Date: 6/1/26 8:04 pm From: Marty Freeland via groups.io <martinf3...> Subject: [pen-bird] Tennessee Warblers and other notes
Hi all,
On May 31, Mei Li Palmeri and I had a singing Tennessee Warbler at Filoli. This is only my second spring Tennessee in the county and the first one was earlier this week! Tennessee is quite rare in spring with only about 4–5 spring records from the past two decades. Winterers can stay into April, and this past year we had a record number of fall and winter birds (exceeding 20), but as it happens this year not a single one of our winter Tennessees made it into the new calendar year. Also at Filoli was a singing Black-throated Gray Warbler, which is a somewhat local (though not very rare) breeder in the county, but has not yet been confirmed as breeding in San Mateo for the new California BBA.
On May 30, I birded the central coast from Arroyo Leon to Butano Ck for part of the morning and also put in some effort to confirm breeding for several BBA target species. I succeeded in confirming breeding by Eurasian Collared-Dove (Higgins Canyon Rd), California Thrasher (Pomponio Ck Rd), and Warbling Vireo (Butano Ck). Concerted efforts to confirm breeding by Black Oystercatcher at a variety of locations, Bullock's Oriole at the traditional Stage Rd spot, and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher at Jasper Ridge (far and away the best site for breeders of this species in the county) were not successful. A singing male Yellow Warbler was along Stage Rd at the oriole spot, though orioles were absent. Also, Mei Li and I confirmed breeding by Ruddy Ducks at Pescadero Marsh (N Pond) on May 3, but I omitted to submit that list at the time. These additions bring the San Mateo BBA confirmed breeding species total to 97, and there is still a fair amount of low-hanging fruit.
On May 29, I had multiple territorial Black-throated Gray Warblers along Los Trancos Ck and suspected Green Heron nesting at the small pond by the community center in Portola Valley Ranch.
On May 27, three Purple Martins and at least 8–10 Bank Swallows were at Ano Nuevo; the Bank Swallows were using some of their traditional burrows as viewed from the hillside just west of the pond.
On May 25, I birded the north coast from Calera Ck to the West Miramar Willows. The highlight was a male Tennessee Warbler at San Pedro Valley CP, quite near where San Mateo's last spring Tennessee was (J. Morlan, 5/18/2024). This male was not singing, unlike the Filoli bird, but was low in the willows exactly where last fall's Canada Warbler was. Also notable at this site was a Long-tailed Weasel.
