Round Valley Regional Park
Wed, 7 Apr 1999 21:33:24 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
Lynn and I went out to Round Valley Regional Preserve (near Brentwood) this morning for Mike Moran's hike. Weather (forecast the night before as sunny and warmer) turned out to be chilly and windy, with threatening clouds passing over. However, the walk was a very pleasant one. If you haven't checked out this newest of the Regional Parks yet, I'd recommend doing so while the hills are green and the temperatures below scorching. This park is northeast of Morgan Territory Regional Preserve, and the hills around this area have one of the highest concentrations of Golden Eagles known, perhaps because of the abundant ground squirrels.
Although we didn't see a lot of bird species, we did have great looks at a Golden Eagle that soared overhead, made several passes at low altitude, and then skimmed the hillside just across the creek, back and forth, giving us fine looks at the topside as well as bottom. With these good looks, I can see that the golden head can in certain light give the impression of being almost white when far above, so it's important to use wing patterns in deciding what eagle you're seeing.
We also had a lovely male Bullock's Oriole (perhaps two of them) glowing brightly in the oak trees, standing out all the more because of the relatively few songbird we saw. And a Rock Wren by the creek stood and bobbed on top of a rock, 15 feet from about 20 people, for a few minutes while we all got great looks at it.
Here's my bird list for the walk:
Turkey Vulture, Mallard, Red-tailed Hawk, Golden Eagle, American Kestrel, Greater Yellowlegs, Mourning Dove, White-throated Swift, Belted Kingfisher, Acorn (?) Woodpecker, Nuttall's Woodpecker (heard), Northern Flicker, Black Phoebe, Western Scrub-Jay, Common Raven, Violet-green Swallow, Oak Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Rock Wren, Western Bluebird, California Towhee, Bullock's Oriole
Because this was a general hike and nature walk, we didn't take the time to stop and search for birds - some could be heard in the oak woodlands along the way - so I'm sure the list would have been longer if we'd been intensely birding.
Was interesting to note, as Mike cautioned the kids not to venture too near the creek banks in order to avoid disturbing the California red-legged frog, the cattle grazing on the EBRPD land freely wandering nearby into the creek bed.
Wildflowers just beginning to appear, although the best display was near the parking lot on ungrazed land. There were buttercups in some numbers along the trail, and fine displays of lupine along Marsh Creek Road.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Fwd: RFI: Golden Eagle Sightings
Thu, 08 Apr 1999 14:09:54 -0700
From: Mike Feighner
The Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group is conducting a demographic study of breeding and non-breeding Golden Eagles in the Livermore Area (Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area). This year, we have been witness to a decrease especially in 2-3 year-old eagles and are missing part of our radiotagged sample. Any information regarding an influx of GOEA's to any regions (i.e. unusually high or increasing numbers of sightings) would be greatly appreciated to facilitate telemetry surveys/searches and transects to locate these birds and begin piecing together potential causes for the movement.You may forward any information to my e-mail account ( hermit_thrush@hotmail.com ) or contact the project's principle investigator, Dr. Grainger Hunt at (925) 294-4033. Thank you for your time,
Sincerely,
Christopher M. Kuntzsch
SCPBRG
Re: Mines Road, Raptors, Sunday
Sun, 11 Apr 1999 14:06:52 -0700
From: Mike Feighner
Harry (East Bay Birders, see original text below):
First, I think you mean Art Edwards. I bet the birding friend was George Bing.
I cannot use your attachment. Sending attachments is always risky unless you know the receiver has the proper platform to receive it. You are using MS Word 6.0 for the Mac while I am using MS Word 6.0 for the PC (Windows 3.1).
Art Edwards' documents are on-line at
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/ala2.htm
and
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/ala3.htm
Last year I helped Art Edwards get these to Joe Morlan.
Also, I am forwarding your post to East Bay Birds alias EBB which I founded a couple years back. Anyone interested is getting EBB? Just let me know.
Also as a side note: John D. Kemper now has his new book Birding Northern California in print. You can find John Kemper's book at
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1560448326/qid%3D923861224/002-7042298-5357465
or
http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=5Q36UU6ABX&mscssid=C2J1N5C7WGS12H3N00C7JGTNR0GJD0A9&pcount=0&isbn=1560448326
Mike Feighner, Livermore, CA
*************************************************************
Harry Fuller wrote:
First, here's executive summary of Mines Road (not DP Canyon) trip I took with Illinois birder (Sat. April 10):Most important sighting was Ray Edwards of Livermore, out with a friend. This Mr. Bird of LIvermore area. Been hitting the hot spots there for two decades, leads trips, etc. He handed me the updated milepost summary of Mines & Del Puerto Canyon that can replace the 15-year-old Jean Richmond chapter. Want copy send me your fax, or communicate directly with Ray at (510) 447-3720 (home).
In most cases this is first sighting of species which recur:
Murrieta's Well Road Great Horned Owl, Nuttall's Woodpeckers, singing Bullock's Orioles, Yellow-billed Magpies in riparian.
MP 0.9 (approx) Western Meadowlark, Savannah Sparrow, Oak Titmouse
MP 3.0 Wild Turkey calling, Sharp-shinned Hawk
MP 4.2 Western Bluebird, Northern Mockingbird
MP 5.54 California Thrasher singing, Wrentit singing
MP 5.6 Roadrunner running across road, twice, Fox Sparrow, Common Raven, Lark Sparrow
MP 8.19 By small pond west of road: Kingfisher, Violet-green Swallow
MP 8.70 Loggerhead Shrike
MP 11.96 Lincoln Sparrow
MP 13.8 White-breasted Nuthatch
MP 14.5 Common Merganser in creek
MP 20 Wood Duck in creekMissed: Lewis' Woodpecker, all goldfinches, any unusual warblers or hummingbirds, all vireos and flycatchers (save Black Phoebe), Golden Eagle, Band-tailed Pigeon, Prairie Falcon, tanager, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.
Here is complete list if you are glutton for detail. (See attached file: Mines Road.doc)
Wanna help the raptor people? They are starting to train volunteers for next fall's mgiration. Call (415) 331-0730 for information.
Sunday: My first Pacific-slope Flycatcher of this spring, in low brush near parking lot at Sutro Heights [San Francisco]. North of Sutro Baths parapet: five Surfbirds plus one Black Turnstone and one Ruddy Turnstone. Only cormorants and Surf Scoter on ocean, all else blown away. Large flock of singing Red-winged BLackbirds around the baths.
Blue Grosbeak
Sun, 11 Apr 1999 21:00:40 -0700
From: Rich Cimino
I spent time on Saturday and Sunday on Patterson Pass Road (PPR) [east of Livermore] seeking the first Blue Grosbeaks to arrive. I found no Blue Grosbeaks. I did see my first Western Kingbird for the year on PPR.
My earliest date for Blue Grosbeak on PPR is April 16th.
Rich Cimino