RFI: Cooper's Hawks nesting in Berkeley?
Wed,
14 May 2003 09:46:21 -0700
From: Rita
Are any Cooper's Hawks nesting in Berkeley this year? There seems to be no activity at Russell/Pine nest sites which had been used for several consecutive years. The old elms were pruned since last season and only one old nest remained, in somewhat reduced form.
Also, has anyone visited the Golden Eagle nest in Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve to see if they returned?
Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline, Oakland
Wed, 14 May 2003 10:26:5 -0700
From: Terry Coddington
Dear EBBers,
Yesterday's Arrowhead Marsh walk with East Bay Regional Park District's Jessica Sheppard in Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline (Oakland) revealed that Romper Room is alive and well at Arrowhead. The new marsh is well stocked with fuzzy American Avocet chicks, a Mallard pair has a brood and so does a pair of Canada Geese. Many more avocets and Black-necked Stilts are visible on the ground and may be brooding/incubating. Killdeer nests must be nearby. More duck species than I expected: Gadwall, Mallard, Bufflehead, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, American Wigeon in the freshwater ponds, and three unidentified juvenile types hanging out with a small gull and tern flock (maybe Forster's Terns).
Terry Coddington
Re: Golden Eagle nest at Sibley Volcanic Regional
Preserve
Wed, 14 May 2003 10:38:57 -0700
From: Mark Wales
I haven't seen any activity at the Golden Eagle nest at the back of Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve (Oakland Hills) & I've been up there fairly frequently. There was a Golden Eagle overhead a few days ago.
Mark
Original Message Subject Index
Mount Diablo
Wed, 14 May 2003 18:10:53 -0700
From: Judi Cooper
Today my birding group (Bingham's Birders), joined by Jimm Edgar, birded Mt Diablo. Entering at the South Gate we were engulfed in fog so we headed over to the north side and found blue skies. Later we returned to the top and had intermittent fog and sun with wind.
However, we had a good birding day despite the bad weather. Highlights were Lazuli Bunting, Western Tanager, Bullock's Orioles, Black-headed Grosbeak, Orange-crowned Warblers (showing orange crowns), Yellow Warbler ( chasing a Townsend's Warbler), Townsend's Warblers (approximately 15), Hermit Warblers (approximately 20), Ash-throated Flycatchers, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Lark Sparrows, Rufous-crowned Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, and Black-chinned Sparrow (heard only). We also enjoyed watching a Sharp-shinned Hawk chase a Red-tailed Hawk out of its territory.
Judi Cooper
Psychotic Steller's Jay in Berkeley
Wed, 14
May 2003 20:49:54 -0700
From: Tom Condit
One of the Steller's Jays who frequent my back porch had a freakout today. It began pecking vigorously at the handle of a carpenter's brush which was out on the porch, then perched on the brush head and pecked at the bristles before flying away. I decided maybe it thought the carpenter's brush was a dead animal of some sort and was trying to scavenge it, but then it flew over to a blue recycling bin, perched on the rim and began vigorously hammering various points on the rim of the bin. All of this was with those vigorous woodpecker-like strokes which both Steller's Jays and Western Scrub-Jays go after insects in trees and on roofs.
Tom Condit
Berkeley
Calliope Hummingbird at Mitchell Canyon, Clayton
Thu, 15 May 2003 17:57:02 -0700
From: Don Lewis
On a windy Thursday, Bingham Gibbs' group had a relatively low total of 45 species at Mitchell Canyon, near Clayton in Mt Diablo State Park.
Best birds were a male and a possible female Calliope Hummingbird along the trail which runs parallel to, and not far above, the main road, between Red Road and the road which becomes the northeast end of Black Point Trail. The Calliopes were not far south of the intersection of the latter road and the trail. There was also a Swainson's Thrush at this trail-road intersection (which is only a hundred yards or so above the main Mitchell Canyon road).
The only warblers we saw were one Townsend's Warbler and a lot of Orange-crowned Warblers, disappointing after recent reports.
If you go, take a look at the 20-foot-tall snag with both trunk forks cut off horizontally, between the parking lot and the trail-entrance gate. There was a family of seven baby squirrels playing on the cut-off top of the right fork.
Don Lewis
Lafayette, CA