From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sun Jun 1 20:02:37 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h5230ka9019285 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 1 Jun 2003 20:00:47 -0700 (PDT) Received: from rwcrmhc51.attbi.com (rwcrmhc51.attbi.com [204.127.198.38]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h4V54LfF012728 for <[[email protected]]>; Fri, 30 May 2003 22:04:21 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> Received: from rwcrwbc02 (unknown[204.127.197.112]) by attbi.com (rwcrmhc51) with SMTP id <2003053105041905100250hpe>; Sat, 31 May 2003 05:04:19 +0000 Received: from [12.234.165.24] by rwcrwbc02; Sat, 31 May 2003 05:04:13 +0000 From: [[email protected]] To: [[email protected]] Date: Sat, 31 May 2003 05:04:13 +0000 X-Mailer: AT&T Message Center Version 1 (May 20 2003) X-Authenticated-Sender: YmlyZGVybW9tQGF0dGJpLmNvbQ== MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="NextPart_Webmail_9m3u9jl4l_11863_1054357453" X-Mailman-Approved-At: Sun, 01 Jun 2003 19:59:31 -0700 X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.2+ Subject: [SBB] 05/28/03 Ever pass a coyote on a trail (and an unusual bird behavior too)... 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]] --NextPart_Webmail_9m3u9jl4l_11863_1054357453 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Greetings! After splitting up with the Audubon hike on Wednesday morning at 11am at Monte Bello OSP, I headed up the hill to look for BLACK-CHINNED SPARROWS. None were seen or heard, despite great descriptions on habitat and song from more experienced birders than I. But the mountain was there, and I had to climb it. 20-20 vision is better in hindsight, and the heat seemed to increase noticably (it turned out to be the hottest May 28th in recent history - about 90 degrees where I was, according to my car). I'm glad I did. Half-way up the mountain, I came across a wicked fight between two WHIP-TAILED lizards (see attached photo). I continued up to the backpacker's campground on the crest. While a couple of hikers ate lunch, I removed many obstinate stickers from my socks and recuperated in the shade. I got up and was about to head back towards my car when a COYOTE headed my way on the trail, about 100 yds. away. I was amazed, and immediately scrutinized it with my binoculars for signs of rabies, etc. It looked healthy, if somewhat smaller than some I've seen, and gave me the same once-over, after which it continued IN MY DIRECTION! At this point, my mind was working in overtime. I considered my options (I'm too big to eat but may be worth a bite, I could try to hide in the bushes or climb a tree - difficult if you've ever seen my plump form, etc.). So I did what any nature-loving nut would do, I pulled out my camera and walked towards it. It came closer and I retreated back to the campground about 5' off the trail (ok - so I'm a little chicken). It walked right by me while I snapped away with my camera (of course in the heat of action, I forgot to take it off micro from the flowers I'd just been shooting). I swear to you as I live (and hopefully don't die), it walked by me about 10' away! I have blurry pictures of this. Luck was with me. My camera was out of film and I reloaded (correcting for the macro problem while doing so). The coyote goes right to the spot where the people ate while looking for scraps, has a look around the campground, takes a drink and continues off down the trail. I followed it around the campground, in a sureal daze, snapping away (see attached photo). As it dissapeared beyond the pines, I waved and yelled "thanks - stay cool" and headed off the other way. Before I could get out of the campground, I noticed a UNIDENTIFIABLE BIRD fly in and land in the old oak hanging over the trail. I looked up at it and had trouble deciding what it was. It's tail was long and white-edged and looked like an Ash-throated's. It had lots of fluffy white feathers on it's breast indicating it was immature and it froze when I looked at it. I thought it's head had a rufous wash, when I noticed it was performing the most perfect backbend, better than a Cirque du Soleil contortionist! It rested it's head on the branch behind it (upside-down), so the rufous was was really on it's neck or breast area. It had dark eyes and a medium, black beak, resembling that of a warbler. It seemed bigger than a warbler, but with it's feather's fluffed out, who knows. I guess it figured that it looked like a knob on a branch in this pose, either that or it's been practicing it's yoga... I've attached 3 photos, if you'd care to look. My little adventure illustrated that sometimes the best surprises come when least expected, no Black-chinned, but 3 other very exciting experiences! If anyone can shed some light on possible species, or about this behavior (not to mention the coyote's behavior), I'd love to hear from you. Take care, Jean Myers P.S. If you're interested in the other pics, let me know, I can't seem to send them with this message so I only included the best bird pic. --NextPart_Webmail_9m3u9jl4l_11863_1054357453 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline _______________________________________________ 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]] --NextPart_Webmail_9m3u9jl4l_11863_1054357453--