NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 
and 3 months (Tom Goodier). A first-cycle 
Thayer’s Gull at Goose L. 27 Nov (SCR) was 
Modoc’s 2nd. An ad. Lesser Black-backed Gull 
in Clearlake 1-21 Nov (ph. FHa, tJRW, m.ob.) 
provided a first record for Lake; another was 
in Palo Alto, Santa Clara 14 Nov (ph., 
tMMR). Two Glaucous Gulls in Humboldt in- 
cluded a rather early bird 18 Oct on the Mad 
R. (Brent Campos). 
An ad. Least Tern at the Hanford W.T.P., 
Kings 6 Aug (RH) may have been from the 
breeding site 50 km away; the pair that bred at 
the Sacramento Regional W.T.P., Sacramento 
was last seen 5 Aug (CCo, m.ob.). The high 
count on S.E Bay was 168 in Fremont, Alameda 
salt ponds 13 Aug (MJM). Rare on the n. coast, 
a Black Tern at L. Talawa 19 Aug OLx) was the 
first in Del Norte in a decade. Common Tern 
counts have been lower in recent years than 
historically, particularly in coastal areas. This 
season, 30 were reported in four coastal and es- 
tuarine counties 5 Sep-13 Oct, with a high of 
10 at Crescent City, Del Norte 5 Sep (ADB, EiC, 
Lucas Brag). In contrast, 80 in nine inland 
counties 17 Aug-3 Oct, vAth high counts of 21 
at Clear L., Lake 7 Sep (TEa, JRW, DvW) and 18 
at Crowley L., Mono 18 Aug OLD), represented 
a very strong inland showing. Six at Trinity L. 7 
Sep, with one lingering through 9 Sep QCS, 
JSL, JLx, SAG), provided Trinity’s first record. 
Santa Clara's 4th Arctic Tern was in Alviso and 
Sunnyvale salt ponds 10-12 Sep (SCR, Nellie 
Thorngate et al). A Black Skimmer at Coyote 
Pt., San Mateo 1 Aug (AME) was the first for 
this well-birded location. 
It was a good season for South Polar Skuas 
on Monterey Bay, with a high count of 1 1 on 
14 Sep (ShJ). Jaeger numbers were low off- 
shore but unusually high inland, especially in 
Mono. Crowley L. hosted different Parasitic 
Jaegers 17 Aug (PJM), 11-19 Sep (ph. JuH, 
DHo), and 24-27 Sep (Steve Brad, KNN, 
JuH), as well as a Long-tailed Jaeger 4 Sep 
(ph. JuH). Mono L. had single Parasitics 12 
(KNN) & 14-17 Sep (ph.JuH, KNN) and sin- 
gle Long-taileds 30 Aug and 4 Sep QuH); the 
latter bird died the next day, and its wings 
were salvaged. Other noteworthy jaegers in- 
cluded a Parasitic on L. Tahoe at Lake Forest, 
Placer 17 Sep (EP, DCa) and Long-taileds on 
Clear L. 6 Sep (Lake’s 4th; GEC, JRW, DvW), 
at O’Neill Forebay and San Luis Res., Merced 
14 Sep-8 Oct (TEa, KW, m.ob.), and in Alvi- 
so 9-23 Sep (Santa Clara’s 2nd; ph. WGB, ph. 
MMR, m.ob.). 
Common Murres were in high numbers 
well inside S.E Bay 1 Aug-30 Sep. At Oyster 
Pt., San Mateo, 29 on 2 Aug included 3 ads. ac- 
companied by young (RSTh), the first time 
this has been observed so far s. in the Bay. 
Elsewhere, singles were in Benicia, Solano 14 
Aug (EPi) and 13 Sep (ph. Thomas Harris), 7 
each were at H.R.S. and in Santa Clara, and 4 
were in Contra Costa. Even rarer so far inside 
S.E Bay were single Pigeon Guillemots at 
H.R.S. 1-4 Aug (RJR, ADeM) and Coyote Pt., 
San Mateo 6 Aug and 5 & 25 Sep (RSTh), with 
2 at Oyster Pt., San Mateo 2 Aug (RSTh). Small 
numbers of Xantus’s Murrelets were reported 
on six boat trips; all were of the race scrippsi 
except for 5 hypoleucus seen along with 6 
scrippsi and 3 unidentified Xantus’s/Craveri’s 
Murrelets on Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz 5 Oct 
(ShJ). Seawatching from Pt. Pinos, Monterey 
produced 2 Xantus’s Murrelets 10 Oct (DR, 
RC) and 2 on 26 Oct (TEa, RgW, DR). The 
lone Horned Puffin reported was w. of Cypress 
Pt., Monterey 14 Sep (RgW, RT, TAm). 
DOVES THROUGH THRUSHES 
A Band-tailed Pigeon at Pine Creek Basin, 
Modoc 14 Sep (jTr) may be the first ever 
recorded in the Warner Mts. Three Eurasian 
Collared-Doves at South Lake Tahoe, El Dora- 
do 19 Nov (WRi) have the dubious distinc- 
tion of being the first to be reported in the 
Tahoe Basin. Seven White-winged Doves 16 
Aug-22 Sep were all coastal, with the excep- 
tion of one at Lee Vining, Mono 8-10 Sep 
(Reena X, JuH, KNN). Yellow-billed Cuckoos 
are very rarely detected along the coast, yet 
one 13-14 Sep at El. (]lz, RyT, MtB), where 
there is nowhere for a cuckoo to hide, was the 
27th to be found there. A calling Western 
Screech-Owl at Lee Vining, Mono 24 Nov 
(JuH) was one of few found in the Mono 
Basin. Of 7 Burrowing Owls on EL 30 Nov, 3 
had been banded there during the fall of 2007 
(PRBO). Single Barred Owls at Summit L., 
Lassen N.P. 9 Aug (GSL, LPL) and Redding 12 
Nov (ph. Randy Bush) provided the first 
records for Shasta. Long overdue, Del Norte's 
first Long-eared Owl was banded and pho- 
tographed at the Doe Flat Trailhead 17 Sep 
(ph. RbF, Marisa Parish, Amy Amones). Rare 
near the coast, a Lesser Nighthawk was at Big 
Basin Redwoods S.P., Santa Cruz 4 Sep 
(DLSu). Humboldt’s Whip-poor-will at Willow 
Creek persisted until the 2nd week of Oct 
(Marla Shull). A Black Swift at O’Neill Fore- 
bay, Merced (KW) 21 Sep was a rare find for 
the C.V An ad. male Ruby-throated Hum- 
mingbird was a stellar find at Nevada City 23- 
31 Aug (Rudy Darling, ph. Brian O’Connor, 
m.ob.). Although it is just the 9th to be found 
in the Region, it is the 2nd for lightly birded 
Nevadal A well-described male Calliope 
Hummingbird at Lincoln, Placer 18 Nov 
(tPhil Robertson) was extraordinarily late for 
the Region. A Williamson’s Sapsucker on Dry 
Creek Rd. 25-26 Sep (Phil Henderson) was a 
long-anticipated first for Sonoma. A Hairy 
Woodpecker 28 Sep at C.R.P. QTr), just the 
4th found there in 20 years of surveys, illus- 
trates the scarcity of this species on the C.V. 
floor and as a migrant in general. Most unex- 
pected was Monterey's first White-headed 
Woodpecker, found 18 Sep at Chews Ridge by 
visiting birders from Ontario (Brad Clements, 
tKayo Roy). A Pileated Woodpecker 11 Sep at 
Pine Cr., Modoc OTr) was just the 2nd ever 
found in the Warner Mts. 
A Willow/Alder Flycatcher captured and 
measured on El. 13 Sep (ph. MtB, JTz) had 
measurements apparently intermediate be- 
tween Alder and Eastern Willow. Six Least Fly- 
catchers were recorded on El. 8 Sep-6 Oct. Of 
7 others reported, only singles at Pine Creek 
Basin, Modoc 11 Sep (*JTr) and Gonzales, Mon- 
terey 18-19 Sep (ph. KW) were documented. 
Four Eastern Phoebes, 3 of them in Santa 
Cruz and the other in San Mateo, were found 
24 Oct-17 Nov. A total of 41 Tropical King- 
birds was tallied, including a very early bird 
24 Aug on El. Each was along the coast, or 
nearly so, except for one near Fairfield 25 Nov 
that provided Solano’s 3rd record (Tim Jenk- 
ins). One at Richmond 11 Oct OeEf Hoppes, 
ph. DWN) was just the 2nd documented for 
Contra Costa. Notably late-lingering Western 
Kingbirds included singles 7 Oct-6 Nov at 
Merced N.W.R., Merced (PJM), 22 Nov in the 
Areata bottoms, Humboldt (latest for nw. Cali- 
fornia by nearly a month; Leslie Tucci, Lauren 
Tompkins, ph. Dave Spangenburg), and 22-29 
Nov at Lodi, San Joaquin (tJCS, ph. LTer, SBT, 
JSL, DGY, m.ob.). Ten coastal Eastern King- 
birds, including 3 in S.F., were recorded 9 
Aug-29 Sep. Six Blue-headed Vireos were re- 
ported, but just 3, all from EL 9-16 Sep, were 
documented and await C.B.R.C. review (tJTz, 
TMtB, RyT, Andy Kleinhesselink). A Philadel- 
phia Vireo was well described from the Big Sur 
R. mouth, Monterey 24 Sep (tDVP); 2 more 
were briefly described from Humboldt 15 & 27 
Sep (tMHa, tKI). Six Red-eyed Vireos reached 
the coast 8-27 Sep. 
A very unusual incursion of Steller’s Jays 
reached the C.V floor 26 Oct-9 Nov, with at 
least 21 birds reported in Butte, Placer, Sacra- 
mento, and Yuba. At least some of these birds 
persisted well into the winter season. A Yel- 
low-billed Magpie at Soquel 5-6 Nov (DLSu, 
Tom Butcher) represented just the 9th Santa 
Cruz record since 1955. Twenty-five Purple 
Martins at the Mad River Ranger Station 8 
Aug (TWL) bested Trinity’s previous high 
count of 6. A Chestnut-backed Chickadee at 
Dinosaur Pt. near San Luis Res. 5 Oct (SAG) 
was an apparent first for Merced. Other way- 
ward Chestnut-backed Chickadees were at 
Discovery Park, Sacramento 10 Sep (Dan 
Williams) and Corral Hollow Rd., San Joaquin 
VOLUME 63 (2009) • NUMBER 1 
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