From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Tue Dec 17 16:04:25 2002 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.2/8.12.2) with ESMTP id gBI01LoN006828 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 17 Dec 2002 16:01:22 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtp.slac.stanford.edu (smtp.slac.stanford.edu [134.79.18.80]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.2/8.12.2) with ESMTP id gBI00mwO006793 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 17 Dec 2002 16:00:48 -0800 (PST) Received: from CONVERSION-DAEMON.smtp.slac.stanford.edu by smtp.slac.stanford.edu (PMDF V6.1-1 #37665) [[email protected]]; Tue, 17 Dec 2002 16:00:47 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtpserv1.slac.stanford.edusmtp.slac.stanford.edu <[[email protected]]> for [[email protected]]; Tue, 17 Dec 2002 16:00:47 -0800 (PST) Received: from SLACVX.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU ([134.79.144.12]) by smtpserv1.slac.stanford.edu (PMDF V6.1-1 #37665) with ESMTP id <[[email protected]]> for [[email protected]]; Tue, 17 Dec 2002 16:00:47 -0800 (PST) Received: from SLACVX.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU by SLACVX.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU (PMDF V5.2-32 #37499) id <[[email protected]]> for [[email protected]]; Tue, 17 Dec 2002 16:00:36 -0700 (PDT) Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 16:00:36 -0700 (PDT) From: Al Eisner <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Message-id: <[[email protected]]> X-VMS-To: IN%"[[email protected]]" MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [SBB] Birding in the wind X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1b4+ Precedence: list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Id: South Bay Birding List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Errors-To: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] I had a better-than-anticipated day on yesterday's Palo Alto CBC, perhaps because my expectations were very low. In fact, probably due to the wind, my species count was considerably lower than in most years I've covered the same area. Most bizarre was entirely missing both Red-tailed and Red- shouldered Hawk -- apparently these birds didn't want to either take flight or perch conspicuously. Raptors were hard all day, the one highlight being an adult Golden Eagle seen soaring near I-280 from the Felt Lake area. I usually do some early-morning owling, but I wimped out this year. A good sign at the Palo Alto Hills Golf and Country Club was the third bird I identified: my one Red-Breasted Sapsucker of the day. There were no interesting ducks on the ponds; this has been the case since the Club removed most of the reeds and other vegetation from the pond edges. I didn't find any Goldfinches (which are usual here), but lucked out with a single flock of 5 Pine Siskins, apparently the only ones on the Count. My real target, however, was Chipping Sparrow, which I've seen only for two previous CBCs, but one of which had been with Juncos back at the end of October. Feeding Juncos were among the most conspicous birds, and with one large flock I did indeed find a single Chipping Sparrow (adult). Landbird activity at Los Trancos Road -- I cover the Santa Clara portion -- was low (except at one feeder station), as was that near Felt Lake and at Arastradero Preserve. (I was joined at the latter by David Houston, who separately covered a different part of the preserve earlier in the after- noon). On Felt Lake itself, I found 5 Hooded Mergansers, but no Commons. I was also disappointed by the absence of storm-driven Loons, Grebes, etc. (Even some of the normal Grebe species were missing.) Most impressive was a flock of about 240 Ring-necked Ducks, very likely the highest count I've had here. I think that aobut covers the highlights. Al _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. south-bay-birds mailing list ([[email protected]]) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/options/south-bay-birds/south-bay-birds-archive%40plaidworks.com This email sent to [[email protected]]