12 species at Hawk Hill (California)
November 09, 2008 by mallards (0 comments)
The hill was replete with hawk counters, whose experience identifying hawks by shape and wing beat helped us know what we were seeing at a distance. We didn't make the merlin or sharp-shinned hawk IDs ourselves, but we did get a good look at them as they soared within 50-100 feet of us.
All the small birds we saw were in the pines and the underbrush that covered parts of the hill. The white-crowned ventured very near to us, in a bush, just over the railing near the hawk counting. It was unmistakable.
The first new species was the golden-crowned sparrow, which we got a great look at among the seed puffs of the desert brush. It did not sing, but gave short calls. Its golden crown was plainly visible, as were its wing patterns, and gray-buff belly.
The varied thrush was the second new species we saw. It only gave us a brief glimpse, but they're distinctive enough that we knew: Orange belly, black stripe across the eye, orange throat, orange stripe (eyebrow) above the eye, and orange and black stripes on the wings. This list is an amalgamation of traits we each saw, as we think there were two individuals, possibly a mated pair.
The kinglets were hovering and flitting rapidly between medium-high branches, and low underbrush. They were hard to get an ID on, but after seeing many of them over time in brief-to semi-brief glimpses, we determined that they had one thin white wing bar, a black bar right next to it (further towards the tail), a tiny, dark bill, and a distinctive, partial white eye ring. The yellow wash on the belly was obvious from the first glimpse, but was never brilliant or more concentrated at the throat or rump that we could tell. They made screechy sounds that we matched to the Bird Songs of California recording, but did not sing.
The quail were about four in number, on a western slope, standing on a tree stump. One was distinctly male (black mask), while at least two others were female. They didn't make noise in sight, but we were hearing quail-like sounds before and after seeing them. The recording on Bird Songs of California was not exact, but the field guide says individuals vary in voice and they tonal range was very similar.
The bushtits were in a cloud, to usual delight.
We also saw a brown, sparrow-sized bird in the desert brush, with a thin, white-ish eye stripe. Not identified.