From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Mon Nov 24 10:22:41 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hAOIIlot026434 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 24 Nov 2003 10:18:48 -0800 (PST) Received: from rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (rtjones.nas.nasa.gov [129.99.19.30]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id hAOIH4g8026369 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 24 Nov 2003 10:17:04 -0800 (PST) Received: from rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (SGI-8.12.5/8.12.5/NAS-6n) with ESMTP id hAOIH2LF098001 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 24 Nov 2003 10:17:02 -0800 (PST) Received: (from mrogers@localhost) by rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (SGI-8.12.5/8.12.5/Submit) id hAOIH276246514 for [[email protected]]; Mon, 24 Nov 2003 10:17:02 -0800 (PST) Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 10:17:02 -0800 (PST) From: "Dr. Michael M. Rogers" <[[email protected]]> Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Subject: [SBB] a few ducks... 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]] All, On Sunday 11/23/03, I checked a few bayside locations for ducks. At Shoreline Lake the immature WHITE-WINGED SCOTER was still present at the west end of the lake, along with at least 9 SURF SCOTERS (4 adult males). Goldeneyes were numerous, and careful searching turned up two immature gray-billed BARROW'S GOLDENEYES. One was very large (larger than nearby male Commons) and was already doing some courtship head-bobbing and was thus presumably a male (although no facial spot was evident yet). The other was not quite as large (although still bigger than most of the Common Goldeneyes) and showed a hint of a yellow suffusion to the bill - female? Lori and Rick Roberts joined me and were able to enjoy these birds was well. Scoping Salt Pond A1 failed to turn up a Long-tailed Duck :(, so I headed up to the Palo Alto Baylands. Scoping from the boat launch at the old yacht harbor mouth, I saw thousands of SCAUP on the bay and at least 60 SURF SCOTERS among them. It looks like some winter ducks are finally penetrating deep into the south bay. Next I headed to the Sunnyvale Water Pollution Control Plant ponds and biked around the west pond. Among the many CANVASBACK were at least 59 REDHEAD (about evenly split between males and females), 11+ GREATER SCAUP and 5+ LESSER SCAUP, 4 RING-NECKED DUCKS (1 immature male and 3 females), and 2 COMMON GOLDENEYES. Most interesting was a hybrid GADWALL x MALLARD (a.k.a. BREWER'S DUCK) snoozing with the GADWALL flock in the middle of the pond. This bird, with its Baikal Teal-like face pattern, sure looks different from any of our usual ducks. It was only slightly larger than nearby Gadwalls, with a green swath behind the eye and a buff lower half to the face. The body, scapulars, and tertials were similar to those of a Gadwall, but the chest was reddish brown like a Mallard. The bill was bright yellow with a sharply contrasting black culmen (upper ridge) and tip. Although this hybrid is not depicted in most field guides, Mallard hybrids with American Black Ducks that show some similar traits are shown in both NGS and Sibley. Photos of a local "Brewer's Duck" are posted on Joe Morlan's website at: http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/gallery.htm Scroll down to the Brewer's Duck photo taken 22 Oct 1998. Having spent so much time scoping ducks, Kris Olson caught up to me on foot and was able to see all these ducks as well. Over to the west on pond A3W were 17 more COMMON GOLDENEYES, 15 female-plumaged RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, and 6 BUFFLEHEADS. Eleven more RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS were over on pond A5. A real surprise from Guadalupe Slough was a heard-only CLAPPER RAIL, perhaps pushed in here by the high tide. The east pond had another 24+ SCAUP (apparently all LESSER) and among them 2 more male RING-NECKED DUCKS. COMMON MOORHENS were in good evidence in the various channels - I ended up seeing at least 12. Mike Rogers _______________________________________________ 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]]