Briones Regional Park, Orinda
Thu, 19 Apr 2001 22:57:50 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
It was a nice if overcast morning for Alan Kaplan's East Bay Regional Parks birdwalk at the Bear Creek Rd (west) entrance to Briones Regional Park.
Highlights included a Western Screech-Owl in the usual tree cavity by the trail (fire road) to the rifle range, quail calling almost constantly, an Ash-throated Flycatcher calling, a pair of Bullock's Orioles, at least 4 Acorn Woodpeckers, and a Barn Swallow. After the walk, a few of us explored the other parking lot and added a Chipping Sparrow, some White-throated Swifts, a Western Bluebird, and a Black-headed Grosbeak to the Briones list for the day. But no Lazuli Bunting or Western Tanager.
Here's my best effort a capturing the collective list for the walk and afterwalk:
4 Turkey Vulture
3 Mallard - flyover
1 Cooper's Hawk
1 Red-tailed Hawk
2+ California Quail - heard calling, some seen on roads before and after walk
2 Band-tailed Pigeon
1 Mourning dove - heard calling
1 Western Screech-Owl - seen from distance in hole
3+ White-throated Swift - flyover after walk
4 Anna's Hummingbird
4 Acorn Woodpecker
2 Northern Flicker - 1 seen
1 Pacific-slope Flycatcher - heard calling
1 Black Phoebe - seen after walk
1 Ash-throated Flycatcher - heard calling
3 Hutton's Vireo - 1 seen
8+ Steller's Jay - heard calling, 2 seen
4 Western Scrub-Jay
1 American Crow
1 Barn Swallow
15+ Chestnut-backed Chickadee - mostly heard
3+ Oak Titmouse - heard
3 Bewick's Wren - heard singing
1 Western Bluebird - seen after walk
6 American robin - 1 gathering nest material
2+ Wrentit - heard singing
7+ European Starling
4 Orange-crowned Warbler - 1 seen
4+ Wilson's Warbler - 2 seen
4 Spotted Towhee - 2 seen
1 California Towhee
1 Chipping Sparrow - seen singing after walk
2+ Song Sparrow - heard singing
3+ Dark-eyed Junco - heard singing
1 Black-headed Grosbeak - male seen singing after walk
2 Bullocks Oriole
1 Purple Finch - heard singing
On the way home, I stopped briefly at Inspiration Point in Tilden Regional Park for a short walk north on Nimitz Way, adding to my day's list: Golden-crowned Sparrow, Allen's Hummingbird, Violet-green Swallow, and American Goldfinch.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Find that dowitcher - at Arrowhead Marsh
Fri, 20 Apr 2001 13:37:38 -0700
From: Mike Ezekiel
Earlier this week I posted a message to EBB about a colour-banded dowitcher I saw at the Mitigation Marsh, Arrowhead Marsh area, Martin Luther King Regional Shoreline, Oakland. I posted a note to Dr. Cheri Gratto-Trevor, following a link I saw in North Bay Birds posted by Myra Uvang about the Pan American Shorebird Program (PASP) at
http://www.mb.ec.gc.ca/nature/migratorybirds/pasp/index.en.html
After some correspondence, I received the note below from Lee Tibbets of Anchorage, Alaska, regarding the bird.
However, I am not certain that the band color matches his birds - if anyone sees a banded Short-billed Dowitcher at Arrowhead or Mitigation Marsh this weekend, try to get the flag and band colors and let them know. I am going to try to get out there Saturday morning if if doesnt rain, but have to work this weekend.
Mike Ezekiel
Dear Mr. Ezekiel,
The banded dowitcher that you saw in Oakland could be one of the birds I banded up here in Cook Inlet, Alaska. I have a bird with combination GfO:Y/m = kelly green flag over orange on the upper left, yellow on upper right, metal on lower right. It seems like the kelly green bands would be difficult to mistake for "blue green", however, so I hesitate to call it.
If it is this bird then it was banded at Susitna Flats State Game Refuge in upper Cook Inlet on 8 June 1997. At the time it had a mate and a brood of 4 chicks. This bird was seen a few more times over the next 2 weeks as it defended its brood. DNA analysis of its blood indicated that it was a male.
I am not sure if you have had a chance to visit the PASP website and check out the colors of the different shorebird flags. Please let me know what you think about the flag colors and hopefully we can identify this bird.
As you know, sightings of banded birds provide important information on species movements and general ecology. If this is the bird I banded, then this will be the first sighting outside of Alaska of one of approximately 50 short-billed dowitchers banded in upper Cook Inlet. Exciting!
Sincerely,
LeeLee Tibbitts
Shorebird Project
USGS-BRD
Alaska Biological Science Center
1011 E. Tudor Rd.
Anchorage, AK 99503 USA
tel: 907 786 3340 fax: 907 786 3636
Original Message Subject Index