Re: Hummers & Fox Sparrows at UC Botanical
Gardens
18 Oct 99 14:15:02 -0700
From: Les Chibana
Tom Condit wrote:
Selasphorus hummingbirds continued in reduced numbers at UC Botanical Gardens this morning. All but one of the ones I was able to get good looks at perching or hovering had much more red than green on their backs; the one exception still had a lot of red, but the center of the back was pretty solidly green. None of them fanned their tails out well enough for a decent look, but the couple I could see fairly well had "a lot of white" in the tail, so that the tail as a whole appeared white-tipped. (I'm not sure I could tell the difference between Allen's and Rufous tails, no matter how good a look I got.)
If there's white in the tail of a Selasphorus, then it's in the non-adult male category, or female/immature, and determining sex and species of these is nearly impossible in the field. You have more to work with if you have the bird in one hand and calipers in the other. When we know more about seasonal movement of females and immature of the species, we might be able to use the time of the sight record as a key to ID.
Les Chibana
Palo Alto, CA
Original Message Subject Index
Re: Elkhorn Slough - Wow!
Mon, 18 Oct 1999 19:01:13 -0700
From: Michelle Sixta
Pat Hotchkiss inquired about the pontoon boat tour of Elkhorn Slough.
Some friends of mine had booked in advance - you have to make reservations. The name of the trip is "Elkhorn Slough Safari" owned and operated by Captain Yohn Gideon. The website is
http://www.elkhornslough.com/
and the phone number is 831-633-5555. It was $35 for almost 3 hours starting out at 8:30 AM. Aside from the birds, we also saw good numbers of harbor seals and sea otters. I highly recommend the trip!
Michelle
Original Message Next Reply Subject Index
U.C. Botanical Gardens
Mon, 18 Oct 1999 19:50:44 -0700
From: Lillian Fujii
Steve Hayashi and I spent a couple of hours at the U.C. Botanical Gardens yesterday, Sunday October 17. There are still at at least 4 to 5 Selasphorus hummingbirds at the garden. One has an all-rufous back. All of the others we were able to see perched and from the back had mostly or all-green backs and were females/juveniles. We found most of the Selasphorus hummers, including the male Rufous, near the tall lone pine tree, on the "uphill" side of the gardens. We also counted at least 7 California Quail.
Happy birding. Lillian Fujii
Re: Elkhorn Slough - Wow!
Mon, 18 Oct 1999 22:34:43 -0700
From: Debbi Brusco
I also was on the pontoon boat, on Friday night. Although the number of species we observed was much less, we were treated to the sight of an Eared Grebe swimming underwater from the back of the boat to the front, by spotlight. It was also a thrill to see large flocks of sandpipers, disturbed by the spotlight, flying around like they do in the daytime - except the only light was on little white winged bodies moving in synchronization.
During the day, I hiked Elkhorn Slough Reserve. Since I didn't get there until mid-afternoon, it was pretty quiet, but I did see a Loggerhead Shrike and a Say's Phoebe by the Visitor's Center.
Original Message Subject Index
Re: Meeker Slough area, Richmond
Mon, 18 Oct 1999 22:44:27 -0700
From: Larry Tunstall
Les Chibana suggested (very politely) that the "Swainson's Thrush" I reported probably was a Hermit Thrush, since the Swainson's should be off to their wintering grounds by now. He's probably right. I have rarely had a decent look at a Swainson's. I usually identify them by the call, but this one was silent. It "didn't look right" for a Hermit Thrush, so I consulted the field guide (All the Birds...) and finally decided that Swainson's looked the most likely.
The bird was sitting on a branch near the trail, feathers all puffed up. It let me come quite close and just stared at me, so I had a good look at the front of the bird, not so good at the back. Eventually, while I was poring through the book, I looked up and found it gone. It may have been simply its passivity and puffed-up appearance that made me think it was not a Hermit Thrush (and, of course, it may have been young or ill), but it did seem to have very little spotting on the breast. There was some reddish brown on the back and top of the tail, but I couldn't get a good look to see how much. The book talks about buff on the Swainson's, but then shows it on both birds. It doesn't show reddish brown on the Swainson's, but it does say in the text that the western bird is "reddish brown" above. It did seem to have a fairly prominent eye ring. Frankly, sitting here looking at the pictures in the book, I see little difference between the illustrations of the two species. Other books are similar, though they indicate more specifically that the rufous tail is distinctive for the Hermit (but Peterson shows a "russet-backed" form of the Swainson's that looks about the same color as the western Hermit). By the way, this bird did not noticeably "cock its tail and drop it slowly."
At any rate, I certainly have no strong evidence that this was the less-likely Swainson's Thrush. I can see that I'll have to try next year to get some better looks at Swainson's and see if I can get my own "feel" about the differences.
Les adds the following encouragement:
Don't fret about not being able to ID thrushes. I've seen a roomful of Bay Area birding luminaries stumped by a series of slides of thrushes that were photographed in western North America. They are not that easy.
Thanks, Les.
Good birding, Larry
Larry Tunstall
El Cerrito CA
Original Message Next Reply Subject Index