From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Tue Dec 30 16:37:43 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hBV0YmPN017992 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 30 Dec 2003 16:34:48 -0800 (PST) Received: from nospam2.slac.stanford.edu (nospam2.slac.stanford.edu [134.79.18.86]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hBV0XWUP017931 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 30 Dec 2003 16:33:33 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtpserv2.slac.stanford.edu (smtpserv2.slac.stanford.edu [134.79.19.101]) by nospam2.slac.stanford.edu (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id hBV0XVBJ017367 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 30 Dec 2003 16:33:31 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from [[email protected]]) Received: from flora04.slac.stanford.edu ([134.79.16.56]) by smtpserv2.slac.stanford.edu (PMDF V6.1-1 #37665) with ESMTP id <[[email protected]]> for [[email protected]]; Tue, 30 Dec 2003 16:33:30 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost (eisner@localhost) by flora04.slac.stanford.edu (8.12.10+Sun/8.12.5/Submit-solaris) with ESMTP id hBV0XU4G021799 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 30 Dec 2003 16:33:30 -0800 (PST) Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2003 16:33:30 -0800 (PST) From: Al Eisner <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Message-id: <[[email protected]]> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-Authentication-warning: flora04.slac.stanford.edu: eisner owned process doing -bs Subject: [SBB] South 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]] My area for the Calero-Morgan Hill CBC was along Coyote Creek from about 1/3 mile south of Silicon Valley Blvd, north to a bit north of Shady Oaks Park; plus the residential areas of Basking Ridge and Silver Leaf, and the lower part of the hills to the east (especially along Piercy Road). I did some scouting on Dec. 27, but mainly to assess habitat and "birdiness" of some of the secondary locales, and I didn't see anything of note. (I did get several common species I missed on count day, including House Sparrow!) Before doing that, however, I stopped at the southeast pond immediately north of the Model Airplane Skypark, in the hope of finding a Bittern. I didn't -- I didn't walk around the pond, in part because fog was starting to settle on the ponds -- but that pond did have one Green Heron and two Common Moorhens (1 adult, 1 immature). After scouting, I stopped at Cottonwood Lake (Hellyer Park), which had 11 American White Pelicans, but no unusual geese. On count day (Dec. 28), the best area along Coyote Creek was at and near Shady Oaks Park and its adjacent orchard. A young Cooper's Hawk was perched in the orchard, and three species of woodpecker (Nuttall's, Downy and Red-shafted Flicker) were multiply here, including one tailless Flicker. Along the creek east of the orchard I found four Townsend's Warblers (three in one place), but nothing more interesting with them. Hermit Thrush (4) and Fox Sparrow (at least 2) were the other highlights here. On the more southerly portions of the creek I found only the more common species, including my only waterbirds of the day (Mallards and American Coots). After a late lunch I visited Silver Leaf Park. Trees here, especially a small clump of flowering eucs at an adjacent yard, attracted lots of Robins and Yellow-rumped Warblers, plus my only Cedar Waxwings (10) of the day, but I couldn't turn up anything unusual. Later on, the Basking Ridge area was relatively quiet; of most note were 4 Western Bluebirds (of 5 for the day). But mid-afternoon along Piercy Road provided several more interesting sightings. First, a Cooper's Hawk (unaged) was seen perched in a bush near the road. (Late PM I saw one, perhaps the same, in flight over Coyote Creek). Second, a Greater Roadrunner was seen perched on a fence (perpendicular to the road) well uphill above 615 Piercy Road. Third, an adult Golden Eagle was briefly seen flying below the ridge line, with a Red-tailed Hawk (which it dwarfed) diving at it. So, in all, not a large species list, but a very pleasant day of birding. I was surprised to learn that this was the first Greater Roadrunner for this Count. This morning (Dec. 30), I made another try for American Bittern at the same pond noted above, but again missed it -- and this time I walked around the east end of the pond to the north side. There were still two Common Moorhens, this time two immatures. The western pond of the pair of ponds immediately north still had a pair of Redheads (possibly an extra female resting), 5 Cinnamon Teal, and 3 Common Mergansers. I also stopped by Parkway Lakes, seeing 2 American White Pelicans, and an Osprey perched on the east-side snag. When the Osprey starting "chirping", I knew something was up, and shortly another Osprey (probably larger, and with a less obvious dark necklace) circled in, landing on a post in the utility yard just south of Metcalf. I didn't see any Grackles, but it was drizzling and I didn't do much of a search. Finally, on my way home I stopped at Overfelt Gardens in San Jose, but despite some effort didn't find *any* of the interesting birds Ann found on the San Jose CBC, just a couple of Townsend's Warblers. 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]]