Very belated Contra Costa County big day
Mon, 30 Apr 2001 22:17:56 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello all,
On Sunday, April 22nd, John Ascher and I did a big day in Contra Costa County. The record stood at 164 but I knew this was very beatable with good conditions.
We started at 4 AM on Bear Valley Rd near the west side of Briones Regional Park and got Western Screech-Owl and Great Horned Owl. Up at Inspiration Point in Tilden Regional Park we got a Northern Saw-whet Owl calling shortly before dawn. Around the Inspiration Point area we got most of the target species including Band-tailed Pigeon, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Pygmy Nuthatch, Winter Wren, all 3 vireos, MacGillivray's Warbler, Purple Finch and Pine Siskin.
Down below at the Botanical Gardens we had a singing Olive-sided Flycatcher. In Richmond we were happy to see that the tide was low, making the shorebirding much easier. In the Richmond area we got most of the target species including Common (1) and Red-throated Loons, Horned (2) and Eared (2) Grebes, Brown Pelican (1), Pelagic Cormorant (2 at West Brother's Island), Black-crowned Night-Heron, Red-breasted Merganser (2), Semipalmated Plover, Black Oystercatcher, Whimbrel, Black Turnstone, Sanderling, and Short-billed Dowitcher. A bonus was a Brant on Brooks Island and a flock of 4 American White Pelicans at Point Molate.
At McNabney Marsh in Martinez we picked up the regular dabbling ducks and "marshy" shorebirds.
At Mitchell Canyon there were many migrants, particularly for the middle of the day, and we got just about everything important for that locale including Golden Eagle, White-throated Swift, Acorn Woodpecker, Western Wood-Pewee, Hammond's Flycatcher, House Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Western Bluebird, Hermit Thrush (in chaparral, as is usual at this time of year), California Thrasher, Nashville Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Townsend's Warbler, Hermit Warbler, MacGillivray's Warbler, Western Tanager, Lazuli Bunting, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Sage Sparrow (2 singing in White Canyon), and Bullock's Oriole.
Heading east to Marsh Creek Reservoir we added Wood Duck. At the intersection of Camino Diablo and Vasco there were Tricolored Blackbirds.
At Iron House Sewer Plant we added Bonaparte's Gull, Lesser Scaup, Green Heron and a few other odds and ends. On Bethel Island we got Black-chinned Hummingbird but opted not to bird Piper Slough as it was windy and we had not been able to find chats the day before. Several Swainson's Hawks were in that general area.
On Delta Rd we added Burrowing Owl and Yellow-billed Magpie and John scored us a male Blue Grosbeak at 50 mph on a fence. We had checked most of the usual spots the day before with no luck so I wasn't really expecting it. In Byron we got Common Snipe, Common Moorhen and Long-billed Dowitcher. At Clifton Court Forebay we added a flock of Cattle Egrets heading north.
The most conspicuous misses on the day were American Bittern, Ring-necked Duck, White-winged Scoter, Osprey, Red-shouldered Hawk, Black Rail (too windy to hear), Sora, Long-billed Curlew, Red Knot, Barn Owl, Short-eared Owl, Lesser Nighthawk, Rufous Hummingbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Varied Thrush, American Pipit, Chipping Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, and Hooded Oriole. All of these birds are seen at least half of the years I have done big days but it doesn't appear to have been a very good year for lingering passerines.
In the end we had 168 species despite the misses with just one species (Cassin's Vireo) that wasn't seen by both of us. 175 still seems possible.
Steve Glover
Dublin
Re: Mitchell Canyon
Mon, 30 Apr 2001 22:21:15 -0700
From: John Sterling
For what it is worth ... I saw and heard a Dusky Flycatcher in the hills in western Merced County last Thursday at Dinosaur Point in similar habitat as found in Mitchell Canyon. I was very surprised. I had fully expected to find Hammond's Flycatcher but did not. There was also a Gray Flycatcher down the hill at Basalt Campground. This is the first Dusky that I have seen in migration in the "lowlands" outside of two in coastal Humboldt County and one in Monterey County. My ratio of Dusky to Hammond's has been at least 1:50 or so in the "lowlands".
John
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Re: Mitchell Canyon
Mon, 30 Apr 2001 22:32:30 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Brian and all,
Noting the date of Brian's sighting I thought of one more thing that I didn't mention and that is that I suspect that Dusky Flycatcher is more likely a little later on in the season, probably late-April and later. Hammond's Flycatcher, on the other hand, have arrived as early as the last day or two of March and are often more common in Mitchell Canyon than Pacific-slope Flycatchers through the first half of April. Although my perception of Hammond's is that most of them pass through in April, Mike Rogers once had 37 (!) of them in the Mines Road region on May 13, 1997, so this perception may be an artifact of coverage. Looking through my notebooks most of the reported Dusky Flycatcher sightings from Alameda and Contra Costa Counties have been the last week of April to mid-May.
As an aside, Kevin Hintsa once had a probable Dusky singing near the summit of Mt Diablo on the summery date of 18 June, suggesting the outside possibility of nesting there. They do nest at elevations only 800 to 1000 feet higher in other spots in the Coast Ranges.
Steve Glover
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Re: Calliope Hummingbirds
Mon, 30 Apr 2001 22:45:20 PDT
From: Steve Glover
On 23 April, Larry Tunstall wrote:
In his excellent guide to Contra Costa County birding sites at
Steve Glover mentions Calliope Hummingbirds being regularly found in spring at various sites around Mount Diablo and at Piper Slough (north end of Bethel Island Rd).
Just to clarify the above, they are indeed regular at Mt Diablo and probably Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve, but I have only seen one at Piper Slough. The vast majority of records come from either feeders or from stands of chamise/Black Sage.
Steve Glover
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