October 1998 Field Journal 10.2 [SFBirds] Re: Treasure Island Parula
Treasure Island is part of San Francisco County as is the extreme tip of
Alameda Naval Air Station. NORTHERN PARULA is a vagrant to San Francisco, though is
more or less expected in the fall somewhere in the city. However, it is a
bird which has been scarce this fall and is missing from some year lists. :-)It appears that you have discovered that Treasure Island is (still) off
limits to civilians. Anyone know of or if there are plans to open up TI to
civilians?Graham J Etherington wrote:
>
> Hi all,
> I'm sending this to sfbirds and ebbirds as I don't know who claims
> Treasure Island!
> I had a Parula Warbler on Treasure Island today between officers
> quarters 60/61 and the small playground on Maclla(spelling?) Road. It
> was with the GC/RC Kinglet flock there. I was moved on by the police
> after spending about half an hour in the area. If you know someone that
> lives on the base or nearby, I'm sure they might escort you. Also in the
> area were good numbers of Varied Thrushes and plenty of common migrants.
> (I'm not actually too sure how rare Parula is in the Bay Area -
> apologies if it's not 'all that'!)
>
> Good birding,
> Graham Etherington
> UC Berkeley10.3 [SFBirds]
Sunny skies and brisk northwestern winds quickly ended our vagrant mania. Dan, Fred Chambers and I had only a few birds of note. At Middle Lake, Joe's LEAST FLYCATCHER was still present. In the east wash, another flock of 10-15 WESTERN SCRUB-JAYS were present. WESTERN MEADOWLARKS were present at the Fort Miley Trees and Lobos Creek. Near Rodriguez Street in the Presidio 55 VAUX'S SWIFTS flew over. Crissy Field was teeming with terns (teaming with turns?); I managed to count 49 COMMON TERNS perched at Coast Guard Pier and the pier just east of it. This is surely far fewer than the actual number as quite a few were airborn at any given point in time.Middle Lake
Least Flycatcher
Hermit Thrush
Fox Sparrow
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Pacific-slope FlycatcherEast Wash
10-15 Western Scrub-Jay (flock)
Purple Finch
American GoldfinchFort Miley Trees
Western Meadowlark
Spotted TowheeLobos Creek
Western Meadowlark
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Red-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
White-tailed KiteKobbe and Upton
Warbling VireoRodriguez
Northern Flicker (Y)
55 Vaux's SwiftCrissy Field
49 Common Tern
Elegant Tern
Pied-billed Grebe10.4 [SFBirds]
Sunny skies meant I wouldn't find much in the trees, so I again combed the ocean. The Cliff House was quiet, but I noticed quite a bit of tern activity in the channel leading out of the Golden Gate. I drove over to the parking lot at the (south) west end of the west wash and set up camp.Where terns go, jaegers soon follow and this was no exception. In and amongst the hundreds of ELEGANT TERNS, it was fairly easy even at 50x to pick up PARASITIC JAEGERS. I did not count them, but three dozen sounds about right (I had 4 Parasitic Jaeger chasing a single Elegant Tern at one point in time). After awhile, another jaeger came by with slower wingbeats, less undulating flight and a large amount of white at the base of most if not all of the primaries. The contrast between the POMARINE JAEGER and the numerous PAJAs I had been watching was readily evident. Before I left, two more POJAs would show up.
Not surprisingly, COMMON TERNS were also much in evidence. Their small size immediately stood out from the much large Elegant Terns. Again, I did not count them, but two dozen sounds conservative. Other notes include a CALIFORNIA SEA OTTER (the first I've seen in SF) and a single SOOTY SHEARWATER flying west from the Golden Gate (I wonder where they roost inside the bay?)
Finally, I had a bird I could not identify. I had a flock of five Surfbird SCOTERS fly by and there was a brown bird about 2/3 of the size of the scoters flying in formation with them. It appeared to have the jizz of a scoter, and I did notice that the wing linings were pale, but didn't get much detail on the bird as it flew by. Juvenile Surf Scoter? Something more exotic?
10.4.98 SF Birds
Parasitic Jaeger
Jaeger sp.
3 Pomarine Jaeger
Common Tern
Sooty Shearwater
Sea Otter
SBB with Surf Scoter10.6 [SFBirds] Long-tailed Jaeger at overlook above Seal Rocks (a.k.a the parking lot at north end of El Camino Del Mar, which is the street just above Merrie Way).
Given that it was cloudless and windless last night, I decided to try my luck again with seabirds. I went to the Cliff House and almost didn't stop; there was very little happening. But then I saw few terns and I decided to walk down to the overlook behind the Cliff House. Of note was only the WANDERING TATTLER at Fisherman's Rock. However, the ELEGANT TERNS were starting to stream by and I notice good activity in the channel, so I headed back up to the overlook.At the overlook, I found numerous PARASITIC JAEGER and another POMARINE JAEGER. I was just about to leave around 8:20 or so when another group of ELEGANT TERNS were streaming by, fairly close to shore. I was scoping these when another bird came by which obviously wasn't a tern. Skies were cloudless, there was little wind and the bird was perfectly front-lit by the early morning, low angle sun.
It was a seabird with graceful, tern-like flight sized roughly the same as the Elegant Terns that has just flow past. The cap was entirely dark and the upper wing surfaces were almost entirely medium gray. The base of the primaries showed just a suggestion of white on the outer one or two primaries. I did not notice any other contrast on the upper wing parts or back. The tail did not contrast with the upper wing surfaces or back and showed streamers whose length were a significant fraction (30%?) of the body length of the bird. Undersurfaces of the wings showed a small flash at the base of the primaries. Breast, throat and belly were uniformly bright white, with an prominent yellow band at the base of the neck. There was no black band, distinct or indistinct, below the yellow neck band.
The length of the streamers alone unambiguously identify this bird as an adult, breeding-plumage LONG-TAILED JAEGER, with its flight characteristics, lack of dark neck bank and substantially dark upper wing surfaces all consistent. Some guides (e.g. NGS) suggest that the upper wing surfaces are entire dark. However, in "Seabirds of the World" by Harrison, the adult breeding LTJA (plate 427) clearly shows a small amount of white on the outer primaries on the upper wing.
If my recollection is correct, LTJA are supposed to molt on the breeding grounds before fall migration. This would make it unlikely that we should see this plumage down here. However, the LTJA which I observed at the Farallons at the end of August was also an adult in breeding plumage.
10.9 [SFBirds] Black-throated Green Warbler still present at Lake Merced
South
I managed to refind the BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER at the south end of Lake Merced late this afternoon. The bird was still present foraging with a small flock of other TOWSEND'S WARBLERS and a BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER in a large flowering eucalpytus right at the large tree with dark green shiny leaves. I did not get a great look at it, but did noticea its indistinctly marked head and a distinct yellow wash across the vent.At South Lake Merced, I noticed an all dark bird "playing" with the gulls in the stiff breeze coming in off the ocean. I thought I had found a PARASITIC JAEGER that had been blown in (or blown away by the Blue Angels), but was surprised to find an immature PEREGRINE FALCON. There was also another small falcon much farther off which I assume was an AMERICAN KESTREL. TRICOLORED BLACKBIRDS are still present.
10.11 [SFBirds] Chestnut-sided Warbler, Palm Warbler at the South Lake
Merced Vagrant Trap
Today, my GGAS Audubon trip managed to see a CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER and a
PALM WARBLER at the South Lake Merced vagrant trap. The birds were foraging in
the pine tree on the south west (John Muir) side of the culvert just north west
(towards the ocean) from the large native oak tree.10.11 [SFBirds] Black-throated Green Warbler (again?)
BTW, I ran into another birder at the Lake Merced vagrant trap whom I did
not recognize. He mentioned that he had seen the BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER
yesterday, but not today. His skill seemed to be sufficient to identify the
bird (he had seen and identified both warblers before we got there) but when
I asked him if he was going to call in the warblers, he seemed extremely
reluctant to do so and said I should do it (?)10.13 [SFBirds] Tennessee Warbler at Middle Lake, Woodpecker molt question
I had a first fall TENNESSEE WARBLER at Middle Lake this morning, in the smaller eucalyptus at the top of the little rise just north east of the parking lot between South and Middle Lakes. No obvious wingbars, eyering broken fore and aft bye a dark eye line, yellow running all the way up the throat and ending about mid-belly. Lower belly and undertail coverts white. Nothing else unusual there, but HERMIT THRUSHES are everywhere. I did not attempt to bird the tall eucalyptus trees due to the heavy fog this morning, so who knows what else is around.Also, I had a DOWNY WOODPECKER in very worn plumage, the second I've seen in the last few days. The outer tail feathers were so worn that it was easy to overlook the spotting on them. Is this typical plumage for this time of year?
Middle Lake
Tennessee Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Fox Sparrow
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Western Tanager
Western Wood-Pewee
Cat colony being fed10.14 [SFBirds] Tropical Kingbird at Middle Lake
After David's report last night, I awoke early and drove without benefit of coffee to Middle Lake early this morning. I arrived about 7:15 and, as I was walking to the glade, I heard a rapid pip-pip-pip all on the same pitch coming from the glade, which sounded pretty good for TROPICAL KINBIRD. I walked into the glade and found Joost and David looking at the bird. Amazingly, the bird was perched about 12 feet off the ground in plain view at the north end of the glade.David and I left to get our cameras, leaving Joost in charge of keeping track of the bird. Of course it was gone by the time we got back and could not be relocated (what did you do, Joost? :-)
An obvious kingbird with a very long black bill, grayish throat and upper breast and bright lemon yellow on the lower breast and belly all the way down to the undertail coverts. The tail formula was a little hard to see initially (the bird had all of its rectrices laid almost on top of each other), but eventually the significantly notched tail could be seen. The bill, bright yellow belly and tail formula all eliminate WESTERN KINGBIRD and CASSIN'S KINGBIRD and the vocalization eliminates COUCH'S KINGBIRD.
The WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE is still present as well, which I believe is pretty late for these guys.
10.17 [SFBirds] Re: Broad-winged Hawk
Luke Cole wrote:
>
> I'm off to Tucson for work -- no time for birding! -- but it doesnt seem
> like I'm going to miss much.
>Mac McCormack (sp?) called in a LEWIS' WOODPECKER at Fort Mason. The call
was late this afternoon but I believe the sighting was much earlier today. Call
the Birdbox for more details.10.19 [SFBirds]
I checked the East Wash and the Seal Rocks Overlook this morning. Highlight was the BONAPARTE'S GULL that I followed for a couple of minutes as it sauntered from near the Sutro Baths Overlook towards the Golden Gate. ELEGANT TERNS are still around in good numbers, and I found three PARASITIC JAEGERS, one adult and two immatures. Also, I had a flock of PHALAROPE sp. take off the from the channel and fly towards the bay. My initial impression was to call them RED-NECKED PHALAROPES, but it's getting a bit late for these guys.I met Alan at the East Wash and not much was shaking. There was at least one PINE SISKIN and Alan pointed out a PURPLE FINCH doing a call with which I was not familiar. VARIED THRUSHES are also around as they are in most heavily wooded parts of the city.
I hate doing this, but I have to point this out. I found a soliary WAXWING sitting in the prominent bare tree just below the plateau as I was birding the willows below the disturbed area. I thought this was unusual as I don't recall the last time I saw only a single waxwing. Anyway, the bird had its back to me and I could see neither the undertail coverts nor the primaries. I watched it for twenty seconds or so and was looking at it as it took flight. I distinctly saw the yellow at the tip of the tail and my impression is that some of the primaries were also tipped in yellow. It flew up into the top of a tall eucalyptus and I eventually lost it. Obviously this is not countable, but...
10.19.98 SF Birds
East Wash
Pine Siskin
Varied Thrush
Cedar Waxwing
Purple Finch
Seal Rocks
Bonaparte's Gull
Elegant Tern
3 Parasitic Jaeger
Whale sp.
3 Harbor Porpoise
8 Phalarope sp.10.20 [SF Birds]
I ran into Stephen Davies this morning at Fort Funston and we birded the Cliff House afterwards. Unfortunately, nothing of real note was found. The beach below Fort Funston was alive with shorebirds, but diversity was very low. However, there were 19 MARBLED GODWITS on the beach, notable only for the number. Stephen and I struggled with a basic-plumaged PIGEON GUILLEMOT offshore for a bit. An AMERICAN PIPIT flew almost directly over our heads as we scanned the ocean and Stephen found a flock of 9 BONAPARTE'S GULLS. We did not see a single shearwater.At the Cliff House, there was another flock of 7 BOGUs and I saw an adult male BLACK SCOTER fly by.
Reality can be hard to deal with after the fall we had.
10.20.98 SF Birds
Fort Funston
19 Marbled Godwit
Pigeon Guillemot
Red-throated Loon
American Pipit
9 Bonaparte's Gull
Cliff House
Black Scoter
7 Bonaparte's Gull10.20 City records for LTJA
Alan has another record for LTJA in the city. You two should talk.Hugh
10.26 [SFBirds] Tropical Kingbird at Candlestick Point Park
This morning, I found a TROPICAL KINGBIRD at Candlestick Point Park. The bird moved around a bit and seemed to be fairly shy, but tended to perch near the top of the tallest trees at the tip of the point. From the parking lot, walk all the way out to the point and scan each tree for a large flycatcher.A large flycatcher with bright yellow belly, gray throat, large black bill and deeply notched tail. The bird did not vocalize, so I can not rule out COUCH'S KINGBIRD.
Still not quite sure where Alan's Short-eared Owl was...
10.26 [SFBirds] Re: No luck on Tropical K.
Cotter, Hugh wrote:
>
> The only bird of note was a Palm Warbler on the east side towards the dirt
> parking lot.Not to pick on Hugh, but I'm confused. Looking at my map, Harney way, which
runs more or less E/W, skirts the north end of the bay. There is a small
park towards the east end of Harney Way before it runs into Jamestown Ave. This
is one of the "standard" stops with a dirt parking lot, but it's named
something other than Candlestick Point State Recreation Area (CPSRA).Continuing southeast onto Jamestown Ave., the road turns north and turns into
Hunters [sic] Point Expressway. The entrace to the paved parking area for CPSRA
is along this road. The TRKI was at the extreme south eastern end (the point)
of the park, barely in the county according to my map. East of here is quite
wet. :-|Moving north or northeast from CPSRA is an RV parking lot (?) and
undeveloped land, including the area which was supposed to be a tidal slough. To the
northwest is a large dirt parking lot which borders Gilman Ave. If you
continue far enough north or northwest, you'll hit the bay, and if you continue
northeast, you'll run into the Double Rock area.10.29 [SFBirds] Empidonax sp. at North Lake
This morning I had an empidonax at North Lake that I'm really not sure about. I observed the bird on and off for over 15 minutes, sometimes at very close range in excellent light. The bird was flycatching from various perches one the east side of the small glade just west of the south end of North Lake and just north of the restrooms which are northwest of the junction of Chain of Lakes Drive and Middle Drive. This is the area where people often practice Tai Chi. This glade is due west of the small concrete bridge on the path west of the North Lake and the small trail which leads from that bridge to the glade.An obvious empidonax with a greenish back. Bill appeared to be of medium length and I noted on several occasions that the lower mandible was entirely bright orange. The base of the lower mandible appeared to be fairly wide and perhaps slightly longer than the upper mandible, but this may have been an aberration of the contrast in coloration between the lower mandible and the much darker upper mandible. The eye ring was not very distinct, thinner at the top front of the eye and showed no significant elongation behind the eye.
The throat was pale gray with the breast slightly darker gray with perhaps a small paler area in the center of the breast. The lower breast and belly were washed with pale yellow. The tail appeared fairly long and slightly notched and the outer tail feathers appeared to have very thin pale edging. The primaries appeared to extend well beyond the tertials and had two pale gray wingbars. The bird did not vocalize.
Is this just a WESTERN FLYCATCHER? If so, the eye ring and the contrast between the throat, breast and lower belly are quite a bit different from the photograph of a spring (?) PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER that I'm currently looking at. I have no idea how much different a fall CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER might look. I would not expect GRAY FLYCATCHER to show any significant amount of green on the back and head. The coloration of the lower mandible appears to rule out DUSKY and HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHERs and isn't real good for LEAST FLYCATCHER either, but the primary projection appears to rule out LEFL. I can't say I've ever seen a WILLOW FLYCATCHER with this much of an eye ring and anything else is a CBRC review species.
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