From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sat Feb 1 16:02:28 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.6/8.12.2) with ESMTP id h1200T4x005337 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 1 Feb 2003 16:00:29 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtp.slac.stanford.edu (smtp.slac.stanford.edu [134.79.18.80]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.6/8.12.2) with ESMTP id h11NxaSE005295 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 1 Feb 2003 15:59:37 -0800 (PST) Received: from CONVERSION-DAEMON.smtp.slac.stanford.edu by smtp.slac.stanford.edu (PMDF V6.1-1 #37665) [[email protected]]; Sat, 01 Feb 2003 15:56:54 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtpserv1.slac.stanford.edusmtp.slac.stanford.edu <[[email protected]]> for [[email protected]]; Sat, 01 Feb 2003 15:56:54 -0800 (PST) Received: from SLACVX.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU ([134.79.144.12]) by smtpserv1.slac.stanford.edu (PMDF V6.1-1 #37665) with ESMTP id <[[email protected]]> for [[email protected]]; Sat, 01 Feb 2003 15:56:53 -0800 (PST) Received: from SLACVX.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU by SLACVX.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU (PMDF V5.2-32 #37499) id <[[email protected]]> for [[email protected]]; Sat, 01 Feb 2003 15:56:40 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sat, 01 Feb 2003 15:56:39 -0700 (PDT) From: Al Eisner <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Message-id: <[[email protected]]> X-VMS-To: IN%"[[email protected]]" MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [SBB] Ruff X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1 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]] I checked the area north of the Alviso Marina this afternoon. It was quite windy, and the water in the salt ponds was rough, making it hard to pick up birds in the water. But I was mainly interested in the impoundment between the trail and the RR tracks. There were quite a few shorebirds, of only 6 species, all actively feeding. Numbers were dominated by a few hundred Western Sandpipers and close to 100 Dunlin (it was not long after high tide). Also present were Least Sandpipers, about a dozen Greater Yellowlegs, 4 or 5 Sanderlings, and 1 female Ruff. The Ruff - quite possibly the same bird which has previously wintered - was at the far north end of the impoundment. I observed it for about 15 minutes starting about 1:40; it was still there at 2:00. It was quite a bit smaller than Greater Yellowlegs, and perhaps 25 or 30% longer than Dunlin. It had a black bill and orange legs. The head was prportionately small, and the bill proportionately short - in absolute terms, shorter than the Dunlins' bills. The upperparts were generally browner than Yellowlegs. The wing feathers were dark-centered, with broad pale buffy fringes to the coverts and tertials. THe back was considerably paler, but also seemed to have still paler edges. The head, neck and breast were buffy, but the lower front part of the face (and throat?) was paler, nearly whitish; there were no prominent facial features (other than the eye). The belly was quite white. Neat! 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]]