This afternoon I took a walk in my Walnut Creek neighborhood (north end of Homestead/Seven Hills Ranch Road). Among the mildly unusual sightings I had a large Cooper's Hawk, probably an adult female, and a Red-shouldered Hawk, as well as a Downy Woodpecker in addition to the expected Acorn and Nuttall's. The outstanding bird was a male Black-throated Gray Warbler in the large oak at the very end of Homestead. I reported it to eBird (https://ebird.org/checklist/S80159284)with the following comments:

Warbler shape and bill. Active feeding high in an oak. Strongly marked with black and white stripes on the face, thinner black streaks on the flanks; clearly a male: strongly marked black throat. This was not a Townsend's; I saw no yellow except for a pale wash on the breast. (Also, if it had a yellow spot on the lores, I could not see it.)
If eBird wishes to reject this observation on the grounds of rarity, and the fact that I cannot submit a photograph, that's OK, but I point out that this is not the first time that I have found a BT Gray Warbler in our neighborhood in January, and the last time the sighting was confirmed by m.ob.

Fred Safier