........taccuini di
birdwatching di Claudio Chiossi.......List of the species identified during a stay of three weeks in California in march/april 2001, in the moves from a city to the other, in the places of standstill, and in two small oases along the coast near Los Angeles: the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve and the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve.
The cities of Bakersfield , Fresno, Sacramento, San Francisco, the towns of Stockton, Rancho Cordova, Berkeley, Santa Rosa, Monterey, Carmel, San Simeon, Santa Barbara, Palm Spring have been touched; while the base of departure was in a town next to Los Angeles.Legend
BCER - Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve
UNBER - Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve
F - Female
M - Male
IM - Immature
List of observed species
American Name Scientific name Notes ORDER
FAMILY
SUBFAMILY
PODICIPEDIFORMES PODICIPEDIDAE 1 Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps 3 UNBER 2 Horned Grebe Podiceps auritus 3 Sausalito 3 Western Grebe Aechmophorus occidentalis a lot of in Sausalito, UNBER PELECANIFORMES PELECANIDAE 4 Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis some in Newport Beach, Sausalito PHALACROCORACIDAE 5 Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus some in Placentia, Sausalito 6 Pelagic Cormorant Phalacrocorax pelagicus a lot of in Monterey CICONIIFORMES ARDEIDAE 7 Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias some 8 Great Egret Ardea alba many 9 Snowy Egret Egretta thula many CATHARTIDAE 10 Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura many ANSERIFORMES ANATIDAE Anserinae 11 Canada Goose Branta canadensis some in Berkeley, Monterey Anatinae 12 American Wigeon Anas americana 2 UNBER 13 Mallard Anas platyrhynchos many 14 Blue-winged Teal Anas discors a lot of in UNBER 15 Cinnamon Teal Anas cyanoptera a lot of in UNBER 16 Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata some in BCER 17 Green-winged Teal Anas crecca a lot of in UNBER 18 Greater Scaup Aythya marila 3 Sausalito 19 Surf Scoter Melanitta perspicillata a lot of in Sausalito 20 Bufflehead Bucephala albeola 2 F Sausalito, San Simeon 21 Common Goldeneye Bucephala clangula 1 F Sausalito 22 Red-breasted Merganser Mergus serrator 1 F San Simeon 23 Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis 4 Monterey FALCONIFORMES ACCIPITRIDAE Pandioninae 24 Osprey Pandion haliaetus 1 UNBER Accipitrinae 25 Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus 1 M UNBER 26 Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis a lot of in Monterey 27 Ferruginous Hawk Buteo regalis some in UNBER GRUIFORMES RALLIDAE 28 American Coot Fulica americana many CHARADRIIFORMES CHARADRIIDAE Charadriinae 29 Killdeer Charadrius vociferus some in Bakersfield, San Simeon HAEMATOPODIDAE 30 Black Oystercatcher Haematopus bachmani 2 San Simeon RECURVIROSTRIDAE 31 Black-necked Stilt Himantopus mexicanus a lot of in BCER 32 American Avocet Recurvirostra americana a lot of in UNBER SCOLOPACIDAE Scolopacinae 33 Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca 1 UNBER 34 Willet Catoptrophorus semipalmatus a lot of in UNBER, Carmel 35 Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus some in San Simeon, BCER 36 Long-billed Curlew Numenius americanus 1 San Simeon 37 Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa a lot of in UNBER 38 Black Turnstone Arenaria melanocephala a lot of in San Simeon LARIDAE Larinae 39 Heermann's Gull Larus heermanni a lot of IM in Newport Beach, Monterey 40 Mew Gull Larus canus a lot of in Sausalito 41 Western Gull Larus occidentalis many Sterninae 42 Caspian Tern Sterna caspia some in UNBER 43 Elegant Tern Sterna elegans a lot of in UNBER 44 Common Tern Sterna hirundo a lot of in BCER 45 Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea a lot of in UNBER Rynchopinae 46 Black Skimmer Rynchops niger a lot of in UNBER COLUMBIFORMES COLUMBIDAE 47 Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura many 48 Inca Dove Columbina inca 2 Sacramento APODIFORMES TROCHILIDAE Trochilinae 49 Anna's Hummingbird Calypte anna some in Placentia PASSERIFORMES TYRANNIDAE Fluvicolinae 50 Black Phoebe Sayornis nigricans many CORVIDAE 51 Florida Scrub-Jay Aphelocoma coerulescens 2 Fresno, 1 Rancho Cordova 52 Black-billed Magpie Pica hudsonia 2 Sacramento 53 American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos many 54 Common Raven Corvus corax some in UNBER HIRUNDINIDAE Hirundininae 55 Northern Rough-winged Swallow Stelgidopteryx serripennis some in San Simeon 56 Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica a lot of in San Simeon TURDIDAE 57 American Robin Turdus migratorius a lot of in Sacramento STURNIDAE 58 European Starling Sturnus vulgaris some EMBERIZIDAE 59 White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys 1 Monterey ICTERIDAE 60 Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus many 61 Brewer's Blackbird Euphagus cyanocephalus many 62 Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus 2 Orange County FRINGILLIDAE Carduelinae 63 House Finch Carpodacus mexicanus a lot of in San Simeon PASSERIDAE 64 House Sparrow Passer domesticus many References
JOHN FARRAND, Jr. - Western Birds (An Audubon handbook) McGraw-Hill.
MARY T. GRAY. - Watchable Birds of California. Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, Montana 1999.
The list of the observed species has been worded following "California Bird List of the Western Field Ornithologists´ California Bird Records Committee" available to the site of the Western Field Ornithologists ( WFO )
Other news and the complete list of the U.S.A.´s birds can be found to the site of The American Ornithologists' Union .
Attention: for the translation of these texts from Italian I have used the help of an automatic translation program; the signaling through e-mail of possible errors (and them the corrections) they will be welcome.
