From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sun Dec 21 12:56:44 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hBLKsvPG021263 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 21 Dec 2003 12:54:57 -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 hBLKrlUP021216 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 21 Dec 2003 12:53:47 -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 hBLKrk78003490 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 21 Dec 2003 12:53:46 -0800 (PST) Received: (from mrogers@localhost) by rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (SGI-8.12.5/8.12.5/Submit) id hBLKrkSM003488 for [[email protected]]; Sun, 21 Dec 2003 12:53:46 -0800 (PST) Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 12:53:46 -0800 (PST) From: "Dr. Michael M. Rogers" <[[email protected]]> Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Subject: [SBB] winter swallows and a hybrid HEWAxTOWA 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, Yesterday 12/20/03, I was down near the Sunnyvale bayside and decided to check out the pepper trees at the Sunnyvale Water Pollution Control Plant, to determine whether they were inside or outside the San Jose count circle. Some of these trees are just west of the north end of Borregas, but that puts last week's Bullock's Oriole just outside the count circle, which apparently runs right down Borregas at this point. Bob or Frank, did you guys see the oriole ever cross Borregas? (there are some flowering eucalyptus just to the east here). After this I decided to walk around the top of the nearby landfill to see if I could refind the Sage Thrasher. No luck with this bird, but I did first hear, then see a small swallow group that included 2 TREE SWALLOWS and at least 1 BARN SWALLOW flying east along the north face of the landfill at about 4:30pm. On the way back home I found a MERLIN eating atop a small tree at 825 East Middlefield Road near Central Expressway. Today 12/21/03, I took advantage of the nice weather to try and follow up on a second-hand report of an apparent adult male Black-throated Green Warbler found in Mountain View by Bill Carver on Monday 12/15/03. He saw the bird at a small fountain in the front yard of the house at the northwest corner of Hackett and Sierra Vista. When I arrived there were no birds at the fountain and it seemed a bit cool for a bath, so I headed east along Hackett towards the redwoods along nearby Penitencia Creek. On the way I saw a red-flowering eucalyptus at 1912 Hackett and stopped to watch for birds. Almost immediately, a YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER chased a Townsend's-like warbler into the eucalyptus. I was able to study this bird, an adult male hybrid HERMIT x TOWNSEND'S WARBLER from 11:41am to 11:53am, when it flew over the house to the northeast. Superficially this bird resembled a Hermit Warbler, with an all yellow face with just a hint of duskiness in the auriculars. However, the back was green with veiled black streaks, there was a very faint limited yellow wash just below the black bib, and there were two rows of black streaks along the flanks. In addition, the top of the head was black with a central yellow crown spot. The bird differed from a Black-throated Green Warbler in having a more olive back that was faintly streaked, having a more limited black bib, and lacking yellow in the vent region. Sibley depicts two such hybrids on page 437. This bird looked like the lower of his two illustrations except that the yellow on the underparts was virtually absent, the forehead was blackish and the center of the crown was yellow, and the back streaks were much fainter. A neat bird - and a new hybrid combiation for the Palo Alto Christmas count! Other birds here included an immature SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, a high-flying adult COOPER'S HAWK, a singing BEWICK'S WREN, and at least 9 DARK-EYED JUNCOS, several of them singing. 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]]