From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sun Dec 29 22:17:33 2002 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.6/8.12.2) with ESMTP id gBU6FRPN027231 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 29 Dec 2002 22:15:27 -0800 (PST) Received: from pintail.mail.pas.earthlink.net (pintail.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.122]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.6/8.12.2) with ESMTP id gBU6En3Y027195 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 29 Dec 2002 22:14:50 -0800 (PST) Received: from dialup-209.245.129.163.dial1.sanjose1.level3.net ([209.245.129.163]) by pintail.mail.pas.earthlink.net with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 18StCK-0006Zw-00 for [[email protected]]; Sun, 29 Dec 2002 22:14:48 -0800 User-Agent: Microsoft-Outlook-Express-Macintosh-Edition/5.02.2022 Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2002 22:14:44 -0800 From: Leda Beth Gray <[[email protected]]> To: South Bay Birds <[[email protected]]> Message-ID: Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Subject: [SBB] Calero Count X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1rc1+ Precedence: list List-Id: South Bay Birding List-Unsubscribe: , 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]] Dave Drake and I did the Calero Count on Saturday, getting 3 W Screech Owls along Calero Creek, one Great Horned Owl along McKean Rd and 2 more W Screeches along Country View Rd. The latter continued chatting to each other while we tried for N Pygmy Owl. We got rained on some and it was gusty, but there were quiet periods during which owling conditions were okay. We also tried for Barn Owl using all the techniques recommended to me but also no luck. While I did squeaking noises with one arm raised in the air as recounted by Bill Bousman I was grateful this wasn't required of me during the day. In southern Santa Teresa Co Park highlights were 4 Rufous-crowned Sparrows (I watched one do a seep note similar to a crown sparrow), one Rock Wren, 2 Yellow-billed Magpies, a Fox Sparrow, 2 Hermit Thrushes chupping, a Say's Phoebe, about 45 W Meadowlarks, a single Purple Finch flyover and great views of a Peregrine Falcon, soaring into the wind about 100 feet over our heads for at least a minute. Spectacular! Trail condition was poor over much of the area and we had ourselves some dandy "mud slippers" to haul along with our boots. Along the Calero Creek trail we watched a young Red-tail get chased off by two Red-shouldered Hawks until he put his talons up, then was chased again briefly by one of a pair of adult Red-tails, poor guy. 5 Turkey Vultures were soaring on the wind and swooping down low over the ground. A Coopers Hawk tried flying at one of them but gave up fairly quickly. 20 Cedar Waxwings were our only ones of the day. We had 3 Nuttall's Woodpeckers, including one male-female pair in the same tree, and one Downy. A single White-breasted Nuthatch was the only one of the day. It started raining pretty hard toward the end of the walk and luckily we had mostly driving and short walks after that, although we did abandon one other planned trail. Country View Drive yielded 8 Horned Larks that very nicely landed on the road in front of us in the rain and wind. I was amazed to look at all the water in the north end of the Coyote Valley. Where a big development has been planned for some time, one that SCVAS has fought hard against, were two lakes holding over 200 Mallards, 7 Buffleheads, 20 Gadwalls, 26 Canada Geese, about a hundred gulls, 4 Green-winged Teals and 9 excited Hooded Mergansers, with the males pumping their heads up and down and extending their necks forward, their crests held very high. It was well worth standing in the rain with a puny umbrella, just enough to keep the telescope mostly dry. I also had at least 4 Killdeer, 25 or so sandpipers, 17 Willets and some other shorebirds that were too far off for me to ID, looking through rain, a fence and trees. I've seen some waterfowl in these seasonal wetlands in the past but this was the most extensive water and most waterfowl I've seen there. Cheers, Leda Beth. _______________________________________________ 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]]