From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Tue Dec 16 10:57:04 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hBGIshPL012559 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 10:54:44 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtp.slac.stanford.edu (smtp.slac.stanford.edu [134.79.18.80]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hBGIrEUP012511 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 10:53:15 -0800 (PST) Received: from CONVERSION-DAEMON.smtp.slac.stanford.edu by smtp.slac.stanford.edu (PMDF V6.1-1 #37665) id <[[email protected]]> for [[email protected]]; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 10:53:14 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtpserv2.slac.stanford.edu (smtpserv2.slac.stanford.edu [134.79.19.101]) by smtp.slac.stanford.edu (PMDF V6.1-1 #37665) with ESMTP id <[[email protected]]> for [[email protected]]; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 10:53:13 -0800 (PST) Received: from flora01.slac.stanford.edu ([134.79.16.29]) by smtpserv2.slac.stanford.edu (PMDF V6.1-1 #37665) with ESMTP id <[[email protected]]> for [[email protected]]; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 10:53:13 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost (eisner@localhost) by flora01.slac.stanford.edu (8.12.10+Sun/8.12.5/Submit-solaris) with ESMTP id hBGIrDkP006486 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 10:53:13 -0800 (PST) Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 10:53:13 -0800 (PST) From: Al Eisner <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Message-id: <[[email protected]]> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-Authentication-warning: flora01.slac.stanford.edu: eisner owned process doing -bs Subject: [SBB] BIrding on the Palo Alto CBC 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, folks: My area on the Palo Alto CBC yesterday was somewhat disappointing. In particular, the water level at Felt Lake was very low (the lowest I've ever seen there); waterbird numbers and variety were consequently very low. There were no Common Mergansers (a species which has been there for most recent CBCs) and only a single male Hooded Merganser (typical numbers in recent years have been 5 to 8). Even Killdeer (once regular here) was missing. The Palo Alto Hills golf course was also disappointing. This is usually a good place for Finches, and is semi-reliable for Pine Siskins, but this time I didn't find a single Finch; sparrows and juncos were also scarce. One definite change for the worse: the ground crew has taken to using gas-powered leaf blowers. (But this was probably not responsible for the bird shortages I noted.) American Robins were the most numerous species here and overall for my day. But there were some highlights for the day, chief among them a closely interacting group of three Red-breasted Sapsuckers on a private road off Los Trancos Road (I'd guess a family group). The same area had two pre-dawn Western Screech Owls (heard calling). Raptors at Arastradero Preserve included a young Sharp-shinned Hawk, along with the expected Kites, Red-tailed and (just one) Red-shouldered Hawks and American Kestrels. David Houston separately covered the back part of the Preserve in the morning, finding a flock (18, I think) of Wild Turkeys, a species which has apparently become regular there. (David joined me for afternoon birding at Felt Lake and the "close" portion of Arastradero). Western Bluebirds were in good numbers, as were Nuttall's Woodpeckers. There was a modest number of Acorn Woodpeckers, and we found two Downy, but managed to miss Flicker. Two male Tricolored Blackbirds spotted among reduced blackbird numbers near Felt Lake were a fortunate find. Poaching-from-a-distance department: from the vicinity of Felt Lake, we scoped out two adult Golden Eagles perched atop the big Stanford dish. I don't think these were picked up by the local group for that area (please correct me if I'm wrong). This was about 1 or 1:30 PM. I know that single Golden Eagles were also seen on the count at Jasper Ridge and at Coal Ridge preserve. Any suggestions on the likelihood of one or more of these being redundant birds would be welcome as an aid to count compilation. How widely are the "Stanford eagles" known to roam? Are there different known birds in this area? Regards, Al Eisner _______________________________________________ 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]]