Megan Jankowski

Thank you everyone for donating and supporting Golden Gate Bird Alliance! Between California and Ohio I ended this Birdathon with 233 species. Last week my mom and I attended another Biggest Week in American Birding field trip out at Oak Openings. The highlights for me were seeing my first ever White-eyed Vireo (a really beautiful bird!) and getting a good (for the species) view of a Yellow-breasted Chat, a very skulky bird that's hard to see and that I've only ever seen once before way back in 2009. Thank you to my mom for chauffeuring me around and birding with me, and again thank you to everyone who donated!

My total list:

Acorn Woodpecker

Allen's Hummingbird

American Avocet

American Bittern

American Coot

American Crow

American Goldfinch

American Kestrel

American Pipit

American Redstart

American Robin

American White Pelican

American Wigeon

Anna's Hummingbird

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Bald Eagle

Baltimore Oriole

Band-tailed Pigeon

Bank Swallow

Barn Swallow

Bay-breasted Warbler

Belted Kingfisher

Bewick's Wren

Black Oystercatcher

Black Phoebe

Black Skimmer

Black-and-white Warbler

Black-bellied Plover

Black-capped Chickadee

Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-headed Grosbeak

Black-necked Stilt

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Blue Jay

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Blue-headed Vireo

Blue-winged Teal

Brandt's Cormorant

Brewer's Blackbird

Broad-winged Hawk

Brown Creeper

Brown Pelican

Brown-headed Cowbird

Bufflehead

Bullock's Oriole

Bushtit

California Gull

California Quail

California Scrub-Jay

California Thrasher

California Towhee

Calliope Hummingbird

Canada Goose

Canyon Wren

Cape May Warbler

Carolina Wren

Caspian Tern

Cassin's Sparrow

Cedar Waxwing

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Chimney Swift

Chipping Sparrow

Cinnamon Teal

Clark's Grebe

Cliff Swallow

Common Gallinule

Common Goldeneye

Common Grackle

Common Loon

Common Merganser

Common Raven

Common Tern

Common Yellowthroat

Cooper's Hawk

Dark-eyed Junco

Double-crested Cormorant

Downy Woodpecker

Dunlin

Eared Grebe

Eastern Bluebird

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Meadowlark

Eastern Phoebe

Eastern Screech-Owl

Eastern Towhee

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Elegant Tern

Eurasian Collared-Dove

European Starling

Field Sparrow

Forster's Tern

Fox Sparrow

Gadwall

Glaucous-winged Gull

Glossy Ibis

Golden Eagle

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Golden-winged Warbler

Gray Catbird

Great Blue Heron

Great Crested Flycatcher

Great Egret

Great Horned Owl

Greater Scaup

Green Heron

Green-winged Teal

Hairy Woodpecker

Hammond's Flycatcher

Hermit Thrush

Herring Gull

Hooded Merganser

Hooded Oriole

Hooded Warbler

Horned Grebe

Horned Lark

House Finch

House Sparrow

House Wren

Hutton's Vireo

Indigo Bunting

Killdeer

Lark Sparrow

Least Flycatcher

Least Sandpiper

Lesser Goldfinch

Lesser Scaup

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lincoln's Sparrow

Long-billed Curlew

Long-tailed Duck

Magnolia Warbler

Mallard

Marbled Godwit

Marsh Wren

Mourning Dove

Mute Swan

Nashville Warbler

Northern Cardinal

Northern Flicker

Northern Harrier

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Parula

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Northern Shoveler

Northern Waterthrush

Nuttall's Woodpecker

Oak Titmouse

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Orange-crowned Warbler

Orchard Oriole

Osprey

Ovenbird

Pacific Wren

Palm Warbler

Pelagic Cormorant

Peregrine Falcon

Philadelphia Vireo

Pied-billed Grebe

Pine Siskin

Pine Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler

Purple Finch

Purple Martin

Pygmy Nuthatch

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-breasted Merganser

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Sapsucker

Red-eyed Vireo

Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-masked Parakeet

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-throated Loon

Red-winged Blackbird

Redhead

Ring-billed Gull

Rock Pigeon

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Ruddy Duck

Rusty Blackbird

Sandhill Crane

Savannah Sparrow

Scarlet Tanager

Short-billed Gull

Snowy Egret

Solitary Sandpiper

Song Sparrow

Sora

Spotted Sandpiper

Spotted Towhee

Steller's Jay

Surf Scoter

Swainson's Thrush

Tennessee Warbler

Townsend's Warbler

Tree Swallow

Trumpeter Swan

Tufted Titmouse

Turkey Vulture

Veery

Violet-green Swallow

Virginia Rail

Warbling Vireo

Western Bluebird

Western Flycatcher

Western Grebe

Western Gull

Western Meadowlark

Western Sandpiper

Whimbrel

White-breasted Nuthatch

White-crowned Sparrow

White-eyed Vireo

White-tailed Kite

White-throated Sparrow

White-throated Swift

White-winged Scoter

Wild Turkey

Willet

Wilson's Warbler

Wood Duck

Wood Thrush

Wrentit

Yellow Warbler

Yellow-breasted Chat

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-throated Vireo

Greetings from northwestern Ohio! So far in Ohio I've seen (or heard) 129 species. Accounting for duplicates with previous species, I have an additional 72 for Birdathon. On Saturday my mom and I headed to the Magee Marsh boardwalk (wearing my GGBA hat of course!). The biggest draw of this festival is the migrating warblers. The boardwalk was inundated with singing Yellow Warblers, but I also managed to see Black-and-white, Blackburnian, Palm, Cape May, Black-throated-Blue, Northern Parula, American Redstart and one singing Northern Waterthrush.

Sunday I did a Big Day with the Biggest Week in American Birding, led by professional guide Ethan Kistler of WINGS Birding Tours and his wife Billi Krochuk, an applied ecologist. We met at 6 a.m. and birded until 3 p.m. We hit up several woodlands and marshes, including Howard Marsh which was restored from farmland just a few years ago. It is a must stop location for the area and now has nesting Black-necked stilts, osprey, bank swallows, etc.

(Fun fact: my high school Spanish teacher's husband worked for the Toledo Metroparks (very similar to our East Bay Regional Parks) and was instrumental in much of the land acquisition and new park creation over the past two decades. Thanks John!)

Additional highlights on the tour were a flock of Glossy Ibis in a farm field, a group of about 25 migrating Broad-winged Hawks, my lifer Bay-breasted Warbler and two Golden-winged Warblers in one tree!

Last night we attended a talk by Peter Kaestner, the first person to ever see 10,000 species of birds, a feat he just recently accomplished. He was funny and engaging, but most impressively just very humble and appreciative. He began his talk by acknowledging his privilege in terms of race, economic status and health, and also acknowledged the crucial assistance he had from local guides, ornithologists and support from his wife. He said basically, "I'm not a better birder than any of you or an extraordinary person. I'm just a person who had a goal and worked toward it". He ended his talk by saying that there are a million ways to bird, and they are each perfect. He is also dedicated to giving back, helping train youth birders and helping to secure funding for conservation. I left very happy that for a hobby that can sometimes be very competitive, he has a great outlook and will be using his platform well!

I've only seen one new species since I last posted, a Peregrine Falcon. I'd been trying to see one for at least a week at a nest with no luck. Finally one day as I was wrapping up a meeting at work, one of the neighborhood Red-tailed Hawks soared by. Suddenly a Peregrine came and swooped it, and then ANOTHER Peregrine came and chased it as well.

Other than that fun sighting, it's been a boom week for nests. I use Nest Watch to monitor most nests that I find. I've found two Anna's Hummingbird nests under construction and an occupied raven nest downtown under a fire escape. I remembered to check a random nest I found last week and today it had a robin sitting on it. Today I also confirmed another robin nest hatched, and another I found recently is close to fledging. And finally there's a mourning dove nest that I've been watching. They already successfully fledged two birds earlier in the season and they are close to hatching a second set.

Tomorrow I'm flying to Ohio where I'll be visiting family and also attending the Biggest Week in American Birding. Sunday I'm signed up to do a big day guided van trip starting at 6 a.m. and another day I'm set to do a guided walk. I *think* seeing an additional 100 species in Ohio is achievable, but we'll see!

Saturday Sharon Jue, Teale Fristoe and I birded Arroyo Del Valle. The highlight was Calliope Hummingbird, which was actually a lifer for me. We also spotted a Golden Eagle and several first of season Ash-throated Flycatchers, among a few other new species for my Birdathon list.

Last week I also added a Hammond's Flycatcher at Salesforce Park. And not new to my list, but new to me at Salesforce: this immature Cooper's Hawk perched on a nearby antenna.

I'm more than halfway to my species goal! This past week I added 16 species. Yesterday my friend Sharon and I hit up Berkeley Aquatic Park. Highlights were a Green Heron flying in to perch right in front of us and a Great Blue Heron enjoying a nice gopher meal.

Today I went to Garin Regional Park which was quite muddy. I got a first of season Black-headed Grosbeak and some Warbling Vireos, added Acorn Woodpecker, White-tailed kite, House Wren and Hutton's Vireo. Though they weren't new to my list, the Tree Swallows were beautiful, as were a few pairs of bluebirds.

Realizing that I'm missing some easy ducks, I went to Coyote Hills. Sadly on Paseo Padre Parkway I found a roadkill Barn Owl. I hooked a u-turn and parking safely in a lot, then went back and moved it off the road so a scavenger would avoid the same fate. Thankfully I had a plastic bag to use as a makeshift glove.

At Coyote Hills I was able to see Cinnamon Teal, Gadwall and Common Goldeneyes, which weren't on my list yet. The highlight however was an American Bittern that I tracked for about 15 minutes until it finally took off in flight. At first I wasn't sure if I was really hearing a bittern or just the "glub glub" of water hitting some rocks. When the "glub glub" noise kept moving, I knew it was a bird. It sounded sooo close but was completely hidden from view as it called every few minutes. I'm so happy I stuck with it until it came into the open.