From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Thu Mar 27 09:52:02 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.8/8.12.2) with ESMTP id h2RHnniu026144 for <[[email protected]]>; Thu, 27 Mar 2003 09:49:49 -0800 (PST) Received: from merlin.arc.nasa.gov (merlin.arc.nasa.gov [128.102.219.21]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.8/8.12.2) with ESMTP id h2RHnBZQ026097 for <[[email protected]]>; Thu, 27 Mar 2003 09:49:11 -0800 (PST) Received: from merlin.ARC.NASA.GOV by merlin.ARC.NASA.GOV (PMDF V6.2 #30665) id <[[email protected]]> for [[email protected]]; Thu, 27 Mar 2003 09:49:08 -0800 (PST) Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 09:49:07 -0800 (PST) From: [[email protected]] To: [[email protected]] Message-id: <[[email protected]]> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=us-ascii cc: [[email protected]] Subject: [SBB] - X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1+ 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]] Folks: Tuesday, 3/25/2003, I birded from Mines Road at the Alameda County line to Mt. Hamilton and then made a few stops on the western side. The trip was very much a mixture of winter and spring. Although the blue oaks were leafing out along the lower Arroyo Mocho, by the time I came to the county line there were no leaves on the trees except an occasional buckeye. But in San Antonio Valley it already the start of the flower season with swaths of shooting stars under the oaks and gold fields and meadowfoam on the way in the valley. Above Isabel Creek, on the east side of Mt. Hamilton, the black oaks are leafing out, but on the west side it was different and almost none of these oaks west of Smiths Creek had new leaves. As with the plants, the birding seemed more winter-like, although many resident species are starting to nest. A good number of VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS have returned, but the TREE and BARN SWALLOWS I saw are probably migrants, as mentioned by Mike and Mike (M&M) from Saturday. The one surprise was a singing HOUSE WREN a couple of miles south of the county line on Mines Road, which seems very early for this elevation. I had one singing SAGE SPARROW in the chaparral at the divide between Arroyo Mocho and Colorado Creek. I also checked the hummingbird feeders at the Junction Cafe and was able to count at least four male and four female ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS, but no sign of any other species. Two BAND-TAILED PIGEONS were in San Antonio Valley and are undoubtedly late winter birds, as this species does not nest this far east in the Diablo Range. At the Bar Y Ranch, near 'M.P. 16', I heard a GREATER ROADRUNNER give its descending 'coo-coo-coo' west of the road. I thought it close enough to pick out, but I could not find it. From 0.3 mi. S of the junction to 'M.P. 15', a bit before the road turns west, I counted seven LEWIS'S WOODPECKERS, some close to the road, others well east. Over roughly the same span I had two male and three female PHAINOPEPLA. The Phainopepla were generally in trees with mistletoe, which mostly had large white fruit and also attracted Western Bluebirds, Am. Robins, and Cedar Waxwings. Along Arroyo Bayo, I found some of the same WOOD DUCKS that M&M reported. I searched all goldfinch flocks along my route and couldn't find any Lawrence's, although M&M had two on Saturday. I ran into a highway maintenance worker in the valley who is interested in birds. He reported seeing a Townsend's Solitaire in the chaparral on the divide between Blackbird and San Antonio Valley 'about a month ago.' In a wide-ranging conversation he pointed out that the highway miledges painted on San Antonio Valley Road are actually 0.9 miles apart. The county having measured these wrong has no budget or inclination to fix them. If like me, you had checked these markers and figured your odometer was off, well it's not. On the west side of Mt. Hamilton the only bird of interest was a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW (W-S) along the trail up to the ridge west of the creek. It's been a pretty good winter for this species. Today, 3/27/2003, I saw two BURROWING OWLS at Shoreline Park across from the golf course--these are probably the same birds Mike Rogers has been seeing over the last week or so. Bill _______________________________________________ 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]]