Date: 10/16/25 4:18 pm From: John Harshman via groups.io <john.harshman...> Subject: [southbaybirds] Phylo-birding at Vasona, 10/16
The second phylo-birding* trip of the month for SCVBA went well, with Ray Trent as co-leader. We found birds from 29 families in the park, and from every superfamily of passerine birds commonly seen in the bay area. The most notable family would probably be Scolopacidae, represented by a single *Wilson's snipe*. It was good to see that a few of the many *pied-billed grebes* still have their baby stripes. The *ruby-crowned kinglets* (Regulidae) are back, as are the *yellow-rumped warblers* (Parulidae), though their plumages could not at this point be more un-colorful, with hardly a hint of black or of yellow other than at the rump. Also lots of the sole New World species of Aegithalidae, the long-tailed tits: *bushtit*.
*birding with an emphasis on phylogenetic** relationships
**having to do with comparative recency of shared ancestry among species
Do not disclose information that identifies the location of nesting birds of any species, to minimize stress on the nesting birds and the risk of vandalism or abuse.
