right beside Upper Packrat Trail (a couple of feet above eye level in a small tree), but we didn't see the vireos. We encountered Dr Gilbert, working on his warbler studies, and he said that he had seen the birds in the nest. He suggested that the nest had reached the stage of lining, and that he has noted with the warblers that visits to the nest drop to only a couple per hour when the nest is at that stage. Karen also spotted a Bushtit nest near Upper Packrat Trail, this one much higher above the trail and well hidden (as usual) in the foliage.
Dr Gilbert said that so far he has identified three of his banded Orange-crowned Warblers from last year back on their territories along Upper Packrat, and three unbanded males (probably first-year birds) who are trying to stake out territories there. Wilson's Warblers and Townsend's Warblers were fairly numerous along the trail.
I've been visiting Rifle Range Road on the west side of Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, in preparation for surveying some plots there for the Point Reyes Bird Observatory study later in the spring. A pair of Cooper's Hawks are carrying on a lot of courting activity there, and other birders I encountered on two different days each reported seeing them carrying nesting material. One person was working on a Golden Gate Raptor Observatory study of nesting raptors, and he reported that a pair successfully fledged offspring in this area last year. The fact that one of these birds (probably the male) seems comfortable sitting in fairly plain sight near the trail and watching people walk by (undisturbed even when you stop and study it through binoculars) strongly suggests that these are the same birds, since the male of last year's nesting pair exhibited that behavior.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Spring
Mon, 27 Mar 2000 15:26:56 -0800
From: Don Lewis
Well, I can join the crowd of spring-is-here reports. Saw my first Warbling Vireo of the year this morning, near Moraga's Rancho Laguna Park.
Don Lewis
Lafayette, CA
More Spring
Mon, 27 Mar 2000 17:22:40 PST
From: Mark Rauzon
I too join the crowd of spring-is-here reports. On Saturday the first Double-crested Cormorant nest was observed during our study on the Richmond San Rafael Bridge with one egg... expecting 400 more nests...
By the way, Caltrans says that a pair of Black Oystercatchers nest on Castro Rocks.
Mark Rauzon
Wildcat Canyon on March 24
Mon, 27 Mar 2000 17:39:17 -0800
From: Bruce Mast
Just a belated note on my hike through Wildcat Canyon Regional Park [east of Richmond] last Friday afternoon. My wife and I started in at Rifle Range Road, hiked up Havey Canyon, and back along the Mezue Trail. Hutton's Vireos along Rifle Range trail. Not too much bird activity along Havey - mostly Spotted Towhees, Dark-eyed Juncos, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and other permanent residents. Highlights of the hike were several flocks of Lark Sparrows along Mezue and a Great Horned Owl at the junction of Rifle Range and Wildcat Creek Trails.
Bruce Mast
Albany, CA
Summer Tanager
Mon, 27 Mar 2000 19:15:27 -0800
From: Emilie Strauss
The immature Summer Tanager was still present this morning in Tilden Regional Park. It was seen from approximately 9 to 11 AM in the same location reported yesterday by Karen Peterson. It was located above the Visitor Center, beyond and to the left of the fenced-in animal area.
It was also seen by George Griffeth and Bob Brandiff.
Original Message Next Reply Subject Index
If not Barn Owl, then what?
Mon, 27 Mar 2000 19:50:34 -0800
From: Judy
This is really frustrating without a scope ... that Barn Owl up in the tree in Laurel on 39th at Bayo, well it's too white and I'm too far away to see any detail ... unless Barn Owls have a different plumage sometimes? The body is much too white according to the books. I went over to the area, but could not spot from the ground. If it hadn't left and returned I would have thought I was hallucinating on some caught paper plate up there, or part of a kite. I was talking to a neighbor when it left so I missed the flight. I think too large for egret. I am a good long block away and I would have to go into private backyards to get closer.
Original Message Subject Index
Re: Mitchell Canyon, March 25
Mon, 27 Mar 2000 21:43:31 PST
From: Steve Glover
Tom and all,
The more likely identification for the mystery flycatcher is Hammond's Flycatcher. Western Wood-Pewees typically arrive about mid-April, while Hammond's traditionally arrives in very late March. They are also quite dull and do have an eyering that widens behind the eye. Pacific-slope Flycatchers, of course, occur in Mitchell Canyon but should be quite yellow below. In my experience the Hammond's also outnumber the Pacific-slopes in Mitchell on most spring days.
Steve Glover
Dublin, CA
Original Message Subject Index