Received: from smtp-relay-3.sea.adobe.com (smtp-relay-3.adobe.com [192.150.22.10]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g5AFnVf06198 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 08:49:31 -0700 Received: from inner-relay-3.corp.adobe.com (inner-relay-3 [153.32.251.51]) by smtp-relay-3.sea.adobe.com (8.12.3/8.12.3) with ESMTP id g5AFmd2L025553 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 08:48:39 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mailsj-v1.corp.adobe.com (mailsj-dev.corp.adobe.com [153.32.1.192]) by inner-relay-3.corp.adobe.com (8.12.3/8.12.3) with ESMTP id g5AFkWQG003141 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 08:46:33 -0700 (PDT) Received: from WS-EFEUSS.adobe.com ([153.32.34.152]) by mailsj-v1.corp.adobe.com (Netscape Messaging Server 4.15 v1 Jul 11 2001 16:32:57) with ESMTP id GXHYMC00.5WB for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 08:49:24 -0700 Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> X-Sender: [[email protected]] X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 4.3.2 Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 08:50:15 -0700 To: [[email protected]] From: Eric Feuss <[[email protected]]> In-Reply-To: <[[email protected]]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Subject: [SBB] Ed Levin, Aum Rock, Grant Ranch sightings 6/9/2002 Sender: [[email protected]] Errors-To: [[email protected]] X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.5 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: A wonderful, but long day for a field trip with a great, small group a people. A usual, not all the sightings had were optimum, not were seen by all, but here are some of the highlights. A pair of PHAINOPEPLA (male and female) beneath Eagle Rock in Alum Rock Park. A GOLDEN EAGLE high, high above the hills behind Sandy Wool Lake at Ed Levin. A pair of LARK SPARROWS taking a bath in Smith Creek. Except at the Smith Creek Fire Station, the was in general quite with more birds seen having already fledged young and reverted back to calls instead of song. In no particular order, but as the come off my list .... At Ed Levin, some of the birds seen were : Lazuli Buntings, Lesser Goldfinches, Western Kingbirds, Western Wood Pewee, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Bullocks Orioles, Grasshopper Sparrows, Rufous-crowned Sparrow (only one seen by leader; individual called but did not sing), Selaphorous Hummingbirds, Bewicks Wren, Nuttall's Woodpeckers, White-throated Swifts, Cliff Swallows, Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, Norther-rough-winged Swallows, etc. At Alum Rock, some of the birds seen (or just heard), but not already mentioned, included: Black-headed Grosbeaks, Hooded Orioles, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, California Thrashers, American Kestrel, Brown Creepers. A very unusual sighting for Alum Rock was one flyover Red Crossbill. Not sure what attracted it here; the abundant thistle seed crop or the Gray Pines?? We also had an incredible up-close view of an incredible adult male Lazuli Bunting taking a bath in the creek. At Grant Ranch (Visitor Center and Smith Creek), some of the birds seen (not already reported) were: Western Bluebirds, Lawrence's Goldfinches, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, House Wren, Willow Flycatcher (yes!), Warbling Vireos, White-breasted Nuthatches, Oregon Juncos. Missed Yellow Warbler and MacGillivray's Warbler. At the Mt. Hamilton Observatory (unfortunately very winding), around 4:30 to 5 PM, it was very quite, but we were able to coax a couple of calls from one Black-chinned Sparrow. No visuals were had. -Eric Feuss Received: from smtp-relay-2.adobe.com (smtp-relay-2.adobe.com [192.150.11.2]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g5AG96f06504 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 09:09:06 -0700 Received: from inner-relay-2.corp.adobe.com (inner-relay-2 [153.32.1.52]) by smtp-relay-2.adobe.com (8.12.3/8.12.3) with ESMTP id g5AG6s8a011826 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 09:06:54 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mailsj-v1.corp.adobe.com (mailsj-dev.corp.adobe.com [153.32.1.192]) by inner-relay-2.corp.adobe.com (8.12.3/8.12.3) with ESMTP id g5AG72BA003462 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 09:07:02 -0700 (PDT) Received: from WS-EFEUSS.adobe.com ([153.32.34.152]) by mailsj-v1.corp.adobe.com (Netscape Messaging Server 4.15 v1 Jul 11 2001 16:32:57) with ESMTP id GXHZIW00.DR3 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 09:08:56 -0700 Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> X-Sender: [[email protected]] X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 4.3.2 Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 09:09:46 -0700 To: [[email protected]] From: Eric Feuss <[[email protected]]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Subject: [SBB] Re: Ed Levin, Aum Rock, Grant Ranch sightings 6/9/2002 Sender: [[email protected]] Errors-To: [[email protected]] X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.5 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Please forgive all my typos; so much for trying to get off a quick report. ------------------------- corrected version-------------------- A wonderful, but long day for a field trip with a great, small group a people. As usual, not all the sightings had were optimum and not all the sightings were seen by all. However, here are some of the highlights. A pair of PHAINOPEPLA (male and female) beneath Eagle Rock in Alum Rock Park; A GOLDEN EAGLE high, high above the hills behind Sandy Wool Lake at Ed Levin; A pair of LARK SPARROWS taking a bath in Smith Creek. An unusual sighting of a single (flyover) RED CROSSBILL at Alum Rock. Not sure what attracted it here; the abundant thistle seed crop or the Gray Pines?? Except at the Smith Creek Fire Station, the day was in general quite quiet in terms of song, with most of the birds seen having already fledged young and reverted from (courtship/territorial) song back to calls.. In no particular order, but as they come off my list .... At Ed Levin, some of the birds seen were : Lazuli Buntings, Lesser Goldfinches, Western Kingbirds, Western Wood Pewee, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Bullocks Orioles, Grasshopper Sparrows, Rufous-crowned Sparrow (only one seen by leader; individual called but did not sing), Selaphorous Hummingbirds, Bewicks Wren, Nuttall's Woodpeckers, White-throated Swifts, Cliff Swallows, Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, Norther-rough-winged Swallows, etc. At Alum Rock, some of the birds seen (or just heard), but not already mentioned, included: Black-headed Grosbeaks, Hooded Orioles, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, California Thrashers, American Kestrel, Brown Creepers. We also had an incredible up-close view of an incredible adult male Lazuli Bunting taking a bath in the creek. At Grant Ranch (Visitor Center and Smith Creek), some of the birds seen (not already reported) were: Western Bluebirds, Lawrence's Goldfinches, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, House Wren, Willow Flycatcher (yes!), Warbling Vireos, White-breasted Nuthatches, Oregon Juncos. Missed Yellow Warbler and MacGillivray's Warbler. At the Mt. Hamilton Observatory (unfortunately very winding), around 4:30 to 5 PM, it was very quite, but we were able to coax a couple of calls from one Black-chinned Sparrow. No visuals were had. -Eric Feuss Received: from imo-r07.mx.aol.com (imo-r07.mx.aol.com [152.163.225.103]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g5AL5hf10787 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 14:05:43 -0700 Received: from [[email protected]] by imo-r07.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v32.5.) id t.14f.f1b4ff5 (4330) for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 17:05:27 -0400 (EDT) From: [[email protected]] Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 17:05:27 EDT To: [[email protected]] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Mailer: AOL 7.0 for Windows US sub 10509 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] Blue Grosbeak, Stilt Sandpiper & Common Tern Sender: [[email protected]] Errors-To: [[email protected]] X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.5 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: All, This morning, shortly after 9:00 AM, Frank Vanslager refound the adult male BLUE GROSBEAK just east of the entrance road to the Coyote Creek Field Station. It spent most of the half hour or so that we watched it moving between the southern end of the re-growth area (near the entrance road just south of the last mist net) and the western edge of the trees along Coyote Creek about half way between the re-growth area and the point where the power lines cross the road spending a lot of the time in the grassy area between these to extremes (park 0.7 miles from the entrance gate). The male was often near, following or being followed by an overall brownish bird of the same GIS. It is assumed that this is a female BLGR but we did not get any good looks as the was never very visible (it perched lower down in the grass, would disappear when it landed and would just as suddenly reappear for another flight allowing for only brief bino views). We did all of our birding from the road as we did not wish to upset the birds and ruin any chance for a possible breeding record. We then drove to the CCFS Waterbird Pond where we found a breeding plumage STILT SANDPIPER. Overall the bird was very dark looking with heavy blackish-brown and white barring from the throat extending along the chest and the entire underparts (the only unbarred area being a narrow area between and behind the legs). The scapulars were dark blackish-brown with white edges to most of these feathers except for a few feathers on the center upper mantle which had rufous edges (giving the back scaly look) . The bird had a fairly long bill with a slight droop (decurve), had a whitish supercillium, a dark eyeline, and nice contrasting rufous cheek patches (contrasting with the dark streaking on the lower head and neck) and fine streaking on the crown (we were unable to get good head-on views to check for rufous on the crown). The bird had yellowish-green legs however the right leg was damaged/deformed, it was missing most of the lower leg and the foot, the leg appearing thinner when seen from behind. The effect of the bad leg was to give the bird a much shorter legged look overall and because it was slower moving tended to force the bird to feed much more like a dowitcher (slowly hobbling along with it's bill in the water most of the time). The bird was also required to stay in shallower water and was somewhat more horizontal when feeding (again more like a dowitcher, STSA normally have a very tail high attitude when feeding). We then went to the Environmental Education Center where we found a second summer COMMON TERN on the first island in Salt Pond A16. This bird was smaller and much darker looking than nearby FORSTER'S TERNS. The legs were somewhat shorter and were a shade more orange than those of the FOTE, the bill was also more reddish-orange and had a black tip (outer half). One of the birds most striking features was the whitish forehead on the otherwise black head (whitish portion started forward of the eye and swept up onto the forehead). The black on the back of the head extended well down onto the nape. The COTE also had quite dark gray primaries (adult FOTE are fairly light gray) and although there was no evidence of a carpal bar the leading edge of the folded wing (the wrist) on down was dark gray when viewed from the front (adult FOTE are white in the same area). At one point an adult FOTE approached the COTE and forced it to fly a short distance away (a couple feet). Looks like I should have bought a lottery ticket today :-) Take care, Bob Reiling, 1:57 PM, 6/10/02 Received: from imo-r04.mx.aol.com (imo-r04.mx.aol.com [152.163.225.100]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g5AMLvf12073 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 15:21:57 -0700 Received: from [[email protected]] by imo-r04.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v32.5.) id t.15b.f2df4a7 (3858) for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 18:21:35 -0400 (EDT) From: [[email protected]] Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 18:21:35 EDT Subject: Fwd: [SBB] Blue Grosbeak, Stilt Sandpiper & Common Tern To: [[email protected]] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Mailer: AOL 7.0 for Windows US sub 10509 X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/mixed by demime 0.98b X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was multipart/alternative Sender: [[email protected]] Errors-To: [[email protected]] X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.5 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: In a message dated 6/10/02 2:08:29 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [[email protected]] writes: > The legs were somewhat shorter and were a shade more orange than those of > the FOTE All, I meant to say that the legs were a shade more reddish-orange than those of the FOTE. Bob Reiling, 3;17 PM, 6/10/02 Return-Path: <[[email protected]]> Received: from rly-xi03.mx.aol.com (rly-xi03.mail.aol.com [172.20.116.8]) by air-xi05.mail.aol.com (v86_r1.13) with ESMTP id MAILINXI54-0610170829; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 17:08:29 -0400 Received: from plaidworks.com (www.plaidworks.com [64.81.78.180]) by rly-xi03.mx.aol.com (v86_r1.13) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINXI31-0610170809; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 17:08:09 -0400 Received: from plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g5AL73910840; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 14:07:03 -0700 Received: from imo-r07.mx.aol.com (imo-r07.mx.aol.com [152.163.225.103]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g5AL5hf10787 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 14:05:43 -0700 Received: from [[email protected]] by imo-r07.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v32.5.) id t.14f.f1b4ff5 (4330) for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 17:05:27 -0400 (EDT) From: [[email protected]] Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Mailer: AOL 7.0 for Windows US sub 10509 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] Blue Grosbeak, Stilt Sandpiper & Common Tern Sender: [[email protected]] Errors-To: [[email protected]] X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.5 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 17:05:27 EDT All, This morning, shortly after 9:00 AM, Frank Vanslager refound the adult male BLUE GROSBEAK just east of the entrance road to the Coyote Creek Field Station. It spent most of the half hour or so that we watched it moving between the southern end of the re-growth area (near the entrance road just south of the last mist net) and the western edge of the trees along Coyote Creek about half way between the re-growth area and the point where the power lines cross the road spending a lot of the time in the grassy area between these to extremes (park 0.7 miles from the entrance gate). The male was often near, following or being followed by an overall brownish bird of the same GIS. It is assumed that this is a female BLGR but we did not get any good looks as the was never very visible (it perched lower down in the grass, would disappear when it landed and would just as suddenly reappear for another flight allowing for only brief bino views). We did all of our birding from the road as we did not wish to upset the birds and ruin any chance for a possible breeding record. We then drove to the CCFS Waterbird Pond where we found a breeding plumage STILT SANDPIPER. Overall the bird was very dark looking with heavy blackish-brown and white barring from the throat extending along the chest and the entire underparts (the only unbarred area being a narrow area between and behind the legs). The scapulars were dark blackish-brown with white edges to most of these feathers except for a few feathers on the center upper mantle which had rufous edges (giving the back scaly look) . The bird had a fairly long bill with a slight droop (decurve), had a whitish supercillium, a dark eyeline, and nice contrasting rufous cheek patches (contrasting with the dark streaking on the lower head and neck) and fine streaking on the crown (we were unable to get good head-on views to check for rufous on the crown). The bird had yellowish-green legs however the right leg was damaged/deformed, it was missing most of the lower leg and the foot, the leg appearing thinner when seen from behind. The effect of the bad leg was to give the bird a much shorter legged look overall and because it was slower moving tended to force the bird to feed much more like a dowitcher (slowly hobbling along with it's bill in the water most of the time). The bird was also required to stay in shallower water and was somewhat more horizontal when feeding (again more like a dowitcher, STSA normally have a very tail high attitude when feeding). We then went to the Environmental Education Center where we found a second summer COMMON TERN on the first island in Salt Pond A16. This bird was smaller and much darker looking than nearby FORSTER'S TERNS. The legs were somewhat shorter and were a shade more orange than those of the FOTE, the bill was also more reddish-orange and had a black tip (outer half). One of the birds most striking features was the whitish forehead on the otherwise black head (whitish portion started forward of the eye and swept up onto the forehead). The black on the back of the head extended well down onto the nape. The COTE also had quite dark gray primaries (adult FOTE are fairly light gray) and although there was no evidence of a carpal bar the leading edge of the folded wing (the wrist) on down was dark gray when viewed from the front (adult FOTE are white in the same area). At one point an adult FOTE approached the COTE and forced it to fly a short distance away (a couple feet). Looks like I should have bought a lottery ticket today :-) Take care, Bob Reiling, 1:57 PM, 6/10/02 _______________________________________________ south-bay-birds mailing list | [[email protected]] Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/listinfo/south-bay-birds Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Received: from win110.nas.nasa.gov (win110.nas.nasa.gov [129.99.19.14]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g5ANe3f13729 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 16:40:03 -0700 Received: (from mrogers@localhost) by win110.nas.nasa.gov (SGI-8.9.3/8.9.3/NAS 8.9.3-4n) id QAA76699 for [[email protected]]; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 16:39:57 -0700 (PDT) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 16:39:57 -0700 (PDT) From: "Dr. Michael M. Rogers" <[[email protected]]> Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Subject: [SBB] Chasing the lottery winner Sender: [[email protected]] Errors-To: [[email protected]] X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.5 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: All, Mike Mammoser and I headed to Alviso for a quick attempt to refind the birds reported by Bob Reiling today 6/10/02. We found the injured alternate-plumaged STILT SANDPIPER still foraging feverishly at the CCFS waterbird pond (14 WILSON'S PHALAROPES here too) but failed to find anything but breeding FORSTER'S TERNS among the terns at the island near the EEC. There were two BLACK SKIMMERS there, along with 37 WILSON'S PHALAROPES in aroudn/on the island. Mike Rogers Received: from mms1.broadcom.com (mms1.broadcom.com [63.70.210.58]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with SMTP id g5B0ZFf14735 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 17:35:15 -0700 Received: from 63.70.210.1 by mms1.broadcom.com with ESMTP (Broadcom MMS-1 SMTP Relay (MMS v4.7)); Mon, 10 Jun 2002 17:33:05 -0700 X-Server-Uuid: 1e1caf3a-b686-11d4-a6a3-00508bfc9ae5 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 RAA13509 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 17:33: 31 -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 RAA05167 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 17:33:31 -0700 ( PDT) From: "Mike Mammoser" <[[email protected]]> To: SBB <[[email protected]]> Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 17:29:09 -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: 111B9ACB151069-01-01 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: 2.0.5 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: I headed out to CCFS right after seeing Bob's posting. Mike Rogers was already there and we both watched the alternate-plumaged STILT SANDPIPER in the waterbird pond. It was interesting watching this bird try to cope with its disability. It used its wings a lot to keep its balance while foraging. Twice it balanced on the stub to scratch its head with the other foot, and more times than that it tried to scratch the other side of its head with the right foot, ending up just waving the stub in the air. I would assume that this is a late northward migrant, rather than a bird returning from the breeding grounds. A check at the EEC failed to produce the tern. Mike Mammoser Received: from InterGate.southcoast.net (intergate.southcoast.net [206.245.213.2]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g58HRCf00830 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 8 Jun 2002 10:27:12 -0700 Received: from [206.245.213.110] (sub110.southcoast.net [206.245.213.110]) by InterGate.southcoast.net (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id KAA01172 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 8 Jun 2002 10:38:01 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express for Macintosh - 4.01 (295) Date: Sat, 08 Jun 2002 09:30:27 -0800 From: "Katherine Alberts" <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Subject: [SBB] Upper Stevens Creek PIWO, etc. etc. Sender: [[email protected]] Errors-To: [[email protected]] X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.5 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: All, On the Palo Alto SBC last Saturday June 1 I heard, but did not see at least one Pileated Woodpecker between 8-9AM along the creek close to the Indian Creek confluence. Last evening (Friday June 7) I walked down the Stevens Creek Nature Trail from the Monte Bello OSP parking lot to try for better contact. At 6:06 PM I was rewarded with a brief visual of a single bird from a point perhaps 200 yards downstream from the intersection of of the SCNT with the White Oak trail. The whole area is one of limited visibility due to the close canopy (and poison-oak understory), but the flight calls of the bird were persistent enough that I was able to maneuver myself into a position from which its downstream flight would cross one of the few breaks in the canopy. The resulting view was diagnostic to species, but not to sex or age. I have been in this area several times in the past couple of weeks and have had at least one vocal contact from PIWO each time, but it is a difficult spot to view. These birds seem to go for an hour or more between vocalizations, so patience is called for. Yesterday, there was also a pair of Pygmy Nuthatches active in this same area (a patch of very mature Douglas-firs). Other birds of note included Acorn Woodpeckers feeding fledged young along the Canyon Trail at about 0.8 miles from the parking area, and a pair of Lazuli Buntings among the walnut trees by the sag pond. The latter were of interest mainly because the female was gathering spiderwebs and carrying them to a spot low in a coyote bush. I was not aware of this behavior in LAZB, but it makes sense - what a great building material. On 6/4, I stopped off at mid-morning at Monte Bello Gate 5, at the Western edge of the preserve. Two Grasshopper Sparrows were singing boldly from the tops of Coyote bushes just inside Gate 4, and a silent Chipping Sparrow sat atop another one where the connector from the Gate 5 area meets the White Oak trail. A single flyover Lawrence's Goldfinch went over the small unnamed pond 0.3 miles inside Gate 5, tinkling merrily. There seem to be a lot of these birds up on the ridgelines right now; I had a group of 5 at the Monte Bello backpack camp on the SBC, and saw another (or the same?) group of 5 nearby, at Russian Ridge, (SM County) on the evening of June 4. A Red-breasted Nuthatch was calling from the Gate 5 area on the morning of 6/4 as well (an SBC Count Week species, for what it's worth). One last SBC note: on count day, my birding partner Kirsten Holmquist located a Black-headed Grosbeak nest under incubation at 15' in a hazelnut bush just a few score yards from the Grizzly Flat trailhead near Skyline Blvd. - outside the count area, but a breeding confirmation nonetheless. --Garth Harwood Received: from hotmail.com (f218.pav2.hotmail.com [64.4.37.218]) by plaidworks.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g5B6b5f19976 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 23:37:05 -0700 Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Mon, 10 Jun 2002 23:37:01 -0700 Received: from 64.171.5.168 by pv2fd.pav2.hotmail.msn.com with HTTP; Tue, 11 Jun 2002 06:37:00 GMT X-Originating-IP: [64.171.5.168] From: "rycenga jennifer" <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 23:37:00 -0700 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 11 Jun 2002 06:37:01.0145 (UTC) FILETIME=[64688490:01C21112] Subject: [SBB] Birds at EEC 6/10/02 Sender: [[email protected]] Errors-To: [[email protected]] X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.5 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Today around noon time, there were 24 WILSON'S PHALAROPES, all of them east of the first island, very close to the EEC. We also had many BLACK-NECK STILT adults and chicks in various stages of growth, one BARN OWL in the box, at least two BURROWING OWLS in the area, and one BLACK SKIMMER on the first island. We were attacked by one FORSTER'S TERN and a few AMERICAN AVOCETS, without injury. Jennifer Rycenga Berkeley, California [[email protected]] "Identification is more difficult when the bird persists in manifesting itself as a vague streak rather than as a definite object" - A.C. Bent _________________________________________________________________ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com