Bruce Mast

Yesterday was my long-anticipated Mount Diablo Hiking Big Day, which I completed in the company of my friends Margot Bezrutczyk and Leif Magnuson. Special thanks to my wife Juliet for dropping me off at Mitchell Canyon at 4:15 in the morning and then picking us up at Castle Rock Regional Recreation Area that evening.

I started with some early morning owling, which netted me a calling Great Horned Owl, multiple calling Poorwills and a Poorwill on the road in my flashlight beam 10 feet away. At daybreak, I was eventually able to track down some displaying Calliope Humingbirds but no Rufous. I met Margot and Leif at 8:30 and we had a great morning of birding in Mitchell Canyon, with highlights including a surprise White-tailed Kite, Nashville and Hermit Warblers, a soaring Golden Eagle, and a Hammond's Flycatcher.

In the afternoon, we hiked up and over to Pine Canyon, enjoying the wildflowers along the way. We picked up more nice birds in Pine Canyon, including singing Brown Creeper and Bullock's Orioles but we missed the nesting Peregrines.

By the time we got to the upper parking lot, my legs were rubber but I realized that we would have to keep walking to the lower lot to find Juliet. The bonus was that we got to walk past the horse stables, which gave us bonus Rock Pigeons, Eurasian Collared Doves, a Starling, and a small flock of Brewer's Blackbirds. Margot also spotted a flock of Barn Swallows hunting insects low over the hills beyond the stables, for species #72.

Lots more details in my eBird trip report:

https://ebird.org/tripreport/228125

Thank you again for your support and encouragement!

Final tally from today's Mount Diablo Hiking Big Day was 72 species, all seen on foot. I've been up since 3 am and I hiked 17 miles today so the full trip report will have to wait until tomorrow. :-)

One of the highlights from my scouting trip today was this Warbling Vireo nest. There's actually a bird in it (the bill is barely sticking up above the nest, facing right) and the bird was singing it's lungs out.

Back story: back in the 1990s I volunteered to do a breeding bird survey in Havey Canyon (Wildcat Canyon Regional Park). The researcher who organized the project told me that Warbling Vireos often sing from their nest. He also told me he would give me a bottle of wine if I found a vireo nest. I didn't find a nest that summer and for almost 30 years, I've never observed a vireo singing from its nest until today. I can finally collect that bottle of wine.

I spent some quality time today scouting Mount Diablo in preparation for tomorrow's Big Day Hike. The plan is to start in Mitchell Canyon and end in Castle Rocks Regional Rec Area.

Peregrine Falcons are nesting somewhere in those rocks.

Hello fellow bird lovers!

20 of us had a wonderful Birdathon outing to the Sutter Buttes last week. Perfect weather, amazing scenery, and some good birds, both migrants and local residents. A few highlights included multiple Phainopeplas, a pair of Lawrence's Goldfinches hanging out right over our picnic area, a female Bullock's Oriole building a nest, and a White-breasted Nuthatch bringing food to its nest cavity. We heard in the distance both Rock and Canyon Wrens but they weren't so cooperative.

Here's a photo of Laura Lush, our Middle Mountain Interpretive Hikes guide, telling us about the Indian grinding rocks on the property.

Tomorrow is Mount Diablo scout day and then Sunday we'll see how many birds we can tally for our Big Day Hike!