From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sat Apr 12 21:05:02 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.7/8.12.6) with ESMTP id h3D433He003220 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 12 Apr 2003 21:03:03 -0700 (PDT) Received: from imo-d07.mx.aol.com (imo-d07.mx.aol.com [205.188.157.39]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.7/8.12.6) with ESMTP id h3D41Toc003175 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 12 Apr 2003 21:01:29 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [[email protected]] by imo-d07.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v34.21.) id t.11f.2088d6ab (17377) for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 13 Apr 2003 00:01:20 -0400 (EDT) From: [[email protected]] Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 00:01:19 EDT To: [[email protected]] MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: 7.0 for Windows sub 10638 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1+ Subject: [SBB] Almaden "Big Day" X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1+ 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]] Hello All, Well, Grant Webb and I kicked off the SCVAS Spring Birdathon with our "big day" as the "Almaden Eagles" team in the Almaden area today (Sat, 4/12). The day felt more like a CBC than a Spring Birdathon, but since this was the only day that could fit our schedules during the Spring Birdathon time frame, we decided to make a run for it anyway. Our day began with dank misty drizzly stuff but a couple of rainbows were encouraging. For one brief shining moment when we were at Chesbro Reservoir the rains and winds stopped, but shortly afterwards the stormy weather picked up again with a vengeance as the main front moved through and about 1:30 pm we decided to call it quits for the day. We ended up with 72 species for the day and here are a few highlights. At the McAbee entrance to Quicksilver CP we had WARBLING VIREO, HUTTON'S VIREO, BEWICK'S WREN and WESTERN BLUEBIRD. A brief stop at Guadalupe Oak Grove Park failed to produce the Ash-throated Flycatcher seen earlier in the week. Next stop was Hicks Road where two CANADA GEESE were at Guadalupe Reservoir (unusual for this location). Near the confluence of Guadalupe & Rincon Creeks we had BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, DOWNY WOODPECKER, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, TOWNSEND'S WARBLER and our only LESSER GOLDFINCH of the day. Almaden Reservoir and Twin Creeks were very quiet. A GREEN HERON was along Herbert Creek by the O'Day property. Further upstream we found a pair of BELTED KINGFISHER where we've found American Dipper in the past (but not this time). Behind the New Almaden Community Center a PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER was heard calling. At a brief stop at the Stile Ranch Trailhead off Fortini Road we found WESTERN KINGBIRD, ALLEN'S HUMMINGBIRD, RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW, and WESTERN MEADOWLARK. Birds of interest at Calero Reservoir included CASPIAN TERN, FORSTER'S TERN, COMMON MERGANSER, and one EARED GREBE. A few WILD TURKEYS were in the horse corral. At Chesbro Reservoir we found WOOD DUCK, GADWALL, GREATER YELLOWLEGS, TREE SWALLOW, more COMMON MERGANSERS, and YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE. Along McKean/Uvas Road we saw another YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE, a fly-over COMMON RAVEN, and the GOLDEN EAGLE hunkered down on the nest on the transmission tower protecting the two baby eaglets. By then the wind and rain were really picking up, so we hurried through our last two stops. We picked up BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON and egrets on the roosting island on Almaden Lake, but we did not walk down Alamitos Trail for orioles or mannikins. Our last stop was at the SCVWD office. Guadalupe Channel was now flooded so there was no shorebird habitat; also no ducks on the Alamitos Groundwater Recharge Pond other than a few Mallards. Our last birds of the day were COMMON YELLOWTHROATS in the Guadalupe Channel willows and several CLIFF SWALLOWS around the fish ladder structure. We had a lot of "misses" for the day and many of our stops were rather cursory as we were trying to get to as many habitats as possible before the weather completely deteriorated - but no apologies. We did the best we could under the circumstances as we tried to raise some funding for the Birdathon projects. Ann Verdi :) _______________________________________________ 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]]