Date: 1/9/25 8:55 am From: JENNIFER FURY via groups.io <jennyfuzzy...> Subject: Re: [EBB-Sightings] Continuing Winter Wren at Berkeley Meadows (pending CBRC acceptance)
Great shots. sure looks like a Winter Wren. Cheers,Jennifer FurySaltwater is the cure for everything, sweat, tears, or the sea... -------- Original message --------From: "Zac Denning via groups.io" <zdenning1...> Date: 1/8/25 3:18 PM (GMT-08:00) To: "<EBB-Sightings...> Group Moderators" <EBB-Sightings...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Continuing Winter Wren at Berkeley Meadows (pending CBRC acceptance) After a long hiatus with no observations, I was able to refind the continuing presumed Winter Wren (pending CBRC acceptance) today at about 10am at Berkeley Meadows. The bird was at roughly (37.8673626, -122.3093088), though it tends to move all around this willow patch. I originally found this bird on November 24th. Ebird list from today with low quality photos and audio: https://ebird.org/checklist/S208524113Ebird list from 11/24/24 with better photos and audio: https://ebird.org/checklist/S203502632This bird can be tough to find: it's skulky and tends to stay deep within the large willow thicket on the south side of the trail. Hearing the bird is key to finding it: listen for nasal sounding double bark calls that are reminiscent of a Song Sparrow's contact call, sometimes faint / from deep in the thicket. It also made the chatter call once today that's included in Sibley. For anyone chasing, I would plan to dedicate a few hours, listening intently for extended periods at various points along the border of the trail and the willow grove. The bird sometimes responds to House Wren chatter calls or pishing. Morning from 8-11am as well as late afternoon to dusk seem to be when the bird has most often been encountered.Based on my experience with this and another recent Winter Wren (found by Lucas Stephenson, Emmett Iverson and Adrian Hinkle at the SF zoo on 12/22), I'd suggest looking for the bird in the next few days rather than waiting, as they seem to sometimes 'disappear' or become harder to detect over time. The SF zoo bird was not refound after the first day (though birding coverage there outside of the CBC is sparse). FYI: Merlin won't necessarily suggest the correct ID for this bird's calls (it suggested Song Sparrow today, as it did on 11/24/24). Perhaps after enough reports of this species on Merlin / Ebird, that will begin to change (as I'm told it did after multiple reports in November). Based on today's photos, this bird can be confirmed as being the same individual that I initially encountered in November, based on an idiosyncratic pale left allula (originally pointed out to me by Marty Freeland in his plumage analysis). Good luck,Zac DenningAlbany
