Our Field Trip Photos (BIOL 80B, "Bird Song Ecology"), 4/22/17 (Thanks To Ken Twain, photos, below)

Note the names of bird species on the following photos include an overhead flight of

- Double-crested Cormorant (via Leona Canyon flyover) (status: year-round resident)

- a perching Wilson's Warbler (Leona Canyon nesting species; status: breeding season presence only; a few remain for Christmas Bird Counts (CBC), annually in Alameda Co.);

- a perched female Western Tanager at Parking Lot # on campus (breeding season presence only; a few remain for Christmas Bird Counts (CBC), annually in Alameda Co.)

- and a Band-tailed Pigeon (year round resident) (on Leona Canyon Trail)

- invasive amphibian species joined our party and crashed it? Yes, the intriguing frog at the bridge (where we brunched and lunched): an American Bullfrog (and NOT a CA Red-legged Frog)....with the bullfrog a non-native, INVASIVE species on the West Coast and throughout Alameda Co. in unwanted places....though in Manhattan restaurants it's absolutely wanted (and ordered!)

- Our group of 31 students showed a fine expression of attendance as here's a photo, below, of a portion of the group that appeared during the field trip (and, thus, notice their fine expressions of attention on the trail (!) :-).....)

- As for the lupine photo, I'm not sure of the common name/scientific name and don't have
my Jepson field guide near me now where I'm doing a bird survey and taking a break to ensure the FINE photos get uploaded promptly.

Update: Bird Songing (via Bernie Krause's insights &, yes, Daniel noted in article)

...via the following 4/20/17 Santa Rosa Press Democratic article by Stephen Nett (a fine journalist, by the way), feel free to see the following link, below....after the XX

I think warbler watchers who ID many of this family's species by song and call will be intrigued with the information in the article.....so I'm not wishing to bugle my cameo appearance in the article as much as inform you that Bird Song Ecology is a fascinating aspect of warbler fun (....and, this latter theme, of course, is the focus of this blog: warbler ID, warbler quizzes, and warbler information....)

Regards, Daniel Edelstein
warblerwatch.com

Birding Guide
&
Consulting Biologist (bird surveys, wildlife permitting, & wildlife regulatory services since 1998)

XX

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/lifestyle/6898708-181/songs-of-wild-birds-tell?ref=TSM&artslide=0

Warbler Guy, given you're in the SF Bay Area (and so am I), do you teach adult classes? If so, where? Thanx

Thanks Devon...."Yes," please note my current "Bird Songing: The Ecology Of Birds' Songs & Identifying Them By Ear" is attended by 30 students at Merritt College (peralta.edu.....or merritt.edu).

In fact, I'm hosting another field trip today, so need to soon scoot.

Warblers we will pursue and are most likely to see?:

- Yellow-rumped (some still remain, perhaps, though abundance level is reduced; most of the plentiful non-breeding season individuals have left for breeding territory)

- Wilson's (abundant in riparian/bottomland areas) on territory and, also, some as transients moving toward breeding territory but "laying over" during the day to forage

- Townsend's (ala Yellow-rumped, some still remain, but most have left for breeding territory elsewhwere)

- Common Yellowthroat (locally common in suitable moist and/or marsh-like habitat)

- Black-throated Gray (often present amid drier habitat, if in breeding territory)

- Nashville (a transient is possible)

- Hermit (recent arrivals are now here in the SF Bay Area)

Warbler Guy, which wood-warbler species typically arrive initially in spring on the East Coast? First-arriving warblers are which ones? Returning migrant warblers are easy to find?

Lori, those are great questions.

Brief and oversimplified answer:

Look for the following wood-warbler species to initially appear as true returning migrants on the East Coast from the Mid-Atlantic north:

- Louisiana Waterthrush
- Palm Warbler (some "over-winter" in small numbers, though not every year, but Christmas Bird Count surveys may yield this species)
- Common Yellowthroat (some "over-winter" in small numbers, especially in the mid-Atlantic region, though not every year, but Christmas Bird Count surveys may yield this species....)
- Yellow-rumped Warbler (some "over-winter" in small to large numbers....It's locally present and, even, common in the mid-Atlantic in this region with many Christmas Bird Count surveys yielding this species)

For the West Coast, it's even more simplified:

- Orange-crowned Warbler (photo shown here) is often the most common returning nesting species, typically arriving in February to early March, if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area where I live.

March 6 is the mean annual arrival date for this species on the coast in W. Marin Co. at the Palomarin (near Bolinas) bird banding station, based on 1967-1989 records. The earliest return date in this span is 2/27 and 3/16 was the latest.

Palm, Wilson's, and Yellow Warbler may also be early returnees on the West Coast, though it's challenging to definitively determine if sightings of these species are true migrants or "over-wintering" individuals.

Some Orange-crowned individuals in the Bay Area also may "over-winter," as Christmas Bird Count surveys in the San Francisco Bay Area often record this species and rare to periodic reports for this species persist throughout the winter during most years from Bay Area counties. In this case, if I hear an associated Orange-crowned song in February or March, then I usually deem the aria a returning migrant individual.

Happy birding, Daniel
danieledelstein at att dot net
warblerwatch dot com