Date: 10/16/26 11:36 am From: Dave Compton via groups.io <davcompton60...> Subject: Re: [sbcobirding] Scorpion Ranch, Santa Crux Island, October 14
I've been corrected with regard to Red Fox Sparrow calls, which don't sound
like a California Towhee.
Dave C.
SB
On Fri, Oct 16, 2026 at 9:53 AM Dave Compton via groups.io <davcompton60=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> 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
>>
>>
>>
>
>
