Date: 12/22/24 8:08 am From: Peter Pyle via groups.io <ppyle...> Subject: [Mendobirds] Summer Tanager N Fort Bragg
There was an adult female Summer Tanager yesterday in the yard to the NW
of the intersection of Brandon and Fir streets, at 10:15. It was hanging
out with two HY male Bullock's Orioles (I only discovered it in a couple
of photos last night!). The orioles were feeding in a small tree with
round red fruits near the intersection so this may be a good spot to
check. I had glimpsed what was undoubtedly this bird on Dec 7th near
Winnifred and Perkins and Dave Jensen also likely saw it in his yard
last week.
Up a few blocks at the middle school there has been a Greater
White-fronted Goose on the ball fields with up to 60 Canadas and 7-8
Cackilings. They were not there yesterday but Roger Adamson found the
flock over at the High School along Dana St. and there was a Snow Goose
with them as well.
Date: 12/15/24 10:23 am From: Jim Armstrong via groups.io <jimarmstrong...> Subject: [Mendobirds] Mockingbird silence
There seems to be an increase of Mockingbirds in my yard.
This great because I have always liked them, especially for their wonderful varied songs and calls.
The problem is that they do not seem to be singing. I do have a loss of hearing, particularly in high ranges, but not this bad, I think.
I have noticed this throughout the seasons.
So is it my hearing or something else.
Thanks
Date: 12/11/24 2:01 pm From: Peter Pyle via groups.io <ppyle...> Subject: [Mendobirds] Nominate Rock Sandpiper near the end of Ward Street, Dec 7th
Hi all -
One of the four Rock Sandpipers on the rocks at the end of Ward Street,
MacKerricher State Park, present December 7, has been identified by
Alaskan shorebird experts as the nominate ("Pribilof") subspecies
/Calidris ptilocnemis ptilocnemis/. This would appear to be the first
record of his subspecies for California, the others assumed to have all
been of /C. p. tschuktschorum/ that breeds on the Chukotsk Peninsula to
western Alaska. There is one other record of the nominate subspecies
south of Alaska, in Ocean Shores, Washington, during the winter of
2000-2001.
The nominate bird is larger and noticeably paler or "frostier" than the
other three. I have aged this bird and all but one of the duller birds
as adults so this is not an age-related difference. Photos and comments
from Bob Gill and Dan Ruthrauff are contained in the checklist:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S204846538.
This and two duller Rock Sandpipers (the HY and an AHY) were on the
rocks that jut out to the south of the southwest corner of Ward Street,
where shorebirds often roost. They were feeding with 16 Surfbirds and
there were also a few Black Turnstones here. The fourth Rock Sandpiper
(an AHY) was with a higher number of BLTUs on the rocks down and to the
right of the NW corner of Ward Street (trailhead to 10-mile beach),
immediately to the right of the beach with the remaining Fin Whale
carcass, at which Turkey Vultures and ravens continue to poke.
Date: 12/8/24 10:17 am From: Julia Wilcox via groups.io <sunflowergirl34000...> Subject: Re: [Mendobirds] Short-tailed Albatross, Noyo Canyon
Tim bray, how do I join your next boat outing ? I'd absolutely love to get
some beautiful sea bird photos.
On Sat, Dec 7, 2024, 5:17 PM Tim Bray via groups.io <tbray...>
wrote:
> 7 December 2024 - Sean Thornton, captain of the Telstar, sent me a photo
> and video clearly showing a young Short-tailed Albatross: larger than
> adjacent Black-footed, all dark brown plumage, huge pink bill. He was
> running a fishing charter out to the upper Noyo Canyon area, only a few
> miles from Noyo Harbor, Fort Bragg. Unfortunately the weather is turning
> sour tonight, winds and seas coming up, so no chance of a chase boat
> tomorrow.
> --
> Cheers,
> Tim
> Mendocino Coast Audubon Society <http://mendocinocoastaudubon.org/> > Ecology Hour <https://ecologyhour.wordpress.com/> > Oak & Thorn <http://oakandthorn.wordpress.com> > Facebook: Oak and Thorn <https://www.facebook.com/oakandthorn> >
>
Date: 12/7/24 5:17 pm From: Tim Bray via groups.io <tbray...> Subject: [Mendobirds] Short-tailed Albatross, Noyo Canyon
7 December 2024 - Sean Thornton, captain of the Telstar, sent me a photo
and video clearly showing a young Short-tailed Albatross: larger than
adjacent Black-footed, all dark brown plumage, huge pink bill. He was
running a fishing charter out to the upper Noyo Canyon area, only a few
miles from Noyo Harbor, Fort Bragg. Unfortunately the weather is turning
sour tonight, winds and seas coming up, so no chance of a chase boat
tomorrow.
Dickcissel continues today in Elk but still no tree sparrow. Also had the Lucy’s Warbler about 2 pm at the bottom of the hill from the Princess parking lot in Noyo Harbor. Thanks Peter for the spot. It was with the usual warblers.
> On Dec 1, 2024, at 6:12 PM, Timothy Steurer via groups.io <tsteurer1956...> wrote:
>
> The Dickcissel and White-throated Sparrow were still in the same spot north of the parking lot today, in Elk, Sunday afternoon. The female Barrow’s Goldeneye was still in the second pond off the beach at the creek mouth below. No sign of the American Tree Sparrow.
>> On Nov 28, 2024, at 2:15 PM, George Gibbs via groups.io <ggibbs...> wrote:
>>
>> This morning about 8:30 I re-found the Dickcissel associating with sparrows in the coyote bush and other scrubby vegetation on the West side of the highway, generally west of the Elk Garage (North of the parking lot for the beach).
>>
>> Good Birding
>>
>> George Gibbs
>> Ukiah
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
A bit before 3:30 Monday Dec. 2, Caspar Pond had a female Hooded Merganser, female Ruddy Duck, and a Horned? (I am wide open to correction here) Grebe joining the Coots.
The Dickcissel and White-throated Sparrow were still in the same spot north of the parking lot today, in Elk, Sunday afternoon. The female Barrow’s Goldeneye was still in the second pond off the beach at the creek mouth below. No sign of the American Tree Sparrow.
> On Nov 28, 2024, at 2:15 PM, George Gibbs via groups.io <ggibbs...> wrote:
>
> This morning about 8:30 I re-found the Dickcissel associating with sparrows in the coyote bush and other scrubby vegetation on the West side of the highway, generally west of the Elk Garage (North of the parking lot for the beach).
>
> Good Birding
>
> George Gibbs
> Ukiah
>
>
>
>
Date: 11/30/24 11:27 am From: Lisa D. Walker, (Feather Forestwalker) via groups.io <feather...> Subject: Re: [Mendobirds] Elk tomorrow
On 2024-11-29 1:16 pm, Lisa D. Walker, (Feather Forestwalker) via groups.io wrote: > Hi all! Does anyone feel like riding with me to Elk to look for the > Dickcissel? If so, please message me back. I can pick you up. Maybe we > could go for lunch after? I will bring seed, as suggested by Todd > Easterla and maybe we'll get lucky and re-find the American Tree > Sparrow, too! > > > Lisa Walker, Fort Bragg/Cleone >
Thanks to Charlene for responding! We had a great morning in Elk!
We met in Little River, then headed to Elk to see if we could re-find the Dickcissel and maybe the American Tree Sparrow (that last would have been a Life Bird for me- alas, it was a no-show).... as soon as we got out of the car, Charlene spotted the Dickcissel. He's SO PRETTY! (Yes, I got photos). In the rather large flock of Golden-crowned Sparrows were a single White-throated sparrow, some White-crowned Sparrows, House Sparrows ( 🙁 ) and the occasional Song Sparrow. Apart from them were Bushtits and a single Fox Sparrow (Sooty). There were also a couple of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and tons of Band-tailed Pigeons flying north and then south - not sure if those were the same flocks or not - one was small, the other huge. Some European Starlings flew in to take a look and we also saw California Scrub Jays, an American Robin, and a Great Egret that landed in a cypress. We took a short walk for some scenic views of Elk/Greenwood State Beach from above, spotted a Bald Eagle that was flying past and landed on a distant offshore rock. That was fun. We stopped at the relatively new Elk House for a late breakfast. Now, that place has some EXCELLENT food and EXCELLENT service! We both had the Breakfast Sandwich which is made up of a really yummy buttermilk biscuit with eggs cooked just right, some cheese and a wee bit of chorizo to give it just a nice little bite of flavor. Really good. Their coffee is excellent. Did I say they had great service? 🙂 They do. After I dropped her back off in Little River, I drove into Fort Bragg to head to the Harbor Lite Lodge to look for the Lucy's Warbler and I found it! Got photos, too 🙂 Nice morning! 🙂
Date: 11/29/24 1:16 pm From: Lisa D. Walker, (Feather Forestwalker) via groups.io <feather...> Subject: [Mendobirds] Elk tomorrow
Hi all! Does anyone feel like riding with me to Elk to look for the
Dickcissel? If so, please message me back. I can pick you up. Maybe we
could go for lunch after? I will bring seed, as suggested by Todd
Easterla and maybe we'll get lucky and re-find the American Tree
Sparrow, too!
Date: 11/28/24 2:15 pm From: George Gibbs via groups.io <ggibbs...> Subject: [Mendobirds] Elk - Dickcissel continues
This morning about 8:30 I re-found the Dickcissel associating with sparrows in the coyote bush and other scrubby vegetation on the West side of the highway, generally west of the Elk Garage (North of the parking lot for the beach).
Date: 11/28/24 7:04 am From: Peter Pyle via groups.io <ppyle...> Subject: [Mendobirds] Noyo Pelagic Trip Report, November 27th
Greetings Mendobirders,
The good thing about our half-day pelagic trips is that we can look at
the long-range marine forecast, pick a calm day a week or less in
advance, and, through the tentacles of Mendocino Coast Audubon Society
<https://www.mendocinocoastaudubon.org/> and the Noyo Center for Marine
Science <https://www.noyocenter.org/the-discovery-center>, get enough
sign-ups to make it a go. And so it went, on Wednesday the 27th, when
about 25 birders, marine mammal enthusiasts, and general lovers of
nature joined Captain Richard Thornton of Anchor Charters
(https://anchorcharterboats.com/), on the Kraken, for a half-day trip
from Noyo Harbor, Fort Bragg. After a week of storms and tempestuous sea
conditions, the skies dawned clear, the wind was light, and the swell
was low, resulting in a very pleasant trip for late November.
As we left the harbor we were treated to large groups of loons and
scoters, making their way south both high and low. Close to shore, most
of the loons were Red-throated, but as we got out 3-4 miles or so, the
flavor switched to Pacific. About five miles out we encountered a very
distinct boundary between water masses, or a "current line," along which
large mats of kelp, other vegetative debris, and even trees from the
recent river overflows had accumulated. Birds love these edges and so it
was, with loons, gulls, alcids, fulmars, and a Black-footed Albatross or
two, flipping back and forth to see which water mass held their
breakfast choice. Bonaparte's Gulls twirled on the surface, one of which
was surrounded by several twirling Red Phalaropes, to the avian
uninitiated resembling a parent teaching its offspring the facts of
survival (we've also seen this assumption with a female Evening Grosbeak
and American Goldfinches at feeders). On the far side of the current
line, the crystal clear water was full of 3-6" pyrosomes or "sea
pickles," hard-bodied pelagic creatures that reminded some of are older
participants, once our deckhand Corrine scooped up a few in a bucket for
close examination, of pink hair curlers.
Heading out over the deep pelagic waters of Noyo Canyon, we soon
encountered Pink-footed and dark shearwaters, including a distant
Flesh-footed that escaped good views, disappearing from view as it rode
the backside of a swell. At this time of year the ratio of Short-tailed
to Sooty Shearwaters can approach 50:50, and so it was on this day, with
several of each affording good ID study, including a Short-tailed
sitting on the water for 20 minutes next to a larger and more
bull-headed, dark Northern Fulmar. We put out a slick and soon had 10-12
albatrosses squabbling for leftover rockfish carcasses. These birds were
largely young ones, of pre-breeding ages, and lacking white to the
undertail coverts, as the older breeders are all participating in the
annual big Thanksgiving dance on the Hawaiian breeding grounds. Here and
all day we were afforded great study of gulls, in the slick and
following the boat for our trickles of stale popcorn. We recorded seven
species + 2 hybrid pairs x 3-4 age classes = 34 species-age combinations
of gulls. Fun stuff!
The mammalian highlight of the day was a pair of Orca that cruised by,
one with taller fin and one shorter, this time actually representing a
mother and offspring, or perhaps a teen-age male and his younger brother
out and about (we also enjoyed the resident family of river otters in
the harbor, along with three species of pinnipeds). The group of
Humpback, Fin, and Blue whales, that the skipper had been seeing up
until the week before, had apparently departed with the storm. Bird
highlights included excellent views of dozens of Rhinoceros and a few
Cassin's auklets, a Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, two male White-winged
Scoters flying north, a snappy first-year Black-legged Kittiwake, and an
even snappier adult Ancient Murrelet with full black throat and
incipient breeding plumes, an unusual plumage at this time of year, or
so most the field guides tell us. This murrelet came up the wake behind
us and plopped into the water close to the stern, not once, not twice,
but six times! What was it thinking? We could only surmise that it had
learned some foraging trick, finding zooplankton or some other marine
food in the churned up water under the wake, and (we were rather
confident) not there for the stale popcorn.
We may do this again this winter, beginning on December 21st for the
Fort Bragg Christmas Count. And we also hope to increase our volume of
half-day and full-day trips next year. So stay tuned to your local NGO
feeds. And happy holidays to all.
