Natural History Wanderings

Updated 2/14/12 with photo links

This week the birding by ear class field trip was at Briones Regional Park near the Bear Creek Entrance. It started with heavy drizzle in the  morning, and birds were mostly hiding in the woods. The highlights were various vocalizations of Varied Thrush including a new trill to the instructor Denise Wight.

The Park website describes the parks features as:

 With its rolling, grassy hills and secluded, shady canyons, Briones is a secret wilderness surrounded by the towns of central Contra Costa County. Although the park is close to Lafayette, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, Concord, and Martinez, there are peaks within it from which you can see only park and watershed lands for miles in every direction.

From Briones Peak, the highest point in the park, there are panoramic views of Mount Diablo and the Diablo Valley to the east, the Sacramento River and Delta to the north, the East Bay hills and Mt. Tamalpais to the west, and Las Trampas Regional Wilderness to the south.

Briones’ 6,117 acres are home to many animals and birds, which forage on the grasslands or find shelter among the oaks and bays. You may see black-tailed deer, coyotes, squirrels, red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures, and, if you are lucky, other more reclusive creatures. There are gorgeous wildflower displays in season. Park District naturalists often lead walks to view the park’s natural and historic features.

To see Bob Stockstad’s photos from the field trip go to: http://www.jstokstad.com/BBE_2012_02_11

You might also want to see Bob’s photo’s from Sunday at Bodega Bay. Good studies of Loons and Comorants and see good action shots:
http://www.jstokstad.com/Bodega_Bay

To see a birdlist from today’s trip click read more

I was unable to attend the field trip as I was out-of-town; thanks to Wen for recording and sending in the bird list.

Briones Regional Park Birdlist for 2/11/12

Wild Turkey (heard only)
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Band-tailed Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Anna’s Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Nuttall’s Woodpecker(heard only)
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Black Phoebe
Hutton’s Vireo
Stellar’s Jay
Western Scrub Jay
American Crow
Common Raven (heard only)
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Oak Titimouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper (heard only)
Bewick’s Wren
Ruby Crowned Kinglet
Wrentit (heard only)
Western Bluebird
American Robin (heard only)
Varied Thrush
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Townsend’s Warbler
Spotted Towhee
California Towhee
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Gold-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird (heard only)
House Finch
Lesser Finch