Date: 1/11/26 5:59 pm From: Bruce Mast via groups.io <cathrasher4...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Atlas birding and White-throated Sparrow
Hello fellow birders, I went out and compiled my inaugural California Bird Atlas <https://www.californiabirdatlas.org/> survey checklists today, focusing on my home block of Oakland East CW. I covered the Morcom Rose Garden fairly thoroughly and then took a quicker swing through Piedmont Park. Of possible broader interest, I encountered a White-throated Sparrow near the Wildwood Avenue entrance to Piedmont Park. It was foraging mid-story in a Live Oak tree with one or more White-crowned Sparrows. I was at the stairs that descend straight downhill towards the playing fields. The sparrows moved off to my left, towards the elementary school. I'm guessing the sparrows move around a fairly large patch so no guarantees where they will be located next.
In breeding bird news, male Anna's Hummingbirds are displaying and there are probably nesting females around, though I didn't succeed in locating any nests today. Oak Titmice seem to be refreshing their territorial boundaries--interesting to hear the counter-singing males match each others' songs for what seems like forever and then, on some secret cue, they both switch to a different song they both know. I also heard singing Song Sparrows, Bewick's Wrens (no surprise), Lesser Goldfinches, and a Hutton's Vireo.
The most confusing behavior I encountered was a female Nuttall's Woodpecker who continually harassed a male for almost half an hour and eventually chased him away. She kept up a quick succession of loud rattle calls, to which the male responded each time with clucks. The female came closer and closer to the male and then started hopping around him, rattling and giving quick side to side bows.According to Birds of the World, this is agonistic behavior, not courting. I have no idea what the dispute was about.
