[SBB] turkeys and bishops in block 9545

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All,

After completing our two Snowy Plover surveys today 7/30/05, Mike Mammoser, Richard Jeffers, and I stopped by a few locations in Milpitas (atlas block 9545).

At the east end of Scott Creek Road there was a female WILD TURKEY with 7 recently hatched precocial young, a new breeding confirmation for the block (on the Alameda County side of the road).

We next checked the Northern Red Bishop nest along Calera/Penitencia Creek south of Dixon Landing Road. The nest had one egg in it, likely infertile as the bishops were nowhere to be seen and there had been a single fairly large, recently hatched nestling (a cowbird?) in the nest on 7/16/05. Much of the creek has been bulldozed and scraped of its vegetation (up to within feet of the nest), which may also have something to do with the bishops absence.

We briefly stopped by the CCFS waterbird pond, finding 340 WILSON'S PHALAROPES and a pair of NORTHERN RED BISHOPS, with the male involved in courtship feeding of the female; she may have been building a nest as she disappeared into the same reed area twice. This may be the same pair of bishops, as this location is only about 600 meters west of the other spot, directly across I880 as the bishop flies (alternatively they could have headed north and west along towards the bay, and south along Coyote Creek to the waterbird pond reed beds).

Al, could the bishop song have been the mystery wabler song you heard?

We had no luck confirming breeding by COMMON YELLOWTHROATS for block 9545 in the reeds east of the waterbird pond.

Mike Rogers
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