From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Wed Oct 22 15:54:49 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h9MMpw6U028705 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 22 Oct 2003 15:51:59 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mtaw4.prodigy.net (mtaw4.prodigy.net [64.164.98.52]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h9MMomMU028649 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 22 Oct 2003 15:50:49 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [192.168.1.100] (adsl-66-126-230-120.dsl.sntc01.pacbell.net [66.126.230.120]) by mtaw4.prodigy.net (8.12.9/8.12.3) with ESMTP id h9MMolUx023860 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 22 Oct 2003 15:50:47 -0700 (PDT) Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Sender: [[email protected]] Message-Id: Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 15:50:17 -0700 To: [[email protected]] From: Gordon Barrett <[[email protected]]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Subject: [SBB] Calero Rock Wren and Raptors 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]] Janna Pauser and her friend Joan were kind enough to help me bird the levee area of Calero today, Wednesday, October 22, 2003. Janna shouldered my scope and tripod, Joan helped me guide my power chair up the levee entrance slope, and we battled the weird windy and sunny weather to find 53 birds, one a lifer for me, the ROCK WREN. The bird was prancing like Mick Jagger on the huge pile of rocks that forms an island in the inlet creek by the levee. In bright sun, it showed off its pale grey breast and darker grey wings, with its black and white striped tail held downward. You could see the whitish face pattern with a slight dark line through the eye. To avoid being called drab, it flared its wing to reveal a pale redish flank that seemed brighter than the buff shown by Sibley. It then flew to the left side of the rock island to show its back, speckled with what I thought were tiny green dots in a grey background. It was indeed a beautiful bird in my scope for five minutes or more. As the list shows, we saw raptors, big-time. Perhaps six White-tailed Kites and three or more American Kestrels were "kiting" along the ridge by the levee. They were joined frequently by one or more Nothern Harriers, Red-Shouldered Hawks, and Red-tailed Hawks. The black bird flocks were spooked often to reveal Tricolored Blackbirds in significant numbers, perhaps 15% of the flock. On the other hand, there was exactly one Long-Billed Dowitcher and one Common Snipe. They ended up standing nearly side by side. The two Eared Grebes swan from scope distance towards us into decent range for the binocular users among us. Most of the ducks expected were there, except only the Green-winged Teal of the three Teals could be found. There were few shorebirds, but my Spotted Sandpiper follows me everywhere! Coots were too numerous to estimate, the Turkey flock numbered about fifty, and one of the six Western Meadowlarks was so yellow it almost hurt my eyes. The five or six Blue Birds weren't bad either. The full list: Eared Grebe Pied-Billed Grebe Canada Goose Mallard Gadwall Northern Pintail American Wigeon Northern Shovelor Green-Winged Teal American Coot Great Blue Heron Great Egret Snowy Egret Killdeer Black-Necked Stilt Greater Yellowlegs Spotted Sandpiper Western Sandpiper Long-Billed Dowitcher Common Snipe California Quail Wild Turkey Turkey Vulture Nothern Harrier White-tailed Kite Red-Shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Mourning Dove Rock Dove (Feral Pigeon) Acorn Woodpecker Nuttall's Woodpecker Northern Flicker Black Phoebe Hutton's Vireo Western Scrub Jay American Crow Oak Titmouse Chestnut-Backed Chickadee White-Breasted Nuthatch Rock Wren Western Bluebird Spotted Towee California Towhee Golden-crowned Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Western Meadowlark Tricolored Blackbird Red-Winged Blackbird Brewer's Blackbird House Finch Lesser Goldfinch House Sparrow Gordon -- Gordon Barrett [[email protected]] _______________________________________________ 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]]