Bethel Island / Piper's Slough and other east Contra
Costa County stops
01 May 2000 12:49:47 -0700
From: Les Chibana
I took my class of birders on a short tour of eastern Contra Costa County on Saturday, 29 April, and found 1 male Black-chinned Hummingbird right at road's end, where, I'll bet, there's always one [north end of Bethel Island Rd]. 2 Western Tanagers seemed to be hanging around the home on the corner of the end of Bethel Island Rd and the lane that goes east. Also saw and heard a Selasphorus hummer in this area. We had 1 or 2 male Blue Grosbeak along the levee, west of the end of the road, where the willows end. Back about 200 yards east of this area, we had a heard-only Yellow-breasted Chat. Three Caspian Terns flew by and 6 (or so) Forster's Terns worked the slough. We saw small flocks of Greater White-fronted Goose in flight in the area. A male Northern Harrier was engaged in display flight. Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warblers were seen but Orange-crowned and Wilson's Warblers and Common Yellowthroat were heard-only.
We checked the fields in Byron along Clifton Rd and saw lots of Burrowing Owls, which was a nice sight. I understand that San Jose and several other cities are mitigating their elimination of prime South Bay Burrowing Owl habitat by purchasing land in Byron, supposedly to be set aside for Burrowing Owl and other short grass critters. Clifton Court Forebay was populated by coot and some heat-shimmering gulls(?).
Initially, a stop at Round Valley Regional Park was very quiet. But after a while, a few common species were seen and heard. We got a really brief sighting of a flying male Phainopepla. An Oak Titmouse was seen carrying food to a nest cavity in a sycamore just north of the bridge in the park.
Nothing special along Morgan Territory Rd or at the Regional Preserve parking lot. Did hear House Wren and Cassin's Vireo singing along the road north of the parking lot.
Les
Les Chibana, Palo Alto, CA
My best bird at Tilden yesterday
Mon, 1 May 2000 18:24:18 -0700
From: Becca Freed
Yesterday during a midday walk on the north side of Tilden Regional Park (on the Meadows Canyon trail), I got good looks at a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Based on the singing I heard, there were several in the same vicinity.
Also seen (but mostly heard) in the same area:
Orange-crowned Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Black-headed Grosbeak
Wrentit
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit
American Robin
Red-tailed Hawk
Western Scrub-Jay
Steller's Jay
swallow sp (Violet-green Swallow?)
Spotted Towhee
American Goldfinch
Lesser Goldfinch
Song Sparrow
I don't know if the Summer Tanager is still hanging around the Little Farm, but I forgot to look for it.
Becca Freed
Berkeley CA
Hayward Shoreline, 2 May 2000
Tue, 02 May 2000 17:48:16 -0700
From: Tom Condit
I took a short walk around the Winton Avenue end of the Hayward Regional Shoreline at noon today (Tuesday, 2 May 2000). Nothing exciting - no sign of Short-eared Owls or Tropical Kingbirds.
A few small grebes (Eared or Horned - too far away for positive identification) on the City of Hayward "private property" lagoon.
Canada Geese (many) and Mallards were the only ducks, geese or swans.
Many, many Willets. A few Killdeer. One Great Egret.
A Black Phoebe singing vigorously from the roof of the ranger's residence.
Horned Larks (ssp. rubea) on the plateau you get to by walking straight out of the main parking lot. Very pretty.
Barn and Cliff Swallows, plus swallow sp.
Song and Savannah Sparrows
House Finches.
Mourning Doves.
Northern Harrier.
Many ground squirrels, one standing on top of the cyclone fence at the residence and holding on to the top strand of barbed wire to survey the area.
Jack rabbits.
That's it.
Tom Condit
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Tropical Kingbird
Wed, 03 May 2000 17:24:38 PDT
From: Peter Dramer
Tom, I'm sure you've heard something like this before but the Tropical Kingbird appeared as you were disappearing around the corner. The bird is still at 3050 W Winton Ave although best seen on an every-other-day basis. One day it will spend the entire day around the maintenance yard and the next day will be seen only once. As I do see it at least once every day it must be close at hand when not actually hanging around the yard.
Peter
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