From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Tue Dec 16 16:20:05 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hBH0HnPJ020149 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:17:49 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtp3.Stanford.EDU (smtp3.stanford.edu [171.67.16.117]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hBH0GHUP020098 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:16:17 -0800 (PST) Received: from [171.65.20.125] (PeregrineII.Stanford.EDU [171.65.20.125]) by smtp3.Stanford.EDU (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id hBH0GGqg021567 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:16:16 -0800 Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Sender: [[email protected]] Message-Id: Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 16:16:28 -0800 To: South Bay Birds <[[email protected]]> From: Richard Stovel <[[email protected]]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Subject: [SBB] Palo Alto CBC - Stanford 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]] I covered the Stanford Campus between El Camino and Junipero Serra including the Santa Clara side of San Francisquito Creek. My impressions were similar to Al's - it seemed as though some common species were missing or low in numbers, but there were some decent finds to make up for that somewhat. Highlights were: 1. Merlin - this bird seems to be fairly regular in the early morning these days perched high in a bare tree on Serra Street near the Police station. 2. Barn Owl - 1 bird continues to use the Gates Buiding eaves despite the installation of pigeon-pricker spike strips. I guess it flies over them and lands inside them. 3. Hooded Merganser - 3 males, 1 female on S.F. Creek - perhaps these were the missing ones from Felt Lake. 4. Pygmy Nuthatch - at the nest site on S.F.Creek reported earlier this year - see below. 5. Mew Gull - 5 were in a with a flock of 60 California Gulls on the playing fields early. Among the missing was Tricolored Blackbird, which had been regular for many years at the Stanford Stables. There was only a scattering of blackbirds of any sort there this year. With regard to the Pygmy Nuthatches (2 seen), I was surprised to find them at the nest site (directions follow) at this time of year. I observed some behavior that puzzled me - perhaps someone can explain it. As I watched over several minutes, a PYNU would enter the nest for a minute or two at a time, and repeatedly stick its head out of the hole with something thin and dark brown in its bill. After a couple of seconds the object would mysteriously disappear, then the bird would re-enter the hole and appear a short time later with another, similar object. I could never see anything falling to the ground, nor could I see it obviously swallowing anything, but either was possible. One possibility that occurred to me was nest maintenance or enlargement. The second possibility was that it was eating something that it had stashed in its nest hole, but this would mean that it had gathered and stashed a food supply earlier, a behavior that I didn't know occurred with this species. Any thoughts? By the way, for those who care about such things, one of the PYNU's made a brief excursion into San Mateo County, about 50' across the creek. - Dick --- Directions to the PYNU nest: The Stanford West apartments are along Sandhill Rd. south/west of Stanford Shopping Center. Behind the complex a bike bridge crosses San Francisquito Creek into Menlo Park, near the end of the complex that is closest to El Camino Real. Durand Way is the nearest cross street that intersects Sandhill Road. From the bike bridge, take the footpath upstream about 150 yards to a dog-doo station (a green post that dispenses paraphernalia). About 20 yards farther upstream and about 12 feet inside the fence is a large eucalyptus with a metal tag about 6 feet up with the number "98-3310" on it (binoculars required). This tree has a large truncated branch projecting toward the creek at about the 20 foot level. The PYNU nest cavity is in this branch on the side facing upstream. -- Richard Stovel [[email protected]] _______________________________________________ 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]]