From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Mon Nov 17 22:43:14 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hAI6f8ov007832 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 17 Nov 2003 22:41:09 -0800 (PST) Received: from prserv.net (out4.prserv.net [32.97.166.34]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hAI6dZg8007788 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 17 Nov 2003 22:39:35 -0800 (PST) Received: from cmac (slip-12-65-156-165.mis.prserv.net[12.65.156.165]) by prserv.net (out4) with SMTP id <2003111806393220401nc4o7e>; Tue, 18 Nov 2003 06:39:33 +0000 From: "Chris MacIntosh" <[[email protected]]> To: <[[email protected]]> Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 22:37:34 -0800 Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0) X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Importance: Normal Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.2+ Subject: [SBB] Lewis' Woodpecker at Skyline Open Space Preserve 11/16 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]] On Sunday, Nov 16, I led a Sierra Club group on a hike at Skyline Open Space Preserve, off Skyline Blvd. The weather was bright and sunny in the morning. On the trail from Alpine Road down to Alpine Pond (around 9 a.m.), I started to tell the group about the special bird I was hoping to see there. This group knows that if they hike with me, they get a substantial dose of natural history. I had barely started to talk about the Lew...., when my eye caught a dark bird flying to the trees bordering Alpine Road. Sure enough, perched at the top, was a Lewis' Woodpecker. It flew from tree to tree and at least once was disturbed or displaced by an Acorn Woodpecker. While we were there, it moved around a lot, but always among the conifers bordering Alpine Road, and conifers and other trees near the tunnel under the road. We also saw a woodpecker working on the trunk of a conifer, with a fully red head (bird, not tree) like a Red-breasted Sapsucker. I was sharing my binocs among the group so didn't get a good look, but someone saw white on the back or sides. Has anyone else seen this bird there to confirm that I saw what I think I saw? Besides the woodpeckers there were 4 Goldfinch sp. dashing about, their yellow breasts glowing in the sunlight, a Red tailed Hawk perched nearby, and a Northern Flicker zoomed by. On Alpine Pond itself were a handful of Ring-necked Ducks and a pair of Hooded Mergansers. There were about 2 dozen Ring-necked Ducks on Horseshoe Pond, too, with a Black Phoebe and a garter snake nearby. A very handsome coyote with rufous ears and rufous upper muzzle was in the grasslands above Horseshoe Pond. Later on a flock of at least 4 Band-tailed Pigeons flew in to a Douglas fir near Long Ridge Road, and then I saw (and heard) a Winter Wren along Peters Creek in Long Ridge OSP. Throughout the hike the bigleaf maple trees shone bright gold among the dark evergreen trees. The apples were falling in the orchard at Long Ridge, and most of the chestnuts in the chestnut orchard had been gleaned, though some of us couldn't resist looking for unopened windfalls, and getting well prickled for our effort. ----------------------------------- Chris MacIntosh, Menlo Park [[email protected]] |\ _,,,---,,_ ZZZzz /, ‘.-’‘’ -. ;-;;,_ |,4- ) )-,_. ,\ ( ‘’-’ ‘---’’(_/--’ ‘- ’\_) “Touch not the cat” ----------------------------------- Chris MacIntosh [[email protected]] |\ _,,,---,,_ ZZZzz /, ‘.-’‘’ -. ;-;;,_ |,4- ) )-,_. ,\ ( ‘’-’ ‘---’’(_/--’ ‘- ’\_) “Touch not the cat” _______________________________________________ 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]]