Received: from swan.mail.pas.earthlink.net (swan.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.123]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g799aqV31581 for <[[email protected]]>; Fri, 9 Aug 2002 02:36:52 -0700 Received: from pool0039.cvx40-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net ([216.244.42.39] helo=216.244.42.39) by swan.mail.pas.earthlink.net with smtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 17d6CP-0007Xh-00; Fri, 09 Aug 2002 02:36:49 -0700 Date: 09 Aug 2002 02:36:47 -0700 Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> From: Les Chibana <[[email protected]]> To: South Bay Birders <[[email protected]]> X-Mailer: QuickMail Pro 2.1 (Mac) MIME-Version: 1.0 Reply-To: Les Chibana <[[email protected]]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-Ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by plaidworks.com id g799aqV31581 Subject: [SBB] Kern River Preserve Hummingbird Festival Sender: [[email protected]] Errors-To: [[email protected]] X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.13 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Please forgive me if you don't wish to see a report of birding from Kern County, but there was an extremely wonderful event, the Hummingbird Festival, at the Audubon-California Kern River Preserve this past weekend that many of you may want to know about. The proliferation of hummingbird feeders at this Preserve at the southern end of the Sierra Nevadas has been revealing what may be the true nature of southbound Rufous and Allen's hummingbird migration in California. For the past 4 years, Bob Barnes, the Preserve's Outreach Director, whom many of you have had the pleasure of meeting, has been putting out a large battery of hummingbird feeders to an increasing visitation of breeding and migrant trochilids. Large amounts of Rufous Hummingbirds, followed in quantity by Black- chinned, Anna's, Allen's, and Calliope, were noisily crowding and vying for position at feeders. By using a unit of measure called "Black-chinned Hummingbird Units", or BCHU, the amount of sugar water consumed in a day by one Black-chinned Hummingbird, it was estimated that up to 2000 hummingbirds a day came to the Preserve's feeders during the peak of activity between Aug 18 and 23. This year, with the continued use of feeders, that number is expected to reach 2500 to 3000 birds. One authority opined to Bob Barnes that if he put out twice as many feeders, he would get twice as many birds. "If you put out feeders, they will come." Over in the desert scrub, at a home with feeders, we enjoyed watching a Costa's Hummingbird maintain in the face of pressure from several Rufous. It is thought that this volume of hummingbirds have long been moving through the area. But in the absence of any nectar source in the dense riparian corridor of the South Fork Kern River, they were never detected because they continued to fly southward rarely lingering in the area. I had the good fortune of spending about 18 hours over three days assisting hummingbird researcher, Don Mitchell, in the banding of hummingbirds at the feeders, as well as in the Greenhorn Mtns. He used a cage trap at the feeders and mist nets in the mountain patches of penstemon blooms. He focused mostly on Rufous/Allen's species, but he processed any Calliope that we managed to capture. [By the way, I'm told that it is more accurate to use the term "Rufous/Allen's" rather than "Selasphorus" in areas where Broad- tailed Hummingbirds are not part of the species mix.] On the first day, for a banding demonstration, Don processed all birds captured. To give you an idea of the species mix, Out of 26 captures, there were 8 Rufous (migrants), 8 Black-chinned (local breeders), 7 Anna's (local breeders), 1 Allen's (migrant), 1 intermediate Rufous/ Allen's (migrant), and 1 Calliope (migrant). The Allen's was ID'ed in-hand using feather measurement, shape and color, and by overall size. The second day of banding was done in a large patch of penstemon in the Greenhorn Mtns. at 6100' elev. Two years ago, Don discovered these patches and the associated migrant hummingbird activity. Even Sheri Williamson, author of the new Peterson's Hummingbird Field Guide, told Don when she saw these fields that she had never seen such a concentration of hummingbirds at a natural source of nectar. The air was filled with the "chuppety-chup-chup-chup" of pugnacious Rufous Hummingbirds as they defended their tiny foraging territories within these fields of red. Here, we used my Eurovan as a field banding station, something for which it seemed designed. Out of 18 hummingbirds captured, there were 14 Rufous, 2 Allen's, and 2 Calliope. Back at the Preserve, at roughly 3000' elev., on the third day of banding, we targeted Rufous/Allen's species to gather data for Don's work. Out of 37 birds captured, there were 33 Rufous, 3 Allen's, and 1 Calliope. Although more common at higher elevations, Calliope are uncommon at the Preserve. So, over all three days, a total of 62 Rufous/Allen's Hummingbirds were captured. The species breakdown was 55 Rufous, 6 Allen's, and one indeterminate intermediate bird. This comes out to nearly 10% of all of the Rufous/Allen's species being Allen's. In 2000, banding revealed a 20 to 1 ratio of Rufous to Allen's. Interestingly, as we were wrapping up on the last day, Don saw a female hummingbird at 18" which he was 90% sure was a Broad-tailed Hummingbird. This species, although having a small handful of records in the Valley, had not yet been recorded on the Preserve. Aside from the 6, and possibly 7, species of hummingbirds, other species seen on the Preserve included Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax trailii extimus), and Summer Tanager. I saw two Black Swifts at the Camp 9 boat ramp over Lake Isabella off Sierra Way. At dusk over the Preserve, a large group of bats of at least 4 discernable sizes (and possibly 2 to 4 times as many species) hawked insects as hummingbirds still darted by, a very interesting juxtaposition. In the nearby desert scrub, resident species like Phainopepla, Cactus Wren, and Black-throated Sparrows were seen. While doing a bit of back- yard birding, sitting with one hand on a brew and the other on the bins at a friend's home in the area, a female Black-chinned Sparrow moved through the yard. No need to drive up a dirt road or hike up a hill to find this bird. This migrant or dispersant was a first for a month-old yard list. I am taking a group of people to this area on Aug 24-25, in a couple of weeks, just past the traditional peak of hummer activity. Bob Barnes told me that the activity will probably "drop precipitously" to around 2000 hummingbirds per day during this time. If you are interested in joining us, please get in touch with me. I will also "migrate" with other flocks of birders to the Preserve next spring and summer to see the other species that breed in the area. [BTW, the McNally fire burning on the Kern Plateau has not yet been affecting the Lake Isabella area, aside from smoke trapped by a temp. inversion in the mornings.] Les Chibana BirdNutz - "Ornigasmic Birding Experiences" (TM) em <[[email protected]]> ph 650-949-4335 fx 650-949-4137 Received: from merlin.arc.nasa.gov (merlin.arc.nasa.gov [128.102.219.21]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g79GQWV04488 for <[[email protected]]>; Fri, 9 Aug 2002 09:26:32 -0700 Received: from merlin.ARC.NASA.GOV by merlin.ARC.NASA.GOV (PMDF V6.1 #46498) id <[[email protected]]> for [[email protected]]; Fri, 09 Aug 2002 09:26:22 -0700 (PDT) Date: Fri, 09 Aug 2002 09:24:18 -0700 (PDT) From: [[email protected]] To: [[email protected]] Cc: [[email protected]] Message-id: <[[email protected]]> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=us-ascii Subject: [SBB] - Sender: [[email protected]] Errors-To: [[email protected]] X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.13 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Folks: A visit to the CCFS waterbird pond this morning, 8/9/2002, revealed a water level that has eliminated all exposed mudflats except on the banding island. Excellent conditions for Black-necked Stilts, Am. Avocets, and Greater Yellowlegs, but not much else. Bill Received: from mail.newscientist.com ([194.201.73.74]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g79JRtV07125 for <[[email protected]]>; Fri, 9 Aug 2002 12:27:55 -0700 Received: from daphne.newscientist.com ([10.51.50.143]) by mail.newscientist.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id VAA06883 for <[[email protected]]>; Fri, 9 Aug 2002 21:08:36 +0100 From: [[email protected]] Message-ID: <[[email protected]]ientist .com> Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2002 20:25:01 +0100 (BST) To: [[email protected]] Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: [SBB] Birds enjoy the high life Sender: [[email protected]] Errors-To: [[email protected]] X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.13 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Your friend thought you should see this article on New Scientist.com today. Follow the link below for the full story: Birds enjoy the high life http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992657 Their message: not directly related to SBB, but I thought many of you would be intrigued. chuq New Scientist.com is the world's leading online science and technology news service, with a global network of award-winning journalists. Visit www.newscientist.com now for constantly updated and authoritative reporting that's both fast and fascinating. Received: from rwcrmhc51.attbi.com (rwcrmhc51.attbi.com [204.127.198.38]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g79NTMV11465; Fri, 9 Aug 2002 16:29:22 -0700 Received: from rwcrwbc58 ([204.127.198.47]) by rwcrmhc51.attbi.com (InterMail vM.4.01.03.27 201-229-121-127-20010626) with SMTP id <20020809232918.HUIW19356.rwcrmhc51.attbi.com@rwcrwbc58>; Fri, 9 Aug 2002 23:29:18 +0000 Received: from [12.234.57.193] by rwcrwbc58; Fri, 09 Aug 2002 23:29:17 +0000 From: [[email protected]] To: [[email protected]] Cc: [[email protected]] Subject: Re: [SBB] Birds enjoy the high life Date: Fri, 09 Aug 2002 23:29:17 +0000 X-Mailer: AT&T Message Center Version 1 (Apr 29 2002) Message-Id: <20020809232918.HUIW19356.rwcrmhc51.attbi.com@rwcrwbc58> Sender: [[email protected]] Errors-To: [[email protected]] X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.13 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Chuq, Here's another one that I found interesting. http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/08/09/crow.betty/ind ex.html Randy Little Milpitas -- "I bird because the voices in my head tell me to." Question: If you don't pay your exorcist, do you get repossessed? [[email protected]] > Your friend thought you should see this article on New Scientist.com today. > Follow the link below for the full story: > > Birds enjoy the high life > http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992657 > > Their message: > not directly related to SBB, but I thought many of you would be intrigued. > > chuq > > > New Scientist.com is the world's leading online science and technology news > service, with a global network of award-winning journalists. > Visit www.newscientist.com now for constantly updated and authoritative > reporting that's both fast and fascinating. > _______________________________________________ > south-bay-birds mailing list | [[email protected]] > Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: > http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/listinfo/south-bay-birds > Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Received: from mtiwmhc22.worldnet.att.net (mtiwmhc22.worldnet.att.net [204.127.131.47]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g7A44aV15163 for <[[email protected]]>; Fri, 9 Aug 2002 21:04:36 -0700 Received: from 588181826worldnet ([12.81.28.146]) by mtiwmhc22.worldnet.att.net (InterMail vM.4.01.03.27 201-229-121-127-20010626) with SMTP id <20020810040430.TQCO11089.mtiwmhc22.worldnet.att.net@588181826worldnet > for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 10 Aug 2002 04:04:30 +0000 Message-ID: <004701c24023$0d0a3140$[[email protected]]> From: "Jan Hintermeister" <[[email protected]]> To: "south-bay-birds" <[[email protected]]> Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2002 21:04:38 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200 Subject: [SBB] Upcoming CFC Kickoff & Summer Social Sender: [[email protected]] Errors-To: [[email protected]] X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.13 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Calling all birders! Thursday evening, August 15th, is the kickoff party for the 6th Annual California Fall Challenge. Learn what the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory has been up to lately, meet SFBBO's dedicated staff and board members, find out what this intriguing CFC is all about, and have loads of fun! This birder's social event of the summer begins at 6:30 PM at the South Bay Yacht Club, just 2 blocks away from SFBBO headquarters in Alviso. See http://www.sfbbo.org/cfcflyer.html for details and directions. The San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory has extensive research programs, including landbird banding at CCFS, and monitoring of waterbird colonies around the Bay. I monitor the small Great Blue Heron colony at Grant Ranch. My spring and summer visits there also give me great opportunities to see the other exciting birds that inhabit Grant Ranch, like the Grasshopper Sparrow and Lawrence's Goldfinch. I look forward to meeting you Thursday in Alviso at our CFC kickoff extravaganza. Jan Hintermeister SFBBO Board President