Sorry, forgot to give the site url:
radamson.smugmug.com
See the Featured gallery in upper left.
Roger Adamson
Fort Bragg

--- In Mendobirds@yahoogroups.com, "rha632" <rhadamson@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi All,
> I have added a photo of the Y-B Sapsucker to a new folder called "Woodpeckers
& Sapsuckers".  I also put a higher resolution version of that and 3 other
photos in a gallery on my SmugMug site.  Please check it out and comment.  This
may be the first YB Sapsucker I have ever seen and I would appreciate any
confirmations.
> Roger Adamson
> Fort Bragg
>
> --- In Mendobirds@yahoogroups.com, "Adamson, Roger" <rhadamson@> wrote:
> >
> > I found a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in Fort Bragg using a small maple(?)  on
the southwest corner of McKinley & Alder.  It appears to be an adult
female--though I am no expert on this species.  How common are they in this
area?
> > Roger Adamson
> > Fort Bragg
> >
>

Yesterday at 3:45 I found a Red-naped Sapsucker in a large oak at the northwest
corner of the football field.  To get to the college, go north of Ukiah on N
State St and turn left on Hensley Cr Rd.  Park in the NW corner of the parking
lot just down the stairs from the tennis courts.  Go up the stairs and proceed
west on the north end of the tennis courts and the football stadium.  I saw the
Sapsucker before I got to the end of the tennis courts.  Continue west between
the stadium fence and the bushes up the hill (there is about a 2 ft opening). 
When you come out on top there is a large oak leaning to the west with a lot of
mistletoe.  It is about 20 yards north of the fence.  This is a 2nd fence north
of the stadium fence.  It is also down the hill and ENE of the large water tank.
When I got close to the tree it flew off.  I hiked down to the south end of the
football field and planned on hiking back to see if it returned.  When I got
down to the south end, I saw all of the birds fleeing the area.  And when I got
back to the sapsucker tree there was an adult Cooper's Hawk in the next oak
over, so no 2nd chance this time.

Dave Bengston, Ukiah

This morning I had a beautiful male Slate-colored Junco show up to feed.  I also
had my 1st of winter Pine Siskin appear.  The White-throated Sparrow continues
along with some Fox Sparrows.  All in all, a pretty good morning so far.

10 Dec 2011

Hello -

Pat Kirkpatrick and I did a small circuit around Pt. Arena and the Stoneboro Rd.
area.  Highlights include:

2 TUNDRA SWANS north of Stoneboro (regular spot best viewed from the end of
Barnegat Road, but only 2?!?)
3 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE with the swans
1 FERRUGINOUS HAWK north of Stoneboro road
3 PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVERS near the Pt. Arena Lighthouse vacation cabins

Of note, but slightly out of range, there were 4 SORAS and a VIRGINIA RAIL on
the ponds of the Sea Ranch Golf Course in (very) northern Sonoma County.

Good Birding,

Rich Trissel
Gualala

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 -- Ryan Keiffer and I spotted a FERRUGINOUS HAWK Saturday
from the Hearst-Willits road east of Bray Road.   It was at a distance and
seen without binoculars, but from the brown underparts and brown underwing
linings, it appeared to be a dark morph adult. It would be an interesting
plumage to see up close.

George Chaniot
Potter Valley, MEN, CA

11 Dec 2011 - Today there were 10 TUNDRA SWANS at the lagoon north of
Stoneboro.  We did not see any White-Fronted Geese.  The 3 Pacific
Golden-Plovers were in the usual place, on the lawn south of the road to
the Lighthouse.

I briefly glimpsed a BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER in the trees near the end
of Windy Hollow Road, past the casino.  It moved quickly and none of the
others were able to see it.


Cheers,
Tim Bray
Albion



On 12/11/2011 12:18 PM, Rich T wrote:
> 10 Dec 2011
>
> Hello -
>
> Pat Kirkpatrick and I did a small circuit around Pt. Arena and the Stoneboro
Rd. area.  Highlights include:
>
> 2 TUNDRA SWANS north of Stoneboro (regular spot best viewed from the end of
Barnegat Road, but only 2?!?)
> 3 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE with the swans
> 1 FERRUGINOUS HAWK north of Stoneboro road
> 3 PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVERS near the Pt. Arena Lighthouse vacation cabins
>
> Of note, but slightly out of range, there were 4 SORAS and a VIRGINIA RAIL on
the ponds of the Sea Ranch Golf Course in (very) northern Sonoma County.
>
> Good Birding,
>
> Rich Trissel
> Gualala

I observed a Merlin at Mendocino College today.  It was in the tall oaks to the
west of the most western buildings and south of the football field.  I had
returned with a camera to try and get a photo of the RN Sapsucker.  No luck. 
The Cooper's Hawk was again nearby where I saw it yesterday.

What Bird is That?

Winter is here, the holidays are with us, and our local birds are helping
themselves at our feeders again. Every year I am determined to identify those
little critters, each and every one! Sure I make some progress, but what of
those tough ones that look so similar, those little brown jobs hopping around
under the feeder? Yes, I know most are sparrows and surely those feeding above
are finches, but which species is each? I definitely need an expert!

Peregrine Audubon's Christmas Bird Count (CBC) has those experts who can help
bring us a step closer to our goal. Join Bob Keiffer on Tuesday, December 13,
2011 at 7:00 p.m. in the Ukiah City Council Chambers when he will point out
distinguishing field marks of our Ukiah area birds. He will discuss and
illustrate the sparrows and finches, jays and blackbirds, ducks and waders, as
well as the raptors, the hawks and owls, all in living color.

Bring your tough questions for the experts. What birds can I expect in my back
yard this winter? How do sparrows and finches differ? Is it really possible to
see eagles in the Ukiah Valley? What are the ducks and gulls at Lake Mendocino?
Anyone interested in birdcalls? Bob can help with that too.

Peregrine Audubon also offers help in the field. Beginners and experienced
birders can come to the December 13 meeting at 7:00 p.m. and sign up with Bob
Keiffer for the Count, which takes place on Saturday, December 18. Bob will
explain how the Christmas Bird Count works, introduce team leaders, and match
you with a group that can best help take you that next step toward better bird
biology. He will also give a presentation that he and Matthew Matthiessen have
put together over the last few years.

The really avid begin before daybreak and in all kinds of weather. The rest of
us can participate for parts of the day or even count at home if we live within
the 15-mile diameter count circle (which includes Ukiah). There will be a
beginners' count starting at 10 a.m. and meeting at the gate to Mendocino
College on Hensley Creek Road. By all means, contact Bob Keiffer (744-1160) to
get details.

We meet after the CBC for a potluck dinner in the Grace Hudson Museum Public
Room on South Main Street. Bring a dish, something to drink, and your eating
utensils and join us at 6:00 p.m.

Directions to the Ukiah City Council Chambers for the December 13 meeting at
7:00 p.m. and slide show: from Hwy 101: take Perkins St. east to North State
St.; turn left and head south; take the third right (Seminary Ave) and go to the
end.

Tuesday - 13 December 2011 - This morning I observed an adult Turkey Vulture
with a white Patagial tag # 68 near my home one mile east of Hopland.  This is
one of the birds tagged at the UC-Hopland Research & Extension Center during the
fall of 2008 and 2009.  This effort was part of a study that documented and
compared lead exposure in avian scavengers in areas with varying hunting
activity.  The results of the state-wide study did link lead exposure in turkey
vultures to big game hunting activities and also suggested that consumption of
domestic livestock food sources may serve as a route for acquisition of
antimicrobial resistance in vultures.
As a hunter I am a firm believer that all big game hunters should convert over
to copper-only ammunition.
Good birding.  Bob Keiffer.


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Hi All,
   For those who keep track of sub-species, I had a Red Fox Sparrow (probable P.
i. zaboria I am told by  experts) on Saturday and Sunday in company of
White-crowned Sparrows, Golden-crowned Sparrows and  three Sooty Fox Sparrows. 
They were feeding between 163 McKinley and 211 McKinley, visible from the
street.  I put a few photos on the smugmug site (near top in featured
galleries):
Radamson.smugmug.com
Sorry for the late notice.  Photos not as good as I would like because they were
taken through a window.  However, these are really pretty little birds.
Enjoy!

Roger Adamson


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

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 -- At 1 P.M. today there was a male EURASIAN WIGEON on the
Christmas Star Vineyard pond in Potter Valley. There has been an increase in
American Wigeon here in the last week. One very rufous female turned out to
be an American Wigeon with pure white underwing linings.
      This pond is on West(side) Road about 1/4 mi. N. of the cemetery.
There is no good place to park nearby; beware of soft shoulders.  It's best
to park at the cemetery and walk the 400 y to the pond.  There is a
step-through in the fence, and if you approach slowly, the waterfowl will
move away and not fly.  Of all the ponds in Potter Valley that can be viewed
from roads, this pond seems to be the most attractive to waterfowl.
      There was also a female COMMON GOLDENEYE on the McMenomey Vineyard pond
- best viewed by walking through the cemetery to the south end.

George Chaniot
Potter Valley, MEN, CA

Mallard                       2
American Wigeon      54
Eurasian Wigeon          1
Ring-necked Duck        2
Bufflehead                12
Pied-billed Grebe          1
American Coot        101

Greetings Mendobirders-  Yesterday Jerry White and I were able to get up
into the montane areas of southern Mendocino NF on road M1.  The road is
in good shape, although 4 WD is necessary to navigate the icy snow on the
road.  If you do go, you might want to consider cutting a Xmas tree
because the birding was slowwwww.  It is winter up there!  We were driving
in several inches of snow most of the trip on top.  In nearly 4 hours of
birding between Hull Mt and 2 miles E of Bald Mt, we saw 13 bird species
and about 50 individuals.  "Highlights" were an adult male Acorn
Woodpecker at Brushy Point, 5600' and not a sound acorn for miles, and
great looks at a soaring juvenile Northern Goshawk just S of Hull Mt in
Lake County.  Other birds seen on top: Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Flicker,
Pileated Woodpecker, Steller's Jay, Common Raven, Mountain Chickadee,
Red-breasted Nuthatch, Townsend's Solitaire (LAK), Spotted Towhee, Fox
Sparrow (all "sooty"), and Dark-eyed Junco.

Chuck Vaughn and Jerry White


--
Chuck and Barbara Vaughn
Ukiah, CA

Additional remarks on our trip yesterday. On our way north we stopped at Brushy
Pt and heard the woodpecker. Then on the way back we again heard it calling. But
just to "confirm" Chuck suggested I play a recording. The bird responded
immediately and flew into a snag right near us. Felt somewhat strange to be
expending that much effort to get a visual on an Acorn Woodpecker in Mendocino
County.

The Northern Goshawk was Chuck's first for his Lake list and was only the 4th
winter record for the county.
                                                                                                                          
Jerry White

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Wed Dec 14, 2011--There was a ROCK SANDPIPER at Virgin Creek this morning.
"Toby" Tobkin had reported one there on the 3rd of December. This bird was south
of the creek's mouth with a large flock of SURFBIRDs, BLACK TURNSTONES and
SANDERLINGS. It was not a hightide sighting. There were 62 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS
and 4 WHIMBRELS further north.

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 -- At about 09:15 this morning Chuck Vaughn and I saw the
EURASIAN WIGEON again in Potter Valley.  It was still very foggy at that
hour making it hard to see the opposite shore of the pond.  The fog was not
gone until about 10:30.  At about noon I drove by again and could spot the
red-headed wigeon on the drive-by.
      In the afternoon I saw a FERRUGINOUS HAWK flying north over Burris
Lane.

George Chaniot
PotterValley, MEN, CA

This afternoon (1:00 - 1:30) there was a Says Phoebe on Coyote Dam at Lake
Mendocino.  Also present was a Rock Wren.  The Phoebe was on the west face of
the dam about 1/2 way across, where the spillway goes out.  Much of the time it
was hovering in the air.  By 1:30 it had worked its way north about 1/2 way
between the middle and the parking lot.

I hope it stays there 3 more days.

Dave Bengston, Ukiah

Just a heads up.  He was there this morning.  We've seen him everyday except
yesterday and the day before.  
 
Good birding!
 Beth and Jeff

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

We now have a map of the Fort Bragg circle, showing the Area boundaries,
available on the MCAS Website:
http://www.mendocinocoastaudubon.org/mcas_fb_xmas.html

This is an embedded Google Map, meaning you can zoom in and out, move
around, change to satellite or street map view, etc.

If you'd like to join in the count for a specific Area, just click on
the marker for that Area to see who the Leader is, and get in touch with
them.  Or contact me and I'll hook you up.

Cheers,
Tim Bray
CAFB Compiler
tbray@...

Friday, Dec. 16, 2011

Have a Red-naped Sapsucker in my neighbor's apple trees. It was poking at an
apple as well as the usual tree bark.  Give me a call if you wish to look for
it.

A Red-breasted Sapsucker has been a regular forager in the same trees this
winter.

Good Birding!
Mike Curry
Willits
707 465 1032

18 December 2012 - Following a tip from Chris Bing, I stopped at the
Navarro Vineyards tasting room and wandered over to their pond.  As
hoped, among the numerous Coots, Ring-necked Ducks, and Common
Mergansers, there was indeed a pair of Hooded Mergansers.


I also stopped at the Navarro Grade and glassed the mouth of the Navarro
River, which appears to have backed up behind the bar again.  In
addition to the usual Coots and Buffleheads and Western Grebes, there
were several Common Goldeneye.

Cheers,
Tim Bray
Albion

The Eurasian Wigeon as first reported by George Chaniot one week ago was still
there today at 2:30 pm.  I parked at the cemetery on West Rd and walked north up
to the pond.

The pond just to south of the cemetery did not have the Goldeneye and in fact
had no ducks.

Dave Bengston
Ukiah

Cheers MendoBirders!!!

It was fun to join in the Ukiah Christmas Bird Count.  We enjoyed
meeting many of the inland birders at the compilation dinner.

Our GPS track showed that we traveled 15.4 miles on our kayaking survey
of the Russian River.  Here's a link
<http://liquidfusionkayak.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-bird-count.html\
>  to a blog post about our trip.

Happy Holidays,
Cate and Jeff
Liquid Fusion Kayaking <http://www.liquidfusionkayak.com>




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

Tuesday - 20 December 2011 - Here are some preliminary results and highlights
from last Saturday's Ukiah CBC.   First of all, thanks to all of the
participants and Area Leaders for a great job done by all!   We have not tallied
everything up yet, but based upon our quick compilation dinner results we had
133 species.   This is the SECOND highest on record, a few down from the 2010
high-count results of 138 species.   A few highlights include:  At least one
Greater White-fronted Goose; probably over 100 Hooded Mergansers, very few
Lesser Scaup, Mountain Quail (heard), ALL of the grebe species possible, a
couple of Green Herons (normally gone for the winter),  a surprise disappearance
of the Black-crowned Night-Heron roost on Yosemite/Washo near Oak Manor, a
probable high number of American Coots, Least Sandpipers, Thayer's Gull at Lake
Mendocino, all of the expected normal owl species, a high count of Belted
Kingfishers due to the new "Kayak Crew" that floated 15 miles on the Russian
River,  Tree Swallows (normally gone for the winter), and good luck with our
more difficult sparrows such as Rufous-crowned, Lark, and White-throated.    A
Black-headed Grosbeak was found ...that is four birds in the last five years
(they are normally gone,gone for the winter).  Two ring-necked Pheasants were
found ... one deemed "wild" upon review of the facts, and one deemed "captive
recently released".

We had cool but clear weather the entire day and a great turnout of
participants.   I sincerely hope that all had a great time and learned a few
identification tricks along the way.  Also, thanks to all of the landowners that
provided access onto their properties.

Good Birding.  Bob Keiffer & Cheryl Watson.


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

This morning one of my independent minded cats ran by the window several times
carrying some type of prey.  He/she (that is how independent) was doing the
teasing routine and I thhought the prey was a Flicker.  The next time by I
didn't think that fit and I got my pool leaf scoop out and rescued a Virginia
Rail.
Mike, Halle and Quentin Brady came by and confirmed the ID.
The bird seemed spry enough after his travails to risk releasing it out by a
sunny blackberry/marsh interface and I hope things go well for it.

Mike and I exchanged Virginia Rail stories, his about finding a deceased one in
his house when he moved in 30 years ago.
My oft-told tale was of bird that came into my front room through an open door
40 years ago, perused the crowd therein and exited.  I identified it as a
Virginia Rail.
My currenty memory of that visitor is of a creature twice the size of this
morning's robin-size one.
George has an "R" on his Potter Valley list for March.

Jim Armstrong
SE Potter Valley

I've been watching HORNED GREBES doing similtaneous dives out in the cove at
MacKerricher cove in Mackerricher park for some years now, but today saw the
biggest flock(?)ever do a synchonous dive. I would estimate the tightly packed
perfect circle at 30 feet wide and containing eighty to a hundred birds. On some
unseen signal, all the birds dive in a giant gulp.

I'm guessing that these birds are cooperatively hunting under the waves using
some sort of netting behavior. However, my research does not show any data or
underwater observations on this behavior. Therefore, I propose that we outfit
Ron LeValley with a wetsuit, scuba tanks and cameras and send him out there to
find out just what these grebes are doing down there.

Happy Solstice!

Rick Harris

Thursday - 22 December 2011 - Ryan Keiffer spotted an American Dipper flying up
the Russian River towards the confluence with Pieta Creek.   This is right along
Highway 101, a few miles south of Hopland ...and was near the large swimming
hole/jumping rocks that are so popular in the summertime.   I have seen dippers
here one time before many years ago.  I suspect that there are dippers up Pieta
Creek ...and that when the river is clear and "huntable" they use that resource
...but go back up the creek during muddy/high water periods.  Good Birding. 
Reported by Bob Keiffer


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Friday December 23, 2011 - One male and two female Hooded Mergansers
were at the northwest corner of the Caspar pond (Fern Creek Rd at Hwy
1).  Also present were one Ring-Necked Duck, some Common Mergansers,
several Ruddy Ducks, many Coots.  In the bushes among the Brewer's
Blackbirds, one male Tricolored Blackbird flashed his white wing-patches
at us.

Cheers,
Tim

I got several photos of this bird at Pudding Creek today. If anyone would like
to see, I will have them posted in a jiffy on site (Yahoo).

Lisa




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Dec. 24, 2011  -  Toby Tobkin called to report seeing 2 Rock Sandpipers during
high tide at the rocks off of Laguna Point.

For Toby ...

Carolyn Kinet
Inglenook

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mendobirds/photos/recent/list

Photos are up




--- On Sat, 12/24/11, Lisa Walker (Feather) <feather7023@...> wrote:

From: Lisa Walker (Feather) <feather7023@...>
Subject: [Mendobirds] Harlan's RTH, first year
To: mendobirds@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, December 24, 2011, 1:26 PM
















 









       I got several photos of this bird at Pudding Creek today. If anyone would
like to see, I will have them posted in a jiffy on site (Yahoo).



Lisa



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