From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Tue Dec 17 16:33:15 2002 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.2/8.12.2) with ESMTP id gBI0UpoM007280 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 17 Dec 2002 16:30:51 -0800 (PST) Received: from rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (rtjones.nas.nasa.gov [129.99.19.30]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.2/8.12.2) with ESMTP id gBI0U3wO007245 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 17 Dec 2002 16:30:04 -0800 (PST) Received: (from mrogers@localhost) by rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (SGI-8.9.3/8.9.3/NAS 8.9.3-5n) id QAA27003 for [[email protected]]; Tue, 17 Dec 2002 16:30:02 -0800 (PST) Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 16:30:02 -0800 (PST) From: "Dr. Michael M. Rogers" <[[email protected]]> Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Subject: [SBB] Palo Alto CBC 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]] All, My coverage for the Palo Alto CBC began at the Page Mill and I-280 Park-N-Ride with Mike Azevedo at 4:00am. The wind and rain did not bode well for owling up top, so we decided to look for sheltered areas on Page Mill Road on the way up. A couple of stops produced a few "did I hear a response?" distant sounds, but the weather was so bad we couldn't differentiate dogs from owls :( We then decided to go back down Moody Road and try Hidden Villa, hoping that things were more sheltered in that canyon. Eventually we got a response from an aggressive WESTERN SCREECH-OWL, which flew onto on open branch to be illuminated by Mike's Q-Beam. Great looks despite the rain! Mike then headed up to Monte Bello for day coverage (and perhaps more spontaneously calling owls at dawn) and I headed to the bay to tape for rails. I quickly got responses from 4 VIRGINIA RAILS and 2 SORAS at the Stevens Creek Tidal Marsh, getting great looks at one of the SORAS right below the bridge. The tide was already too high for the Pacific Golden-Plover, so I headed further up Stevens Creek to the Charleston Road Marsh and nearby tree nursery. The marsh was flooded and the pumps were running at full capacity, emptying yet more water into an already flooded Stevens Creek (the water there covered the road below the dike!). Interesting passerines included 12 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, 6 HERMIT THRUSHES, 2 FOX SPARROWS, 2 LINCOLN'S SPARROWS, and a TOWNSEND'S WARBLER. In the marsh channel near Shoreline Blvd I had an immature GREEN HERON (can be tough in winter). I also heard a single chip that sounded like it may have been from a Northern Waterthrush, but it never called again. The marsh is so flooded that this section seems like the only place that bird could be happy. Along Stevens Creek I found an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER. A flock of 115+ CEDAR WAXWINGS was behind the nursery and a female/immature MERLIN was across the creek on Moffett Field. I next birded Moffett Field, starting on the east side near the Moffett Golf Course (which was closed owing to many downed trees and debris!). Highlights here included 2 SAY'S PHOEBES, a large blackbird flock with 30 TRICOLORED BLACKBIRDS and a single male BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD, and a BURROWING OWL (another was near the Ellis Street entrance earlier). Back over on the NASA side, I scoped the big duck flock in the eastern half of the "Crittenden Marsh" pond. Highlights here included 8 REDHEAD, an adult male EURASIAN WIGEON, and a male hybrid GADWALL x MALLARD with a group of GADWALLS. This latter bird looked similar to those described along our bay edge last winter. A single MEW GULL here was the only one I had all day. I next headed out the Stevens Creek dike to cover the salt ponds north of Moffett Field, seeing the 2 WHIMBREL found by Richard Jeffers in the western part of Crittenden Marsh earlier in the day. I worked my way out to the Stevens Creek mouth, counting lots of RUDDY DUCKS and SCAUP (both species), as well as noting a few goodies like 8 BROWN PELICANS in Salt Pond A2W across the creek. Out at the bay 2 SURF SCOTERS were in close and I saw three more way out on the bay. The real surprise was a RED PHALAROPE out on the bay with RING-BILLED GULLS, found just after 1:00pm! After a few minutes, it flew towards me and then east to the submerged grasses near the dike to a group of AMERICAN AVOCETS. When a Northern Harrier flew by it flew over the dike to Salt Pond B1 and dropped down. By the time I got through the Cargill gate, I couldn't refind it; apparently it had continued towards Crittenden Marsh. When the bird flew by near to me and when I was scoping it with the Avocets I could see that it had some pale rusty coloration to the breast and along the upper flanks. This appeared to be some kind of oil staining rather than remnants or beginnings of alternate plumage and was subtle enough that I had not noted it when the bird was out on the bay. It may help to reidentify this particular individual if seen again (I just heard from Bob that his bird in Crittenden today did show some such staining). My good luck continued, and just as the first mud started to uncover at the creek mouth the juvenile PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVER flew in with a few BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS. The sun was directly behind me and the sky was dark from recent rain, which made this bird an absolutely glowing gold, much warmer than I remember it from November. As I was finishing up my description of the plover, I decided to check the other early-arriving shorebirds, finding 2 RED KNOTS very close to shore. At this point I took off back to the car, as I was supposed to be at the San Francisquito Creek mouth for the uncovering. A SHARP-SHINNED HAWK was hunting in a Coyote bush near the rusty bridge on the way out. I drove quickly to the end of Geng Road, hoping to bike out to the creek mouth, but construction has closed the entire dike. The Palo Alto Golf Course pond had 5 HOODED MERGANSERS, including 2 adult males. I drove around to the visitor center parking lot at the Baylands, counting 900+ BONAPARTE'S GULLS in the old yacht harbor and a single first-winter THAYER'S GULL at the duck pond (among many GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS). I quickly biked out to the San Francisquito Creek mouth, making it there in time to see thousands of shorebirds. I located 240 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, 22 RED KNOTS, 7 WHIMBRELS, 4 SANDERLINGS, and 2 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS (many more silent dowitchers were likely this species), all specialties of this spot that can be hard to find elsewhere on the count, but failed to find a Ruddy Turnstone this year. Also nice were 5 CLAPPER RAILS (2 across the creek in San Mateo County), apparently the only ones for the count. Mike Rogers _______________________________________________ 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]]