I've had a single Red Breasted NH in my yard for the last few days. Visits a birdbath, and today finally heard its familiar "ank ank".
Someone mentioned an irruption year, I have had them visit in the past.
Happy Birding!
Jackie B
Downtown Martinez Ca.
@ end of W. Winton.
In the last moments of birdwalk around the ponds n waterways there, thru a cyclone fence that borders path to parking lot, some little yellow-gray something darted into a bush.
I didn’t see it exit that bush, but I initially didn’t see it in the bush either…had to wait it out. Finally seeing movement, but unable to determine what it was with binoculars, I just held camera steady aimed at the spot by holding onto outer lens and the fence with the same hand.
It was so exciting! And I had no idea what it was.
Got home, moved photos to laptop, and was so happy to find there were some really good (for me) photos. I resisted Merlining them and pored over birdbooks instead.
Didn’t initially imagine a warbler would have such a large bill, but Peterson’s and Nat’l Geo birdbooks told me otherwise. I tried to turn this into a female Connecticut warbler. But I had to reach out to birdwatching comrades for consultation. Thanks to C. Waterman and his sis for guiding me to the correct ID. I hadn’t known or seen that immature yellow warblers could have such a prominent, perfect white eye ring.
While this didn’t turn out to be a lifer, it was nonetheless a really beautiful experience all around.
Tide was super high, literally lapping at the bottom of the wooden footbridge. There were willets, yellowlegs sp., hunting wt kite and rt hawk, song sparrows, lesser goldfinches, huge #s of barn swallows - a few daintily picking prey from the wavy waterways, crows, ravens. g & s egrets, b phoebes, and CA towhees.
Lewis
More Kite history,
My earliest White-tailed Kite record for Pleasanton County began in 1979.
Then, as now, the Kites were showing up in late summer, in small numbers, 5 to 7 a night, at a home on Golden and Harvest Rd. Pleasanton. Seasonally, during the late 1980 into the 90s, the numbers reached up to 35 White-tailed Kites. One memorable White-tail kite event was in 1999, when my physician called me to tell me she had 135 White-tailed Kites behind her barn in eastern Livermore. The White-tailed Kites have a history of gathering in the fall months in the Pleasanton area. Why? Hopefully, with Isabella Rady's interest in this phenomenon, and with more eBird submissions, new facts will be developed about the species. Recently, Isabella had emailed me about this event, so on Saturday, Sept 5th I made the trip over from Marin County, where I live, to witness the Kite roost for myself. That night, Isabella and I counted 162 White-tailed kites.
Rich Cimino
Marin County
Yellowbilledtours.com
Cell; 925-353-0266
Hi all,
Speaking of Kites, does anyone know if the large roost found in Livermore in 2011 is still there? At the time, I saw over a hundred!
Here is a string of emails that I dug up from that time, it has the location, so if anyone can go look it would be good to know! And it was this time of year as well.
Amy in Oakland
Hello birders,
I feel I should share some updates about the very big White-tailed Kites roost I discovered in my neighborhood in Pleasanton on August 28 and that I have been observing since then.
I have been in contact with Ed Pandolfino (co-author of the article above) and Jeffrey Dunk (author of the White-tailed Kite entry for Birds of the World) as soon as I realized that this roost was massive and that there wasn't a ton of information about them. Ed and Jeffrey are both the co-authors of the soon to be released new version of the BOW entry and are very interested in the information we can find at this roost.
I try to count the number of birds who arrive at the roost each night. Since I started, the roost has changed place and the numbers fluctuate. It was first on Woodthrush Way, but then moved to Crestline Street and is now spreading to Willowren and probably further West to what I gather. Their numbers are often in the hundred or more (138 tonight) but it is hard to know if all the birds are accounted for.
I also try to record the directions they are coming from or leaving to. I also take notes of what they are doing, their use of trees - especially the tall pointy ones where the first comers perch (cypress/pine/redwoods). It would be interesting to know the proportion of juveniles/adults but it is very hard to tell because of the low light.
Their arrival time is shifting earlier every day - now before 7pm and all is quiet by 7:45pm. In the morning, they always leave a minute after the first crow calls around 6:20am. At this roost, they take more time to leave than the 3-5 minutes mentioned in the above article and they seem to first depart much later. I experimented coming earlier, at 5:10am but nothing happened until 6:20am. The mystery, though, is that I count less birds in the morning as compared to the evening.
And of course, as Dominik mentioned, if you come, be mindful of the residents, the kites are very much in the trees that border their houses (in their frontwards or backyards).
If any of you has observed a roost before and wants to share info with me of what they saw, where it was located, its size, when they saw it... I would love to know. I find it all very interesting.
Enjoy the birds, they give us so many opportunities to learn!
Isabelle
In regards to the exciting White-tailed Kite roost, there was an article in the current Central Valley Birds about a similar roost near Sacramento:
Linda Pittman, the finder of the roost, and Ed Pandolfino write about what's known about this roosting phenomenon. White-tailed Kites are not wide-spread birds, occurring only along the West Coast, Texas, and Florida; what a wonderful way to enjoy them at a large roost.
Pat Bacchetti
Oakland
A quick addendum to the Kite report. If you do come out to observe please be respectful of the residents in the neighborhood. Don't block driveways/sidewalks, point big lenses into people's homes etc.
DM
SF
I spent Sunday 9/6 birding around San Ramon (Contra Costa County) to see what signs of migration could be detected in the suburbs and yesterday reprised a 7/20 hiking loop of Las Trampas Regional Wilderness along Rocky Ridgewith the same goal.
Overall numbers of migrants were lower than I had anticipated/hoped for but there were still a few things that I found notable enough to share with the list. One thing I found interesting was that while my weather app indicated a 2-5 mph Northeast wind in San Ramon, Rocky Ridge (elevation ~2000') was blown out at a steady 15-20 mph with gusts so strong that I had to hold on to my scope to keep it from getting knocked over.
Vaux's Swift - a loner flew over the Las Trampas main staging area with 3 unidentified Swallows early in the morning. I was hoping the Northeast winds would bring more but that was it in ~5hrs. It was the first one I've seen this fall
Say's Phoebe - singles were on the Iron Horse Trail and at Old Ranch Park in San Ramon. Early September is when Say's start to arrive for the fall/winter season but in recent years I've noted them breeding just a few miles east of here so these may be locals
Violet-green Swallows - 3 flew over Rocky Ridge/Las Trampas ,the first ones I've seen this fall
Red-breasted Nuthatch - the region wide irruption was in full evidence with several calling from the oak/bay stands along the Las Trampas Elderberry Trail. (2) flew past me on Rocky Ridge from the Watershed lands heading down into the canyon
House Sparrow - a flock of (~20) along the Iron Horse Trail next to Montevideo Elementary were notable to me because it's the first time in dozens of efforts going back to 2021 that I have encountered this species within San Ramon City Limits. MINDBLOWING!
White-crowned Sparrow (Pugetensis) - a somewhat early migrant HY White-crown was along the Iron Horse Trail at Pine Valley Rd.
Rufous-crowned Sparrows - 4 pairs noted along the Rocky Ridge/Elderberry Trails in Las Trampas were all in spots where I seem to encounter this species on every visit. It appears that similarly to California Towhees, Rufous-crowned Sparrows maintain a territory and pair bond year round
Tricolored Blackbirds - a few of these could be heard giving their distinctive "what's wrong with that cat" vocalizations mixed in a flock of (~200) Red-winged Blackbirds on the natural turf axillary ball fields of California High School next to the Iron Horse trail. Another data point emphasizing the danger of the artificial turf conversion trend that seems to be so prevalent in these days
MacGillivray's Warbler - a hy female in coyote brush surrounded by parched grassland was an obvious migrant, as engaged in a conversation with one of the Rufous-crowned Sparrow pairs along the Elderberry Trail in Las Trampas. It was my first encounter with this species ever in Contra Costa County since I refuse to bird Mitchell Canyon or the Berkeley Hills on general principle.
I also wanted to pass on a report of an amazing spectacle taking place in Alameda County in Pleasanton in the past two weeks. Starting 8/28, fellow EBBirder Isabelle Reddy has been noting a massive White-tailed Kite roost gathering in the vicinity of Ken Mercer Sportspark and Woodthrush Park. Isabelle noted 20 kites the first evening 8/28, 78 on 9/1,133 9/3, 175 9/4, 224(!!) 9/5, 142 9/6 and 112 9/7. Per Isabelle the roost appears to have shifted as of last night but the kites keep coming each evening starting about an hour before sunset and quickly departing around first light the following morning. Isabelle will be out of town for a while but I would encourage other birders/citizen scientists to come by and continue the effort of counting these birds and tracking where the roost shifts to.
Per eBird data this is the largest roost of White-tailed Kites in the United States of AMERICA!
Happy Fall Birding everyone,
Dominik Mosur
San Francisco
"Leucistic" is correct for diluted overall plumage. Jim's bird is
technically "schizochroistic."
On Tue, 8 Sep 2026 00:04:09 +0000, NATHAN SMALE <smale@...>
wrote:
If “leucistic” is inaccurate jargon what term should be used for diluted pigment?
Nat Smale
El Cerrito
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 7, 2026, at 4:36?PM, Joe Morlan via groups.io <jmorlan@...> wrote:
?[You don't often get email from jmorlan@.... Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification ]
"Leucistic" is often used, but technically it means a bird with overall
diluted pigment. It is not a synonym for "partial albino" which applies to
patches of white mixed with normal plumage. Some geneticists argue that
there is no such thing as a "partial albino," thus the inaccurate jargon
"leucistic" became popular.
On Mon, 7 Sep 2026 15:14:58 -0700, "Jim Roethe via groups.io"
<JimRoethe@...> wrote:
Leucistic or Albino?
This is the second year I've seen this bird.
Jim Roethe
Orinda
--
Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA
--
Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA“Piebald" leucism can result in the absence of color in patches. This can occur when the melanocytes fail to develop, multiply or migrate properly during embryonic development. The red in the bird’s face is from its diet, not melanin.
If “leucistic” is inaccurate jargon what term should be used for diluted pigment?
Nat Smale
El Cerrito
"Leucistic" is often used, but technically it means a bird with overall
diluted pigment. It is not a synonym for "partial albino" which applies to
patches of white mixed with normal plumage. Some geneticists argue that
there is no such thing as a "partial albino," thus the inaccurate jargon
"leucistic" became popular.
On Mon, 7 Sep 2026 15:14:58 -0700, "Jim Roethe via groups.io"
<JimRoethe@...> wrote:
Leucistic or Albino?
This is the second year I've seen this bird.
Jim Roethe
Orinda
--
Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CALeucistic IMO Albinos have pink eyes and no pigment, this guy has a bit of red
Looks leucistic. If it were albino, there would be no pigment and the eyes would be red.
The bird on the right looks a bit pigment challenged as well. Maybe an offspring?
Jeff Manker
Alameda
Leucistic or Albino?
This is the second year I’ve seen this bird.
Jim Roethe
Orinda
PS - here’s the checklist link:
This morning, I met some birder friends from out of town at 6:40am at Vollmer Peak. Last night was (I think) the first clear night/morning for several weeks, and I suspect this, along with the warm temperatures and minimal breeze, spurred a nice flush of migrants.
We witnessed some visible migration - with occasional small groups of 3-5 passerines zipping over the peak, often giving flight calls, all heading East to West.
Our goal for the outing was to find my friend a lifer Hermit Warbler - which we did (at least 4). Amazingly, we had an 8 warbler morning (every expected N CA species except Yellow-rumped!), with the highlight being a Nashville Warbler (wears in eBird due to the early date). 8 species is the best non-vagrant warbler haul I’ve had outside of the Mines Rd area:
- 1 Nashville Warbler
- 12 Wilson’s Warblers
- 1 Orange-crowned Warbler
- 4 Hermit Warblers
- 8 Townsend’s Warblers
- 1 Yellow Warbler
- 1 MacGillivray’s Warblers
- 1 Black-throated Gray (possibly 2?)
We also encountered a nice variety of other migrants:
- 25 Vaux’s Swifts (probably an undercount)
- 1 juvenile Chipping Sparrow
- 6 Western Tanagers
- 1 Western Wood-pewee
- 1 Western Warbling Vireo
- 1 Swainson’s Thrush
- 5 Pine Siskins
- 1 Purple Finch
- 2 American Robins
- 3 Northern Flickers
- 15 Red-breasted Nuthatches (tough to estimate)
- 3 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
- 20 Western Flycatchers (conservative estimate of birds heard and seen)
- 10 Violet-green Swallows
- 1 Tree Swallow
- 12 New World Warbler sp. - in flight
- 3 passerine sp - possibly Lazuli Buntings, but tough to say for sure. Zipped over the top of the peak without pause.
The wind was mild (3-6 mph out of the SW), clear overhead with scattered clouds in the distance plus some haze from wildfire smoke, temperatures 57-67F.
Happy birding,
Zac Denning
Albany
Thanks Bruce! Such nice and encouraging reports. Much appreciated.
Cheers,
Jennifer Fury
Saltwater is the cure for everything, sweat, tears, or the sea 🌊
For those of you who don't follow the rare bird alerts on Telegram, the LUCY'S WARBLER that Bill Chen found on Saturday was still present this morning. The bird is at Lake Elizabeth in Fremont. This morning it seemed to be associating with a loose flock of migrating Yellow Warblers that were foraging in the trees above the Brook 2 picnic area near the creek mouth and bridge. Flock also included a couple Western Flycatchers, at least one Orange-crowned Warbler, a Western Tanager, and my first Cedar Waxwings of the fall season.
Bird on,
Bruce Mast
Oakland
Greetings Bay birders -
We still have some room on our pelagic trip on Sunday, August 30th, from Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg. Northwest winds continue and are predicted for some days between now and then, but they are generally not big blows, in the range of 10-15 knots, as typically occurs in late August. Upwelling produced by these winds has kept water temperatures cool off the Mendocino coast, now in the 54-58 degree range, with a cooler band of water occurring off our coast among the warmer incoming water associated with El Niño.
https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/products/ocean/cb/sst5km/?product=ssta
New and interesting birds continue to be seen on our trips. Following positive comments from outside reviewers, we have accepted records of 6 Townsend's Storm-Petrels observed and photographed on our trip of August 3rd. Summaries of these and other recent records, representing the first documented occurrences of this species in northern California, are in the eBird Checklists, for example here:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S380229170
On a half-day trip on August 16th we photographed a first-cycle Hawaiian Petrel in formative plumage, a poorly understood plumage for this species:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S384651087
Late August is a great time for a variety of all the regular species (albatrosses, shearwaters, jaegers, skuas, Sabine's Gulls, Arctic Terns, phalaropes, etc.) and we anticipate finding good numbers of storm-petrels as we did on our August 3rd trip (five species including Wilson's). Nazca Boobies seem to be having an incursion year, with 2 in SF, 3-4 off Mendocino, and one off Humboldt yesterday, so far. Other southern or warmer-water species such as Cocos Boobies and Guadalupe Murrelets have also been seen in relatively good numbers off the central and northern coasts of late, and we anticipate that these and other unusual species will be attracted to the cooler waters of higher marine productivity off Mendocino, surrounded by warm-water "oceanic desert" moving in. Finally, you never know, there's always the chance for a 'mega-rarity' on any pelagic trip.
We still have 1-2 scholarships available for high school and college students, sponsored by Mendocino Coast Audubon, for free tickets. If interested in one of these, contact Tim Bray (cc'd above). MCAS has also reserved a campsite at MacKerricher State Park for the night of the 29th-30th. If interested in taking advantage of this, contact Roger Adamson (cc'd above).
To join us on the trip: https://noyopelagics.com/
Hope to see you on the 30th!
Peter