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, though they never sat still long enough to suit us.
This is the last WBU walk of the season.
Walks resume on October 3, 2009.
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
