From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sun Jan 5 12:31:42 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.6/8.12.2) with ESMTP id h05KUPne017033 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 12:30:26 -0800 (PST) Received: from imo-r02.mx.aol.com (imo-r02.mx.aol.com [152.163.225.98]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.6/8.12.2) with ESMTP id h05KTOLp016991 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 12:29:25 -0800 (PST) Received: from [[email protected]] by imo-r02.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v34.13.) id t.36.35ace559 (3964) for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 15:29:10 -0500 (EST) From: [[email protected]] Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> Date: Sun, 5 Jan 2003 15:29:10 EST To: [[email protected]] MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: AOL 7.0 for Windows US sub 10634 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1 Subject: [SBB] SCVAS field trip 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]] All, Seventeen birders showed up Saturday for Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society's County Chase field trip. The weather was gorgeous but the trip started ominously when we failed to find the target birds at our first two stops (a case of bad timing). In the first instance the impoundment north of the Alviso Marina parking lot was full of gulls so it was decided that the time required to find Sanderlings would be better spent locating other county rarities. Then, our next stop on Crothers Rd. failed to produce the Greater Roadrunner in spite of the fact that the bird had been well seen the day before (it seems it's best to look for this bird later in the day). We had already decided to bypass Lake Cunningham Park as the Lesser Black-backed Gull had not been seen, let's hope it turns up later, and the Red Phalaropes had apparently returned to the bay. At our next stop the resident Hellyer Park GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE was quickly found and we were soon off to Edenvale Garden Park. (Note: From a birding perspective this may well be the best small park in San Jose and has gone undiscovered until the recent series of Calero-Morgan Hill CBC's.) Our target bird, a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, was soon found while it seemed that VARIED THRUSH were dropping out of most of the trees as ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, TOWNSEND'S WARBLER, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE, etc., moved through the branches. Riverside Golf Course was equally generous with great views of the PACIFIC LOO0N and an adult male GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE, our target birds, as well as WILSON'S SNIPE and a SPOTTED SANDPIPER. A quick snack in the parking lot of Calero County Park and we were off to the eastern edge of the reservoir where in addition to our target bird, a ROCK WREN, one of our sharp-eyed birders spotted a PRAIRIE FALCON perched in a tree just northeast of the reservoir. Earlier as the "convoy" made the turnoff from Bailey Ave. onto McKean Rd. Kirsten Holmquist spotted an adult BALD EAGLE landing in a tree alongside the small cove ahead of her, unfortunately the bird had flown before we reached the edge of the reservoir from which we could view the tree. The reservoir Boat Ramp was our last stop of the field trip, unfortunately we were still unable to locate a Bald Eagle but we did mange to find two pair of GOLDEN EAGLES. After the trip Peggy Don, Pat Kenny, Roland Kenner and I decided to return to Crothers Rd. where the GREATER ROADRUNNER put on a magnificent display of stalking, running and flying for us. Later at the Alviso Marina parking lot it was clear that the gulls had left the impoundment area and a short walk produced two SANDERLING (another previously missed target bird), DUNLIN, LEAST and WESTERN SANDPIPERS. The flooded gull roosting site east of the parking lot and the railroad tracks had many swimming MEW GULL. Take care, Bob Reiling, 1/5/03 _______________________________________________ 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]]