Mount Diablo and eastern Contra Costa
County
23 May 2002 21:43:41 -0700
From: Les Chibana
Today, I took two clients birding in Contra Costa County. We started at the South Gate to Mount Diablo State Park, worked our way through Rock City, the Blue Oak picnic area to the summit. We fared well, finding 2 male Black-chinned Sparrows working below and above the road, just downhill from the last turnout before the gate. We also had several Sage Sparrows and Rufous-crowned Sparrows in the same habitat (actually, Rufous-crowned was only seen below the road). Rounding out our sparrows for today were singing Lark Sparrows, Spotted Towhee and California Towhee, and Dark-eyed Junco. (Yesterday, we saw Grasshopper, Song, Sage, and Lark sparrows and the towhees and junco in Santa Clara and Stanislaus Counties. Quite a sparrowing time! Missed Chipping, though....)
Also along the entry road, we saw a female Costa's Hummingbird, and a pair of Yellow Warblers foraged through the area. We also saw one each of adult-plumaged Sharp-shinned Hawk and Golden Eagle, and we heard Wild Turkey from somewhere way below the road. A gray fox sunned itself above the road - could be the same adult seen with 2 pups on May 13. Aside from the South Gate entrance road, it was fairly quiet on the mountain.
At the eastern side, we saw a male Black-chinned Hummingbird at the end of Bethel Island Rd. We also saw a female Western Tanager, an Osprey, a first-summer-plumaged gull sp. and two terns (Forster's?). At Holland Tract, we saw a Swainson's Hawk. I couldn't locate Blue Grosbeak here, at Bethel Island, or along Jersey Island Rd, and I forgot to look for Cattle Egrets.
Les Chibana, Palo Alto
Black Oystercatchers nesting in Berkeley
Thu, 23 May 2002 22:01:57 PDT
From: Denise Wight
Hi E. B. Birders,
This evening about 6:00 PM I watched a pair of Black Oystercatchers make an incubation duty exchange. I was unable to see the eggs, but the newly attending bird lifted him/herself up, and wiggled down onto something as if to start incubation. The other oystercatcher, which had been attending the site previously, flew east, over the Marina, and headed towards the cove north of the Berkeley Meadows area. These birds were very noisy before and after the exchange took place, but very subdued during the actual exchange.
To locate the oystercatcher at the nest site, look left (south) of the center of the rocky breakwater directly west of the Berkeley Marina boat entrance. The oystercatcher was sitting between center and the first big square cement object you come to on top of the breakwater. Scan the boulders just below the top of the breakwater. A scope is helpful.
There are many Western Gulls on nests here, also.
Denise Wight
Martinez, CA
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Alameda County Black Oystercatchers
Thu, 23 May 2002 23:45:25 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello all,
Bob Richmond would know better than I, but I believe that the sighting by Denise Wight at Berkeley today is the first confirmed nesting of Black Oystercatcher for Alameda County. At least several pairs nest in Contra Costa County (Brooks Island, West Brothers Island, Red Rock Island) but those have all been on rocks. I don't think there are any such rocks in Alameda County, so a breakwater was the only alternative.
Good one!
Steve Glover
Dublin
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Mount Diablo
Fri, 24 May 2002 01:41:34 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
I started Thursday morning at South Gate just shortly before Les Chibana did. Thanks to him for helping me sort out the sparrows! I did hear Song Sparrow in that area below the gate but never saw it. One other interesting observation was a hummingbird (species not determined) dive bombing a Violet-green Swallow.
I had a Rufous-crowned Sparrow singing on a bush right at the beginning of the trail at Curry Point. It retreated somewhere downhill but continued singing whenever someone came too near.
Also of interest to me (I haven't birded this area before) near South Gate were a few Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, some Orange-crowned Warblers and California Quail, and lots of Lazuli Buntings and Lesser Goldfinch. Later I heard a singing California Thrasher in the stream valley below The Pines picnic area on Summit Road. By late morning, the wind had come up and the birds were mostly out of sight, even though it wasn't very hot.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
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Re: Alameda County Black Oystercatchers
Fri, 24 May 2002 07:39:43 -0700
From: John Luther
Hi All,
Downy young Black Oystercatchers have been sighted in past years near the Hornet (aircraft carrier) on the breakwater of the soon-to-be Alameda National Wildlife Refuge. I don't know of an actual nest being sighted.
John Luther
Oakland
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