Wed, 5 Dec 2012 -- Dorothy Tobkin saw a SHORT-EARED OWL on Bald Hill Rd,
about 11:15-am NE of Fort Bragg off Pudding Creek Rd.  The owl was flying over
a field on the east side of the road, then perched on a fence post.  It is foggy
along
the coast and overcast at Bald Hill.  There are suitable fields with tall grass
for it to
roost.
 
For Dorothy Tobkin
 
 
(K Havlena)
Fort Bragg, MEN , CA

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Napa Co. - 200 (at last!)

Late this morning I was able to see 2 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS on the Napa Valley
Vine Trail that runs up the east side of the Water Treatment Plane on Dunaweal
Lane in Calistoga. I got a quick glimpse of a white-striped bird as it hopped up
on a small branch to fly away, but a tan-striped bird cooperatively perched on
the top of a chainlink fence for a good long look. Both birds were with a flock
of Golden-crowned Sparrows that was working both sides of the trail along the
second pond. Nice bird to have for #200 in Napa Co.

Lake Co. -

George Chaniot and I were able to find the scruffy young male SURF SCOTER a bit
north of the Third Street Pier in Lakeport, but could not find the Long-Tailed
Duck. We also saw a male BARROW'S GOLDENEYE and a probable female with him.
At Lakeside Park the Canada Goose flock also included at least 3 CACKLING GEESE,
a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE and an immature  SNOW GOOSE.

Kathy Parker
Los Gatos

I had two Burrowing Owls in view at the same time at 9:30am this morning on
Callayomi Rd., off of Butts canyon Rd., near Middletown. The point at which
I could see both owls at once was about 100 yards past the first house
which has the address 21751 Callayomi Rd. The closest owl was back toward
the house, but on the opposite side of the road on a mound of dirt about 50
yards out into the field. The second owl was on a more distant mound of
dirt east of Callayomi Rd way out near the second wire fence. A spotting
scope is needed for the second location. It was overcast, probably a very
good day for Burrowing Owls to be out. There was a Prairie Falcon perched
in an oak north of BC Rd near the intersection of Triple Y Rd and a
Ferruginous Hawk along BC Rd about one quarter mile east of Callayomi Rd.
Further east there was a continuing Lewis's Woodpecker in the row of
Eucalyptus trees on the north side of BC Rd and the previously reported
group of Lewis's Woodpeckers near the west end of Detert Resovoir.

On the way home, I saw a Rock Wren east of Lucerne near Hwy 20 mile marker
19.58. The wren was on the exposed rocky hill on the north side of the
highway.

David Woodward
Lakeport


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Greetings Mendobirders - Mendocino Coast Audubon Society invites you to
participate in our coastal Christmas Bird Counts.  The first will be
held on Saturday, December 22, centered on Fort Bragg; the second will
be the following Saturday, December 29, centered on Manchester.  There
are opportunities in both Counts for birders at any level of experience.
   You can stay home and count birds at your feeder, get up before dawn
and hoot for Owls, drive around town, or hike through fields and forests.

These are always productive and exciting Counts.  Last year we had 135
species in the Manchester circle, and 149 species in the Fort Bragg
circle - including a first confirmed County record for Baltimore Oriole.

On Monday, December 17, we will hold a special meeting of the MCAS to
review the expected and possible species and other details of the
coastal Counts.  This meeting will be held in Fort Bragg Town Hall
starting at 7:00 PM.  Anyone wishing to participate in either Count is
encouraged to attend.

To participate in the Fort Bragg Count, contact Tim Bray:
tbray@... (707-937-4422)

To join the Manchester count, contact David Jensen: djensen@...
(707-964-8163)

Happy birding,
Tim Bray
CAFB Compiler

Fri Dec 7, 2012---This afternoon there were two male REDHEADS in the Caspar
Pond. Caspar Pond is east of Highway 1 at Fern Creek Road in the community of
Caspar. I have not seen or heard of any Redheads in Mendocino County for a few
years.

Richard Hubacek
Little River

Hi All, This is my first post here on mendobirds. Around 9 AM this morning
I found one LEWIS'S WOODPECKER on the utility pole (life bird for me!). I also
spotted the BURROWING OWL. Its head was partially out of its cavity just as
described by George Chaniot and others. Thanks

This morning a Western Screech Owl ran into one of my big living room windows
here on Burris Lane.
He was still flopping when I looked, but was dead by the time I got a box to
protect him from the cold and the cats.
Even though I occasionally hear them in the early dawn hours, this is the first
Screech Owl I have seen here in forty years.
It is also only one of under ten of any kind of owl seen here during this
period, including a three or four noisily mobbed by crows.

In looking for information on the species, I found a really well done webpage
dedicated to owls:

  http://www.owling.com/index.html

It loads quickly on my dial-up internet connection and has great photos and
sound bytes among other features.

Jim Armstrong
Potter Valley

Sat, 8 Dec 2012 -- Jim and I drove down to Caspar this morning and saw the
REDHEADs
posted yesterday.  They are at Caspar Pond and easy to see adjacent to hwt 1 at
Fern
Creek Rd.
Later, we stopped at the north end of Ward Ave, Cleone, a saw 3 BLACK SCOTERs
(one
male and two females).  The ocean is fairly rough today, so not many sea ducks
could
be seen.  The beach is a part of MacKerricher SP, north of Lake Cleone and just
south of
the Ten Mile Dunes / Fen Reserve area of the park.

Karen and Jim Havlena
North of Fort Bragg, MEN, Ca

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Sat. Dec. 8, 2012

Dear Fellow Birders,

It was nice birding on a beautiful day at the Willits Wastewater Treatment Plant
this afternoon.  I took a break from shopping and stopped for a quick look. The
Eurasion Wigeon is still there, but I did not see the hybrid Eurasian/American
Wigeon.  A 2nd year bald eagle was perched (if eagles perch)in an oak tree on
the east side of the middle pond and I spied a Redhead later in the middle pond.

Actually, I am not 100 percent sure of my id of the Redhead.  I had to view it
from across the middle pond, and it seemed too small for what I thought should
be a large duck.  It was associating with four Buffleheads and it was diving
regularly.  It has a red head, yellow eye with dark center, dark grey chest with
what appeared to be a narrow white stripe vertically centered on the chest, dark
tail, with a light spot, and what does not jive with a Redhead, a grey chest
(not black) and belly.  I plan to return tomorrow morning to try to get a second
look.

By far, most of the birds there are American Coots (about 500).  Still plenty of
birds of prey.

Good birding!
Mike Curry
Willits

I was out at MacKerricker cove yesterday and got excited because I thought I
might be seeing a Black Scoter there for the first time. This single bird was
about as drab as a scoter can be, pretty far out and I finally gave up and
identified it as some sort of first year, female "scoter". Now that I see that
Karen saw some Black Scoters north of there, I'm not so sure it wasn't a Black
Scoter afterall...

Anyway, I did see a late Brant grooming on the beach right in front of the
parking lot and that identification I was able to nail a lot easier. Such a
noble bird and one of my favorites. I got a good picture. Posted on Mendobirds
below:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mendobirds/photos/album/169685695/pic/2060336352/v\
iew?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc

9 December 2012 (Sunday) - Highlights of this morning's Audubon birdwalk
in Fort Bragg were two (2) Bullock's Orioles in Rose Memorial Cemetery
(end of Spruce Street).  The birds were first found (by Toby Tobkin) in
the westernmost Banksia tree, adjacent to the central access road, but
later moved back and forth between Banksias and Pine trees.

A Red-Breasted Sapsucker also moved between Banksias, pines, and
Eucalyptus in the same area.

Large numbers of Pygmy Nuthatches and Anna's Hummingbirds, along with at
least two Townsend's Warblers, were also working the Banksias.

Cheers,
Tim Bray
(hoping the Orioles stick around for a couple of weeks!)

Sunday, December 9, 2012. At about 3:30 this afternoon I found a Palm Warbler in
residential Fort Bragg, on east Pine Street between Harold and Corry.
Dave Jensen

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I was also at MacKerricker and spent over an hour watching grebes both near and
far as well as a single scoter (black) and a single male scaup. I could find no
white marking of any kind on the scoter and so I believe it to be a black.
Also 1 T vulture and 2 oystercatchers with the ravens and gulls. The lake had a
few gulls, hundreds of coots but only 2 pie billed.

from the great beyond (or possibly an IPhone)

Saturday AM I spent over an hour observing water fowl at Caspar pond. I was
surprised by the 2 male redheads. Besides coots I thought I also saw lesser
scaups. As I continued to watch I realized that what I thought were scaups were
ring-necked ducks. 
In my experience ring-necked are fairly rare. What soon became obvious is that
scaups do not have black backs or a ring on their beaks. I took a number of
photographs most of which are of poor quality. Tonight as I studied the photos I
attempted to count females. What I found is that there was 1 or more mallard
hens helping to confuse the issue. Also, I noticed that redhed hens and
ring-neck hens look similar enough in bad photos that it was difficult to
separate them. To further my confusion, ring-neck hens have enough white on
their face to be confused with a female lesser scaup. 
My final guesstimate is 5 male ring-neck, possibly 1 female red-head, 2 or more
female ring-necks. 

Dennis

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10 December 2012 (Monday) - The pond in the field just east of the
Banksia tree at Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens held a lone Hooded
Merganser.  It might have been either a female, or a first-year male; in
the late-afternoon glare it was difficult to tell.

In the nearby field, there were three Cackling Geese along with several
Canadas.

In the Banksia tree, three Acorn Woodpeckers were apparently collecting
nectar from the flowers, like big black-and-white Orioles.  Pollen from
the flowers had turned their throats yellow!


Tim Bray
Albion

On my way in to Fort Bragg today I saw a Pileated Woodpecker cross the road
from west to east at Jughandle Creek.



Ron LeValley



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As of Monday the Redhead ducks persist at Caspar pond just off Hwy 1. I counted
2 females and 2 males. I got a long range picture of midling quality, but shows
the tri-colored bill well. Picture link below:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mendobirds/photos/album/169685695/pic/2009243895/v\
iew?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc

11 December 2012
Point Arena

Hello -

This morning Nancy and I birded for an hour in Point Arena near the cemetery and
then Stoneboro Road.  There was a SORA calling in the pond across Highway 1 from
the cemetery.  Could be of interest for the CBC on the 29th.

At Hunter's Lagoon (located at the end of Barnegat Road off of Stoneboro Road)
there was an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER which, again, may be of interest for the
CBC.  There was a lone TUNDRA SWAN at the regular wintering spot on the
Stornetta Ranch.  With the Swan was a single SNOW GOOSE.

Raptors were everywhere.  Several NORTHERN HARRIERS, two WHITE-TAILED KITES, one
PEREGRINE FALCON, one FERRUGINOUS HAWK, one SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, several
RED-TAILED and RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS, and a few AMERICAN KESTRELS.

Interesting non-birds were a RIVER OTTER on the lagoon and a BOBCAT on the
ranch.

Good Birding,

Rich Trissel
Gualala

Tues., Dec. 11, 2012.   Toby Tobkin called to report seeing a male HOODED
MERGANSER this morning at the Caspar Pond.  The two REDHEAD males continue to be
there also.

For Toby Tobkin

Carolyn Kinet
Inglenook

Posting for Toby and Becky, also seen by me today at 2 p.m. on the pond:
Two  handsome pairs of Redhead near a very snazzy male Hooded Merganser,
possibly the one reported seen at MCBG?

Sent from my 1947 Smith-Corona "Floating Shift" typewriter.

Thus. Dec. 13, 2012

Dear Fellow Birders:

This morning about 9 am I noted 8 Evening Grosbeaks in a walnut tree just south
of Paradise Cafe (across the street from my office).  They were gone when I
returned at 11 am.  Paradise Cafe is about 100 yards south of the Main St. Post
Office (cross street at post office is East Valley Street) on Highway 101 in
Willits.

At the Willits Wastwater Treatment Plant, there are plenty of birds of prey
(Cooper's Hawk, White-tailed Kite, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier, Kestrel,
Peregrine Falcon, Turkey Vulture, and Red-shouldered Hawk), including two Bald
Eagles, one adult and one 2nd year.  The carrion eaters are there for the fast
disappearing salmon carcasses in the creeks nearby.

Good Birding!
Mike Curry
Willits

13 December 2012 (Thursday) - I re-found one of the Bullock's Orioles,
an adult female, in one of the Banksia trees at Rose Memorial around
noon today.  I was pleased to find it after only about 15 minutes of
searching.  The Banksias are full of Anna's Hummingbirds, at least 10 in
each tree; there are also good numbers of Pygmy Nuthatches, two or three
Townsend's Warblers, and two Red-Breasted Sapsuckers; in addition to the
usual sparrows and Robins.

The adult male Hooded Merganser, two adult male Redheads, and three male
Ring-Necked Ducks are still present at Caspar pond.


Cheers,
Tim Bray
Albion

Hi All,
   A visiting birder was in Point Arena a week or so ago and thought he might
have spotted Al by the bell buoy. However I have no confirmed sighting of
him/her yet.

   Ken, from Alabama, asked me to post this: Hi, Could you post, or perhaps ask
someone else to post, the arrival dates for the Laysan Albatross in prior years?
I traveled 3 different years to see this bird, and I'm starting to worry.  :( 
Thanks, -ken archambault, birmingham, alabama

   Robert, could you post the comings and goings of Al? Last year Al arrived on
Dec. 6th. So we still have hope. We have had a lot of stormy weather. The
Albatross disappears during storms so it's possible it returned but isn't in the
waters off the Point Arena Pier.

   I will let you know as soon as I hear that our favorite Laysan has returned.
Fingers crossed, Jeanne Jackson, Anchor Bay

Check out the link here on the Mendocino Coast Audubon Society web site.



http://www.mendocinocoastaudubon.org/mcas_al.html



Ron



From: Mendobirds@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Mendobirds@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of jackson_us
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 8:55 AM
To: Mendobirds@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Mendobirds] No sign of our favorite Laysan Albatross





Hi All,
A visiting birder was in Point Arena a week or so ago and thought he might
have spotted Al by the bell buoy. However I have no confirmed sighting of
him/her yet.

Ken, from Alabama, asked me to post this: Hi, Could you post, or perhaps ask
someone else to post, the arrival dates for the Laysan Albatross in prior
years? I traveled 3 different years to see this bird, and I'm starting to
worry. :( Thanks, -ken archambault, birmingham, alabama

Robert, could you post the comings and goings of Al? Last year Al arrived on
Dec. 6th. So we still have hope. We have had a lot of stormy weather. The
Albatross disappears during storms so it's possible it returned but isn't in
the waters off the Point Arena Pier.

I will let you know as soon as I hear that our favorite Laysan has returned.
Fingers crossed, Jeanne Jackson, Anchor Bay





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Fri. Dec. 14, 2012

Dear Fellow Birders,

This morning I spotted a White-throated Sparrow on my fence and it flew into my
asparagus patch.  I got good looks.  This is the first one I have seen here. 
There are many sparrows, juncos, and towhees eating the asparagus berries.  Good
thing I didn't mow the patch down earlier this year.  If anyown is interested in
looking for it (the bird, that is), call me on my cell at 916 214 8623.  Also
have a Red-breasted Sapsucker hanging around the apple trees.

Good birding!
Mike Curry
Willits

Nashville Warbler, Fort Bragg, CA December 16

There's a cute pair in our front yard if anyone wants to come see today.   Send
me an email.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mendobirds/photos/album/1316122873/pic/list?mode=t\
n&order=ordinal&start=1&dir=asc

Fri. December 14 - Fort Bragg
	 This afternoon I made a quick trip out to Bald Hill north of Fort Bragg
and saw a ferruginous hawk who treated us to a nice display of wheeling
about, hovering over the fields, perching on a fence post and then soaring
off again.

Very light/pale Juvenile Glaucous Gull observed at 11 am at MacKerricher Beach. 
At first view, I thought it was albanism.   Evident pink bicolored bill (rule
out Glaucous-winged). Exceptionally large with no crisp barring.   Possible
hybrid?  Yes, but the barring appeared more smeared and extremely light (dirty)
than tannish and crisp.


Steve Sandberg

Reminder - MCAS is meeting tonight to discuss the upcoming Fort Bragg
and Manchester counts.  Fort Bragg Town Hall, 7:00 PM.  We will have
maps and sign-up sheets, and a slide show presentation on some of the
expected birds.  If you haven't already joined a team, this is the
perfect opportunity to find out the best way to get involved.

The Fort Bragg count (CAFB) will be Saturday, December 22.  The South
Coast count (CAMN) will be the following Saturday, December 29.

Cheers,
Tim Bray
Albion

There was a  ROSS'S GOOSE and 4 Cackling Geese with the Canada Goose flock at
the County Park this morning.   Jerry White

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