[SBB] 08/07 Yellow-headed Blackbird & More

Hi everyone!

It’s been a long time in writing due to our move, Peru, my daughter’s back surgery and a severe sprained ankle! Janna Pauser and I went to the Llagas Creek area entering through the Gilroy Sewage Treatment Plant today from about 8:30am to 1:30pm. At about 10am, around the ponds near the Southernmost dried ponds to the South of the Administration Building (where you sign in and pick up a sign to post on your car while you drive around - yes - drive around the levies (sp?)), I spotted a female YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD in with a flock of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS! At first, I thought that as bright as the chest was, it had to be a male, but Janna said that the back of the head was dark. After chasing the flock a few times, I managed to get the bird in my scope at about 50-70’. It turned out that the chest and throat were a bright mustard yellow (seemed much brighter than the picture in Sibley, page 512) while the side of the face was more muted. The crown and back of neck were dark (brown?), as was the rest of the bird. I failed to look for a whitish patch on the wings, as shown in Sibley. The first look was on the levy. The bird was larger in girth and stood about ¾-1” higher than all of the surrounding birds. Later, when I refound the bird, I was able to follow it in flight with my scope. She stood out again in size, as though a large cousin was visiting. The yellow flashed noticeably when the flock would twist and turn and the light would hit it just so. We were unable to determine a different flight call, as noted in Sibley (probably due to my poor skill with bird songs).

Other highlights of the day were the 2 MUTE SWANS noted by others, an adult PEREGRINE FALCON (1^st I’ve seen there) digesting his meal on the dried mud next to a pond behind some CANADA GEESE. We had no luck with the Yellow-breasted Chat, but overall, it was a great day, with cool temperatures and good company!

Happy Birding,

Jean Myers

Other birds seen:

Brown-headed Cowbird

Brewer’s Blackbird

Song Sparrow

Common Yellowthroat

Pied-billed Grebes (one sitting on eggs on a floating pile of reeds with sticks piled on top and another with 6 chicks)

Gadwall (a couple of dozen)

Blue-winged Teal females - at least 6 and maybe as many as 15

Cinnamon Teals - lots of immatures and a few adults

Ruddy Duck - about 8

Mallard - many

American Coot

American Avocet - 4

Black-necked Stilt - 1

Greater Yellowlegs - 2

Marbled Godwits - 2

Wilson’s Phalarope - 4 (feeding on the mudflats)

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk

Northern Mockingbird

California Thrasher

Black Phoebe

Lazuli Bunting - 1 pair

Western Kingbird - 1

Loggerhead Shrike - 3 (2 were a parent feeding a juvenile)

House Finch

American Goldfinch

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Oak Titmouse

Bushtit flock

Bewick’s Wren

Cliff Swallow

Tree Swallow

Barn Swallow

Savannah Sparrow - 1

Crow

Mourning Dove

Rock Pidgeon

Belted Kingfisher - 2

Western Scrubjay

Great Egret

Green Heron

Killdeer

Turkey Vulture

Possible Swainson’s Thrush (heard a few soft “chups” under some low trees between pond and levy)