Coyote Hills Regional Park, Fremont,
California
Sun, 23 May 1999 07:06:08 PDT
From: Bill Scoggins
Hello East Bay Birders,
Today, Sat. 22 May 1999, we saw the following birds at Coyote Hills Regional Park, Fremont, California.
Hoot Hollow:
Wilson's Warbler 1Bullock's Oriole pair continue to feed young in the Red-tailed Hawk nest tree at Hoot Hollow; this nest is made entirely out of dark green Easter egg basket filler.
Red-tailed Hawks continue to feed two young in a nest at Hoot Hollow in the tallest conifer. A third chick has fledged and was seen on a nearby power pole.
Ring-necked Pheasant 1 male
Great Horned Owl in acacia tree
Mourning Dove 2
Anna's Hummingbird 3
Western Wood-Pewee 1
Warbling Vireo 2Western Scrub-Jay 3; two jays attempted to kill a 14 inch gopher snake, but after about 15 minutes the jays gave up and the snake appeared unharmed. At one point a jay grabbed the snake with its feet and carried it about 20 feet and then released it and attacked it again. The snake coiled up to defend against the jays, striking out again and again. The jays were smart as one attacked from the front and one from the rear - the snake quickly moved back and forth in an attempt to keep the jays away! We were happy to see the snake survive.
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling 10; I was surprised to see that the starlings are not nesting in the cavities in the buckeye trees. Usually there are three nests at Hoot Hollow every year.
Bewick's Wren, 3 singing in suitable habitat
Bushtit 3
Song Sparrow singing 1
Visitor center:
California Quail 2 males, 1 female, on the visitor center roof
Ring-necked Pheasant 1
Killdeer 1
Anna's Hummingbird 4
Western Wood-Pewee 1
Western Scrub-Jay 3
American Robin 2
Northern Mockingbird 1
California Thrasher 1 singing
European Starling 15
Barn Swallow 4 pair building nests
House Finch 4
Yellow Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 "Audubon's"
Wilson's Warbler 2
California Towhee 2
Western Tanager 1 female
Black-headed Grosbeak 2 males singing
Hooded Oriole pair
Bullock's Oriole 2 pair
Red-winged Blackbird 3
Brewer's Blackbird 9
Brown-headed Cowbird 3Parakeet, bright yellow body with a bright green head. Very beautiful bird! Probably dumped here as are many pets like rabbits and cats that are no longer wanted by their owners. Too bad, the budgie will end up as Cooper's Hawk food.
western aquatic garter snake, 18 inches
Visitor Center Parking lot to the Dust Marsh trail:
Pied-billed Grebe 7
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Gadwall pair
Mallard 15
Ruddy Duck 2 males, 3 females
Canada Goose 2
American Coot 5
Great Egret 2
Snowy Egret 3
White-tailed Kite 3
Virginia Rail by voice "ka-tic, ka-tic" for several minutes
Common Moorhen 1
Forster's Tern 2
White-throated Swift 2
Anna's Hummingbird 2
Black Phoebe 1
Marsh Wren 10 plus 2 fledgling young being fed out of the nest (very cute)
Barn Swallow 8
Cliff Swallow 20Tree Swallow 9; three of the new nest boxes on DUST Trail are occupied by tree swallows. Last year only one box was used to produce 3 fledglings.
American Goldfinch 5
Common Yellowthroat 7, one carried food item; 4 others by voice
Wilson's Warbler 2 in old willows on DUST trail
Song Sparrow 5 singing in hemlock and cattails
Red-winged Blackbird 7
Enjoying the birds and beautiful weather with me at Coyote Hills were Rose Firestone, Bonnie Marzo, and Mark Peterson.
Dave Riensche, park naturalist, and Birding Parks Partners are continuing the Breeding Bird Atlas at Coyote Hills Regional Park; this is a ten year study. Please send me your sitings of birds at Coyote Hills, especially courting and nesting birds. Thanks.
Happy birding,
Bill Scoggins
Castro Valley, CA
What's going on at
Coyote Hills?
http://members.aol.com/coyotehrp
Re: Tilden and Briones
Sun, 23 May 1999 07:33:59 PDT
From: Joseph Morlan
Larry Tunstall wrote:
Willie feels that the diversity of birds in this area of Briones has decreased significantly over the past few years. Do others agree, and (if so) does anyone have a likely explanation?
Yesterday I took my Ornithology class on our annual spring trip to Briones. Highlight was a stunning full-sized gopher snake. Bird life was below average but included superb views of Lazuli Bunting, Black-headed Grosbeak, Chipping and Lark sparrows. The full list is at
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/briones.htm
Unusual was a complete lack of swallows although one White-throated Swift was seen. No new birds were added to our composite list, but the Selasphorus was probably a Rufous which would have been new. Views were too brief to be sure.
The area where you had nesting Ash-throated Flycatchers was overrun by boy scouts who had a key to the gates and drove all the way in kicking up much dust.
Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA 94044
Fall Birding Classes begin Sept 7:
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/
California Bird Records Committee:
http://www.wfo-cbrc.org/cbrc/
Original Message Next Reply Subject List
Briones nesting flycatchers
Sun, 23 May 1999 08:07:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: Peter Rauch
Subject was Re: Tilden and Briones
Joseph Morlan wrote, referring to his class' visit on May 22nd:
The area where you had nesting Ash-throated Flycatchers was overrun by boy scouts who had a key to the gates and drove all the way in kicking up much dust.
The scout "invasion" during nesting season certainly is a good point to remember and to question the Park District wrt scheduling such events. What effects/consequences might such camping activity have on [the amount and/or species makeup of] nesting season in the area? If there are risks, what measures might the camp leaders take to minimize any consequential disturbances?
As far as those nesting Ash-throated Flycatchers are concerned, it's possible that their nest area was not actually "overrun" (although I have no idea what effect the proximity of the camping activity may have had).
If we're talking about the same pair I saw earlier (May 12th), I think the nest area was just beyond, i.e., many yards beyond the SW fence corner, starting up the hill slope, of the camping area [the one with the tall cypress trees]) of all that traffic and camping activity which I observed on May 15th (I didn't go to see if the birds were still around at that time). There was a tent area set up south of that south fence, although it did not extend west as far as the nesting area.
The birds were flying back and forth across the south fence line, feeding, and entering the willows outside the east fence line on May 12th, when we Golden Gate Audubon Society dozen or so birders were the only "disturbance."
Peter
Martin Luther King Shoreline
Sun, 23 May 1999 15:56:53 -0700
From: Courtenay Peddle
Hello, East Bay Birders!
On Saturday, May 22, in the freshwater ponds at the New Marsh at Arrowhead [Marsh, Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline] in Oakland I saw a male Blue-winged Teal, a pair of American Wigeon, and a Northern Pintail. The teal especially seems very late. I wish I could have found a mate. (Perhaps we've been wrong all these years in thinking the blue-wings only winter here....) Also 35 Black-bellied Plovers in the new tidal marsh, and lots of American Avocet chicks in both parts of the New Marsh.
Courtenay Peddle
Ardenwood Birding
Sun, 23 May 1999 19:54:23 -0700
From: Sheila Junge
Seven adults and four children joined Jessica Sheppard for a mid-morning birdwalk at Ardenwood Historic Farm in Newark. Highlights of the day were the fountain on the lawn of the Patterson House, about 6 Western Tanagers seen in the surrounding trees, and a pair of nest building Bushtits. The size of the nest compared to the size of the birds was truly impressive. We saw numerous Cedar Waxwings bathing in the fountain as we began our walk. We returned to the fountain at the end and saw Allen's Hummingbirds and Anna's Hummingbirds and Lesser Goldfinch enjoying the water. It was hard to tear ourselves away as the birds kept giving us great looks especially the tanagers. Bill Scoggins and I remained over an hour after the program enjoying the birds in and around the fountain and lawn. The beautiful grounds and gardens also make Ardenwood well worth a visit.
Birds seen by the group included:
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Allen's Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin)
Nuttall's Woodpecker (Picoides nuttallii)
Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus)
Western Wood-Pewee (Contopus sordidulus)
Pacific-slope Flycatcher (Empidonax difficilis)
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)
Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus)
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)
Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)
American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)
Lesser Goldfinch (Carduelis psaltria)
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)
Wilson's Warbler (Wilsonia pusilla)
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)
California Towhee (Pipilo crissalis)
Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana)
Bullock's Oriole (Icterus bullockii)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater)
Good birding!
Sheila Junge, Hayward