Berkeley Backyard Bird Blog: October 2013

Hooded Oriole visiting in San Carlos, Sonora

Over the past year, I’ve seen many birds come and go,

and others stick around

(and not like a bad guest, either).

What are the chances this bird survived?

The reality is Bay Area birds must always set off in search of new food sources or perhaps they’ve been pushed to marginal foraging areas by bigger, more aggressive competitor birds.

Some kind of Flycatcher at Mount Diablo State Park

Or maybe they’re just plain lost, blown off course during their 10,000 mile migratory marathons to alight on distant shores and inland forests of far away continents.

Cardinal in Sonoran Desert in Winter

But at any time of the year, a Berkeley backyard birder can count on abundant dissimulations and murmurations; plenty of mobs and murders and casts of thousands; along with charms, bouquets and bevys; and parliaments and exultations of all kinds.

No clue as to this bird's identity - Wren or Thrush of some kind? (Mount Diablo)

Just in time for a first sighting. That is, if you are able to first spot 'em, and then ID 'em! All in all, it’s still a mystery figuring out who’s who, what’s what, and when’s when. (The where where is pretty apparent!)

Spotted Towhee with colorful eye

From multitudinous shore bird species on ocean, bay and marsh coastlines; to oak / bay / riparian woodland refuges of Nuthatches, Warblers and Grosbeaks; to chaparral hill country where a White-tailed Kite, Varied Thrush or Lazuli Bunting might be sighted; to urban settings where a Cooper’s Hawk has been known to alight on a tip top Redwood branch in the backyard:

The elusive (for me!) Oven Bird (Photo by Rhododendrites)

There’s never a shortage of great birding to be had. Never a missed opportunity to challenge my fledgling expertise. Never a dull moment with even the "drabbest" of birds (think, disparagingly, of the "lowly" California Towhee).

California Brown Towhee after a dip

Fall and Spring, especially, are prime time seasons for spotting Code 2 or rarer Code 3 birds for the first time, just to put a little swagger in my bragging rights. But, dozens of “common” Code 1 species still remain elusive, and you're expecting me to spot an Oven Bird or a Brown Booby?

Brown Booby I'll never see (Photo by Danilo da Castro)

The crazy thing is, there have been many first sightings, as in my unscientific pronouncement, “I’ve just seen a new and different kind of bird!” Like happened a few weeks ago in the Berkeley Hills when what seemed like a Tennessee Warbler and I crossed paths.

Red-breasted Nuthatch hollowing out a sheltered space

But alas, such pitiful non-confirmations are consigned to the fuzzy realm of non-identification, and so they do not count. Still, the addition of nearly twenty more first-ever bird sightings since I wrote about First Sightings and Life Lists a year ago must bring my count up to 120.

Peacock at Tracy Aviary (Salt Lake City, UT)

But just guessing, since it's an imprecise metric sporadically tallied in my Life List spreadsheet, which mysteriously has disappeared from my hard drive!

Western Kingbird spotted near Vernal, Utah

So I am left with my imperfect memory

and sensory impressions in my intuitive heart.

Red-winged Blackbird with yellow wing tinge

Here are some recent unequivocal First Sightings
and positive identifications of our Neornithic friends:

House Sparrow clinging to wavy wire

CASTLE VALLEY, UTAH

Western Meadowlark
(Courtesy of Kevin Cole from Pacific Coast, USA (en:User:Kevinlcole),
CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

During early morning strolls along the rural main drag of this unincorporated community 17 miles outside of Moab, Utah, ‘neath the dramatic presence of Porcupine Rim, Round Mountain, Castleton Tower and 12,482 ft. Mount Tukunikivatz, four never before seen birds make their appearances known to me.

Lovely little Juniper Titmouse
(Flickr user Tony Randell . Photo uploaded to commons by user ltshears,
CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>,
via Wikimedia Commons)

In an overgrown meadow, a full-throated morning crooner, a Western Meadowlark, makes his dominion over things emphatically known; followed by a full-throttled, on a mission Juniper Titmouse; and then a “just takin’ care of business” Pinyon Jay.

Pinyon Jay posing in muted plumage
(Courtesy of David Menke, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Whilst the liltingly cute Mountain Bluebird handily steals my heart with a lovelorn song.

Brilliant Mountain Bluebird
(Photo by Elaine R. Wilson, CC BY-SA 2.5
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>,
via Wikimedia Commons)

PINNACLES NATIONAL PARK

California Condor
(Photo by Don Graham from Redlands, CA, USA
- God bless it!, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>,
via Wikimedia Commons)

I had previously spotted what I believed were a trio of California Condors in 2006, but a few months ago, I watched a pair circling over towering volcanic spires. New anti-lead in ammo laws will greatly contribute to the birds’ ability to procreate and thrive, in short – survive. (They eat the remains of hunters’ lead-tainted carcasses left behind.)

Andy the Andean Condor (Tracy Aviary, Salt Lake City)

ELKHORN SLOUGH

Ruddy Turnstones scrounging at the Slough

Withstood the big traffic heavy drive down the most dangerous highway in America (880), on to the second most dangerous (17) to the most insanely backed up road of them all (Pacific Coast Highway 1) near Moss Landing between Monterey and Santa Cruz.

Lonesome pole-sitting Caspian Tern

All to tool around in Migsy’s old-school canoe for a couple of hard paddlin’ hours in perfect weather on a sun-baked, kicked-back, down a few beers why not kinda day. We spot (I spot) Ruddy Turnstones, Caspian Terns, American White Pelicans, and, I’ll be – a friggin’ Whimbrel!

Solitary Whimbrel

LAS TRAMPAS REGIONAL WILDERNESS

Lark Sparrow

Taking a break from visiting my 92-year old mother in law, we head up Elderberry Trail (not, alas, to ascend the 1900 foot ridge) and hiking up a mile, where patience and luck are rewarded with sightings of a Lazuli Bunting and a Lark Sparrow. (Admittedly, the Lazuli Bunting was not a first sighting, but it sure felt like one!)

Gray Pelicans at Elkhorn Slough

CASCADE CANYON (Marin County OSD)

Fledgling Pacific-slope Flycatcher in yard

Although one of those so-called pedestrian sightings, I had never seen a Pacific-slope Flycatcher before, so it was with real delight that I spotted a parent snagging in mid-air white moth after white moth to feed three hungry mouths sticking up out of a hole in a tree about eight feet up just off a main trail in this lovely preserve, Fairfax, California’s back yard.

Mother Pacific-slope Flycatcher keeping an eye on baby

Then, wouldn’t you know, I started spotting them left and right, in my own back yard and in local parks. The question begs: had I been seeing them before but mistaking them for something else?

Great Egret on the wing at Elkhorn Slough

TILDEN REGIONAL PARK

Juvenile Black-headed Grosbeak in Bell's Canyon, Utah

Another one of those “Oh, is that right” bland comments issued by some jaded birding nut on hearing, during a trailside chat, that I’ve never before, ever, not once, seen a Black-headed Grosbeak in all my days.

Head-on view of the juvenile Black-headed Grosbeak

Well, I finally spotted one, and then some others, in Tilden’s tree-dense, riparian biomes. Such a joy hearing their “drunken Robin” song from afar, and gradually coming upon the Parrot-like (?) bird, sitting and preening and putting on a good show for several minutes.

Black-headed Grosbeak in high tree tops

OREGON

Clark's Nutcrack
(photo by gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K, CC BY 2.0
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

During a ten-day road trip to the amazin' Beaver State, I spotted so many birds it made my head spin (literally).

Red Crossbill in Oregon

Among those added to my Life List: Red Crossbills; Clark’s Nutcrackers; Black and White Warbler; Golden-crowned Kinglet (a gem); Lesser Nighthawks; Western Tanager (although on two North Fork American River expeditions with the late Russell Towle, we spotted the lovely bird); and Olive-sided Flycatchers.

Black and White Warbler
(Photo by TonyCastro, CC BY-SA 4.0
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

BIG BREAK REGIONAL SHORELINE

Humble and furtive American Bittern

This amazing Bay / Delta wonderland deserves more exploration, but canoeing around one day, my bud and I spotted many different birds, including an American Bittern, described by Jonathan Franzen as a bird whose:

Ducks on the water at Big Break Regional Shoreline

“ . . . way was to lurk among the reeds, camouflaged by their fine vertical striping of buff and brown, and spear small animals with their bills . . . humble and furtive on the ground, near their marshy home, but lordly in the sky.”