June 1998 Field Journal

6.3 [SFBirds] Ovenbird at East Wash
SF Big Year,

This morning I awoke quite early and headed out to the East Wash. I was
there before 7:00 AM. After observing the area above the willows briefly, I moved down Lincoln Blvd. just east of the willows and snuck through a small hole in the foliage. There I managed to flush an AMERICAN REDSTART out of the small cypresses just above the willows in the seep. With the overcast skies, the plumage on the back appeared fairly dark. The outer tail feathers showed prominent rectangular light patches at the base of the tail which were colored somewhere between yellow and orange. The central tail feathers were all uniformly colored the same as the rest of the upperparts. The wings showed a flash of the same color as as the tail patches and appeared to be on the greater (primary?) coverts. I could not refind the bird and the bird did not vocalize. Needless to say, this observation was brief.

While trying to relocate the AMRE, I heard a song that I instantly recognized. The bird was singing from dense foliage probably no more than 20-30 feet from where I was standing; east and above the willows and just below Lincoln Blvd. It was a loud teacher-teacher-teacher..., with no pause inbetween words. The phrasing was such that the song increased in volume as it progressed. The first syllable in teacher was always the same pitch and emphasized relative to the second syllable, which was always slightly lower in pitch. No variation in the pitch of either syllable was heard during the song.

There are few eastern wood warblers of which I am confident of identification by sound, but OVENBIRD is one of them. I also had the good fortune of refreshing my memory of the song from a CD last night. At this point, I decided to call a few folks; I did not consider calling the entire call tree as it was still only 7:00 AM. Perhaps the call list should have hours during which it is "acceptable" to call.

Alan showed up about 15 or 20 minutes later and we hung around, not seeing much else of note. Finally, about 7:30 or so, it sang again. I heard it clearly, but Alan heard it less so. Sometime thereafter, Joost joined us and, shortly after 8:00, it sang again. Joost heard it clearly but Alan still hadn't got a definitive "listen". At this, it appeared that the bird had moved away from the seep and down towards the monument where the large cypresses begin again on the north side of Lincoln. Unfortunately, this is also an area with an active cat colony. We returned up the hill and worked from the edge of Lincoln Blvd. and it was finally reheard definitively by all at around 8:30. Despite some "creative" bushwhacking by ASH and me, the bird was not seen.

It must be noted that the bird was heard singing only 4 times in two hours and that the foliage in this part of the wash is extremely dense.

6.13 [SFBirds] Banded Brandt's Cormorants
There was a BRANDT'S CORMORANT with a metal leg band this morning at the Cliff House.
Anyone know who's banding these guys? The Farallones?

6.14 [SFBirds] Re: Rose-breasted Grosbeak
The ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK was still present at noon today. It appeared to be a "1997 model".

Of lesser interest were at least 4 very late PINE SISKINS, an active DOWNY WOODPECKER nest with dad feeding the young woodpecker and at least two if not three juvenile WILSON'S WARBLERS. However, the plumage on the WIWA fledglings appears at odds with the description in D&G:

"Dull olive-buff nearly throughout, paling to yellowish buff on the belly and undertail coverts. Two buffy wing bars. This plumage has largely been replaced by the olive and yellow first basic plumage by the time the young have fledged".

While there was a hint of buffy wingbars, the olive and yellow first basic plumage seemed to have the remnants of a downy _grey_ coloration to it.

Alan Hopkins wrote:
>
> Boo!
> There was a singing male Rose-breasted Grosbeak on Mt. Davidson this
> morning. It was in the area where the Sage Sparrow was, along the wooded
> edge.
>

6.27 - 28 Yuba Pass
Here are the highlights of Debi's and my trip to the Yuba Pass area on 6/27-28/98:

Lowlight was certainly the BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS at Basset's Lodge.

Overall, this was a trip where the diversity appeared to be well down. Shorebirds were virtually non-existent at Dyson Lane (we dipped on Gulls, Willets (!) and Wilson's Phalaropes). Breeding ducks were also hard to find at Dyson Lane. Interestingly enough, this seems to resonate with Dan M.'s observations from his Lassen trip. While this affected mostly the wetlands species, the montane areas were also affected as well. Olive-sided Flycatchers numbers were down significantly from last year, but Red-breasted Sapsuckers and Western Wood-Pewees were everywhere. Most of the rest of the montane species were also present, but more than one or two were heard only and/or had only one or two individuals.

Red Rock Road bears some discussion (California listers need not apply :-). This location is well-described in Jean Richmond's book, though I would guess infrequently birded as it is a good hour from Loyalton. However, it is certainly worth the trip, at least this year. Once we found the turnoff off of 395, we continued slowly past the obvious, well-named rock formations north of the road (which is now paved), crossing the Nevada state line in the process. Just beyond the line, you enter a small canyon which has a small creek running along it. In drier years, this may be completely dry. However, this year, it was quite birdy given that we were there during the heat of the day.

The JUTI were in (of course) a juniper bush immediately adjacent to the south side of the road, next to the stream. I was surprised how much different they looked from Oak Titmouse; they were extremely pale gray as one would expect for a desert species and showed no dark contrasting wash on the flanks. When the JUTI flushed from the juniper bush, another larger, grayish bird flushed along with them which might well have been a GRAY FLYCATCHER, though it landed unidentified just out of sight. A pair of immature GOLDEN EAGLES were soaring above the ridge and a pair of ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS were singing, one of which was well-seen.

Finally, I found the trip particularly enjoyable as with but two of us, there was plenty of time to study in detail birds of interest. Interestingly enough, Peter Allen was leading a Marin Audubon trip that weekend, and the cordial Marinites invited us to join them on Saturday morning at Yuba Pass, though we respectfully declined. While we certainly missed one or two birds which I would have liked to have seen, the joys of observing the nuances of plumage and song for the HAFL, of having a RBSA fly within 20 feet of where you are standing, of quietly approaching and being able to make out every feather in the plumage of a singing male LISP, more than compensated for any birds not seen.


Pied-billed Grebe (7)
American White Pelican (7)
American Bittern (7)
Black-crowned Night-Heron (7)
White-faced Ibis (7)
Turkey Vulture (7)
Canada Goose (7)
Mallard (5)
Cinnamon Teal (7)
Ruddy Duck (7)
Red-tailed Hawk (7)
Golden Eagle (8)
American Kestrel (8)
Mountain Quail (2)
Virginia Rail (7)
American Coot (7)
Sandhill Crane (6)
Killdeer (7)
American Avocet (7)
Common Nighthawk (5)
Anna's Hummingbird (4)
Calliope Hummingbird (4)
Red-breasted Sapsucker (2)
Hairy Woodpecker (9)
White-headed Woodpecker (2, 9)
Northern Flicker (2)
Olive-sided Flycatcher (2)
Western Wood-Pewee (2, 3)
Hammond's Flycatcher (2)
Dusky Flycatcher (2)
Ash-throated Flycatcher (8)
Cassin's Vireo (3)
Warbling Vireo (1, 2, 3)
Steller's Jay (1)
Common Raven (4)
Cliff Swallow (7)
Barn Swallow (7)
Mountain Chickadee (2)
Juniper Titmouse (8)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (2)
White-breasted Nuthatch (2)
Brown Creeper (2)
Marsh Wren (7)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (2)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2)
Swainson's Thrush (2)
American Robin (2)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (2, 3)
Wilson's Warbler (2)
Western Tanager (1)
Spotted Towhee (3, 9)
Brewer's Sparrow (6)
Vesper Sparrow (6, 7)
Savannah Sparrow (7)
Fox Sparrow (10)
Song Sparrow (8)
Lincoln's Sparrow (2)
White-crowned Sparrow (2)
Dark-eyed Junco (1)
Black-headed Grosbeak (1)
Red-winged Blackbird (7)
Western Meadowlark (6)
Yellow-headed Blackbird (7)
Brewer's Blackbird (1)
Brown-headed Cowbird (4)
Pine Grosbeak (10)
Cassin's Finch (2)
Pine Siskin (2)
Evening Grosbeak (2)
House Sparrow (7)

Locations:
1) Herrington's Lodge, Sierra City (Jun 27)
2) Yuba Pass Campground (Jun 27)
3) Wild Plum Campground (Jun 27)
4) Basset's Lodge (Jun 27)
5) Pond on Salmon Lake Road (Jun 27)
6) Calpine Corner (Jun 28)
7) Dyson Lane (Jun 28)
8) Red Rock Road, Nevada :-( (Jun 28)
9) Junction of 49 and 89 (Jun 28)
10) Yuba Pass (Jun 28)

Home

You can contact me via email.