South Yuba River State Park Birds at Bridgeport South Yuba River State Park Birds at Bridgeport Introductory sample, selected by Ed Pandolfino Pictures and sound extracted from Internet by Herb Lindberg

Resident year around Three groups of birds: Summer Visitors Acorn Woodpecker Western Scrub Jay Steller’s Jay Black Phoebe Spotted Towhee California Quail American Dipper American Robin Summer Visitors Cliff Swallow Bullock’s Oriole Winter Visitors Dark-eyed Junco Ruby-crowned Kinglet Golden-crowned Sparrow Bird Groups Three groups of birds:

Presentation Use Notes Note: In all the slides with a speaker symbol, move your mouse around until the arrow cursor appears and then click on the speaker to hear the bird’s call. This takes a bit of time for long bird calls. To jump ahead or back to a specific bird, right click anywhere and use “Go.”

---RESIDENTS YEAR AROUND---

Acorn Woodpecker Nest in communal groups; some guard hoard while others are away Can be spotted on dead trees or branches where holes for acorns can be drilled Sounds like Woody Woodpecker

Western Scrub Jay Buries acorns that often sprout, so they are critical “oak farmers” Piercing call It’s blue, and a jay, but is NOT a Blue Jay

Steller's Jay Generally at higher altitudes than Western Scrub Jay; both found at foothills altitude of Bridgeport. Both are aggressive with piercing calls Both are blue and jays, but not Blue Jays

Black Phoebe Flycatcher Usually close to water Repetitive two-note song

Spotted Towhee Forages on the ground doing a ‘two-foot-kick’ dance (kicks material backwards with both feet at once and a hop). Covers wide range of altitudes. Formerly known as Rufous-sided Towhee

California Quail Male (shown here) has dark, smooth plume and black and white face and throat pattern; females are duller with fuzzy plume. Male is chief baby sitter. Groups often stay in contact with little sputtering sounds. Very susceptible to domestic cats. Male’s song is a dragged out “Chi-ca-go” :

American Dipper A bird of mountain streams, and is always near the water. Has a most interesting feeding method: perches on stream rock as here, dives into the water and flies underwater against strong current while eating larvae etc. on rocks and river bottom. Also known as the Water Ouzel Complex exuberant song -- John Muir’s favorite bird.

American Robin Very familiar bird, often seen walking erect on the ground. A clear caroling song; short phrases, rising and falling, often prolonged.

---SUMMER VISITORS---

Cliff Swallow Vacuums up insects on the wing. Builds dense colonies of mud nests under eaves and bridges. Thousands of mouthfuls of mud in each nest for Spring nesting. Winters in southern South America. This is the Capistrano Swallow.

Bullock's Oriole Song: Chatter: Winters in Central America Formerly lumped with Baltimore Oriole as Northern Oriole Charming, bouncy song, harsh chatter Song: Chatter:

---WINTER VISITORS---

Dark-eyed Junco Usually found in actively-foraging flocks. Primarily a ground feeder, as here.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet Non-stop forager with an attitude Only shows ruby crown (male) when angry Breeds mainly in mountains

Golden-crowned Sparrow Migrates up west coast as far as Alaska Lacks “golden” crown until mature Plaintive “Oh .. Dear .. me” song

Credits Photographs Ruby-crowned Kinglet http://www.nenature.com/RubyCrownedKingletPhoto.htm, http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i7490id.html All others http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/photos/fauna/com-Bird.html Sound American Dipper http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i7490id.html All Others: Doug Von Gausig at http://www.naturesongs.com/species.html