Ornithology 2B Summary (Spring 2010)

If you miss a class, please check this page and study the listed topics in your field guide. Click here for last year's calendar. I recommend Lisa Hug's CD on "Feather Watching." It can be ordered here. My Panama photos are here.

Class notes by Elisabeth Koster are here.

Please register at eBird and email me your eBird ID. I can then offer to share field trip lists with you.

Note: Added Field Trip to Lake Merced - May 16th. See here for details and here for bird list.

We reviewed the flycatchers through page 304.

This was the last class for the semester. Please preregister if you plan to enroll in the Fall. Click here for details. Registration is available starting July 1st. Thank you for your continued interest and support.

We completed and reviewed the Myiarchus flycatchers on page 304.

Click here for my account of a Great Crested Flycatcher at the Carmel River and here for a photo and account of another Great Crested Flycatcher at Bodega Bay. Additional photos of Great Crested Flycatchers in California are here, here and here.

Click here for photos and my account of a Nutting's Flycatcher in Arizona and here for more photos and discussion of another Nutting's Flycatcher in Southern California.

Click here for my account and photos of an Ash-throated Flycatcher originally thought to be Nuttings.

Click here, here, here, here and here for my accounts of Dusky-capped Flycatchers in California. Click here, here, here, here and here for additional photos of Dusky-capped Flycatchers.

Additional Reading: Myiarchus Flycatcher Identification - Dittmann & Cardiff

We completed and reviewed the flycatchers on page 302.

Click here, here and here for my photos of Tufted Flycatcher in Costa Rica including taxonomic notes.

Click here for my photos of the Eastern Phoebe at Cosumnes and here for my images of an Eastern Phoebe on Mt. San Bruno. Click here for a photo of an Estern Phoebe at Santa Maria, here for an Eastern Phoebe in Victorville, here for an Eastern Phoebe in Fresno, here for an Eastern Phoebe in Santa Cruz, and here for an Eastern Phoebe in Madera.

Click here for my photo of a Black Phoebe at Lake Merritt. A bird believed to be a hybrid Black X Say's Phoebe is here. An abstract of an article describing a hybrid Eastern X Black Phoebe is here.

Click here for a photo of a male Vermilion Flycatcher at Los Banos; here for my photo of an immature male Vermilion Flycatcher at Lodi; here for two photos of an immature Vermilion Flycatcher at San Jacinto WMA; and here for a photo of an immature Vermilion Flycatcher at San Clemente Island. Click here for my photo of an immature male Vermilion Flycatcher in Texas. The Stonechat that was originally misidentified as a Vermilion Flycatcher is here.

We completed and reviewed the flycatchers on page 300. Click here for my comments on identification of Pacific-slope/Cordilleran flycatchers and their vocalizations..

We completed and reviewed the flycatchers on page 298. Click here for a photo of a Least Flycatcher wintering in Arcata. Click here for photos and discussion of an apparent Least Flycatcher at Point Reyes. Hammond's Flycachter photos are here and here. Click here for my photo of a Gray Flycatcher and a discussion of its taxonomic history.

Click here for a spreadsheet comparing the characters of selected Western Empidonax.

We completed and reviewed the Empidonax flycatchers on pages 296

We began the Empidonax flycatchers on page 296. Click here and here for photos of accepted California Yellow-bellied Flycatchers. Click here for probable Yellow-bellied Flycatcher originally identified as Least Flycatcher (record evenutally submitted as Yellow-bellied and rejected).

Click here for a photo of an accepted Alder Flycatcher from the Farallons and here for photos of Alder Flycatcher in Washington state. Click here for photos of a possible Alder Flycatcher from the Farallons showing direct comparison with Willow Flycatcher (record not accepted). Other photos of possible Alder Flycatchers are here, here and here (records not accepted, the first probably being a Hammond's Flycatcher!). Click here for photo and discussion of an unusual "Trail's" type flycatcher from Point Reyes.

In his monograph, The Birds of Eastern Kern County, M. Heindel states, "Although extreme notes ("whit" for Willow; "peek", "pik", or "bik" for Alder) are likely diagnostic, Willows can give a hard note, which might be interpreted as one of those described for Alder."

Additional Reading

• Heindel, M. and Pyle, P. 1999. Identification of Yellow-bellied and “Western” Flycatchers. Birders J. 8:78–87. (Wing formula differences not always reliable) (PDF)
• Rowland, F. 2009. Identifying Empidonax flycatchers: the ratio approach. Birding. 41:31-38 (Use with caution) (PDF). Web extra (PDF)

We completed and reviewed the flycatchers on page 294. Click here for my account with photos of a Greater Pewee in the Imperial Valley. Click here, here, here here and here for photos of other Greater Pewees in California. Click here for a photo of claimed Greater Pewee on the Farallons in June 1998 (record not accepted).

Click here for my photo of an Olive-sided Flycatcher at Briones Regional Park.

Click here for my account with photo of an Eastern Wood-Pewee at Point Reyes in June 1998. Click here for songs and sonograms of two different Eastern Wood-Pewees in California in 1998. Click here for a photo of a claimed Eastern Wood-Pewee on the Farallons (record not accepted). Click here for an accepted record of Eastern Wood-Pewee in Solano County.

Additional Reading (not all is Gospel, but interesting points): Lee, Cin-Ty, Andrew Birch, and Ted Lee Eubanks. 2008. Field identification of Eastern & Western Wood Pewees Birding 40(5):34-40) (PDF)

We completed and reviewed the woodpeckers on page 292. Photos of a Pileated Woodpecker at Lake Solano Park are here. An article on the Ivory-billed Woodpecker by Sibley et al. in the journal Science is here. Rebuttal is here. Perspective by Jerome Jackson published in the Auk is here.

Recommended Reading:

• McKelvey, K. S. et al. 2008. Using anecdotal occurrence data for rare or elusive species: The illusion of reality and a call for evidentiary standards. BioScience. 58(6): 549-555. (PDF)
• Roberts, D. L. et al. 2009. Identifying anomalous reports of putatively extinct species and why it matters. Conservation Biology, 24(1)::189-196 (PDF) - Preprint

We completed and reviewed the woodpeckers on page 290. Downy/Hairy ID tips are here. Sibley's illustrated essay on eyespots on the Downy Woodpecker is here. Click here for a photo of an American Three-toed Woodpecker in Alaska.

We completed and reviewed the woodpeckers on page 288. Click here for photo and discussion of a dark female Ladder-backed Woodpecker superficially resembling Nuttall's Woodpecker. Click here for my photo with commentary of a more typical female Ladder-backed Woodpecker in Texas and here for my photo of a male Nuttall's Woodpecker.

We completed and reviewed the sapsucker on page 286.

Click here for photos of the mystery sapsucker from Strybing Arboretum. I agree that it appears to be a hybrid Red-breasted X Red-naped Sapsucker. Click here for an article with a sapsucker hybrid index. This bird scores between 3 and 5.

Click here for a photo of a male Williamson's Sapsucker in San Francisco, and here for a photo of a female Williamson's Sapsucker in San Jose. Click here for a photo of a Red-breasted Sapsucker (S. r. ruber) in San Francisco. My photo of a Red-breasted Sapsucker at North Lake is here. My photo of a Red-naped Sapsucker at Ione, Amadore County, California is here. Detailed discussion and photos of a Red-naped Sapsucker in San Francisco with extra red on its face, and an apparent female Red-naped Sapsucker without visible white on its throat are here. Also a photo of an apparent hybrid is included. An additional Red-naped Sapsucker photo is here. Click here for additional photos of an apparent hybrid between Red-breasted Sapsucker and Red-naped Sapsucker in Milpitas. Click here for my photo of an immature Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in Tilden Park, and here for a photo of an adult Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at Inverness, Marin County. Additional Yellow-bellied Sapsucker photos are here, here, here here here here and here.

We completed and reviewed the woodpeckers on page 284. Click here for my photo of a Golden-fronted Woodpecker in Texas. Click here for my photo of a Northern Flicker from California. A Northern Flicker (intergrade) is here. Gilded Flickers may be distinguished from intergrade Yellow-shafted x Red-shafted flickers by the Gilded's more extensive black on the underside of the tail, more oblong ventral spots, paler coloration and overall smaller size.

Click here for the Chronicle article on Brown Pelicans which was discussed in class and here for informaiton from International Bird Rescue on the same topic.

We completed and reviewed the woodpeckers on page 282. Click here for details and photos of the first Red-headed Woodpecker in California. Click here for a description of cooperative breeding by Acorn Woodpeckers. Click here, here and here for photo and discussion of a family of Acorn Woodpeckers in California. Click here for my photo of an Acorn Woodpecker in Arizona and here for another photo of Acorn Woodpecker from California with a discussion of geographic variation. Click here for my photo of a Lewis's Woodpecker at Brentwood. Click here and here (PenBirds membership may be required) for my photos of Lewis's Woodpecker at Alpine Lake, San Mateo Co.

Click here for an article on skull morphology explaining how woodpeckers avoid headaches.