Hi Everybody,

Yesterday, April 12, twenty-six birders walked the trails around Old Mission Dam. It was a pleasant cool morning and we all enjoyed a great field trip.  Interesting birds found included a beautiful male Blue Grosbeak, Grasshopper Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Ash-throated Flycatcher, and a surprise appearance of a Western Tanager, after we had put together our list. Unfortunately, only about half of our group was still around to see the Tanager.

Here’s our list of 54 species:

Mallard

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Cooper’s Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

American Coot

Mourning Dove

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Anna’s Hummingbird

Nuttall’s Hummingbird

Downy Woodpecker

Pacific-slope Flycatcher

Black Phoebe

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Cassin’s Kingbird

Bell’s Vireo

Western Scrub-Jay

American Crow

Common Raven

Tree Swallow

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Barn Swallow

Bushtit

White-breasted Nuthatch

Bewick’s Wren

House Wren

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Wrentit

Northern Mockingbird

California Thrasher

Phainopepla

Orange-crowned Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Black-throated Gray Warbler

Townsend’s warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Wilson’s Warbler

Western Tanager

Spotted Towhee

California Towhee

Chipping Sparrow

Lark Sparrow

Grasshopper Sparrow

Song Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Black-headed Grosbeak

Blue Grosbeak

Red-winged Blackbird

Great-tailed Grackle

Brown-headed Cowbird

Hooded Oriole

House Finch

Lesser Goldfinch

JIM BECKMAN, trip leader