From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Tue Dec 16 13:26:34 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hBGLNfPM016173 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:23:42 -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 hBGLMWUP016117 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:22:33 -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 13:22:32 -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]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:22:32 -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]]>; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:22:32 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost (eisner@localhost) by flora01.slac.stanford.edu (8.12.10+Sun/8.12.5/Submit-solaris) with ESMTP id hBGLMW6g009879; Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:22:32 -0800 (PST) Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:22:32 -0800 (PST) From: Al Eisner <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]], [[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 Cc: Subject: [SBB] Summary of 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]] In 2002, the Palo Alto CBC was beset by scattered rain and strong afternoon winds, and reached a rather low total species count of 157. This year's count (December 15) had good weather, and -- perhaps not coincidentally -- a preliminary total of up to 166 species, pending review of rare bird reports by our local "committee". Since I don't know the attribution for all of the "good bird" sightings, I will be even-handed here, and not attribute any of them -- hopefully that information will arrive via EMail postings by those same folks. By the way, I'm posting this to both the Santa Clara and San Mateo lists, since the count circle is about 50% in each county, and there were notable sightings in both. Two reported species would be new to the 45-year history of the (modern) Palo Alto count: -- Sage Thrasher: the bird discovered three days earlier at the old landfill above the west pond of the Sunnyvale Water Pollution Control Plant (Santa Clara Co.). -- Grasshopper Sparrow: one in grasslands near the parking lot for Montebello OSP (Santa Clara??). One other species would make its second-ever appearance: -- Northern Waterthrush: one still in the marshy area north of the east end of Charleston Road, Mountainview (Santa Clara). And these have been seen only infrequently in the past: -- Long-eared Owl: one heard pre-dawn in upper Foothill Park (Santa Clara); only two previous CBC appearances in the last 15 years. -- Lewis's Woodpecker: one by Alpine Pond, and six (perhaps including that one) along Alpine Road near the transmission towers (San Mateo Co.). These have been around since Fall. Our last previous CBC record was 1992. -- Black-throated Gray Warbler: one at Cuesta Park, Mountainview (?) (Santa Clara); only two previous appearances in 15 years. Additional good species which we haven't expected every year: -- Ross's Goose: 2 at the Shoreline Golf Course, Mountainview (Santa Clara). -- Wild Turkey: substantial flocks at Arastradero Preserve (18) and Rancho San Antonio (17), both becoming established (Santa Clara Co.). -- Pileated Woodpecker: several reports from Foothill Park (Santa Clara) need to be reviewed, but this species is certainly becoming more regular. -- Violet-green Swallow: three over Russian Ridge OSP (San Mateo). An unindentified Swallow was also seen at Cooley Landing (San Mateo). -- Western Tanager: one at the northeast corner of Middlefield Road and Palo Alto Ave. in a flowering euc. (by county line). Some other interesting sightings included a Common Loon on salt pond A3W; the continuing Eurasian male Green-winged Teal near Stevens Creek; good numbers of Blue-winged Teal and Eurasian Wigeon; 19 Black Skimmers in the now-regular wintering flock (pond A1 and Charleston Slough); a Ruddy Turnstone at the Palo Alto estuary; and several each of Red-breasted Nuthatch and White-throated Sparrow. We expect that the Swamp Sparrows at the Palo Alto Baylands are still around, but we didn't have the high tide likely necessary to find them. Another no-show was Barrow's Goldeneye (or even a hybrid) at Shoreline Lake. Other misses of pretty regular species included Sanderling and Pine Siskin, but there were no really glaring omissions. All in all this appears to have been a quite successful count. Thanks are due to all those who are participated, to the eight region coordinators, and to Jack Cole for organizing the whole count. Cheers, 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]]