From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Mon Nov 18 10:05:07 2002 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.2/8.12.2) with ESMTP id gAII287q006854 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 18 Nov 2002 10:02:09 -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 gAII1Rke006810 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 18 Nov 2002 10:01:27 -0800 (PST) Received: (from mrogers@localhost) by rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (SGI-8.9.3/8.9.3/NAS 8.9.3-5n) id KAA67169 for [[email protected]]; Mon, 18 Nov 2002 10:01:26 -0800 (PST) Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 10:01:26 -0800 (PST) From: "Dr. Michael M. Rogers" <[[email protected]]> Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Subject: [SBB] Alviso Salt Ponds 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, On Saturday 11/16/02, I made a 5+ hour bike tour around the Alviso Salt Ponds. The bulk of my time was spent scoping the duck flock out on the outermost two ponds, Salt Ponds A9 and A10. On the way to the Marina, I first scanned the plowed field near the Arzino Ranch. No Mountain Plovers :), but an adult PEREGRINE FALCON was perched atop a dirt clod there. Thanks to the recent rains, there is a gull flock roosting across the railroad tracks from the Marina, but no Lesser Black-backed Gull was among them. This roost bears watching as gull numbers build over the next few weeks. I had about 950+ HERRING GULLS on the dikes, but this number should grow by an order of magnitude before the Christmas count. Other interesting gulls included 12 BONAPARTE'S GULLS by the outfall pipe entering pond A11 and at least three more chasing FORSTER'S TERNS in pond A9. Duck numbers are impressive on the outer two ponds. I didn't count the 1000's of NORTHERN SHOVELER, PINTAIL, RUDDY DUCKS, etc., but did come up with the following numbers for some of the more interesting species. GREEN-WINGED TEAL - 250 on pond A9 MALLARD - 8 on A9 and 6 on A10, all pairs (not a common duck out there!) CINNAMON TEAL - 5 on pond A9 CANVASBACK - 740, most in one big flock on the west side of A9 REDHEAD - 11 on pond A9 and 137 on pond A10, including a female with a white nape GREATER SCAUP - at least 9 on pond A9, hundreds on A10 LESSER SCAUP - at least 45 on A9, very few on A10 SCAUP sp. - 95 on A9 (mostly Lesser apparently), 340 on A10 (nearly all Greater) COMMON GOLDENEYE - 11+ on A9, 31+ on A10 BUFFLEHEAD - 120+ about equally split between the two ponds HOODED MERGANSER - 1 female on A9, 1 adult male on A10 RED-BREASTED MERGANSER - 70+, including 59+ on A10, 8+ on A9, and 3 on A13 Other birds of interest included 17+ BROWN PELICANS (13 on the A9/A10 dike, 2 on the A10/A11 dike, and 2 flying around all at one time), a HORNED GREBE on pond A10, and adult PEREGRINE FALCONS perched on the dikes at four different locations - probably two different birds. There is no exposed mud for shorebird roosting and since it was high tide these birds were forced to roost on the dikes themselves. Of interest were 220 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS near the northeast corner of A14 and 500+ BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS at the southeast corner of A14. At least 500 AMERICAN AVOCETS were roosting in a shallow spot in the middle of pond A9. The best bird of the day was seen returning to the Marina. While scoping a small group of gulls in southwest pond A12, I heard the hard tick of a phalarope (actually thought that I had heard one earlier in the day at A13 but that note was never repeated). I quickly backed away from the scope in time to see the bird flying up from directly below me and then over the dike to Guadalupe Slough, where it disappeared behind the reeds. Given the time of year, I fully expected to see the plain gray back of a Red Phalarope (a few have been reported along the coast the last few days). Thus I was surprised to see the blackish, pale-striped upperparts of a juvenile RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. This is about a month later than our normal late dates for this species, and the bird was clearly capable of strong flight, so not lingering because of injuries. Paulson's Shorebirds of the Pacific Northwest indicates coastal records through November for that region, but Roberson's new edition of Monterey Birds (a great source of information and well worth the money!) shows them becoming rare and irregular after the first week or so in November (and gone by mid-December). 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]]