Hammond's and Dusky Flycatchers
Tue, 01 May 2001 09:59:40 PDT
From: Jim Tietz
Hi everyone
In my last post, I mentioned 2 Dusky Flycatchers. I feel confident of the second and less so of the first. The first was at Castle Rock on Apr 21, and I didn't report it as it was on an Audubon trip that I wasn't leading. I saw the bird from below facing away which probably affected my sighting somewhat. What I saw of the bird that caused me to think it was a Dusky and not a Hammond's was that the bird showed a rounded head with the peak over the eye, short wings and a long tail. It showed a slight widening of the eyering posteriorly and a small bill with a dark tip, both of which I see also on Hammond's. The bird was preening and never flew or called for the 5 minutes that we looked at it. I would have looked more critically at it if I had known of its scarcity here.
The second bird was in the blue oaks on the left at the top of the Red Road. It's dry whit call is what attracted me to it. I had trouble getting a good look at it as whenever it would start calling a Hammond's would fly in and attack it. I did hear it call about 20 times though, and I did have the Hammond's right there calling pip and Westerns [Pacific-slope Flycatchers] calling sink. I was able to see that the bird had pale gray underparts and the upperparts which were seen briefly appeared yellow-olive in direct sun. The bill looked short and showed some dark under the tip. I could not see the exact extent of the dark or the shape of the bill-edges. The primary projection looked short and the tail seemed long. The eyering was rounded, but I could not get it's exact shape. The head looked rounded and did not show the Hammond's lump at the rear crown. I was hoping to see the bird better after having seen so many Hammond's, but the bird was very flighty and the ground very crunchy. I wanted to look at the exposed primary spacing to see if it was as Sibley illustrated. He drew it perfectly for Hammond's. I have a lot of experience with Dusky and Hammond's calls from 2 years of point counts in eastern Humboldt and Trinity Counties. Unfortunately, I am uncertain how to differentiate Least whit-call notes from Dusky. To my ear they sound very similar. The only thing that I saw that would eliminate Least is that the bird seemed to show a long tail. I did not note the head color or the wingbar contrast. I have not considered Least as it seems very unlikely this early in spring.
Probably 90% of the 20 or so Hammond's that I have reported I have been sure of based on call/song (heard one singing in my yard this spring), or by structure. 1 or 2 from Mt Diablo I should have listed as Dusky/Hammond's and some that I wasn't sure of I never reported. To identify Hammond's in spring, I like to see that the primary projection is at least 3/4 the length of the tertial projection. The primary projection spacing that I mentioned above is from the tertials: 3 short, 1 long, and the last medium. I presume from the Sibley illustration that Dusky spacing should be all fairly short. Hammond's also has a small bill with a mostly dark mandible. And the feathers at the rear-crown are usually raised and of near equal height to the mid-crown and then drop off squarely to the nape. Obviously, the call notes are the best way for separating these two if they are calling. The Hammond's says pip or pew and the Dusky whit or doo-doo-doohic. The whit call of Willow is much more liquid than Dusky, sounding somewhat like a Swainson's Thrush waterdrop call. I am uncertain if plumage color can be used in spring. Many of the Hammond's that I have seen look dark grayish above and whitish below with a pale yellow belly. It's been a while since I have seen a Dusky in spring really well, but their plumage is fairly similar to Hammond's and so this is not something that I look for to identify them.
I hope that this clarifies my Empidonax sightings somewhat, and good birding.
Jim
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A few highlights of birding in Alameda County
on April 29
Tue, 1 May 2001 11:21:22 PDT
From: Phil Gordon
Greetings EBB'rs,
Warning - - this is a bit lengthy!
On Sunday, 29 April, I decided to do some review of bird calls and songs by searching out a few favorite spots in Alameda County to see what I could find. I chose to stay west of Livermore Valley (almost, since Sunol might be considered even with at least part of Amador Valley). Following is an account of the results:
The first 25 species were from my yard in Hayward hills (600 feet elevation) by 6:30 AM (before various chores of the day). Most noteworthy was the family of 3 or 4 Brown Creepers which seem to have fledged the previous day. Here was my first Hooded Oriole (of 3 for the day, one of which was a first year male that sang a sub-song along with its weeek call).
At about 10:30 AM I decided to check the first pond along the San Lorenzo Regional Trail from the parking lot on Grant Ave, San Lorenzo. Here were American Avocets defending nest territory and young, the male dragging his "broken" wing down the trail in front of me. A single Greater Yellowlegs also called. The Long-billed Dowitchers were in breeding colors and called from the San Lorenzo Creek. I discovered how low the tide was and how far out the birds were, being only able to recognize Marbled Godwits and Snowy Egrets with my 45 power scope. This was bad timing for shorebirds. The walk out, including other birds, produced Barn Swallows, American Goldfinch, Cedar Waxwings and an active Bushtit Nest.
By 11:00 AM my count was only 48 species - of course I'd only driven 12 miles so I set a Big Day Goal of 100 species. At about 11:30 AM I headed for Garritson Point and Arrowhead Marsh in Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline in Oakland (maybe the Yellow-headed Blackbird was still around). Not to be, with very few ducks as well. The best bird here was the Burrowing Owl - very cooperative. A single White-throated Swift was in with the Cliff Swallows. Alternate plumage was on the beautiful Black-bellied Plovers and an Allen's Hummingbird was at the Model Airplane field in Alameda. In the Silk Oak trees here sang the immature male 2nd Hooded Oriole. From here I was closer to the Doolittle Pond and still couldn't find a Lesser among all the Greater Scaups. However, there was a female Bufflehead to add to the single male American Green-winged Teal that had been on San Leandro Bay. A pair of Gadwall had been in the pond at Mitigation Marsh along with a male Northern Pintail.
At about 12:30 PM I headed for Joaquin Miller Park and Redwood Regional Park in the Oakland Hills. At the Sequoia Bayview Trail entrance off Skyline Blvd Pine Siskins and Hutton's Vireos were calling and Purple Finches singing while a Red-shouldered Hawk was circling low overhead. A Red-breasted Nuthatch was hammering (sounding like a woodpecker) inside the hole of a pine branch, no doubt excavating its nest while Pygmy Nuthatches called nearby (Sequoia Point, Alameda Co.); but the next Pygmy Nuthatches were in Contra Costa County from Moon Gate (Skyline Blvd) along the first portion of West Ridge Trail before the Tres Sendas crossing. Here drummed then called the Pileated Woodpecker, but in Contra Costa County - new for Contra Costa, but not Alameda County. I trail-met Sylvia Sykora, who reported Pileated Woodpecker in 1980 from her nearby home in Alameda County. Our bird obligingly called for her also, just when the Hairy Woodpecker appeared - such good contrast. I did have to leave the area without either Western Wood-Pewee or Olive-sided Flycatcher (both found easily today in Cull Canyon Regional Park, Castro Valley).
From here I headed toward Sunol Regional Wilderness. In about 35 minutes I was in the town of Sunol where I found two fine male Wood Ducks in Arroyo de la Laguna Creek from the bridge. The stop along Calaveras Rd where the California Sage comes nearest produced two singing Lazuli Buntings (but no Rufous-crowned Sparrows) and House Wren and no Lawrence's Goldfinch among the Lesser Goldfinches.
Just after the second one lane stop on Geary Rd into the park a male California Quail stood along the road edge while a female Wild Turkey crossed the road and disappeared upslope; my only "chickens" of the day. The walk to Little Yosemite from the last parking area was the most productive section of the day. Bird highlights, besides great flowers including Mariposa and Globe Lilies and a population of all-white Chinese Houses, included several calling and singing Rufous-crowned Sparrows, more Lazuli Buntings, Bullock's Oriole, Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak, Warbling Vireo, Orange-crowned Warbler, and one Black-throated Gray Warbler. At Little Yosemite a calling Canyon Wren was foraging in moss and rock crevices on the cliff just downstream long enough that several passersby could admire it through my scope. Shortly after this the only Common Merganser of the day flew up the canyon giving its characteristic croak, croak, croak call.
At 7:30 PM after heading back a Great Horned Owl pair began hooting and when I hooted back a mixed crowd of Acorn Woodpeckers, Steller's Jays, Scrub Jay and Oak Titmouse provided a very noisy scold-chorus at this closer "owl"; I now have a new selection to play to my bird class for our study of bird calls since I was able to capture it on my tape recorder.
Shortly after this (contrary to the rule that small owls don't call when Great Horned Owls do) a double noted Northern Pygmy-Owl called and flew closer at my imitation to then produce the short, screech-owl-like trill staccato along with its soft double note which was about 14 to 15 seconds between bouts; neither of these vocalizations are typical. Such a neat "last bird of the day", and an early Bobcat glanced back at me as it sauntered down and off the trail at 8:00 PM.
Instead of finding Black-crowned Night Heron at Grau Pond in Niles (District of Fremont) my flashlight picked up myriads of Guano Bats (Taderida brasiliensis formerly known as Mexican Free-tailed Bat) flitting and foraging over the lake. Interesting that this is just behind Niles Elementary School, recently in the news for a bat rabies alert.
My Big Day only totaled 95 for Alameda County plus the Pileated Woodpecker of Contra Costa County, but several were what I call quality birds and a very satisfactory "review" of many bird songs and calls.
For a complete list of the Day call the telephone number below, Happy Birding,
Phil Gordon
510.538.3550
Re: Costa's Hummingbird
Mon, 30 Apr 2001 21:11:16 -0700 (distributed to list on 1 May)
From: Tom Condit
Thanks to Emilie, George and Serendipity, Marsha and I saw the Costa's Hummingbird in Berkeley again this evening around 6:30 PM. It was on the wires on the 1600 block of Berkeley Way, then flew to the top of a (cypress?) tree midblock between Berkeley Way and Hearst Ave. George actually spotted it without binocs and led our attention to it. Earlier in the day, I ran into Emilie and she said she'd seen it at 2 PM as well.
This is a great block to walk on even if you don't see the Costa's: nesting Black Phoebes, singing House Finches, Mourning Doves, American Robins, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, American Crows, European Starlings, House Sparrows, and a host of mysterious sounds suitable only for the serious "ear birder."
Of course, this was a life bird for both of us, so that did make it slightly more interesting.
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