I saw 10 Green Winged Teals on the north shore, west of the bridge, on Ten Mile River at 2:00 Tuesday afternoon.

Erica



************************************************
For more information on interpretive panels
created in Erica Fielder Studio, please visit:
http://www.ericafielderstudio.com

For information on the Bird Feeder Hat
Interpretive Project, and how to make your
own Bird Feeder Hat, go to:
http://www.birdfeederhat.org

Erica Fielder Studio
P.O. Box 1075,
Mendocino, CA 95460

707-964-1467

On Sunday the 20th, Doug Weidemann and I conducted our monthly gull survey around the lake. The gulls were boring (not a good year). At Lakeside County Park we saw the YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER but could not find the SWAMP SPARROW and gave up after a half-hour search. Near Lower Lake we failed to find the RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER during a half-hour search in the morning but in the afternoon we saw it after a 15-minute search, and after hearing it call four times. It worked its way along trees along the bank of the little stream, including the tree with the "No Trespassing" sign.

The juvenile SNOW GOOSE is still hanging out in the field along Butts Canyon Road about 2 miles south of Highway 29, in the field just south of the church-like barn. I see it most mornings when I drive by.

Floyd Hayes
Hidden Valley Lake, CA

I would rate my gull identification skills as mediocre at best, but if you want to see a sub-adult glaucous gull, it is pretty obvious at McKerricker parking lot. Good spotting by Toby. I completely mis-identificed the bird when I first saw it a couple of days back as a weird glaucous-winged gull as it seems to be mixed in with all the glaucous-winged gulls out there at the moment.

Anyway, if you feel a need to stare at gulls for a minute or two, the glaucous gull is hanging along the shore at the Laguna Point parking lot. Look for the really BIG gull. Even I could pick it out. Thanks Toby.

Also seen: single juvinile male white winged scoter that is also hard to miss and has been hanging around McKerricker.

Rick

Tue Feb 22, 2011-- Today at Virgin Creek Beach I found a seemingly distressed BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE resting on the rocks about halfway between the creek and the north end of the beach. It allowed me to get within 10 feet of it. A picture has been uploaded.

When I got back to my truck there was a note from Toby saying that she had just seen a Black-legged Kittiwake resting in the gull flock at the Laguna Point parking lot.

Richard Hubacek
Little River

A single White-winged Scoter was just downstream of the public boat launch ramp on the south-side of the Noyo yesterday at ~2:30pm. Also seen: Western Grebe, Great Egret, Bufflehead, Great Blue Heron and Pied-billed Grebe.

Monday February 21, 2010 - This morning saw the arrival of the first Allen's Hummingbird of the year to our front yard, which he immediately claimed and began driving away all the other hummingbirds.

Cheers,
Tim on Middle Ridge, Albion

FYI:  Ed Pandolfino is the "North American Birds" Editor for most of the small
passerines in Northern California.  Please read his post below...



----- Forwarded Message ----
From: "erpfromca@aol.com" <erpfromca@aol.com>
To: chucao@coastside.net; shampton@ospr.dfg.ca.gov; CALBIRDS@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sun, February 20, 2011 4:54:18 PM
Subject: Re: [CALBIRDS] Evening Grosbeaks at UC Davis RECORDING
 
Al, Steve and all,

Tom Hahn, one of the co-authors on the paper that Al cited, has been
keeping track of the Evening Grosbeaks around Davis and I have also sent him a
recording from Santa Clara County. All the birds involved in this year's
irruption seems to be Type 1.  As Al notes, most of the Sierra-breeding Evening
Grosbeaks give Type 2 calls and Type 1s breed mainly in the Pacific
Northwest and northern Rockies. The Fall issue of North American Birds will have

an S.A. on this irruption, possibly the most significant for CA since the
late 1980s.

Ed Pandolfino


In a message dated 2/20/2011 4:40:20 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
chucao@coastside.net writes:

Steve:
Making a quick sonogram and comparing them to references out there, they
sound and look like "type 1" the classic brooksi form from farther north
(cascades - N Rockies). So the suggestion is that if all of these birds are
of this type, they came down from farther north, not down from the Sierra.

The paper to look up is this one:

http://www.jstor.org/pss/1370527

Regards
Alvaro
Alvaro Jaramillo
chucao@coastside.net
Half Moon Bay, California

Field Guides - Birding Tours Worldwide

www.fieldguides.com







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

South of Laguna point boardwalk at McKerricher SP around 1 pm - resting amongst a group of Brandt's and Pelagic Cormorants - my husband, David Flaim, spotted this bird. We digiscoped some photos through the iPhone and watched for about 15 minutes before the bird flew west.

Beautiful bird :)

Sarah Wagner - Fort Bragg

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 -- A 1st cycle GLAUCOUS GULL flew above the
houses across the street as I watched from my living room window.
I could clearly see the bill was quite pink, but I couldn't quite see a
black tip.  This bird's plumage matched what Erica Fielder described to
me about the GLGU she found north of Pudding Creek on the 18th. 

(We decided that her bird was a classic, 1st year bird, as
is the one now resting with a large gull flock west of Ten Mile
River bridge).  I just arrived home from going to the bridge with
my scope to get a better look.  The plumage is all white with
just a very, light dusting of dark cream (or, very light brown).
The bill is a very clean pink and has a crisp, black tip.

Karen Havlena
Ocean Meadows / Ten Mile Area,
North of Fort Bragg, MEN, California




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Fellow birders,

I observed a lone adult Bald Eagle soaring over Highway 101 and Walker Road intersection this afternoon at about 2:15 PM. It was being harassed by a couple of Ravens that looked small compared to the eagle.

Best regards,
Mike Curry
Willits

I saw a glaucous gull, perhaps the same one Toby saw, that appears to be a second year gull, on the Haul Road along the MacKerricker State Park Headlands, in the shelter of the peachy-colored motel just north of Pudding Creek Parking Lot. It was with a small flock of mixed gulls.

Erica Fielder



************************************************
For more information on interpretive panels
created in Erica Fielder Studio, please visit:
http://www.ericafielderstudio.com

For information on the Bird Feeder Hat
Interpretive Project, and how to make your
own Bird Feeder Hat, go to:
http://www.birdfeederhat.org

Erica Fielder Studio
P.O. Box 1075,
Mendocino, CA 95460

707-964-1467

Was watching the resident western gull couple today at the Mendocino Headlands when a peregrine falcon war broke out. All the gulls dived for cover and became invisible. I then watched as two peregrines proceeded to go at each other right in front of me. Things happened fast and furious as they dived at each other stooping and dodging at incredible speeds. The one getting stooped on would invert at the last moment and try to grab the antagonist's talons. At one point they actually grappled for a second or two. Much vocalization which was quite loud and "harsh". Sibley's "rehk rehk rehk..." doesn't really do it justice.

One of the two was definitely the dark morph juvenile I've been watching for a couple of months. A.k.a "Gull Killer" who has claimed Bird Rock as home. I'm wondering though if this wasn't more than just a territorial thing but might have be the way peregrines flirt in the Spring. Wouldn't it be nice if it was a mating dance and there might be some nesting near Bird Rock? I don't know enough about peregrines to say, but if this is the way they court, I wouldn't want to go on that date.

Rick

Toby Tobkin reported a GLAUCOUS GULL in the gull flock near the parking area
for Laguna Point at MacKerricher State Park.

She noted that it is likely a second winter bird, but may be first winter.





Charlene McAllister

P.O. Box 332

Little River, CA 95456-0332

707-937-4463

charmac@mcn.org

cell: 707-832-2135

We seem to be having a lot of varied thrushes right now over here on the coast (irruption?). At least in my neck of the woods. Along with these varied thrushes is an increase in sharp-shinned hawks that seem to be preying on them heavily. Report from up the road reports the sharpies chase nothing else. Makes me think where were the sharpies when all the American robins were here? I think maybe the varied thrushes are easier to catch.

Rick Harris

Greetings Mendobirders- I was able to get out to the Ukiah Wastewater
Treatment Plant late this morning, after the rain, for some birding. Of
local interest were the continuing SWAMP SPARROW and a ROSS'S GOOSE. The
sparrow was on the north edge of the sludge pond in the area where the
sludge dredge, the SS Noyd, is usually moored between water ski runs. The
goose was with about 25 Canada Geese on the north pond. Later I watched
them all fly south along the river. Both Steve and Ken told me that they
had first seen the goose early this morning.

Chuck


--
Chuck and Barbara Vaughn
Ukiah, CA

Awesome Oaks, Habitat, Not Just Wood

Oaks are mighty and majestic, historic and memorable, but also overlooked
and ignored. Greg Giusti will tell us about these familiar trees at this
month’s Peregrine Audubon program on Thursday, February 17 at 7 p.m. in the
Ukiah Civic Center. Giusti says “its not about oak trees, its the oak
forest, its structure and composition, which provides for multiple animal
communities. It is about habitat, habitat, habitat”.

He points out that after 150 years growing hops, prunes, pears and, now,
excellent grapes we are left with only remnants of the previous almost
ubiquitous oak woodlands. Are these pieces still viable? What benefit are
they to us? What can we do as a community? Is there a role for the
individual?

Giusti believes that we all have a part to play and education is vital. The
more people who understand the importance of these forests and how they
contribute to our quality of life, the better chance we have to enjoy the
remaining oak woodlands for the next 150 years.

Currently, Greg Guisti is the Forest and Wildlands Ecology Advisor in
Mendocino and Lake Counties and the director of Lake County UC Cooperative
Extension. He was a guest lecturer at Stanford and worked as a biologist at
the Marine Ecological Institute. He has advised on many wildlife problems
from bears to squirrels.

This Peregrine Audubon sponsored presentation is free to the public, though
donations will be welcome. The Ukiah Civic Center is located at 300 Seminary
Avenue. To support Peregrine Audubon Society and receive a newsletter with
regular announcements about programs and field trips, please send $20 to
PAS, P.O. Box 311, Ukiah, CA 95482. For more information on a wide variety
of topics related to birding and conservation in Mendocino County please go
to www.peregrineaudubon.org.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sat, 12 Feb 2011 -- The Peregrine Audubon field trip to the south Mendocino
coast found a few of the continuing rarities : 3 LEWIS'S WOODPECKER on and
near power poles 119 and 120 on the Ukiah-Boonville Road, 3 PACIFIC
GOLDEN-PLOVERS on the lawns near the Point Arena lighthouse, 2 SANDHILL
CRANES seen from the bluff at the mouth of the Garcia River, at least 32
TUNDRA SWANS at Brushy Creek seen from Bristol Lane. The famous albatross
did not appear during our two visits to Arena Cove, but it was reported
yesterday, Feb 11.

George Chaniot
Potter Valley, MEN, CA

This afternoon Angie Meroshnekoff watched a Golden Eagle resting in the redwood tree in her backyard at White Dog Ranch. After the crows harassed him for a while, he flew off.

This morning there was a Bald Eagle, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and a Common Moorhen which was in the slough on the west side of the park.
On the drive out on Park Drive, Brad and Kathy Barnwell were parked on the side of the road and had found 2 Golden Eagles flying over. Jerry White

Thu Feb 10, 2011--On this wonderful sunny winter day I walked from Ward Ave to Fen Creek. I counted 31 SNOWY PLOVERS along the way. Most (27) were near the "Snowy Plover Protection Area". 3 were near Fen Creek. They out-numbered the Sanderlings 2 to 1. There were at least two banded Snowys, the new "Pink Lady" and a "RED Lady".

While at Fen Creek a TREE SWALLOW flew over going North.


Richard Hubacek
Little River