Re: [SBB] South-Bay-Birds Digest, Vol 2, Issue 201, Kristen Olson's question about PS Flycatcher

[Susan Kritzik <[[email protected]]>]

On 7/6/06 9:00 AM, "[[email protected]]"
<[[email protected]]> wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
> 
>    1. Western Tanager Pair ([[email protected]])
>    2. Re: COHA Behavior? ([[email protected]])
>    3. Re: COHA Behavior? (mary keitelman)
>    4. Least Terns and Whimbrel ([[email protected]])
>    5. Ravenswood OSP observations (Kay Partelow)
>    6. Fycatcher and owl questions, yard birds, Menlo Park (Kris Olson)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 13:21:53 EDT
> From: [[email protected]]
> Subject: [SBB] Western Tanager Pair
> To: [[email protected]]
> Message-ID: <[[email protected]]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> Good morning all....
>  
>  
> Got up this morning to a calling Red-shouldered Hawk in the backyard....so  I
> came down and sat in my bird watching chair....have Black-headed Grosbeaks at
>  the feeders, an adult male and what looks like three young .....I am
> thinking  that due to their plumage....just a little orange color on the
> chest, 
> stomach  has no color and they have streaks along the flanks....the dad is
> amazing 
> in  color....rich orange with a lemon yellow line down the stomach....his
> white  markings are just so different.... his vent is pure white....
>  
> While watching the birds at the feeder.....I had a pair of Western Tanagers
> come to the railing and then to the bird bath....He was just amazing
> .....bright  orange face and top of head, his yellow body....she looked like
> she had 
> been  through the mill....poor thing... What a great morning sighting.....
>  
> Lots of birds today: Chickadees, Oak Titmice, Junco's everywhere, Stellar's
> and Scrub Jays, House Finch, Red-winged Blackbirds, Cowbirds, Rock Doves,
> Mourning Doves, Bewick's Wrens, Nuthatch, two Nuttall's male and female....CA
> Towhee pair....
>  
> Wishing you all a good week ahead....
>  
> My best regards,
> Linda Sullivan
> Los Gatos
> PS  I was driving up to Sacramento this past weekend and had a group  of
> 10-15 Red-tailed Hawks flying together....never saw this before...any ideas
> (other than a Red-tailed Hawk convention)?
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 17:14:15 EDT
> From: [[email protected]]
> Subject: Re: [SBB] COHA Behavior?
> To: [[email protected]]
> Message-ID: <[[email protected]]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
>  
> All: 
> As mentioned by Ruth, the obvious thing would be that the Cooper's Hawk
> wanted a drink.  However, I was  hoping for more because, 1) That puddle is a
> transient thing, formed by the  morning sprinklers.  2) A lot of  vehicular
> traffic must drive right through the puddle.  3) The bird was always standing
> in the 
>  middle, not near the edge where etiquette might suggest you stand.  4) Over
> the three sightings I watched it  for some time, and it made no effort to bend
> down to the water; it resembled a  tired person, comfortably standing there
> soaking their feet.  But I guess it was just fooling with my  head.
> Frank Vanslager
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2006 21:17:59 +0000
> From: "mary keitelman" <[[email protected]]>
> Subject: Re: [SBB] COHA Behavior?
> To: [[email protected]], [[email protected]]
> Message-ID: <[[email protected]]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
> 
> Well, that's  more info... I wonder if it was cooling its feet?  In addition
> to getting a drink when you turned your head ;>
> 
> Mary
> 
> 
>> From: [[email protected]]
>> To: [[email protected]]
>> Subject: Re: [SBB] COHA Behavior?
>> Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 17:14:15 EDT
>> 
>> 
>> All:
>> As mentioned by Ruth, the obvious thing would be that the Cooper's Hawk
>> wanted a drink.  However, I was  hoping for more because, 1) That puddle is
>> a
>> transient thing, formed by the  morning sprinklers.  2) A lot of  vehicular
>> traffic must drive right through the puddle.  3) The bird was always
>> standing in the
>>  middle, not near the edge where etiquette might suggest you stand.  4)
>> Over
>> the three sightings I watched it  for some time, and it made no effort to
>> bend
>> down to the water; it resembled a  tired person, comfortably standing there
>> soaking their feet.  But I guess it was just fooling with my  head.
>> Frank Vanslager
> 
> 
>> _______________________________________________
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> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 17:36:27 EDT
> From: [[email protected]]
> Subject: [SBB] Least Terns and Whimbrel
> To: [[email protected]]
> Message-ID: <[[email protected]]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> All,
>  
> This morning Frank Vanslager and I had a high count of 113 small Terns
> perched on the boardwalk in Salt Pond A2E (no attempt was made to try to count
> the 
> many additional smaller Terns flying over the pond, over Salt  Pond B1 or
> over Crittenden Marsh).  We assume that these smaller Terns  are most if not
> all 
> LEAST TERNS (a few close-in birds were clearly  ID'd as LETE) but distances
> and lighting conditions prevented us from aging the  LETE or determining if
> there might be any Black Terns in the group.  I  should note that Frank had
> called 
> me on Tuesday morning (7/4) informing me that  there were many Least Terns in
> Salt Pond A2E.  I should also note  that there were no smaller Terns noted by
> Frank in this Salt Pond six days  ago!  We had previously decided that since
> we had a "Poopy Falling Tide"  (a highly technical term normally abbreviated
> "PFT") that we would  also check the mouth of Stevens Creek for "Goodies."
> Despite the fact  that we had a "PFT" we were able to add WHIMBREL (2 there)
> to 
> our county  year lists and four juvenile BROWN PELICANS flying in the area had
> somehow  previously escaped our county lists.  The most exciting find among
> the  WILLETT was a very light gray Godwit of the same general coloring as  the
> nearby Willetts.  I know it's the wrong time of the year but hopes were  high!
> Unfortunately the markings seemed to be the same as those of a  normally
> colored MARBLED GODWIT nearby.  Do we often see light gray  Marbled Godwits?.
>  
> Take care,
> Bob Reiling
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 5
> Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2006 17:15:34 -0700
> From: Kay Partelow <[[email protected]]>
> Subject: [SBB] Ravenswood OSP observations
> To: [[email protected]]
> Message-ID:
> <[[email protected]]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
> 
> 
>> Yesterday morning, July 4, Debbi Brusco, Karen DeMello and I explored
>> Ravenswood Open Space Preserve (Bay Road) and found a few items of
>> interest.  Most spectacular was a stunning BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER (complete
>> with black belly!) perusing the mudflat with three of its "gray"
>> counterparts, MARBLED GODWITS, LONG-BILLED CURLEWS and LEAST SANDPIPERS
>> that increased in number the longer we watched.  An adult COOPER'S HAWK at
>> Cooley Landing was enjoying a lunch of fresh HOUSE FINCH in the shade of a
>> pepper tree.  Also at Cooley Landing, a lone BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON was
>> trying to ignore our scope and binocs while dozing in a tree, perched on
>> one foot with a half-open red eye.  Nice side-by-side looks at a
>> RING-BILLED GULL and CALIFORNIA GULL made it easy to compare the mantle
>> color and bills of the two species.  A NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD was mocking
>> the sound of begging young EUROPEAN STARLINGS, and fooled us with an
>> expert Black Phoebe imitation.  We also enjoyed the AMERICAN AVOCETS
>> sporting their salmon-orange head/neck plumage with the scenic backdrop of
>> the bay.
>> 
>> Finally, we were entertained by a group of 8 raucous COMMON RAVENS that
>> took over the top of a power tower.  (Looking for their "woods"?)   After
>> picking through (owl?) pellets, we decided that this is a preserve that we
>> will be visiting regularly.
>> 
>> Enjoy!
>> 
>> Kay Partelow
>> Palo Alto
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 6
> Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 22:41:19 -0700
> From: "Kris Olson" <[[email protected]]>
> Subject: [SBB] Fycatcher and owl questions, yard birds, Menlo Park
> To: "South Bay Birders" <[[email protected]]>
> Message-ID: <01ad01c6a0be$cf0bdf50$6701a8c0@Kris>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> We have had two interesting yard birds this spring and summer.
> 
> One is a Pacific Slope Flycatcher. I have heard it around since May 1. Last
> year one was around for the month of May, then vanished.   I have only seen
> this one once as it's mainly out of sight and I am coming or going as I hear
> it. Since the bird is still calling, does it mean it has not mated?
> 
> The other is a Western Screech Owl. I have seen it flitting about at dusk.
> It's been in our yard or up and down the street since Feb. 2.  I hear it
> every few days, or sometimes every day-- but that has tapered off. It can
> call for hours!! Now it seems to call around dusk, then maybe in the middle
> of the night or an odd time, but just a few calls. It was also often present
> and vocal in our yard through last summer, until the beginning of November.
> It might have disappeared, gotten quiet or we were outdoors less with
> windows closed from November to February.
> 
> Does the constant calling mean that it has not mated?
> 
> 
> There was another one a few blocks away in 2003. I saw it starting in
> December 2002 all the up until the babies fledged May 4. I never once heard
> it call until the youngsters were out and about for 2 weeks, before they all
> vanished. So, since this owl was mated and it did not call, can we presume
> that the calling owl is not mated?
> 
> Any thoughts on this behavior appreciated.
> 
> Kris Olson, Menlo Park
>   

Kris,

I have had Pacific-slope Flycatchers nest on my outdoor speakers, so got to
observe them closely. The male called every time he came to the nest with
food for the nestlings (or the female)  Also, many birds sing to maintain
territory throughout the breeding period.  This keeps their mate attached
and their food supply safe. The PS Flycatcher is a monogamous bird and the
incubation is just by the female, though both feed the young. It may be more
important for calls to maintain the pair bond with a monogamous species,
too, but that is just my speculation. They can have more than one brood,
also, so nesting may still be going on.

I don't know much about Screech Owls, though I also have one in the woods
behind my house that starts calling at dusk, and can be heard on and off all
night. I would expect it's a territorial call, too. They are also monogamous
and may still be raising young.

A great book on the many meanings of bird song is Donald Kroodsma's "The
Singing Life of Birds."  You can get it through the American Birding Assn at
www.aba.org.  Bird behavior is certainly endless in its fascinations!

Other good references on nesting behavior:  The Birder's Handbook, Ehrlich
et al.  Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings, Baicich and Harrison.

Susan Kritzik
Portola Valley





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> End of South-Bay-Birds Digest, Vol 2, Issue 201
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