3.28 - 4.2 Death Valley and environs
4.4 Chipping Sparrows in migration
Chippinig Sparrows seem to show up
at Lobos Dunes and other restoration sites more often than other
parts of the city in my opinion. It appears they need open and
productive grasslands.
4.4 By-the-Wind Sailors, Velella velella
"Mark W. Eaton" wrote:
> Finally, Ocean Beach is littered with
foul-smelling biomass at the
> high tide line; any guesses on what this is?
For the last week or so at least we've been
inundated with By-the-Wind
Sailors, Velella velella, a very cool animal. It's a hydroid
jellyfish that
has a stretch of stiff tissue that it apparently uses as a sail
to be pushed
by the wind. The sail sticks up perpendicularly from the flat
portion of
the animal at the waterline, and tentacles hang beneath. They're
up to 2
inches long or so, and blue in color, but the tissue very quickly
rots away
once washed up on the beach, so that all that's left is a transparent
rubbery/plasticy-feeling float and "sail." Look for
the bluest-colored ones
and you can see tentacles remaining underneath on some of them.
Apparently
present sea conditions are either good for them or good for washing
them up;
I saw my first beached ones in December, and on recent pelagics
they've
apparently seen a lot of them in the water.
4.4 [SFBirds] New yard bird
...a PURPLE FINCH is singing in my
back yard...
4.4 [SFBirds]
I had a few good birds this morning.
Best was probably a singing
CASSIN'S VIREO at Lobos Dunes, high in the pines right along
the
creek. Other good birds include several DUNLIN on Ocean Beach,
the
ubiquitous TROPICAL KINGBIRD at the Buffalo Paddock, two different
BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERs, one at Kobbe and Upton and the other
in the
willows at the Presidio restoration area, Stephen's HERMIT WARLBER
on
Lick Mountain, Stephen's white morph WHITE-THROATED SPARROW at
the
Horseshoe Pit on Lick Mountain and a BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK in
full
song on Lick Mountain.
Finally, Ocean Beach is littered with foul-smelling
biomass at the
high tide line; any guesses on what this is?
Other birds of local interest:
Greater Scaup (1)
Whimbrel (12)
Western Sandpiper (12)
Dunlin (12)
Ring-billed Gull (1, 12)
California Gull (12)
Tropical Kingbird (11)
Cassin's Vireo (6)
Hutton's Vireo (3, 6)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (2, 3)
Hermit Thrush (10)
Cedar Waxwing (10)
Orange-crowned Warbler (8, 10)
Hermit Warbler (8)
Wilson's Warbler (8)
White-throated Sparrow (8)
Black-headed Grosbeak (8)
Brown-headed Cowbird (11)
Hooded Oriole (2)
Purple Finch (5, 7)
Pine Siskin (7, 9)
American Goldfinch (1, 4)
Locations:
1) Crissy Lagoon
2) Kobbe & Upton
3) Willows at Presidio restoration area
4) Fire road below Wrentit overlook in Presidio
5) Pines above fire road at location 4)
6) Lobos Dunes
7) Lick Mountain
8) Lick Mountiain Horseshoe Pit
9) Fuchsia Dell
10) North Lake
11) Bison Paddock
12) Ocean Beach
4.6 [SFBirds] Opening day birds
Caspian Tern 7-8
Double-crested Cormorant
Red-tailed Hawk
Western Gull
California Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Barn Swallow
Mourning Dove
Rock Dove
Western Grebe
Harbor Seal
The Giants won 3-1 on Bonds' walk-off 10th inning 2 run HR.
4.9 [SFBirds] Rainy day birds...
AIDS Dell
Hutton's Vireo
White-throated Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Arboretum
California Quail 2 males
Hutton's Vireo
Fox Sparrow
Merrie Way
Lincoln's Sparrow
Sutro Baths
Pigeon Guillemot 7-8
Cliff House
Whimbrel
Fort Funston
Caspian Tern
Concrete Bridge
Eared Grebe 2
4.10 Calliope Hummingbird at Mt. Davidson
©2002 Kevin McKereghan
This morning I was fortunate to observe for several minutes a female CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD at Mt. Davidson, another fine find courtesy of Paul Saraceni.
An obvious hummingbird notable for having an entirely green back and a peachy wash on its belly. The upper parts were entirely green, similar to an Anna's Hummingbird, but showing some distinct bronziness near the scapulars, which may or may not have been an artfiact of the lighting and iridescenced on the back. The crown and nape appeared to be somewhat darker than the back. The folded rectrices appeared entirely black, with tiny white edges on the outer webs of the outer rectrices and the rectrices fell just short of the tips of the folded wing.
©2002 Kevin McKereghanThe face was pale gray and showed a small white dot immediately behind the dark eye. The bill was slighly decurved and roughly 1.5 head widths in length. The throat area was covered with stippling, less dense than the stippling found on immature/female Selasphorous hummingbirds. The stippling roughly covered the area that would be present in an adult hummingbird. The center of the throat had an area with an inverted vee of stippling, where the stippling was more dense than the rest of the throat. This area suggested the beginnings of a gorget growing in, though there was no significant discernible color associated with the area.
The upper breast was white, with the just the barest suggestion of a peach breast band going across the breast. The flanks, lower belly and undertail coverts were peachy, bleding smoothly into the white of the upper breast. What little I observed of the undertail appeared to be dark and leg color was not noted (again!). I did see the bird briefly in flight with its tail fanned and there did appear to be some rufous at the bases of the rectrices. Since this was not visible on the closed tail, this would suggest the inner webs of the rectrices, but this is conjecture rather than observation. I did not note any vocalizations.
The peachy wash on belly eliminates most regularly occuring North American species. Female Lucifer Hummingbird would have a strongly curved bill and a plain throat. Buff-bellied Hummingbird would have an entirely green head. Thus, we're left with the three Selasphorous hummingbirds Broad-tailed, Allen's and Rufous and Calliope Hummingbird. Male birds of all four of these species are easily eliminated.
Female Allen's and Rufous Humminbirds are safely separated only by the shape of R2, which was not observed, so we assume them to be indistinguishable. Both Allen's and Rufous should show some rufous on the rump of female birds, this was conspicuously absent on this bird, particularly when compared to other Allen's/Rufous females in the field. Also, Selasphorous hummingbirds should have a tail that projects well beyond the tip of the rectrices on the folded wing. The only species fully consistent with the observed field marks is female CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD Stellula callliope.
The denser stippling at the center of the throat gave me pause as this suggests the central spot found in female Rufous/Allen's. However, female Calliopes can show some denser stippling at the center of the throat; see for example the picture here. However, I seem to see this more often in photos of immature males rather than females; an immature male would not be expected at this time of year. Perhaps the photos will be clarify this issue.
Also, there did appear to be some, albeit not a lot, of rufous at the base of the rectrices. Given the brevity of this (sub-second) observation and the fact that some rufous may be present on a Calliope, I don't view this as a concern. Finally, my observation of white on the "outer webs" of the outer rectrices is no doubt an artifact the outer webof the next inner rectrix overlaying the inner web of the next outer rectrix, and thus obscuring the white on the inner web of the next outer rectrix.
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4.11 [SFBirds] Another new yard bird...
...a HUTTON'S VIREO in the tall pine
in the backyard.
4.13 Big Day
Day total: 125, including Tropical
Kingbird after the fact
Dirty birds (*): 3
Day possible: 136
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Clark's Grebe
Brown Pelican
Brandt's Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Green Heron*
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Greater White-fronted Goose
Canada Goose
American Wigeon
Mallard
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Ruddy Duck
Osprey
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Black Oystercatcher
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Wandering Tattler
Spotted Sandpiper
Whimbrel
Marbled Godwit
Black Turnstone
Surfbird
Sanderling
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Thayer's Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Rock Dove
Band-tailed Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
White-throated Swift
Anna's Hummingbird
Allen's Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Black Phoebe
(Tropical Kingbird)
Hutton's Vireo
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Bank Swallow*
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Pygmy Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush*
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
Hermit Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
California Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Hooded Oriole
Bullock's Oriole
Purple Finch
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Misses:
California Quail
Sora
Long-billed Curlew
Ruddy Turnstone
Western Screech-Owl
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Western Kingbird
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cassin's Vireo
Red-breasted Nuthatch
4.15 Seeking New Recruits, by Tim Coulson, Jan Lindström, Peter Cotgreave
4.19 [SBB et al.] Del Puerto Canyon and Mines Road
Despite nearly being blown off I5
on the way to Patterson, David Armstrong and I had a nice day,
hampered somewhat by the wind. BTW, LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCHES are
_everywhere_ this year; we tried to keep track of all the stops
we had them but it became too tedious!
Other sightings of local interest (Del Puerto
Canyon unless otherwise mentioned)
MERLIN at MP 6.3
NASHVILLE WARBLER at MP 14.1
RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW 3 at MP 5.0
SAGE SPARROW 2-3 at MP 10.0
LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCH (50+) at Summit Fire Station
78 species seen:
Pied-billed Grebe (22)
Green Heron (14)
Turkey Vulture (11)
Mallard (5)
Cooper's Hawk (23)
Red-tailed Hawk (1, 3)
Golden Eagle (4, 5, 12)
American Kestrel (3)
Merlin (12)
Prairie Falcon (5)
California Quail (13, 32)
American Coot (22)
Killdeer (2)
Greater Yellowlegs (5)
Mourning Dove (2)
Great Horned Owl (8)
Anna's Hummingbird (11)
Lewis's Woodpecker (24)
Acorn Woodpecker (19, 33)
Nuttall's Woodpecker (9, 34)
Northern Flicker (17, 33, 34)
Western Wood-Pewee (23)
Pacific-slope Flycatcher (19)
Black Phoebe (8)
Say's Phoebe (3, 14)
Ash-throated Flycatcher (7, 9, 34)
Western Kingbird (2, 6)
Hutton's Vireo (18, 28)
Steller's Jay (31, 32)
Western Scrub-Jay (12, 32)
Yellow-billed Magpie (11)
American Crow (1)
Common Raven (1)
Horned Lark (4)
Violet-green Swallow (19, 25)
Northern Rough-winged Swallow (8)
Cliff Swallow (2)
Barn Swallow (2)
Oak Titmouse (9, 17)
Bushtit (15)
White-breasted Nuthatch (19)
Rock Wren (10, 13)
Canyon Wren (15)
Bewick's Wren (15, 30, 34)
House Wren (16, 32)
Western Bluebird (24)
American Robin (19)
Wrentit (21, 29, 30)
California Thrasher (21)
European Starling (6)
American Pipit (9)
Phainopepla (6)
Orange-crowned Warbler (29)
Nashville Warbler (18)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (29)
Spotted Towhee (18, 29)
California Towhee (6, 34)
Rufous-crowned Sparrow (10)
Lark Sparrow (10)
Sage Sparrow (15)
Savannah Sparrow (2)
Song Sparrow (18)
Lincoln's Sparrow (18)
White-crowned Sparrow (3, 8)
Golden-crowned Sparrow (18)
Black-headed Grosbeak (17, 20, 29)
Red-winged Blackbird (1)
Tricolored Blackbird (26)
Western Meadowlark (2)
Brewer's Blackbird (4)
Brown-headed Cowbird (9)
Bullock's Oriole (6)
Purple Finch (29)
House Finch (6)
Lesser Goldfinch (29)
Lawrence's Goldfinch (6, 7, 16, 20, 25, 27)
American Goldfinch (6)
House Sparrow (26)
Locations:
1) I5
2) MP 0.6 along Del Puerto Canyon (STA)
3) MP 1.0
4) MP 2.1
5) MP 3.2
6) MP 3.5
7) MP 3.8
8) MP 4.0
9) MP 4.6
10) MP 5.0
11) MP 5.6
12) MP 6.3
13) MP 7.0
14) MP 7.8
15) MP 10.0
16) MP 13.6
17) MP 14
18) MP 14.1
19) Frank Raines Park
20) Deer Creek Campground
21) MP 22.2 (SCL)
22) MP 22.7
23) Junction
24) San Antonio Rd. MP 0.3 north of junction
25) MP 0.6
26) MP 0.9
27) Summit Fire Station
28) Mines Road MP 2.0 south of the junction (SCL)
29) MP 3.0
30) MP 5
31) MP 7.8
32) Mines Rd. MP 14.0 south of the junction (ALA)
33) MP 12.8
34) MP 15(?)
4.26 [SFBirds] Belated sigthings...
On Friday, the 26th, I managed to
see a HOODED ORIOLE that Gary Deghi found at Lobos Dunes. In
Glen Canyon Park, there were one and possibly two BULLOCK'S ORIOLES
well below the Day Care center and the NUTTALL'S WOODPECKER was
still present. Migrants included 2 male and one female HOODED
ORIOLEs. 25+ CEDAR WAXWINGs and a few PINE SISKINs. They seemed
to be moving up the canyon underneath the cloud cover (and the
gale).
You can contact me via email.