Indigo Bunting, atlasing
Thu, 11 Jun 1998 15:09:04 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Hola,
Just a few highlights from the past three days.
On Tuesday, June 9, I did some atlasing along Highland Rd. which is basically east of San Ramon and north of Pleasanton and Livermore. Quite surprising was a male Blue Grosbeak near the intersection of Highland and Collier Canyon. The bird was on Highland just uphill from the intersection. There are only one or two previous records of Blue Grosbeak in the county away from east county. It will be interesting to see if it breeds. I also confirmed a few other species such as Western Kingbird, Loggerhead Shrike, Western Meadowlark, Am[erican] Kestrel, and Barn Owl.
On Wednesday, June 10, I birded east county. At Piper Slough at the north end of Bethel Is[land] I once again saw the ad[ult] male Indigo Bunting. There was also still a Willow Flycatcher at the same spot. Species confirmed on the day included Bushtit, N[orthern] Mockingbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Bullock's Oriole, Western Kingbird and Am[erican] Kestrel.
Today I birded along Marsh Creek Rd. between Clayton and Brentwood. This is a great road except the traffic seems to get heavier everyday. Today I was able to confirm Western Kingbird, Western Scrub-Jay, Brewer's Blackbird, N[orthern] Mockingbird, Black-headed Grosbeak, Black Phoebe, and a few others.
This is primetime for confirming many species. Particularly easy right now include Western Kingbird (carrying Food), Log[gerhead] Shrike (CF), Red-winged Blackbird (now renesting-carrying nest material), Brewer's Blackbird (CF), Western Meadowlark (CF).
Steve Glover
Website for East Bay Birders Circle
Fri, 19 Jun 1998 10:15:44 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
I've set up the beginnings of a website for the East Bay Birders Circle. It's at http://www.best.com/~folkbird/EBBC/
There's an archive of old EBbird messages (so far just June), and some other info. More items for posting would be welcome. One suggestion was yard lists (list species, give approximate location, and tell how many years you've been counting). I've got a list of other e-mail discussion groups (mailing lists) on birding that I need to get cleaned up and put on a webpage. Eventually, I'd like to see a guide to East Bay birding, sort of an expansion of what you'll find in Jean Richmond's book - where to go at any season to expect to find particular birds (common, uncommon, rare, etc.). Maybe an up-to-the-minute birdlist could be compiled by some of our more experienced birders. I don't have either the time or the experience to create very much content, but I'd love to serve the group by putting online whatever content you think would be useful to beginning or experienced birders in the East Bay.
Best wishes,
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Finley Rd.
Fri, 19 Jun 1998 14:19:59 PDT
From: Steve Glover
Atlasers and East Bay Birders,
Just a few notes from the past few days.
On Wednesday, June 17th, I birded around the county with Steve Rovell and Kent Van Vuren hoping to boost their county totals. At the north end of Finley Rd. we heard the Canyon Wren singing on the left just after going through the gate. In the 1/2 mile or so beyond the gate we had lots of Chipping Sparrows, Lazuli Buntings, Cassin's Vireos, etc. They went on to Inspiration Pt. at Tilden without me as I had a breakfast engagement. They had all of the normal breeding specialties including Olive-sided Flycatcher, Pygmy and Red-breasted Nuthatches, MacGillivray's Warbler, etc. Good birds for their included a flyover Lawrence's Goldfinch and a singing Willow Flycatcher. I met up with them again and we headed to Richmond. We missed the Harlequin Duck at Brooks Is. but did see Osprey, Black Oystercatcher, 200 Elegant Terns. Out to east county we went to Piper Slough where we refound the singing male Indigo Bunting as well as the usual Chats and grosbeaks. A pair of Ash-throated Flycatchers were carrying food for the first east county nest record. I think Steve and Kent had 118 species on the day which is pretty good for mid-June. This morning, June 19th, I went back to my block on Finley Rd. In Riggs Canyon I confirmed Lazuli Bunting, Chipping Sparrow and Purple Finch. The highlight was a singing Black-throated Gray Warbler. The only 2 county nest records were from Pine Pond, [Mount Diablo State Park], in 1990 and 1991. They have since disappeared.
Not surprisingly with such a late rainy year, many things are breeding late. If you are atlasing this year definitely do not give up yet. I would suggest at least a trip or 2 in July and even into August. Quail, as is normal for them in rainy years, are extremely late. I'm not seeing any breeding activity yet, just pairs. This happened a couple of years ago on the Alameda Atlas. Babies weren't found until July and August.
Good birding,
Steve GLover
Re: Website for East Bay Birders Circle
Fri, 19 Jun 1998 10:52:17 PDT
From: Joseph Morlan
I've been working on a resource guide to birding California Counties. It's not yet open to the public, but pages for Alameda and Contra Costa are up.
They can be accessed at
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/ala.htm
and
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/cc.htm
Comments and suggestions are welcome.
Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA 94144
SF Birding Classes begin Sept 9th:
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/
California Bird Records Committee:
http://www.wfo-cbrc.org/cbrc/