From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Tue Dec 16 13:54:25 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hBGLogPL016848 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:50:43 -0800 (PST) Received: from mms1.broadcom.com (mms1.broadcom.com [63.70.210.58]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hBGLndUP016804 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:49:39 -0800 (PST) Received: from 63.70.210.1 by mms1.broadcom.com with ESMTP (Broadcom SMTP Relay (MMS v5.6.0)); Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:49:27 -0800 X-Server-Uuid: 97B92932-364A-4474-92D6-5CFE9C59AD14 Received: from mail-sjcw-3.sw.broadcom.com (mail-sjcw-3.sw.broadcom.com [10.20.128.23]) by mon-irva-11.broadcom.com (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id NAA13019 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:48: 55 -0800 (PST) Received: from mail-sjcw-1.broadcom.com (mail-sjcw-1.sw.broadcom.com [10.20.128.21]) by mail-sjcw-3.sw.broadcom.com (8.12.9/8.12.9/SSM3) with ESMTP id hBGLnOMW005995 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:49:26 -0800 (PST) Received: from pc2kmikem (dhcpe1-sjcw-254 [10.20.64.254]) by mail-sjcw-1.broadcom.com (8.12.9/8.12.4/SSM) with SMTP id hBGLnS0N000122 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:49:28 -0800 (PST) From: "Mike Mammoser" <[[email protected]]> To: SBB <[[email protected]]> Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:49:36 -0800 Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0) X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 Importance: Normal X-WSS-ID: 13C1A26D1O82497097-01-01 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: [SBB] : 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]] On Sunday, 14 Dec 03, I freelanced my way through the San Jose CBC, stopping at various places. I started at Lake Cunningham, but for the second year in a row failed to find any sign of an unusual gull. Although swallows were found later in the day, they hadn't shown yet when I was there early in the morning. I did get a "yellow-shafted" NORTHERN FLICKER for my efforts. It was a female bird, with a bright red nuchal patch, a tan face, gray crown, and yellow feather shafts; showing no evident signs of intergradation. Among the CANADA GEESE on the lake were 3 small-form birds that looked like "Aleutian" geese. They had flat heads and steep foreheads, with 2 of them having distinct white neck rings. They all flew off after a few minutes. I then went to the parking lot at the corner of Lawrence Xway and El Camino, where the Rusty Blackbird had been the previous year. I had no luck finding this bird this year, but did have some BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS - surprisingly, some of only a few that were found on the count this year. I went to San Tomas Aquino Creek, near where I work in Santa Clara, to try and find the Bullock's Oriole and Black-throated Gray Warbler I had seen recently. I ran into Dick Stovel and his group, who were also hoping for the same birds. These rarities didn't show, but I was able to find 2 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS on the east side of the creek. A PEREGRINE FALCON flew low overhead, heading south. I wonder if this is one of the nearby Sun building birds, none of which I have seen since early in the fall. My next stop was New Chicago Marsh in Alviso, where I was able to refind the immature RUFF that I had seen the previous day. Of the 700 or so gulls in the marsh, I estimated that about 80% of them were HERRING GULLS. I picked out 1 THAYER'S GULL, but didn't really spend much time looking through all of them for more. On the mound near the entrance gate to the EEC I had 3 BURROWING OWLS. At the end of the railroad tracks I scoped out the impoundment next to salt pond A12 and found 13 SANDERLINGS, to augment the 6 that Mike Rogers had there earlier. I then met Mike for a foray into the San Jose sludge ponds, which he has already described. On Monday, 15 Dec 03, I participated in the Palo Alto CBC, working the area of the Sunnyvale Sewage Ponds and the salt ponds behind Moffet Field. When I entered the count circle on top of the old landfill, the second bird I saw was the SAGE THRASHER along the gravel trail, beaten out as first bird only by a SAVANNAH SPARROW that I flushed just prior. >From the hilltop I scoped out the "West" pond and the Lockheed ponds. On the "West" pond I found 5 EURASIAN WIGEONS, 4 adult males and a female. The female was more rufous colored than a typical American Wigeon female and was closely associating with one of the male Eurasians. On the Lockheed ponds I picked out 3 male BLUE-WINGED TEAL. From the marshy edges of the Lockheed ponds I heard 4 VIRGINIA RAILS and 3 SORAS, all calling unsolicited. I raised 3 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS from the vegetation bordering the north edge of the old landfill. I then drove out the levee to the paved road along the southeast edge of salt pond A3W. I found a basic-plumaged COMMON LOON on the pond, quite close to the road. The interesting thing about this bird was that it spent about 30 seconds giving its yodeling call, which I have never heard in California. I had a single HORNED GREBE among the hundreds of EAREDS. Of the 46 aechmophorus grebes, I identified 6 WESTERNS and 1 CLARK'S. There were 51 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS here and 5 BROWN PELICANS. Also, 7 FORSTER'S TERNS and 17 RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS. While standing out by the barge dock I had a vocal PEREGRINE FALCON fly overhead heading towards the north. I walked out the edge of the pond to the south end of salt pond B2, being rewarded with a near-adult GOLDEN EAGLE flying over Moffet Field near the end of the runway. Later, back at the old landfill, I had a SAY'S PHOEBE. Mike Mammoser _______________________________________________ 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]]