From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Mon Dec 8 14:12:26 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hB8M8WPK016516 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 8 Dec 2003 14:08:33 -0800 (PST) Received: from rwcrmhc11.comcast.net (rwcrmhc11.comcast.net [204.127.198.35]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hB8M7IUP016468 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 8 Dec 2003 14:07:18 -0800 (PST) Received: from 204.127.197.119 ([204.127.197.119]) by comcast.net (rwcrmhc11) with SMTP id <2003120822071801300mrbf6e>; Mon, 8 Dec 2003 22:07:18 +0000 Received: from [24.6.247.252] by 204.127.197.119; Mon, 08 Dec 2003 22:07:17 +0000 From: [[email protected]] To: [[email protected]] (SBB Chat Group) Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2003 22:07:17 +0000 Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> X-Mailer: AT&T Message Center Version 1 (Oct 27 2003) X-Authenticated-Sender: YmlyZGVybW9tQGNvbWNhc3QubmV0 Subject: [SBB] Dec. 3 visit to Panoche Valley X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2+ 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]] Hi! On Wednesday, the valley was "socked-in" with fog so I headed up to Panoche Valley. The skies were clear and deep blue and it was tee-shirt weather. The backdrop of the flowing light brown hills surrounding the wide open spaces of the unplanted short-grass valley floor was breathtaking, as was the clear air. Once again, I was on my search for the elusive Vesper (and recently sited Sage) Sparrows as well as Chukars. I found several candidates in the sparrow department, but decided the only way for me to spot these birds for sure is to go with someone who can help me with specifics (too much like Savannah and Lincoln's and Song, etc.). Any volunteers (I'll be happy to drive - Saturdays and Wednesdays are my birding days)? Interesting finds for the day were Lark Sparrows (feeding or perching in a tree next to the road with various other species), 5+ Say's Phoebe's, Golden Eagle (in the valley on the way up), tons of Crows and Ravens (at least every 100 yds. or so throughout the valley), several Northern Shrikes, 1 Western Bluebird, Ferruginous Hawk feeding near flocks of blackbirds and Western Meadowlarks (see pics at website shown below), loads of Yellow-billed Magpies in valley on the way up (acting like crows, picking road kill from the road - missed several by inches), Wild Turkey and an Albino CA Ground Squirrel (see pics). At Paicines Damn, interesting finds were 2 Tundra swans (one immature), 15 Common Mergansers, Green-winged Teal, American Widgeon, 2 Bald Eagles on their normal perch, one Bufflehead and 1 Greater Yellowlegs along with several hundred other more common ducks, egrets, etc. The best birding of the day (for me) was at the pond/lakes next to the hills on HW 152 east before you climb over Pacheco Pass (31 species here alone). Some highlights were flocks N. Pintail and Canvasback innundating the water, all the normal egrets and herons spotting the shores, loads of shorebirds on the far side (too far to identify, but clearly many species), 2 White Pelicans and several Belted Kingfischer. The crowning moment of the trip was the field behind the ponds (second pullout - but beware of fast moving trucks). In this field at one time I counted 1 Osprey, 1 Northern Harrier, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, 2 American Kestrel, 2 White-tailed Kites, 2 Pheasants, Crows, thousands of Red-winged blackbirds, and 9 other large raptors perched upright on the fields (crows don't perch in the same way). It was like heaven to spot so many raptor species in such a short time - wish I had had more time to study this field. My photo site is at: http://community.webshots.com/user/birdermom Sorry for the delay. A power outage took out all our phones and Comcast connections for over a day. Happy Holidays! Jean Myers _______________________________________________ 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]]