Upper San Leandro reservoir
Wed, 1 Dec 1999 22:11:26 -0800
From: Don Lewis
At Upper San Leandro Reservoir, accessible from Valle Vista Staging Area on Canyon Rd in Moraga, there were some unusual-for-the-place birds Wednesday morning:
Two pairs of Hooded Mergansers
Two male Green-winged Teals
A Northern Harrier
The lake level is as low as I've ever seen it. To do the ducks well, one needs a scope. There is accordingly a large marshy/weedy area that normally isn't there; that's probably what drew in the harrier.
Don Lewis
Lafayette, CA
Editor's note: An EBMUD permit (obtainable at EBMUD offices or many EBRPD visitor centers) is required to bird the reservoir.
Sapsucker angst
Thu, 02 Dec 1999 13:54:36 -0800
From: Martha Lowe
Hi everyone,
Well, the sapsucker that refuses to fit any pictured in Peterson's [Western Birds by Roger Tory Peterson] returned to my birch tree yesterday. After staring at it from as many angles as possible for about 45 minutes I can now give you a new and improved description:
It has a lot of red on the head, more so than Peterson's Red-naped Sapsucker, but the red doesn't extend as far down on the breast or neck as the illustration for the Red-breasted Sapsucker.There is a white stripe that extends from the base of the bill down the side of the throat. Unlike Peterson's Red-naped, there is only a touch of white behind the eye, not another stripe as pictured.
The bird has a small, isolated black patch on the back of the neck that is surrounded by red - also unlike the picture!
In short, this bird has more red and less black and white on its head than the classic Red-naped but lacks the solid red head of the Red-breasted. Oh, and it definitely only shows the faintest yellow wash on the upper belly.
The Golden Gate Audubon's checklist has Red-naped Sapsuckers as casual winter visitors. So, I am now leaning towards calling it either a Red-naped or a Red-naped X Red-breasted. Any comments? Any idea of how often Red-napeds are sighted here?? Anybody ever seen a hybrid? Can anyone direct me to a good book/website on woodpeckers that would describe the subspecies and preferably have lots of pictures??
This bird is driving me crazy! But what a beauty, it was truly wonderful to be able to watch it at close range for so long. I normally don't get the chance to get my binoculars up to my eyes before the bird I am looking at has disappeared!
Thanks,
Martha
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Re: Sapsucker angst
Thu, 02 Dec 1999 15:40:24 -0800
From: Joseph Morlan
Martha Lowe wrote:
Can anyone direct me to a good book/website on woodpeckers that would describe the subspecies and preferably have lots of pictures??
Try these:
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/jan.htm
http://www.pma.edmonton.ab.ca/natural/birds/projects/ident.htm
http://mamba.bio.uci.edu/~pjbryant/biodiv/birds/piciformes/400926.htm
Your description suggests female Sphyrapicus ruber daggetti to me. Compare your bird to the photo in the third URL above.
Hope this helps.
Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA 94044
California Birding; Mystery Birds:
http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/
California Bird Records Committee:
http://www.wfo-cbrc.org/cbrc/
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Coyote Hills Park: Peregrine Falcons
Sat, 4 Dec 1999 22:35:30 PST
From: Bill Scoggins
Hello Coyote Hills Birders and Friends,
Coyote Hills Regional Park, 3 December 1999, 11 AM to 4:15 PM.
Yesterday's highlights included 2 Peregrine Falcons and 2 Common Goldeneyes.
I had birded around the Visitor Center, Hoot Hollow, and the Main Marsh, when at 2 PM I met Kate, Sam, and Carin High and Michiko, Carin's mother. We birded until 4:15 PM. Sam High spotted two Peregrine Falcons, an American Kestrel, and a Common Goldeneye. One peregrine was harassing the other as they flew very rapidly over us headed north from the Visitor Center. A Red-shouldered Hawk was seen flying intermittently all afternoon between Hoot Hollow and trees near the DUST Trail.
We were viewing Buffleheads when a Virginia Rail flew about 20 feet over water from one patch of cattails to another and then finally flew to another patch. Five minutes later another Virginia Rail repeated the same trip, only swimming! We watched in amazement. At Lizard Rock an American Kestrel dived on a mouse and returned his prey to the Rock to dine while we observed.
Earlier in the afternoon a Great Egret flew near me with a vole-like animal clinched in the end of its large bill.
Here is a complete list of all birds seen by all observers.
Pied-billed Grebe - 6
Double-crested Cormorant - 3
Ruddy Duck - 175
American Widgeon - 1 pair
Green-winged Teal - 2
Mallard - 34
Cinnamon Teal - 1 + 2 pair
Northern Shoveler - 55
Canvasback - 118
Common Goldeneye - 2 females
Bufflehead - 3 females
Snowy Egret - 1
Great Egret - 3
Great Blue Heron - 1
Turkey Vulture - 4
White-tailed Kite - 4
Northern Harrier - 2 males, 3 females
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 1 immature, 3 adult
American Kestrel - male, seen catching & eating a mouse at Lizard Rock
Peregrine Falcon - 2
California Quail - 2 females unbanded & probably wild raised
Virginia Rail - 2 swimming and flying
Sora - 2 by voice
gull species - 9
Anna's Hummingbird - 1
Northern Flicker - 1
Black Phoebe - 3
Western Scrub-Jay - 2
Loggerhead Shrike - 2
American Robin - 2
Northern Mockingbird - 1
European Starling - 6
Marsh Wren - 3 seen & 4 by voice
Bewick's Wren - 1
Barn Swallow ? - 1 flying overhead
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1 seen & 3 by voice
American Goldfinch - 3
House Finch - 13
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 13 "Audubon's"
Common Yellowthroat - 1 male & 1 femaleFox Sparrow - 3 Sooty, Passerella unalaschcensis fuliginosa; one of these was an immature - very darkly streaked and spotted along the breast and belly
Song Sparrow - 6
White-crowned Sparrow - 7
Golden-crowned Sparrow - 29+
Dark-eyed Junco - 13
Spotted Towhee - 1 by voice
Red-winged Blackbird - 260+
Western Meadowlark - 28
Brewer's Blackbird - 7Monarch butterfly - 1
Cabbage White - 1Tree frog - 5 by voice
Black Cat at Hoot Hollow
Raccoon - 3, spotted by Sam High in the picnic ground going through a garbage can
Happy birding,
Bill Scoggins
Castro Valley, CA