From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Mon Dec 29 12:52:38 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hBTKoHPN015150 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 29 Dec 2003 12:50:17 -0800 (PST) Received: from hawk.mail.pas.earthlink.net (hawk.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.22]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hBTKmeUP015108 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 29 Dec 2003 12:48:40 -0800 (PST) Received: from user-38lc0qi.dialup.mindspring.com ([209.86.3.82]) by hawk.mail.pas.earthlink.net with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 1Ab4Ja-0001zW-00 for [[email protected]]; Mon, 29 Dec 2003 12:48:38 -0800 User-Agent: Microsoft-Outlook-Express-Macintosh-Edition/5.02.2022 Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 12:47:03 -0800 From: Leda Beth Gray <[[email protected]]> To: South Bay Birds <[[email protected]]> Message-ID: Mime-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Subject: [SBB] Calero Count yesterday 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]] Sue Hunt, Byron Richards, David Drake and I had a splendid time on the Calero Morgan Hill CBC yesterday. Dave and I started off with some owling along Calero Creek, along McKean Rd and up Country View Drive which goes to the southern end of Santa Teresa County Park. We had a total of 6 Great Horned, 5 Western Screech and 2 Barn Owls. It was clear, cool (in the 30's) and calm except for a bit of a breeze on the upper portions of Country View Drive, which made it quite chilly to stand around playing owl tapes. Along Calero Creek near Harry Rd, we had two Barn Owls fly over us within about 30 seconds of playing their call, a first for me. Thanks to advice from last year from John Mariani and Bill Bousman I was looking up after playing the taped Barn Owl calls and was lucky enough to catch these two, who flew silently overhead. About 5 minutes later we heard one of them call. We had LOTS of bird activity in the morning along the Fortini Trail -- great fun, but it really slowed our progress along the trail compared to the rainy counts we've had the last couple of years. Highlights for the day included several Yellow-billed Magpies, several Rufous-crowned Sparrows, a single Rock Wren high up on the Stiles Ranch Trail, a Red-breasted Sapsucker in the orchard near Harry Rd, and late in the afternoon an immature Peregrine Falcon swooping over the seasonal pond in Coyote Valley along Santa Teresa Blvd near Tulare Hill. The falcon seemed to be trying to drive shorebirds or waterfowl up into the air but had no success while we were watching. Just across Santa Teresa Blvd, a Loggerhead Shrike sat on a phone wire. We were gratified to find a total of 4 Say's Phoebes, more than we've found in our area in the past, where often we were happy to just find one. We had about 20 W. Bluebirds and 4 thrashers -- higher totals than in past years. Three of the thrashers were doing their call note along Country View Rd as we tried for No. Pygmy Owl just before sunrise. There also was an abundance of White-tailed Kites-- it seemed like we saw one or two everywhere we turned and it was hard to decide which were the same ones we'd seen and which were new. Other raptors included Red-tails, Red-shoulders, Coopers and Sharp-shin, plenty of kestrels and a few Northern Harriers. We saw a beautiful adult Bald Eagle at Calero Reservoir, not part of our area, but a convenient pit stop with great birds. Huge thanks to Ann Verdi for organizing the count, compiling the data and making a wonderful salad for the countdown dinner, to John Mariani and family for hosting the dinner and picking up the pizzas, and to Mike Rogers for being the rare bird committee. Best regards, Leda Beth Gray _______________________________________________ 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]]