Date: 4/7/24 8:11 pm From: Peter Metropulos <pjmetrop...> Subject: [pen-bird] "Rocky Mountain Pipit" at Bedwell Bay Front Park
Yesterday,April 6, I was walking the muddy trails at Bedwell Bay Front Park hoping to find something interesting when I encountered an AMERICAN PIPIT on the path. They have been scarce lately so I checked it out carefully. This was not the usual streaky brown bird that we normally find locally. The entire underparts were colored pinkish-buff with no conspicuous streaking and grayish upperparts. It was of the Rocky Mountain race alticola which breeds from se Oregon east to Montana and winters mainly in Arizona. It is quite rarely found in N.California with most records being in April when they are in breeding plumage and easier to detect.
Also in the park.: I was happy to see a pair of WHITE-TAILED KITES engaged in courtship display, but my glee was short lived as the cranky,local American Crows chased the kites away. CLIFF SWALLOWS are starting to investigate nest sites. I had my first arrival on March 24, the same day I flushed a WILSON'S SNIPE from a rain puddle.The recent restoration of Pond SF 2, adjacent to Bedwell Park in the SF Bay Don Edwards NWR, has provided a high tide roost for thousands of shorebirds. Among these were 4 RED KNOTS coming into breeding plumage March 27. I've also been watching a pair of SNOWY PLOVERS which hopefully will remain to nest. This concentration of birds has attracted the attention of an adult MERLIN which has been causing panic among the "peeps" for over a week.
Peter J. Metropulos
PS: It should be noted that the alticola AMERICAN PIPIT does breed locally in the alpine zone of the Eastern Sierra Nevada, at 10,000-12,000 feet elevation. I was lucky to encounter a pair in July once on breeding territory at Saddlebag Lake,Mono County. According to the literature this race has only recently colonized California,having been first documented as nesting in 1975.
