From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Tue Dec 16 11:16:26 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hBGJEUPM012991 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 11:14:31 -0800 (PST) Received: from rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (rtjones.nas.nasa.gov [129.99.19.30]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hBGJCFUP012882 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 11:12:15 -0800 (PST) Received: from rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (SGI-8.12.5/8.12.5/NAS-6n) with ESMTP id hBGJCEIN021586 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 11:12:14 -0800 (PST) Received: (from mrogers@localhost) by rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (SGI-8.12.5/8.12.5/Submit) id hBGJCEiN022380 for [[email protected]]; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 11:12:14 -0800 (PST) Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 11:12:14 -0800 (PST) From: "Dr. Michael M. Rogers" <[[email protected]]> Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Subject: [SBB] SJ CBC - Alviso Salt Ponds 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]] All, On Sunday 12/14/03, I birded the salt ponds north of the Alviso Marina for the San Jose Christmas Bird Count. The lack of rain was very welcome, but the rain from the night before had made the dikes muddy enough that my 8-mile trek on the dikes was still accompanied by mud slippers :( Things got off to a good start with 2 BARN OWLS at our SFBBO meeting place at 6:25am. After distributing party packets, I started at the Marina, adding the usual marsh birds (including both VIRGINIA and SORA RAILS) and various SPARROWS (including 3 FOX and 2 LINCOLN'S). COMMON RAVENS were commuting from the hills to Newby Island Landfill in small groups; I ended up with 42 for the morning before I noted birds heading back the other way. One SANDERLING in the impoundment north of the Marina was joined by 3 more and then 2 more during my watch. Apparently their number had increased to 13 by the time Mike Mammoser came by later in the day. The highlight of the day came at 9:00am, when a basic-plumaged COMMON LOON flew over my head and then circled pond A12 twice, coming within a few feet of the water and almost landing on the second pass before rising up and flying off to near Moffett Field (this may well be the same bird found by Mike Mammoser on pond A3W yesterday on the Palo Alto count). While counting the gulls roosting on the A13/A14 dike, an adult PEREGRINE FALCON stirred things up. I made it to the northern edge of pond A14 at the count circle boundary and scoped Coyote Creek for roosting shorebirds, netting such species as LONG-BILLED CURLEW, BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, DUNLIN, DOWITCHER SP., and WESTERN SANDPIPER. As last year, the only FORSTER'S TERNS within the count circle were in the southeastern corner of pond A9. Only the eastern portion of pond A10 is within the count circle, but that portion provided a duck bonanza, with hundreds of SCAUP (both species), 147 REDHEAD (including a leucistic female with a white nape; 16 more REDHEAD were just outside the count circle), an adult male EURASIAN WIGEON with 35 AMERICAN WIGEON, 35 CANVASBACK, 34 BUFFLEHEAD, 13 RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, 2 SURF SCOTERS (adult male and adult female), and a male COMMON GOLDENEYE. Other totals of interest included 767 EARED GREBES, 1 AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, 1047 NORTHERN SHOVELERS, 11 AMERICAN PIPITS, and gulls, including 143 BONAPARTE'S, 2 MEW, 102 RING-BILLED, 590 CALIFORNIA, 6132 HERRING, 12 THAYER'S, 16 WESTERN, 136 GLAUCOUS-WINGED, and 5 WESTERN x GLAUCOUS-WINGED. As noted by Bill, Mike Mammoser and I also checked the sludge ponds of the San Jose-Santa Clara WPCP. Highlights included 3 LESSER YELLOWLEGS and the big gull flock Bill mentioned. By the time we left the number of BONAPARTE'S GULLS had risen to 730, including one nearly full alternate-plumaged bird with a black head (but white throat) and bright red legs. Other gulls of interest included 7 THAYER'S GULLS (2 adults, 5 first winters) and a first-winter GLAUCOUS x HERRING GULL. Mike Rogers _______________________________________________ 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]]