Wild Birds Unlimited Bird Walk
Pine Canyon, Mt. Diablo, Walnut Creek, CA.
Leader: Chuck Groff
We had a beautiful day for birding, cool in the morning,
and not too hot later, just in the mid-seventies, with breezes
and clear, sunny skies.
An abundance of birds just beyond the trailhead held our
attention and stopped our forward progress for quite a
while. Small groups of Western Kingbirds squawked and
scooted through the trees. At one point five of them
crowded into one small area on a single branch and sat for
awhile.
A group of Bullock's Orioles chased each other around in
what seemed to be a territorial battle. Across the field a
Red-tailed Hawk perched near it's nest, where a large chick
milled about and flapped its wings.
A Peregrine Falcon sat atop Castle Rock in the distance,
and in a nest hole high up on the rock a Great-horned Owl
in its nest preened two chicks.
Violet-green Swallows entered and left a nest box across
the field, sometimes perching on a wire, and small flocks of
White-throated Swifts frequently buzzed noisily overhead.
Small groups of Phainopeplas flitted among the trees in the
field, and a few showed up nearer to us further down the
trail, thought they never sat still enough to suit us.
Total Species: 36
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Western Bluebird
Bushtit
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Crow
Mourning Dove
Peregrine Falcon
House Finch
Red-tailed Hawk
Steller's Jay
Dark-eyed Junco
Western Kingbird
Northern Mockingbird
Bullock's Oriole
Great Horned Owl
Phainopepla
Black Phoebe
Band-tailed Pigeon
California Quail
American Robin
Western Scrub-Jay
House Sparrow
European Starling
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
White-throated Swift
Oak Titmouse
Spotted Towhee
California Towhee
Turkey Vulture
Acorn Woodpecker
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Bewick's Wren
Wrentit
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Great Horned Owls in Nest
Red-tailed Hawk in Flight
