Re: Cherry-headed conures in Berkeley?
Sun, 5 Sep 1999 14:47:07 PDT
From: Doug
Rebecca Freed wrote:
Does anyone know of resident wild parrots in the East Bay? I saw a pair of them flying around Sixth and Delaware (just below San Pablo) one evening last week. I wonder whether they're recent escapees or if the San Francisco flock is spreading out....
There are several parrots in my neighborhood (south Berkeley, Alta Bates area), which have been around for years. I don't know what species they are, but they are green with some yellow on the head, and they are very loud.
Doug
Original Message Subject Index
Rufous Hummingbirds
Mon, 6 Sep 1999 13:59:59 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tom Condit
Aside from the one bird with an all-green back, the Selasphorus hummers I saw at the UC Botanical Gardens Friday all had red backs with greater or lesser amounts of greenish "scales". Even in the ones where there was more green than red, the red appeared as if it was the base color with the green superimposed. (I'm aware that this is undoubtedly an optical illusion, but I hope it's a helpful description of the effect.)
Tom Condit
Coyote Hills Regional Park
Mon, 06 Sep 1999 20:50:24 -0700
From: Rusty Scalf
This morning Denise Wight and I birded Coyote Hills and found the area quite active. I was amazed at the amount of water with levels resembling mid-spring runoff. Highlight was a Pectoral Sandpiper. This bird was in the large shallow pond to the west of the visitor's center on a mud spit which nearly bisects the pond, and in company with 2 Lesser Yellowlegs and 12 Greater Yellowlegs. Both species of Dowitcher were present (and calling).
Passerine Migrants:
Common Yellowthroat 10+
Yellow Warbler 10+
Wilson's Warbler 6
Orange-crowned Warbler 3
Warbling Vireo 8+
Pacific-slope Flycatcher 8+
Hammond's Flycatcher 1
Willow Flycatcher 1 (looking rather yellow with buffy brown wing bars)
Also lots of kites, harriers, calling Virginia Rails, and balletic American White Pelicans.
Rusty Scalf
Crows and ravens
Tue, 7 Sep 1999 16:44:28 -0700
From: Ore Carmi
I was wondering whether anyone else noticed a huge flock of crows in Berkeley last night (Sept 6). I saw them at about 7:45 about a block west of Telegraph on Derby. There were, very roughly, 100 birds. (Is that unusual?)
ore
Re: Crows and ravens
Wed, 08 Sep 1999 07:12:10 -0700
From: Kay Loughman
A friend who lives in the 2000 block of Parker told me last night about having seen what was certainly the same flock the previous evening. Crows and ravens do have communal roosts, so the large number doesn't surprise me. For a great read on the subject, try Ravens in Winter by Bernd Heinrich.
Kay Loughman
Original Message Subject Index
Martinez Regional Shoreline - Tanagers and
others
Fri, 10 Sep 1999 20:41:56 -0700
From: Lillian Fujii
For birders in the Martinez area - I spent a few minutes yesterday and today (Thursday and Friday) during the noon hour at the City-run park next to Martinez Regional Shoreline in Martinez. In the trees next to the Bocce Ball Court, there are many Western Tanagers. Don't know how many, but I would guess at least 20. In the few minutes I had today, I also saw a Pacific Slope Flycatcher and a Yellow Warbler. There are also many American Robins, Brewer's Blackbirds, and European Starlings. I suspect there are other species.
Lillian Fujii
Point Isabel on Thursday morning
Fri, 10 Sep 1999 20:56:29 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
Four of us joined Alan Kaplan's East Bay Regional Park District birdwalk at Point Isabel Regional Shoreline in Richmond on Thursday morning (Sept 9). The thunder-and-lightning storm had ended only a short time before, so not many dog walkers were present either. It was overcast but not very windy. The tide was low, but we had 2 scopes for 5 people, so we got good looks at the shorebirds. We walked north as far as the large mudflat north of the Bayview entrance to the Bay Trail.
Here's the composite list for the group:
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Great Egret (Ardea albus)
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
American Wigeon (Anas americana)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) - heard only
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)
Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus)
Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus)
Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)
Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri)
dowitcher (Limnodromus sp.)
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
California Gull (Larus californicus)
Western Gull (Larus occidentalis)
Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens)
Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri)
Rock Dove (Columba livia)
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon) - heard only
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis)
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) - feeding fledglings
Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris) - heard only
Orange-crowned Warbler (Vermivora celata)
California Towhee (Pipilo crissalis)
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys)
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus)
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)
American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
No particularly exotic dog breeds were spotted.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall El Cerrito CA