From: [[email protected]]
Message-ID: <[[email protected]]>
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 14:49:54 EDT
Subject: Re: [SBB] Least Terns in Salt Pond A1
To: [[email protected]]
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Sender: [[email protected]]
Errors-To: [[email protected]]
Precedence: bulk

In a message dated 7/16/02 7:17:15 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
[[email protected]] writes:


> a couple days earlier as the tide was already well out

All,

Kris Olson has informed me that since we needed to be there a couple hours 
earlier my statement should say "a couple days later as the tide was already 
well out."  Tuesdays high tide was at 6:10 AM (too early for me) but this 
Saturday (11:02 AM) should be just fine as you need to be there a couple 
hours before high tide (time to walk to the best viewing areas and time to 
check out the roosting birds).

It seems that my tongue got tied up in my eye teeth and I couldn't see what I 
was saying.

Take care,
Bob Reiling, 11:40 AM, 7/17/02 

Received: from albatross.prod.itd.earthlink.net
  (albatross.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.120]) by plaidworks.com
  (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g6HK1Pt18170 for
  <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 17 Jul 2002 13:01:25 -0700
Received: from pool0350.cvx21-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net
  ([209.179.193.95] helo=209.179.193.95) by
  albatross.prod.itd.earthlink.net with smtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id
  17UuzC-0006b9-00 for [[email protected]]; Wed, 17 Jul 2002
  13:01:23 -0700
Date: 17 Jul 2002 13:03:37 -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
  g6HK1Pt18170
Subject: [SBB] Out of Area: Yuba Pass again
Sender: [[email protected]]
Errors-To: [[email protected]]
X-BeenThere: [[email protected]]
X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.5
Precedence: bulk
List-Help: <mailto:[[email protected]]?subject=help>
List-Post: <mailto:[[email protected]]>
List-Subscribe: <http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/listinfo/south-bay-birds>,
	<mailto:[[email protected]]?subject=subscribe>
List-Id: <south-bay-birds.plaidworks.com>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/listinfo/south-bay-birds>,
	<mailto:[[email protected]]?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://www.plaidworks.com/list-archives/south-bay-birds/>

[If you're looking for some great birding and are finding the Bay Area 
activity a bit slower than you like, consider the Yuba Pass Area.]

I took my Palo Alto Adult Ed Summer Birding class to Yuba Pass this 
past weekend, July 13 and 14. In contrast to a trip that I led to this 
area in early June when it snowed one night, the temperatures were in 
the 80s and 90s. The birding was still great despite the heat and it 
being mid-summer. 

Highlights:

Saturday morning at Yuba Pass, I located a WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER 
nest in an aspen next to the parking lot with at least two very vocal 
nestlings, a male and a female, with the parents busily hauling food 
back to the nest. I think this is a nest that was discovered a few 
weeks ago. In the same live tree, a NORTHERN FLICKER nestling called 
for more food. An adult WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER fed a fledgling near 
the campground entrance. Hidden SWAINSON'S THRUSHes and a mountain 
race WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW added to the morning chorus and RUFOUS 
HUMMINGBIRDs buzzed through the campground. PINE GROSBEAKs made 
sporadic appearances in the area. 

North of Hwy 49, activity was high. We saw an empid that appeared to
be a Dusky Flycatcher, but it moved constantly and seemed to behave
as if it was concerned about approaching a nest. We had sightings 
of singles of ORANGE-CROWNED and HERMIT WARBLER. Our search for Mtn.
Quail was fruitless as no males were calling and I expect that they
were on nests and/or effectively keeping chicks out of our sight. 

At Bassett's, CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRDs, BAND-TAILED PIGEONs, and WHITE-
THROATED SWIFTs were seen. At the North Yuba River at this spot, an
AMERICAN DIPPER flew by and a HOUSE WREN and a MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER
were in the willow and cottonwood area.

At the Lower Sardine Lakes area, only one OSPREY was seen, one female 
COMMON MERGANSER was still present, YELLOW WARBLERs were feeding a
fledgling, as was a MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE. A BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER
was also spotted. Between Sand Pond and the boardwalk, we found a 
MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER attending to a very young bird that was out of 
the nest but hardly seemed old enough to be fledging. It was a tiny 
ball of down with a wide gape and it was perched about 2 ft. off the 
ground in an azalea(?) bush. A WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE was sitting on a nest 
in this area.

Further up in the Lakes Basin area, still in Sierra County, we searched
for but did not find the Black-backed Woodpecker that was building a
nest across the road from Goose Lake in early June. We checked the 
large pond/small lake between Goose and Gold Lakes and found a female
BUFFLEHEAD with nine ducklings, adding to the other reports of Sierra
Nevada breeding confirmations this year. A SPOTTED SANDPIPER called 
from a rock in the middle of the lake.

Back at Bassett's, six to seven AMERICAN WHITE PELICANs circled high
to the east over Hwy 49.

At dusk back at the Yuba Pass campground, we heard, but did not see,
a COMMON NIGHTHAWK call from north of Hwy 49. Later, we thought we 
heard a Northern Saw-whet Owl, but subsequent calling and whistling
attempts got no responses.

Sunday morning, one of the people in our group, Lisa Myers, checked 
out the loud drumming coming from across the meadow and spotted a 
BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER working a tree in the area where they have 
nested in the past. There are several obvious old BBWO nest sites 
in this area noted by the debarked area around the hole. There was 
a fresh excavation further up the tree upon which the BBWO drummed. 
It was interesting to watch it drum because the amount of effort and 
force it seemed to apply did not match the immense volume of sound 
it produced. Between drumming riffs, it appeared to be attentively 
either looking around for a female, perhaps, or it could have been 
listening for larval sounds in the tree. The sighting of a HAIRY 
WOODPECKER brought our campground woodpecker species count to six.

We headed down into Sierra Valley, where we saw 3 OSPREY soaring, 
one carried a fish.

We found only one GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE along Mtn. Quail Rd. between
Sattley and Calpine. One sparrow was seen that was either Vesper or
Brewer's but we did not get good enough views to tell which.

At McNair Meadow along Hwy 89 about 4 mi. north of Calpine, we saw
quite a few HERMIT WARBLERs. One adult fed a fledgling BROWN-HEADED 
COWBIRD. It's interesting to note that Erhlich's "Birder's Handbook" 
says that HEWA are "rare cowbird hosts" and Kaufmann's "Lives of 
North American Birds" says that HEWA are "almost never parisitized 
by cowbirds". VAUX'S SWIFTs were reported by Randy Little. 

The high temperatures were moderated by cool breezes but it seems
that it could have been a factor in our inability to find Brewer's 
Sparrows and Sage Thrashers. At the marsh along Marble Hot Springs
Rd., we saw lots of the expected species like YELLOW-HEADED BLACK-
BIRD, SANDHILL CRANE, WHITE-FACED IBIS, WILSON'S PHALAROPE, AMERICAN 
WHITE PELICAN, and VESPER SPARROW. Also seen was an immature DOUBLE-
CRESTED CORMORANT and a GREATER YELLOWLEGS. A falcon swooped in, 
flushing lots of birds and giving us a better idea of the number 
of ibis present. This falcon at first appeared too pale on the back 
and lacked a strong facial pattern to be a Peregrine, and when it 
banked it was obvious that it lacked dark axillaries counting out 
Prairie. Howard Dienger, who has made many trips to Alaska, suggested 
a Gyrfalcon, which was an intriguing idea. However, Howard and his 
wife, Carol, knew that the buttes to the west of this area (the name 
escapes me now, it starts with a "B") was a nesting spot for Peregrine 
Falcons that primarily fed on coots. I don't know if anatum Peregrines 
can appear pale-backed and lack a strong facial pattern, perhaps in 
immature plumage, but I am going with this as the probable ID.

While scouting some of the spots on Friday, 7/12/02, the Dienger's
and I saw a NASHVILLE WARBLER at the SFSU Sierra Nevada Field Campus.

We came across some great wildflowers! In a boggy area north of Hwy 
49 at Yuba Pass, we saw Rein Orchid, Tiger Lily, and Elephant Heads. 
The campground meadows had Columbine and Shooting Stars. In the 
forest next to the campground was Pipsissewa and an odd-looking plant 
which I think is a California Ground Cone, Boschniakia strobilacea. 
Most of the Internet searches showed a reddish brown plant, but what 
we saw looked more like the yellowish Coast Ground Cone, Boschniakia 
hookeri. I was told that this is a saprophyte but most references 
call it a parasite. You can find photos of this in flower at:
<http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/photos/flora/com-C.html>
Pretty nifty stuff!

Les Chibana, Palo Alto CA