9.6 SF Birding
DOWNY WOODPECKER 2-3 at East Wash
(Sep 06)
WESTERN KINGBIRD 2 at East Wash (Sep 06)
AMERICAN ROBIN ~50 at East Wash (Sep 06)
WILSON'S WARBLER 2-3 at East Wash (Sep 06)
WESTERN TANAGER 2-3 at East Wash (Sep 06)
RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD ~40 at East Wash (Sep 06)
9 species seen:
Downy Woodpecker (1)
Hairy Woodpecker (1, 2)
"Western" Flycatcher (1)
Western Kingbird (1)
American Robin (1)
Wilson's Warbler (1)
Western Tanager (1)
Red-winged Blackbird (1)
American Goldfinch (1)
Locations:
1) East Wash (Sep 06)
2) Ft. Miley (Sep 06)
9.20 Rare Bird Roundup
Brown Pelican
Brandt's Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
American Wigeon
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Common Moorhen
Marbled Godwit
Heermann's Gull
California Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Elegant Tern
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Hutton's Vireo
Steller's Jay
Brown Creeper
Northern Mockingbird
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Townsend's Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Western Tanager
American Goldfinch
9.21
Bayview Hill - Gray Catbird
I arrive shortly after 8:00 to find
Alan Hopkins, Calvin Lou and Gary Deghi searching for the GRAY
CATBIRD that had been found yesterday on the Rare Bird Roundup.
Alan informed me that he had refound it shortly after 7:00 though
Calvin didn't see it. It was already quite warm and passerine
activity was starting to die down. Around 9:00, I headed back
towards the end of Key street to a steep rise west of the road
that contained a few stands of Pampas Grass Cortaderia jubata
and some California Coffeeberry Rhamnus californica.
I had picked out this area yesterday as numerous Northern Mockingbirds
Mimus polyglottos had been seen in the area.
Given the overall lack of passerine activity, I decided to employ my CDs in attempt to coax the bird out. My CD contained on the same track vocalizations of Brown Thrasher Toxostoma rufum, Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis and Northern Mockingbird, which I played repeatedly for several minutes. After agitating several Northern Mockingbirds from their roosts, I happened to notice that the catbird was sitting out in plain view just below where all of the mockingbird activity had been. I immediately called everyone over, and poor Calvin arrived just as the catbird disappeared back into the dense shrubbery.
The following notes are from memory of a good 15 second look in excellent light where the bird was (remarkably) in plain view:
A bird quite similar structurally to the Northern Mockingbirds in the immediate vicinity of this bird, with the following essential differences. The bird was uniformly slate gray over most of its body, with a black cap and bright cinnamon undertail coverts, in marked contrast with the all dark tail. The bird had dark eyes and dark legs and a fairly long dark bill. The bird did not vocalize during this observation, but others commented that they heard a distinctive mew note from an otherwise undetected bird in the vicinity at other points in time.
Identification is rather straightforward. No other thrasher-like bird exhibits this combination of plumage. Juvenile Northern Mockingbird is much paler on its underparts, shows wingbars, has a pale eye and white undertail coverts. Crissall Thrasher Toxostoma crissale has a very long, strongly decurved bill, pale eye, dark moustachial and malar outlining a white submoustachial stripe and is non-migratory. LeConte's Thrasher Toxostoma lecontei is pale to sandy gray with buffy undertail coverts and similarly non-migratory. This is an apparent first city record, though there is an additional report from Strawberry Hill from several years back.
9.27 Pt. Reyes
Acorn Woodpecker (1, 5)
Red-breasted Sapsucker (1)
Traill's Flycatcher sp. (4)
Warbling Vireo (2)
Hermit Thrush (3)
Cedar Waxwing (1)
Tennessee Warbler (2)
Nashville Warbler (4)
Chestnut-sided Warbler (2, 3)
Cape May Warbler (3)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (3)
Black-throated Gray Warbler (3)
Townsend's Warbler (3)
Hermit Warbler (3)
Blackpoll Warbler (2, 3, 4)
American Redstart (2)
Wilson's Warbler (3)
Green-tailed Towhee (2)
Black-headed Grosbeak (2)
Coyote sp. 2 (3)
Locations:
1) Lighthouse (Sep 27)
2) Nunes (Sep 27)
3) Fish Docks (Sep 27)
4) Mendoza (Sep 27)
5) Drakes Corner (Sep 27)
9.28 Kobbe & Upton
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Steller's Jay
House Wren
9.30 SF Birds
Black-bellied Plover (1)
Steller's Jay (2)
Yellow Warbler (2)
Lincoln's Sparrow (2)
Lesser Goldfinch (2)
Selasphorous sp. (2)
Locations:
1) 36th Avenue (Sep 30)
2) Mt. Davidson (Sep 30)
You can contact me via email.