From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Mon Jun 16 13:37:47 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h5GKZ5ZM003282 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 16 Jun 2003 13:35:06 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mail07a.vwh1.net (mail07a.vwh1.net [207.201.152.66]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with SMTP id h5GKT7k6003030 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 16 Jun 2003 13:29:08 -0700 (PDT) Received: from www.hiddenvilla.org (209.238.206.251) by mail07a.vwh1.net (RS ver 1.0.82vs) with SMTP id 0-0436895335; Mon, 16 Jun 2003 16:28:55 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <000a01c33445$a86e6220$[[email protected]]> From: "Garth Harwood" <[[email protected]]> To: "SBB" <[[email protected]]> Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 13:27:06 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 X-Loop-Detect: 1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.2+ Cc: Alberts and Harwood <[[email protected]]> Subject: [SBB] Monte Bello OSP today 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]] Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by plaidworks.com id h5GKZ5ZM003282 Making one last try for Black-chinned Sparrow on Black Mountain this season, I left Skyline Blvd. at Horseshoe Lake (also the county boundary along here) down the Skid Road Trail to the Stevens Creek Nature Trail, then down to the Canyon Trail and up the Indian Creek Trail to the backpack camp. No Black-chinned Sparrow, and no sign of the Rufous-crowned found here on the 7th either. No rarities of any sort, in fact. On the plus side was a pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers ferrying many loads of bugs to a nest with noisy young at 3' in the chaparral midway between mileposts 0.4 and 0.5. (Nest site is 15-20 ft. above the trail.) A female/immature Allen's Hummingbird and a family group of Orange-crowned Warblers (out of the nest) were in the chaparral at milepost 0.9. Missed in the uppermost Stevens Creek drainage during the Summer Count were Winter Wren, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and Cassin's Vireo, although the first two did appear downstream a couple of miles. Today, at least 2 of the wrens were singing near the SCNT/Skid Road Trail junction, and the Olive-sided was vocal there as well. A solitary (can I say that?) Cassin's Vireo was subtle, but occasionally vocal right at the same intersection. I had chosen the route from Skyline because of the deep-woods section along the stream where I believe the local Pileated Woodpecker territory is centered, and as usual there were sporadic calls (both flight and stationary) and a bit of drumming from the area, but I was once again skunked in terms of visual contact. Reptiles and butterflies were abundant. An oddity was the presence of not one, but 2 dead Western Fence/"bluebelly" lizards a quarter-mile apart at the edge of the Indian Creek Trail - no visible trauma apparent. I note this because in general I have rarely seen carcasses of this species unless hit by cars. Also intriguing was the total absence of Western Whip-tailed Lizards on the way up through the chaparral, and the sudden abundance on the way down the same route. I had the impression a temperature threshold had been reached, and they suddenly became active. A large rattlesnake about 100 yards below the spring near the backpack camp had a greenish cast to it and many concentric rings near its dark, almost black tail (which boasted a 10-rattle ornament). By the Canyon/Indian Creek Trail junction a tiny California Ring-necked Snake was very nearly stepped on by hikers. The length of a new pencil, it was skinnier than the average earthworm, just a slender black ribbon on the ground. Good birding, Garth Harwood _______________________________________________ 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]]