Date: 10/16/26 9:53 am From: Dave Compton via groups.io <davcompton60...> Subject: Re: [sbcobirding] Scorpion Ranch, Santa Crux Island, October 14
Florence, if you saw Thick-billed and Red Fox Sparrow, there are two
candidates for your towhee call. They sound the same, to me.
Dave Compton
Santa Barbara
On Fri, Oct 16, 2026 at 7:26 AM Florence Sanchez via groups.io
<sanchezucsb11...> wrote:
> Dear Joel,
>
> Thank you for bringing this up. I think I was guilty of sloppy birding.
> I am copying the listserve because I think it's important.
>
> I don't remember the specific location, but I remember hearing what I
> thought was the familiar "chink" call of a California Towhee while I was
> looking at something else (maybe the group of Fox Sparrows in the
> campground). And my brain registered "California Towhee," but because I
> did't know their status on the Island, I didn't try to check it out. I
> didn't hear or see another one so I could very well have been wrong.
> Other birds could possibly have made this sound. My birding objective for
> the day was on rarities, especially Spizella Sparrows, of which I found
> only Chipping Sparrows, and I should have been less-focussed on a single
> genus.
>
> I didn't submit an eBird checklist, so no Island records need to updated
> on the basis of my report.
>
> Florence Sanchez
>
>
> On Thursday, October 15, 2026 at 07:55:26 PM PDT, Joel Barrett <
> <joelbsalty...> wrote:
>
>
> Hi Florence,
> Did you for sure see a California Towhee out there? That would be an
> island first I think.
> Joel
>
> On Oct 15, 2026, at 3:51 PM, Florence Sanchez via groups.io
> <sanchezucsb11...> wrote:
>
>
> I stayed over in Ventura after the Booby trip Oct. 13 and made a day trip
> to Scorpion yesterday. We had a smooth crossing with excellent looks at a
> Cocos Booby just before we got to Scorpion.
>
> Reports from Scorpion this fall have been spotty so my expectations for
> rarities was low; however, I did turn up 10 different species of the family
> Emberizidae:
> White-crowned Sparrow (abundant!)
> Golden-crowned Sparrow
> Song Sparrow
> FOX Sparrow (all three of the red-winged, slaty-backed subspecies)
> Rufous-crowned Sparrow
> Chipping Sparrow
> Dark-eyed Junco
> California Towhee
> Spotted Towhee
> Green-tailed Towhee
>
> The Green-tailed Towhee has been reported as a "dull individual," but that
> is an understatement. If it weren't for its call and a little green on the
> underside of the tail, I wouldn't have identified it as that species at
> all. Something has affected the feathers and it looked like more than a
> pigmentation issue.
>
> Warblers were limited to a very few Yellow-rumps.
>
> On the return trip, we spotted the Cocos Booby again and sailed through a
> HUGE pod of Common Dolphins following a large school of fish. Captain Joel
> thought the pod extended as far as a mile across the sea, one of the
> largest he has ever seen.
>
> Note that recent eBird reports from the Island have been from the TNC
> Property and Prisoner's Harbor area to the West of Scorpion.
>
> Florence Sanchez
>
>
>
>
>
