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Community Corner

On the Fly — Unusual Flying Objects

A look at the wealth of bird life in and around Martinez, what to look for and where to look for it.

It’s September and songbirds are on the move—some leaving, some soon to arrive. Next month, interesting shorebirds and waterfowl will be dropping in on the Martinez shoreline.

In the meantime, things are a little quiet…but you never know. Just when you’re about to say, “Oh, it’s just another plover,” it turns out to be a common ringed plover, Charadrius hiaticula. Todd Easterla of Rancho Cordova spotted one in Davis last month—maybe you saw him interviewed on the news, saying he hadn’t been this proud since his children were born.

This was the first record ever of a common ringed plover in California. These Eurasian birds breed in the far north of North America and Western Europe, and some say this was only the fourth one on record anywhere in the lower forty-eight states. Hundreds of people traveled to Davis to see it. You can see a video of this handsome little bird on the Sacramento CBS website

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Another wonderful thing has been happening sort of nearby: large gatherings—or “boils” or “knots” or “towers,” as such groups are also called—of Swainson’s hawks (Buteo swainsoni) near Byron, as many as 85 at a time! Swainson’s hawks congregate in fields in late summer to feed on insects and fatten up before migrating in September to southern Mexico and South America.

Also sort of nearby: a spectacular find at Coyote Hills Regional Park, near Fremont. The person who first spotted it and posted a photo on the East Bay Bird Sightings Yahoo group could have just assumed it was a crow or a large blackbird and moved on, but he didn’t.

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One glance at the bird’s bright yellow undertail, which looks like a gold satin lining on a magician’s cloak, told him otherwise. Other birders helped identify it as a crested oropendola (Psarocolius decumanus). As far as I know, it’s still there in the park’s nectar garden. Very likely this South American bird does not have a navigation problem but has simply left behind a cage somewhere in the Bay Area. It reminds me of the Far Side drawing of a hen sunning herself in a lounge chair, saying, “They told me I was a free-range chicken and I never looked back.” I do not have a photo of a crested oropendola, but you can find one easily on Wikipedia.

It is not far-fetched to think that a bird could end up on the wrong continent, especially in hurricane season. There were many reports of unusual sightings in New York in the aftermath of Irene, and in previous storms, brown pelicans, magnificent frigatebirds, and other seabirds have been found more than a thousand miles from the coast. Interesting for birders, not so good for birds.

Lest you think all the excitement happens in other places, I’ll mention that a least bittern (Ixobrychus exilis)—spent some time at the Martinez Regional Shoreline last winter, drawing birders from all over the Bay Area. The only other recorded sighting of a least bittern in Contra Costa County was on Waterfront Road in 1994.

Least bitterns are notoriously secretive and hard to spot. They're very well camouflaged, and when alarmed, they position their long, tapered necks and pointed bills to look like tule or cattail leaves and sway in the breeze. They’re so hard so see that they may be more common than anyone guesses, but we do know they don’t usually winter in Contra Costa County. Joseph Morlan, an ornithology instructor at San Francisco City College, took some spectacular photos that can be seen on his website.

And finally, we have another odd duck here in Martinez (see photo; for more on ducks with topknots, see the .) I think it’s a male. What should we name him?

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