INBU
Sat, 06 Jun 1998 22:51:26 -0700
From: Doug Shaw
Hello All:
I heard the Indigo Bunting this morning at Piper Slough along the slough that runs behind the gas well. The bird was giving also giving its "spit" call.
There also was a Killdeer "feighning" inside the gas well enclosure, but I could not see a nest.
There also was a male Bullock's Oriole and a Black-chinned Hummingbird in the vicinity of the gas well.
The gas well is at the north end of Bethel Island Road in Contra Costa county.
Doug Shaw
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Piper Slough Indigo Bunting
Sun, 07 Jun 1998 10:08:35 -0700
From: Mike Feighner
East Bay Birders:
Yesterday afternoon at about 1:30 PM I refound the male INDIGO BUNTING that Steve Glover had originally reported about a week ago. Apparently Doug Shaw had been there prior to my arrival. I both saw and heard the INDIGO BUNTING. I had forgotten about the gas well. I didn't see one. Or was the gas well one of those tanks I described on the bird box (415) 681-7422 as storage tanks?
Anyway, the directions that Steve had posted originally remain the same. Park at the north end of Bethel Island Road and take the levee trail west for a very short distance. Take the first dirt road to the left to the bottom of the levee and follow this dirt road to the south. Soon there will be a clearing on the left, and to the far left are some metal storage tanks. Is one of these the GAS WELL? Anyway, the area on the right is rather weedy. There is a small slough on the right and some tall willows past the slough. On this side of the slough opposite the tall willows is a smaller skinny 10-foot high leafless willow. In this leafless willow the male INDIGO BUNTING was perched. The bird often made the "spit" call that Doug Shaw refers to. To me the call sounds more like the sound someone would make sucking on a lemmon. On at least one occasion the bunting actually sang.
Other birds in the area of note: RING-NECKED PHEASANT, HOUSE FINCH, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, KILLDEER, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, GREEN HERON, BARN SWALLOW, BULLOCK's ORIOLE, and a barking dog at one of the residences.
Doug Shaw writes that the KILLDEER was "feighning". Was this its distraction display or was it calling for a birder named Mike? :) :) :) Earlier in the morning I had birded near the Harbormaster's Office in Richmond hoping finally to see the male HARLEQUIN duck in Contra Costa County. Well, that did not happen. It was somewhat windy, and all the ducks were off the far east end of Brooks Island. They were probably all SURF SCOTERS, but at that distance I could not make any believable distinction. ..... There are actually two dilapidated piers on Brooks Island. Originally Steve had reported that the Harlequin Duck was resting the the beach to the left of the dilapidated pier. One of the piers is still much intact while the second is now consists only of broken-down pilings. Which of the two is the dilapidated pier? Between the two was a gray rubber raft. Of note were two fly-over AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS.
Later I birded around Folsom Lake in Placer County. Birds of note there were GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE (about 12), and a breeding-plumaged EARED GREBE. If anyone is interested in this or needs GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE for his/her Placer County list, please e-mail me.
Mike Feighner
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Re: Piper Slough Indigo Bunting
Sun, 07 Jun 1998 10:20:54 -0700
From: Mike Feighner
East-Bay-Birder:
I reread Steve Glover's original report, and the directions are not the same. I did not continue walking left along the levee to the west but took the dirt road perpendicular to the levee.
I neglected to mention that I had heard both LAZULI BUNTINGS and BLUE GROSBEAKS, but found no hummers along Piper Slough.
Mike Feighner
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Indigo Bunting, Willow Flycatcher
Sun, 7 Jun 1998 14:26:59 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hello everyone,
This morning, Sunday, I birded Piper Slough. I missed the male Indigo Bunting but it was seen by Don Roberson and Rita Caratello. It was in the spot where we originally found it last Saturday. I did find a singing male Willow Flycatcher, the 233rd bird for me in the county this year. Migrants were very scarce. There was one Pac[ific]-slope Flycatcher, one Ash-throated Flycatcher and one Warbling Vireo. There was also a female Selasphorus hummer. It was at the Indigo Bunting spot. It was also there last Sat. What a Selasphorus is doing out there in June I have no idea. I managed to confirm [American Goldfinch], [Red-winged] Blackbird, [Northern Rough-winged] Swallow and Spotted Towhee. Don and Rita also confirmed Scrub Jay and [Western] Meadowlark.
Near Byron I confirmed another Yellow-billed Magpie nest, only the second known site in the county. The nest is at the school at the corner of J-4 and Bixler.
On Friday my girlfriend and I birded in Riggs Canyon at the north end of Finley Rd. near Blackhawk. Nothing rare but it is a birdy canyon. Both Lazuli Bunting and Chipping Sparrow seem to be as common as anywhere in the county. The breeding bird highlights included an ad[ult] Warbling Vireo feeding a begging juv[enile] and a female Anna's Hummer gathering nest material for what is probably it's third nest sttempt this season.
Steve Glover
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