Date: 6/10/25 11:26 am From: Dominik Mosur via groups.io <dominikmosur...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] some misc. observations of breeding birds/migration from Contra Costa Co. 6/8-9/25
Spent the last couple of days birding various sites in east/central Contra Costa county with a few observation I found notable :
a few getting late migrants noted:
Western Wood-pewee - a vocal bird along Dry Creek Rd. south of Creekside Park in Brentwood 6/8
Wilson's Warbler - singing along the Volvon Trail /Morgan Territory 6/9
Western Tanager - singing on Dry Creek Rd. 6/8
Notable nesting:
Chestnut-backed Chickadees - a family group of four birds with fledglings being fed, was at Creekside Park 6/8. Per my communication with Ethan Monk (and something he alluded to in a post late last year) this appears to be the eastern most station of breeding/regular occurrence for this species in the Bay Area and possibly the only breeding Chickadees in the Central Valley
Great-tailed Grackles - a small (~20-30 birds) colony is nesting along Dry Creek Rd. in Brentwood. On 6/8 I observed multiple birds flying with food into cattails along the periphery of a small pond in a small neighborhood golf course a short way down the road from Creekside Park. There is only previous report of grackles from this site (8 bird reported without any details by D. Heins in June '23) but this suggests that they may have been nesting here unnoticed for several years now.
Finally, an update on Lawrence's Goldfinch irruption in the region:
on 6/9 a pair was coming to the first pond past the parking lot at Morgan Territory indicating possible breeding somewhere in the park(10 birds were reported in early May here Erica Rutherford/John Colbert)
later in the morning I drove down Marciel Rd. (a short dead-end road off Highland ) and noted (5) Lawrence's Goldfinches just a couple of hundred meters from the junction that may have been a family group.
