Received: from highstream.net (mail.highstream.net [65.214.41.101]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g6ULlFV28005 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 30 Jul 2002 14:47:15 -0700 Received: from default [63.39.139.5] by highstream.net (SMTPD32-7.07) id A9404BB400C8; Tue, 30 Jul 2002 17:46:40 -0400 Message-ID: <019201c23812$3a629060$c7622a3f@default> Reply-To: "Roland Kenner" <[[email protected]]> From: "Roland Kenner" <[[email protected]]> To: "south bay birds" <[[email protected]]> Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 14:44:02 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200 X-Note: This E-mail was scanned for spam. X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative by demime 0.98b X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain Subject: [SBB] CCFS waterbird pond 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: Yesterday, Monday, I went out to the waterbird pond at CCFS. Roy Carlson was already out there. We soon got an unsatisfactorily short look at a juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper. After a long wait, shortly before noon, we had a very good several-minute view of one: very short, straight bill, no rufous on a scaly back, dark top of the head helping to outline a very well defined white supercilium, slightly smaller than nearby Westerns, bright white underparts, and a brownish wash that did not quite extend all the way across the breast with no spots at all. Today, Tuesday, I went back out there with Pat Kenny to show her the bird (jinx!!). Pat soon found an adult, probably female Ruff: yellow-orange legs, slightly smaller bodied than nearby Dowitchers, dark bill, mostly white face below the eye, extensive dark blotchy barring across the breast, and barring on the tertials. This bird appeared to hang around from 8:45 am to when we left about 12:30. Shortly after we first saw the Ruff, Bob Reiling and Frank Vanslager arrived. We all got many looks at the Ruff as the day wore on. About noon, during our last-gasp attempt with the peeps Pat spotted a juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper that stayed in view for a few minutes. It was much like the bird I had seen well yesterday, but the supercilium wasn't quite so well defined and the wash across the breast was somewhat darker and more extensive. Other birds: on Monday a few tens of Wilson's Phalaropes, on Tuesday a few hundreds, a juvenile Western Sandpiper each day, a Cooper's Hawk overhead on Monday, a Green Heron in the reeds on Tuesday. Roland Kenner Received: from mms2.broadcom.com (mms2.broadcom.com [63.70.210.59]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with SMTP id g6V0oAV30932 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 30 Jul 2002 17:50:10 -0700 Received: from 63.70.210.1 by mms2.broadcom.com with ESMTP (Broadcom MMS-2 SMTP Relay (MMS v4.7)); Tue, 30 Jul 2002 17:48:05 -0700 X-Server-Uuid: 2a12fa22-b688-11d4-a6a1-00508bfc9626 Received: from mail-sjcw-1.sw.broadcom.com (mail-sjcw-1.sw.broadcom.com [10.20.128.21]) by mon-irva-11.broadcom.com (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id RAA27461 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 30 Jul 2002 17:50: 05 -0700 (PDT) Received: from pc2kmikem (dhcpe1-sjcw-254 [10.20.64.254]) by mail-sjcw-1.sw.broadcom.com (8.9.1/8.8.8/MS01) with SMTP id RAA29936 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 30 Jul 2002 17:50:05 -0700 ( PDT) From: "Mike Mammoser" <[[email protected]]> To: SBB <[[email protected]]> Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 17:49:06 -0700 Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0) X-WSS-ID: 1159EC4F1550475-01-01 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit 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: I paid a late afternoon visit to the Waterbird Pond at CCFS, quickly finding the adult female RUFF. It is about the same size as the dowitchers with which it is associating, perhaps just slightly smaller. The head has already gone basic, with extensive white around the base of the bill, throat, and lower face, and brownish-gray crown and nape. The upperparts - back, scapulars, and tertials - are still alternate, with dark brown to blackish feather centers and thin pale buff edges. The tertials had some rusty-colored internal markings or notches. The breast and flanks are irregularly mottled and barred with dark brown to blackish. There may have been some basic feathers coming in on the upperwing coverts, but it was difficult to see with the overhanging scapulars and all. The underwing looked entirely white, and the bird has molted out at least 1 primary in each wing. The legs are dull orange. I continued scanning through all the birds, without finding anything else unusual. However, patience paid off again. After a half hour or so, a small group of incoming peeps that landed in front of me contained the 3 juvenile SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS (at least I assume they are the same birds as the weekend ones). A minute later the whole pond got up in the air, due to an overflight by a RED-TAILED HAWK. The Ruff returned right away, but I couldn't find the Semis; that is, until I started back to the car, when I saw 2 of them still on the other side of the pond. Mike Mammoser Received: from npsmtp04la.mail2world.com (mw252.mail2world.com [66.28.189.252]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g6V5dvV02319 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 30 Jul 2002 22:39:57 -0700 Received: from esweb05la (unverified [10.1.202.108]) by npsmtp04la.mail2world.com (Rockliffe SMTPRA 4.5.6) with ESMTP id <[[email protected]]> for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 30 Jul 2002 22:35:45 -0700 thread-index: AcI4U9YUXPx0PmFLQd2+d0sD9UK3dw== Thread-Topic: [SBB]: Sex of Ruff at CCFS waterbird pond Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 22:35:45 -0700 From: "miguel demeulemeester" <[[email protected]]> To: <[[email protected]]> Message-ID: <01f301c23854$1e04e200$[[email protected]]> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Microsoft CDO for Exchange 2000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message Priority: normal X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative by demime 0.98b X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain Subject: [SBB] [SBB]: Sex of Ruff at CCFS waterbird pond 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: Received: from npsmtp04la.mail2world.com (mw252.mail2world.com [66.28.189.252]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g6V6IOV02790 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 30 Jul 2002 23:18:24 -0700 Received: from npweb09la (unverified [10.1.203.116]) by npsmtp04la.mail2world.com (Rockliffe SMTPRA 4.5.6) with ESMTP id <[[email protected]]> for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 30 Jul 2002 23:14:13 -0700 thread-index: AcI4WX2bho/fXLvLRDG2DlhVy48I1w== Thread-Topic: Sex of Ruff at CCFS waterbird pond From: "miguel demeulemeester" <[[email protected]]> To: <[[email protected]]> Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 23:14:13 -0700 Message-ID: <011201c23859$7d9bea10$[[email protected]]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Mailer: Microsoft CDO for Exchange 2000 Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message Priority: normal X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative by demime 0.98b X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain Subject: [SBB] Sex of Ruff at CCFS waterbird pond 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: Guess I screwed up in my first attempt to send this message, therefore again... Hi all, I also went down to the waterbird pond at CCFS to see a familiar European bird for me (being from Belgium) and having no doubt seeing a molting Ruff, but I think this bird is a male due to its size. It is about the size or little smaller than a Long-billed Dowitcher or a Greater Yellowlegs (looking just at the body size). Female Ruff are much smaller (in general - there is overlap), about the size of Lesser Yellowlegs, if anything comparable. In fact in Europe they are sometimes (when still in juvenal plumage!) mistaken for a Buff-breasted Sandpiper... As its feathers on the head are already prebasic, one can't use the other plumage criteria for sexing anymore. I think... Just a thought I wanted to share, after seen for years Ruff in many plumages. Also still there were a number of Semipalmated Sands, at least 2 different juveniles and at least (albeit briefly) 1 adult molting. A Whimbrel flew over and a group of Greater Yellowlegs arrived. It was, as always a coming-and-going situation at the pond, with minute by minute changes in numbers and species around... Something funny happened while I was there: for some reason two Snowy Egrets started to fight, if the 100's of Avocets and Stilts wouldn't have started to fly towards the scene and started to call like crazy (as to say: 'kick-kick-kick') then I would probably have never noticed the dispute. Thought it was funny they all went crazy! Greetings Miguel