Yellow-breasted Chat in Livermore
Mon, 26
Apr 2004 08:34:35 -0700
From: Jaan Lepson
Scooped by Steve, but I also had a singing Yellow-breasted Chat yesterday morning. I did get a brief visual in my neighbor's bottlebrush tree. This is in Livermore suburbia, not too far from Steve's bird. It's my first for the Bay Area, and brings my yard list to nearly 100 in 10 years, though I'm not sure I can count it as it was actually in the neighbor's yard.
cheers,
Jaan Lepson
Livermore
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Olive-sided Flycatcher at Mills College, Oakland
Mon, 26 Apr 2004 08:34:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: John Harris
Folks,
I heard an Olive-sided Flycatcher singing for the first time this morning on the Mills College campus.
John H. Harris
Biology Department, Mills College
Oakland, CA
Re: What Happened at Piper Slough on Bethel Island?
Mon, 26 Apr 2004 08:43:25 -0700
From: Val Blakely
Hello,
Nathan Crawford wrote:
Well I got a nice shock today - Piper Slough is no longer accessible.
Where is Piper Slough? Never heard of it.
Val
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Re: Blue Grosbeak on Patterson Pass Road
Mon,
26 Apr 2004 09:41:36 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
From: Rich Cimino
Arlyn replied privately that she heard only the chink note (no song), and she asked some questions.
Hi Arlyn
This last Saturday was soooooooooo peaceful - no traffic, no windmill noise, nice. But Saturday April 17 it was cold, windy, and several set of motorcycles came by around 8 AM.
Yes, the male should sing until mid-May. The females may be in this weekend - they're two weeks behind the males.
Yes, I have been spotting Blue Grosbeaks since the early 1980s along Patterson Pass.
Yes again, Blue Grosbeak have nested all along Patterson Pass road from Cross Rd .to the west and east to the PG&E station.
No, this seems to be an early year. I had the singing male April 4. The earliest date before this was April 16th.
Rich Cimino
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Yellow-breasted Chat in Berkeley?
Mon, 26
Apr 2004 12:54:02 -0700
From: Lisa Owens-Viani
I thought I saw a Yellow-throated Chat in Berkeley as well (it was either that or a Common Yellowthroat and it wasn't singing), but before I could get my binoculars it was gone.
Lisa
Frolicking cormorants in Emeryville
Mon, 26
Apr 2004 12:54:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: Peter Diegutis
Good Afternoon
Over the past few weeks I've been puzzled by certain morning activities in the waters around Emeryville Peninsula. In the sheltered waters between Emeryville and Berkeley peninsulas I've seen large rafts of Double-crested Cormorants. At times, their behavior seemed odd in a number of ways. First of all, a good percentage of the flotilla seem to be sitting in the water with their wings outstretched, as if they�re drying their feathers. But, this is while they are sitting in the water, not perched along the marina. Secondly, they seem hyperactive � the whole raft moves frantically about, either flying low, or even running along the water surface from one side of the bay to the other. Initially I thought they�d found a bait-ball and were feeding. In fact the cormorants attract an accompanying squadron of Caspian Terns and Forster's Terns, as well as Western Gulls that make this a raucous affair. But, there is no diving activity by either the cormorants, or the terns. I thought that maybe the outstretched wings attracted fish into the shadows a�la certain heron tactics. But, I wonder whether this behavior serves some type of social function � communal ritual preening, or maybe, as some type of maritime lek.
I�d appreciate whatever wisdom others can spare to help me understand what is going on. Maybe I need to eat breakfast before my walk to keep my mind functioning properly. But I think I am observing something real. Any help is appreciated.
Have a nice day.
Cheers
Peter
Re: Frolicking cormorants in Emeryville
Mon,
26 Apr 2004 13:42:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bob Power
Not imagined, Peter. I counted 500 Double-crested Cormorants Wednesday between Ashby Ave and University Ave and saw a similar number during the commute on Thursday. I was able to watch for a while on Wednesday and I thought it was the morning bath, but then I did see a fair amount of diving behavior and concluded there were fish schooling, which would explain why the cormorants kept leapfrogging to new locales. No science, just my observations. Hopefully someone else can be a little more specific for us.
Bob Power
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Re: What happened to Piper Slough on Bethel Island?
Mon, 26 Apr 2004 13:48:47 -0700
From: Mike Feighner
East Bay Birders:
See Steve Glover's excellent write-up of Contra Costa Birding at
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/ccsites.htmin which he states:
Sadly, the hottest birding spot in the county is now closed to birders. Piper Slough was once the best place in the county for specialties like Black-chinned Hummingbird, Yellow-breasted Chat, Blue Grosbeak and Hooded Oriole but it has become a hunting club with no public access. It is still possible to get all of these birds from Bethel Island Rd. but the chats, the only accessible ones in the county, will be distant at best. To get there return to Cypress Rd. and continue east. When the sharp left bend in the road and continue onto Bethel Island. Follow Bethel Island Rd. straight to the north end of the island. Other common birds in the area include White-tailed Kite, Northern Harrier, Loggerhead Shrike, Western Kingbird and Western Meadowlark.
For the record, this location is at the far north end of Bethel Island Rd.
Mike Feighner, Livermore, Alameda County
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Lingering Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Mon, 26 Apr
2004 15:44:49 -0700
From: Phila Rogers
Dear Birders:
For the last couple of weeks I've heard the scolding call I associate with Ruby-crowned Kinglets, but because my notes show that in other years they're gone by April 1, I thought maybe I was hearing a Bewick's Wren. Then late yesterday, it burst into the full song, and repeated it a time or two before falling silent. I associate this lovely bright kinglet song with flowering crab apples and cherries, not with the late-flowering horse chestnuts and hawthorns. Big surprise!
In the latest issue of The Gull (in "Observations"), the writer thought the warms days of March prompted certain birds to leave earlier than usual. But the kinglet and still a few Golden-crowned Sparrows make me think just the opposite.
Black-headed Grosbeak in Livermore
Mon, 26
Apr 2004 15:55:03 -0700
From: Mike Feighner
East-Bay Birders:
Today, 26 April 2004, right on schedule, a female Black-headed Grosbeak showed up at my feeder in my backyard in Livermore. This is exactly, one year to the day that the first Black-headed Grosbeak showed up for the first time ever since I had moved there 9 years prior. That one was a male and moved on right away.
Mike Feighner, Livermore, CA, Alameda County
Re: Blue Grosbeak on Patterson Pass Road
Mon,
26 Apr 2004 21:18:08 -0700
From: Mark Miller
Hi Everyone-
The male Blue Grosbeak at Milepost 6.21 of Patterson Pass Rd east of Livermore was singing and calling quite a bit on Sunday morning April 25. Traffic was next to nil. Also there were a singing Hammond's Flycatcher, a silent MacGillivray's Warbler, a Chipping Sparrow, and a family of bobcats (an adult and a kitten). The kitten sat in a willow staring sleepily in my general direction for maybe half an hour. Toward noon I visited Mitchell Canyon near Clayton, and noted 3 Hammond's Flycatchers, one of which was almost in the main parking lot. The Western Wood-Pewees and Olive-sided Flycatchers haven't arrived there yet.
Mark Miller
Pleasanton, CA
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Lingering winterers at Mitchell Canyon near Clayton
Mon, 26 Apr 2004 21:27:55 -0700
From: Mark Miller
Hi Everyone-
Some lingering winter birds still at Mitchell Canyon near Clayton in Mount Diablo State Park on Sunday April 25: 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet (calling, but not singing) and 1 Lincoln's Sparrow.
Mark Miller
Pleasanton, CA