Yellow Warbler in my central Berkeley
backyard...
Mon, 8 May 2000 07:10:25 -0700
From: Becca Freed
...singing, last night and this morning. Gee, the less yard maintenance I do, the better my "yard list" gets ...
Becca Freed
Berkeley CA
East Contra Costa County, 6 and 7 May
Mon, 8 May 2000 14:12:17 EDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello all,
I was able to get out the past two afternoons to do some atlasing in eastern Contra Costa County and had a few interesting birds.
On Saturday at the ponds at the east end of Camino Diablo Rd near Byron, there was a Black Tern off to the north, and a Cinnamon Teal with young and lots of Tricolored Blackbirds going back and forth to the tules to the southeast. To see into the ponds next to the road I stand on the trunk of my car.
At the east end of Orwood Rd there were 3 Wilson's Warblers, a male Black-chinned Hummingbird, and at least 2 pairs of Blue Grosbeaks. The grosbeaks are actually slightly back to the west, closer to where the road goes up and over the pipes.
From the railroad tracks near the marina, I was able to scope out a Swainson's Hawk carrying nest material into a large cottonwood. There was also an out-of-place Western Grebe in the harbor.
Heading back west, there was a pair of Swainson's Hawks carrying food to a nest in a eucalyptus near Orwood Resort.
At Holland Tract on Delta Rd, east of Knightsen, there was another Swainson's Hawk carrying food to a large willow on the south side of Rock Slough, just east of the bridge that gets you onto the tract. The wet area north of the road had 30 Black-necked Stilts, 20 Mallard, 14 Canada Geese, and a pair of Blue Grosbeak. Further along there was a female Mallard with 9 precocial young.
From the east end of Holland Tract I was able to scope out yet another active Swainson's Hawk nest well to the north. We now have confirmed Swainson's Hawks in 8 blocks, a major surprise based on previous history.
Yesterday I ventured out into the drizzle again. At the small pond on Bruns Rd in Alameda Co. there was a single Red-necked Phalarope.
South of Clifton Court Forebay on Herdlyn Rd there was a Raven feeding young on a transmission tower. We have now confirmed Raven in 20 blocks. There were only two county nest records before the atlas.
I went to Iron House Sanitary [in Oakley] late in the afternoon, hoping for Least Bittern at dusk. No dice, although I did hear 8 American Bitterns pumping. Over 400 Whimbrels went by flying north in several flocks, including one with 260 birds. A wet area at the east end of the property near Marsh Creek should be good for breeding waterfowl if water levels stay high. There were about 75 pairs of Mallard, 30 of Cinnamon Teal, 15 of Gadwall, and two of Northern Shoveler. The highlight here was a breeding-plumage Red-throated Loon that was probably unhealthy.
Steve Glover
Dublin, CA
Contra Costa Breeding Bird Atlas
Mon, 8 May 2000 14:26:38 EDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello everyone,
As many of you may remember, the Contra Costa County Breeding Bird Atlas is in progress and now in it's third year. Because the county is relatively small and because we have so many hard-working volunteers we have made tremendous progress and I have no doubt that we will be done in five years. If anyone is interested in seeing the results of the first two years it is now on the web thanks to the hard work of Joel Herr. Maps for each species can be viewed on Joel's website at
http://www.flyingemu.com/ccosta
Please remember that these maps are for the first two years only and do not have any of this years data. Also keep in mind that very little review has been done as of yet with the exception of a handfull of obviously erroneous reports. Hope you enjoy it.
Gotta go, I have a Yellow-nosed Albatross that I will be dropping off at a nearby reservoir.
I hope everyone is having a nice spring
Steve Glover
Dublin, CA
Fwd: SCVAS Mines Road trip
Mon, 08 May 2000 12:06:04 -0700
From: Mike Feighner
East-Bay-Birders:
Forwarding the following message posted just now over SBB [South Bay birding e-mail list] regarding Mines Road and Patterson Pass Road ... .
Mike Feighner, Livermore, CA
Date: Mon, 08 May 2000 11:40:08 -0700
From: Gloria
Subject: [SBB] SCVAS Mines Road tripI had never been on Mines Road, or anywhere in the area of this Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society trip.
We began at the Highway #5 Patterson Road exit on Saturday, May 6 at 8:30 AM. At 0.2 miles we had a Grasshopper Sparrow sitting on a fencepost along the road with an adult and immature Golden Eagle soaring in the valley behind it. At 0.7 miles we stopped because a Burrowing Owl flew in front of us. It landed on a fence post, next to a second one. Then I noticed a couple of "different" birds sitting on a fence closer to us. They were lifers for me, Blue Grosbeaks, a male and a female. They flew to the thistle behind the fence the owls were sitting on. Then on another post, between the grosbeaks and the owls was an Ash-throated Flycatcher. Birds were within perhaps 20 feet of each other. Definately a sight to behold.
We saw Lawrence's Goldfinches at several locations and the Lewis' Woodpecker where it had been reported sighted. A Barn Owl was inside a hole in some high rocks ... easy to detect due to the whiteness below the hole. Had wonderful views of Costa's Hummingbirds at 2 different locations.
A pair of Northern Rough-winged Swallows were nesting in the bank next to the road. A pair of Canyon Wrens appeared to be nesting. Altogether we had 6 Golden Eagles. A pair of Phainopepla were at the last stop on our trip.
I saw 64 species ... if you add to that birds I missed or birds heard, the trip list was probably 80. A delightful day with perfect weather.
Gloria LeBlanc
Swainson's Thrushes
Mon, 8 May 2000 13:50:03 -0700
From: Ore Carmi
hi,
I heard Swainson's Thrushes flying over Berkeley Saturday night. There was one today on the UC Berkeley campus.
Missing birdwalks terribly,
ore
Mines Rd, San Antonio Valley, Del Puerto
Canyon
08 May 2000 15:00:15 -0700
From: Les Chibana
Hi all,
[Sorry for the cross-posting duplicates that some of you may get.]
On Saturday 6 May, I took part of my birding class on our spring run down the Mines Rd route, starting in Alameda County, into Santa Clara County, finishing in Stanislaus County.
Alameda County:
At the Murrietta Wells Winery stop, we found a very vocal pair of American
Kestrel visiting one of the nest boxes along the creek. They were both
going in and out the box, and I don't think any carrying of food or nesting
material was noticed. About 40 feet downstream, at the next box, a female
Wood Duck was checking out the accommodations; she eventually entered
this box. Her mate was perched nearby on a snag over the creek. These boxes
are the obvious ones on the west bank about 100 yards north of the winery
access road and are easily viewed from the edge of the vineyards on the east
side. Directly west of this point, sighting along and on the northside of
the telephone lines crossing the creek, is a grove of tall eucalyptus. A
dark morph Red-tailed Hawk was perched here above a nest with 3 visible,
fuzzy nestlings. No Great Horned Owl nest was seen this year in this area.
Along Mines Rd just past the fork to Del Valle Reservoir, we saw 4 Golden Eagles. Two were subadults. At the bridge near milepost (MP) 4.7, a male Phainopepla appeared to be going to a nest above the home on the west side of the road. There was a Western Kingbird nest in this tree also.
Near MP 5.5 before the sharp bend with a lot of sticky monkey flowers, we pulled over because the Mt Diablo Audubon was stopped at the higher turnout. This proved to be fortuitous for us as we had two singing Rufous-crowned Sparrows in the sage below the road.
Santa Clara County:
We didn't stop, but the creek area around Ruthie's Treasures n' Trash was
quiet and the riparian vegetation was thin and low. It wasn't as thick as
a couple of years ago, when Yellow-breasted Chat was found.
A pair of Lawrence's Goldfinch made a showing at the Junction, going to the fiddleneck at the edge of the parking lot. A female Selasphorus hummingbird was among the crowd of Anna's Hummingbirds at the Junction. Western Bluebird and European Starling were nesting in the trees above the picnic tables. These oaks were thick with some kind of lepidoptera larva; they were crawling over several tables and up your legs if you set your feet on the ground. More Lawrence's Goldfinch were seen at the firestation.
About 0.25 mile south of the Junction, 2 Lewis' Woodpecker were seen apparently carrying food to a nest. About 4.5 mile south of the Junction we found Chipping Sparrow and Lark Sparrow.
Stanislaus County:
At the turnout at MP 10.4(?), we had Canyon Wren, a distant male
Costa's Hummingbird, and another hummer that appeared to be an immature
Costa's, but I don't know if a fledgling would be expected at this time.
It looked like a Costa's in shape and size, it was a bit dusky on the flanks
and the bill looked proportionately long and curved, compared to Anna's.
I supposed a young Black-chinned is also a possibility. It it didn't seem
white enough on the undersides to be a female Black-chinned Hummingbird.
A Common Raven nest is above the turnout in road cut.
A Say's Phoebe was seen along the road further east.
At the popular Costa's hHummer spot east of the grafitti rocks, we had another gorgeous male Costa's Hummingbird. The only warbler seen was a singing Wilson's Warbler. Bullock's Orioles were easily the most abundant bird of the day; they seemed unusually plentiful. No Sage Sparrows at the cattle guard, not even a peep of a song. No Lazuli Buntings. No Grasshopper Sparrows, no Burrowing Owls.
Les Chibana
Palo Alto
Dimond Canyon
Mon, 08 May 2000 15:41:01 -0700
From: Martha Lowe
Took a walk through Dimond Canyon (Oakland) today. The migrants are out in force - Black-headed Grosbeaks, Orange-crowned Warblers, Wilson's Warblers, Pacific-slope Flycatchers. Also heard a California Thrasher - sounds like a mockingbird with a megaphone and hangs out on the slope above the Bridgview Road end of the trail on the southeast side of the canyon - a Wrentit, Spotted Towhees, and about a million Song Sparrows. Watched a Winter Wren for awhile at the redwood end of the trail - it's amazing that such a loud voice belongs to one of the tiniest birds around.
The Swainson's Thrush have also returned to my neighborhood (Thornhill Canyon) - heard at least two late yesterday for the first time this year! I think my singing Hermit Thrush is still around too, heard it again last week.
Inspired by Les Chibana's recent missive on Mitchell Canyon, I went out there a week or so ago. The highlights for me were two Ash-throated Flycatchers and a Cassin's Vireo (firsts!), as well as a pair of Acorn Woodpeckers and a pair of Mountain Bluebirds. The globe lilies were fantastic! I also ran into a fellow East Bay Birder and we were so busy birding, neither of us thought to introduce ourselves!
Martha
Briones on 6 May; trail closure from 8 to 10
May
Mon, 08 May 2000 18:39:00 -0700
From: Lillian Fujii
Hi.
This is a belated report of a Briones walk along the Abriego Trail from the Bear Valley entrance on 6 May. Highlights were: 1 singing Lazuli Bunting at the parking lot (reliable at this location); 2 Chipping Sparrows (1 at the parking lot, 1 at the Maud Whalen campsite); Lark Sparrows at the same locations as the Chipping Sparrows; 1 Cassin's Vireo; pair of Hutton's Vireo. Lowlight: very little bird song (e.g., only a handful of singing Warbling Vireos as compared to another location we visited on 7 May), and relatively few birds seen - don't know why.
The Homestead Valley Trail (which leads to the archery range) is still closed, although we encountered an archer returning from beyond the closure area. Signs posted advised that the Abriego, Homestead Valley and another trail (I think Briones Valley) would be closed from 8 to 10 May to move cattle.
Happy birding. Lillian Fujii