Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday
Fri, 17 Sep 1999 19:26:38 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
Hi birders,
Just a reminder that tomorrow, Saturday 18 Sept, is Coastal Cleanup Day. There are organized cleanup locations all along the bayshore and the ocean shore. For information about those near you, go to
http://ceres.ca.gov/coastalcomm/
or call (800) COAST-4U.
If you can't get to an organized cleanup, please do what you can to pick up trash as you bird tomorrow.
If you're curious, here are the top dozen items collected last year:
1. 333,876 cigarette butts
2. 128,958 foamed plastic pieces
3. 92,942 plastic pieces
4. 87,648 paper pieces
5. 70,095 food bags or wrappers
6. 64,268 glass pieces
7. 49,632 caps or lids
8. 49,456 other metal items
9. 35,519 straws
10. 29,506 pieces of packaging material
11. 26,203 bottle caps
12. 25,779 other plastic items
Thanks for helping, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Quail behavior
Fri, 17 Sep 1999 19:52:38 -0700
From: Martha Lowe
Hi there,
In response to my question about quail social groups, Mike Feighner suggested looking in Aldo S. Leopold's book on California quail. I just happened to be at the library yesterday and checked the book out.
According to Leopold, the basic social unit is the family group, two adults and their offspring. However, it is common in fall for family groups to aggregate and stay together through winter until the raging hormones start acting up in early spring. Often some of the earliest arrivals into these groups are birds that were unsuccessful in breeding that year. These aggregate groups are apparently what are properly termed a "covey." I always thought that any group of quail was a covey....
There are obvious benefits in hanging around in large groups - safety in numbers (the probability that any one individual will be picked off by a Cooper's hawk is diminished), more individuals available to scout around for food, etc.
Anyway, I got my questioned answered. If anyone else wants to know anything about quail, the book is fairly all-encompassing and I have it for months so just send me your questions!
Lots of birds out there this weekend, have fun,
Martha
Original Message Next Reply Subject Index
Re: Quail behavior
Sat, 18 Sep 1999 20:18:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tom Condit
Marsha Feinland and I saw a solitary quail, fairly large but without a crest, on the Bridle Trail between the Fish Information Exhibit and the junction with the Orchard Trail in Redwood Regional Park this PM. It ducked into the brush and disappeared. No sight or sound of other quail.
Other birds seen/heard:
Chestnut-backed Chickadees
Spotted Towhee
California Towhee (heard only)
American Crow
Corvid sp. (sounded like raven, looked like crow)
Stellar's Jay
Turkey Vulture
Dark-eyed Juncos
Northern Flicker
Not much of a list, but it was mid-day.
Tom Condit
Original Message Subject Index
Coyote Hills Regional Park
Sun, 19 Sep 1999 20:31:46 PDT
From: Bill Scoggins
Coyote Hills Regional Park Visitor Center and Hoot Hollow
18 September 1999, 11:15 AM - 3:30 PM
Hello East Bay Birders:
Townsend's, Wilson's and Yellow Warblers highlighted my trip to Coyote Hills. I joined Bonnie Marzo for the first two hours and we shared warbler sightings with Jan Southworth.
Turkey Vulture 2
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2 adults
American Kestrel 1 female
Ring-necked Pheasant 1 by voice
California Quail 35
Mourning Dove 2
Anna's Hummingbird 4
Allen's Hummingbird 2
Pacific-slope Flycatcher 1
Say's Phoebe 1
Black Phoebe 1 adult & 1 immature
Western Scrub-Jay 5
Northern Mockingbird 1
California Thrasher 1
European Starling 6
Bewick's Wren 2 by voice
Bushtit 3
Barn Swallow 5
Cliff Swallow 7
American Goldfinch 17
Lesser Goldfinch 8
House Finch 3
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Townsend's Warbler 2
Wilson's Warbler 1
Golden-crowned Sparrow 2 immature
Dark-eyed Junco 14
Spotted Towhee 2 by voice
California Towhee 2
Red-winged Blackbird 3
Butterflies seem to be slowly returning to Coyote Hills; we saw 1 buckeye, 1 west coast lady, 1 fiery skipper, 6 English cabbage, 1 anise swallowtail, 2 monarch caterpillars, and 1 woolly bear caterpillar.
One tree frog and one fence lizard.
The Cooper's Hawk flew through the oaks to land on a small snag. He watched several quail near the visitor center; soon he dived on the quail, missed and pulled up to land on the roof. He watched for another minute while a hummingbird harassed him. Finally he flew quickly toward Hoot Hollow being pursued by two hummingbirds! According to Leopold, the Cooper's Hawk is the primary natural enemy of the California Quail.
Recently Birding Parks Partners, Dave Riensche, and other volunteers released 122 young quail into the park as part of an on going restoration program. For more information about the quail reintroduction, life of a quail and adopt-a-quail program go to
http://members.aol.com/coyotehrp
Happy birding,
Bill Scoggins
Castro Valley, CA
County lists
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 19:44:16 -0700
From: Courtenay Peddle
Hello folks,
I asked Joe Morlan about county lists and he kindly steered me to a site with lists for all California's counties. It's a great resource. This is the URL:
http://www.si.edu/smbc/bird%20lists/county.htm
This may not connect you directly, since unfortunately I'm pretty lame about e-mail and atachments, so just copied the URL from Joe's message.
Brag department: Saw both the White-winged Tern and the Curlew Sandpiper this weekend - both lifers of course.
Good birding!
Courtenay