[EBB Sightings] Accipiters in Tilden?

I went to the Nature Area this morning around 10:30 and birded for an hour.? Mostly there were zillions of Wilson's Warblers, and several selasaphorous hummingbirds (one looked Rufous, but gosh it's hard to see the entire back of these guys especially when they're chasing their mate around.? I heard many Black-headed Grosbeaks and saw one male at the top of a distant tree.?? There was also one Olive-sided Flycatcher sitting at the bare top of another tree next to the main trail.? I had off and on views of it for the better part of the hour and it never went on any feeding forays and never called unfortunately.? It also had a clear white tuft on its rump, which Sibley says is a mark on a juvenile, but this doesn't really make any sense given the month and the fact that it was a darn large bird.

After my circuit I went running.? On the way back I looked up to see if the OSFC was still there (it was), when I noticed a small raptor circling fairly low.? It was fairly non-descript with overall color light and no distinguishing marks escept a wide black stripe at the end of its long tail.? I would guess it's a sharp-shinned hawk from its size, including small head, or obviously a Coopers'.? But it continued to circle lazily around with no obvious wingbeats.? Eventually it soared quite high, where it was attacked playfully I suspect by its mate, which had exactly the same shape but was was significantly smaller.? They continued in this pattern for several circles then were lost to my sight (unfortunately I had ditched my binoculars for this episode).

So is this behavior consistent with an accipiter?? I ruled out most of the other possibilities, except maybe Merlin but it seemed too light colored and too lackadaisical for lack of a better word.? I do have very little experience with falcons in general.? Comments are most welcome.


--- On Sun, 4/26/09, D Weber  wrote:

From: D Weber 
Subject: [EBB Sightings] Sunol RP this morning
To: "EBB Sightings" 
Date: Sunday, April 26, 2009, 12:18 PM

Hi Birders-

This morning I followed up on Matt Dodder's reports for Sunol RP. First, no chats were seen at the described location. Cassin's Vireo's were all over the place, with several low and well seen. Heard Warbling and Hutton's Vireos. On the east side of the creek downstream of the bridge near the visitor center was one bright Nashville Warbler. Also along the creek, one Allen's Hummingbird and several House Wrens. Up along the Indian Joe and Canyon View trails I did not see or hear any pewees, OS Flycatchers or Lewis's WP. But did see a small group of Vaux's Swifts over the creek. At the corral near the bridge beyond the end of the park road I had one Chipping Sparrow and one Lawrence's Goldfinch, both in the large oaks on the hillside next to the corral.

Dave Weber,
Milpitas 
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