Hayward Regional Shoreline
Tue, 13 May 2003
11:14:22 PDT
From: Bob Richmond
Today at the W Winton Ave parking lot of Hayward Regional Shoreline, the following was seen -
Bob
Horned Lark at Hayward Regional Shoreline on May 12
Tue, 13 May 2003 13:31:38 -0700
From: Debbie Wong
Yesterday, May 12, around 3:00 PM, I walked north in Hayward Regional Shoreline from W Winton Ave.
It was windy yesterday afternoon - saw the usual birds but failed to find Red Knot in the first pond.
However, I saw a male Horned Lark on the trail after a cement canal / ditch near the sloped grassy land (with the 5 giant steel radio(?) towers in the background). The bird was on the trail again an hour later, but further north, north of a bench.
The head and nape were quite cinnamon, no visible "horns." The white outer tail feathers were visible when flying.
The bird seemed to like the trail but got flushed every time a cyclist passed by.
Debbie Wong
Re: Great Horned Owl in Orinda
Tue, 13 May
2003 15:01:47 -0700
From: Tom Condit
Actually, I'd liken the sound of a baby Great Horned Owl begging to a bobcat on methamphetamine! It's the most incredible yowling you ever heard from a bird.
Tom Condit
Original Message Subject Index
Hermit & MacGillivrary Warblers near Inspiration
Point
Tue, 13 May 2003 15:39:49 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
Hi EBBers,
Just catching up on e-mail after a few days' lapse. I have a couple of messages to forward that are now rather late - my apologies for that!
I am forwarding the following message to the list for Phila Rogers:
Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 13:24:24 -0700
Emilie Strauss and I were birding this morning at Inspiration Point at the north end of Tilden Regional Park. At the parking lot in the circle of Monterey pines, we saw and heard a singing Hermit Warbler. Along the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) trail that runs north from the parking lot we had good views of a singing MacGillivray's Warbler (thanks to Emilie's outstanding "pshing" abilities). He was in the dense, mixed brush on the downhill slope just before the trail turns to the northeast. The distance from the trail's beginning is less than a quarter of a mile. Keep in mind that you are required to have a EBMUD trail permit - a good investment considering the access to several fine birding areas.
Phila Rogers
Posted to EBB by Larry Tunstall
Mount Diablo on May 10
Tue, 13 May 2003 15:42:51
-0700
From: Larry Tunstall
I am forwarding this message to the list for Mark Rauzon:
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 08:41:49 PDT
On Saturday May 10, (International Migratory Bird Day) we birded Mt Diablo's Juniper Campground at 3000 feet elevation and spent the night there. In the gray pines and oaks, we saw several large flocks of warblers, about 30 Hermit Warblers and 20 Townsend's Warbler's total. A Sage Sparrow was on Juniper Trail about the campground. After dark we drove the roads and heard a Common Poorwill. Sunday at Stage Road trail, we encountered other migrants like Yellow Warbler and Western Tanager (finally!).
Mark Rauzon
Posted to EBB by Larry Tunstall
Backyard birding in Oakland
Tue, 13 May 2003
17:38:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: Joy Maxion
I got a book and sat outside yesterday afternoon, with the intention of enjoying the great weather and starting a novel. I think I read about a paragraph, during the entire 2 hours that I sat outside! Instead of reading, I watched all of the activity of the birds. I had 8 (a new back yard record) Band-tailed Pigeons, a large family of Oak Titmouse, Chestnut-backed Chickadees and House Finch feeding their young, many Lesser Goldfinch and American Goldfinch, California Towhees, 2 Pacific-slope Flycatchers, a persistent Western Scrub-Jay, Anna's Hummingbirds, a flyover of Cedar Waxwings and a Red-shouldered Hawk and the bold Brown-headed Cowbirds even put in an appearance. The book would have to wait, this was too much fun!
Joy Maxion
Sheffield Village, Oakland
Ohlone Regional Wilderness May 4 through 7
Tue, 13 May 2003 18:36:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: Kathy Jarrett
Golden Gate Audubon Society Ohlone Wilderness Trail Backpack Trip: Sunday
May 4 - Wednesday May 7, 2003
Report by leader Kathy Jarrett
Our trip was postponed for two days after the Weather Channel showed rain for Friday and Saturday, May 2-3. I typed the zip code of Mt. Hamilton (95140) into the weather.com website many times to get updates and phoned the EBRPD to change our camping reservations. When our group of seven met at Lake Del Valle 10 AM Sunday May 4, it had been raining and continued to rain as we shuttled to Sunol to begin hiking. It was so wet we saw a Great Egret by the side of Vallecitos Rd.
Thankfully by the time we arrived at Sunol Regional Wilderness, the rain had stopped. Leaving our backpacks behind for a while, we birded along the creek and the meadow before returning to eat our lunches; we saw Western Bluebirds, Yellow-billed Magpies, Black Phoebes, Western Scrub-Jays and Steller's Jays, Cedar Waxwings and Acorn Woodpeckers.
Putting on our backpacks, loaded with three days' worth of provisions, we hit the trail, mucky from days of rain. A woman who did the trip last year was our botanist again. The wildflowers were fantastic, and streams were flowing which are usually dry. We climbed steadily to Backpacker's camp and pitched our tents, made the trek to get water, and enjoyed an early dinner.
In the morning the tents were damp with dew but it had not rained, so we were able to dry our tents in the sunlight. At 10:15 three people left to return to Sunol, and we remaining four began the climb toward Rose Peak, which, at an altitude of 3,817 feet, is only some 50 feet below Mt Diablo. It was a great day for hiking and we saw birds and blue and yellow carpets of wildflowers. Lots of cows stared at us. We had three different sightings of a Golden Eagle; one time it passed over us and circled back, so close we couldn't believe it. We saw Lark Sparrows and Horned Larks, White-throated Swifts and European Starlings. We saw Red-winged Blackbirds singing at a small pond with a patch of reeds. We arrived at Maggie's Half Acre, our second camp, with not too much energy left after our six-mile uphill trek and were greeted by an incredible number of Acorn Woodpeckers. After dinner we climbed among more beautiful wildflowers up to Rose Peak and saw Lick Observatory on Mt Hamilton to the south. Throughout the night, at this most remote of the campsites on the Ohlone Trail, we heard the continual sound of large aircraft beginning their descent to San Francisco Bay.
In the morning we awoke with sun on our dry tents and a Spotted Towhee singing on a sunlit bush. Noting the fog rushing in, we hastened to pack our gear before it got damp and were on the trail by 8:45. One highlight of the morning was a mixed flock of Hermit Warblers and Townsend's Warblers in a sycamore tree. We decided not to depart from the main trail to descend to Stewart's Camp for lunch and were rewarded with great vistas and the song of Western Meadowlarks. The oak trees had leafed out and the sycamore trees were just beginning to get their leaves; elderberry and buckeye were almost in bloom. We saw Cabbage and West Coast Lady butterflies, and ladybugs. There was a long steep descent to William's gulch where we filtered some water to replenish our almost empty water bottles, and one person left us to hike out that night. the remaining 3 of us stopped at Boyd Camp for our last night of camping overlooking Lake Del Valle. The water supply is nearly a half mile round trip down and up a steep slope.
It rained during the night and while we dried our tents in the morning sun, we were treated to a flock of Western Tanagers and one female Black-headed Grosbeak feeding in the trees just below the camp. We arrived at Lake Del Valle in time to have lunch in the campground, and the nearby sycamore tree was alive with birds. House Wrens were nesting, Western Bluebirds mating, and Common Ravens alighting. Forster's Terns made passes over the nearby creek.
57 species of birds, Sunol to Del Valle on the Ohlone Wilderness Trail, May 4-7, 2003
Other flora and fauna
Mileage and Elevation
kathy jarrett
Red-shouldered Hawk nest at Sunol Regional Wilderness
Tue, 13 May 2003 20:06:41 -0700
From: Frano
I have been curious to know the status of the Red-shouldered Hawk nest at Sunol, so I paid it a visit on Mother's Day. I was rewarded with a plain view of Mother feeding the chick. I saw only one for sure, it seemed rather large, pure white pin feathers. It did extend it's wing a couple of times, just beginning to move around the nest. Mama was but a few inches away all the time. Even my wife who is not a birder enjoyed the view.
I also viewed a strange scene in nature this morning. A good-sized Western Scrub-Jay was watching a mother sparrow feed it's young one from the seed at my feeder this morning. The fledgling would go through the begging ritual and the adult would put the seed in it's beak. The scrub-jay pounced on the young sparrow, fought off the mother for a few seconds, all the while the young one was screaming for its life. It almost got away a couple of times, but the scrub-jay managed to get it back and impale the fledgling with its beak a couple of times, then fly off with it. I followed it to the lemon tree across the street and saw the jay finish the job and leave with the bird. I had no idea they were capable of the type of behavior. Is this normal?
Good birding,
Frano
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Re: predatory Western Scrub-Jay
Tue, 13 May
2003 20:53:01 -0700
From: Rusty Scalf
Frano wrote:
I had no idea they were capable of the type of behavior. Is this normal?
When I lived in Alameda there was a Western Scrub-Jay in my yard that hunted for Mus musculus (house mouse) with amazing speed and agility. They are quite predaceous.
Rusty Scalf
Original Message Next Reply Subject Index
Re: predatory Western Scrub-Jay
Tue, 13 May
2003 21:59:49 -0700
From: Mark Wales
I was down in Santa Cruz a couple of weeks back when I found a Western Scrub-Jay attempting to get at a large sage lizard in the middle of the road. Considering the lizard was a good 6 inches long & very irate - I thought the scrub-jay was being ambitious. I ended up doing traffic duty & getting both off the road.
Mark
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