From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sat Apr 10 17:52:08 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i3B0oc0V022426 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 10 Apr 2004 17:50:38 -0700 (PDT) Received: from falcon.mail.pas.earthlink.net (falcon.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.74]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i3B0nP2D022385 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 10 Apr 2004 17:49:27 -0700 (PDT) Received: from user-38lc1fg.dialup.mindspring.com ([209.86.5.240]) by falcon.mail.pas.earthlink.net with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 1BCTA3-0000R8-00 for [[email protected]]; Sat, 10 Apr 2004 17:49:24 -0700 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v609) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed To: [[email protected]] From: Matthew Dodder <[[email protected]]> Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2004 17:53:13 -0700 X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.609) Subject: [SBB] Grant Park etc. 04-10-04 X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5b1 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, This morning my Palo Alto Adult School Birding group made a three-stop visit to Grant Ranch, Twin Gates and Smith Creek. Activity was high around the ranch house where we had at least two GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS singing in the weedy area north of the cookhouse. We also located nesting TREE and NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS, a LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCH, lots of BULLOCK'S ORIOLES, two BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS and an ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER. Other birds located included PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER, ORANGE-CROWNED and YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT and YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE. HOUSE WRENS simply could not be missed as their busy songs were everywhere. In this same area, also visible from the main road, we observed two WESTERN KINGBIRD perched on the old picket fence beyond the coyote bush. Suddenly, another bird entered the scene and there was much squabbling. When the intruder settled on a nearby post, it appeared darker, with a clearly demarkated white cheek, a dark blackish-olive tail, and a complete absence of white outer tail feathers! The bird posed for a moment before moving again. We watched it on and off for the next few minutes, and even managed several scope views, rested for a moment, then tussled again with the Westerns. We noticed the pale grayish terminal band on the tail several times and noticed it was in sharp contrast to the other Kingbirds. We judged it to be a CASSIN'S KINGBIRD but did not make note of the wing coverts or their relative paleness. The bird was quite active and eventually dropped out of sight and was not seen again. It may have flown to a nearby area, but we could not relocate it in the field despite several attempts. From where we stood, it was difficult to tell where the bird went. Later as we tried to scan the field from the utility area at the ranch house, we saw Al Eisner along the main road. We hoped he might have the bird over in his area, but we later spoke with him and found that he had not seen the bird. After this exciting start to the day, we continued up hill, bypassing the lake altogether, finding a single female WILD TURKEY along the way, and drove up Twin Gates where we saw several more Orioles, heard some additional Grosbeaks, but failed to locate any Lark Sparrows as Al Eisner later told us. Little else was happening at the Gates actually, but we were fortunate to find a small group of LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCHES in the oaks above the parking area. After a short time, we carpooled up to Smith Creek where activity was high. There were lots of songs to sort through, but little new was identified. We bumped into Al again and he was kind enough to alert us to a nearby BROWN CREEPER, which we all observed for a moment or two. In the same area WARBLING VIREO was singing as well. We heard an invisible BELTED KINGFISHER, HAIRY and DOWNY WOODPECKERS, but BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK was conspicuous and fairly easily seen. What a great day! Matthew Dodder http://www.birdguy.net Great Blue Heron Canada Goose Mallard Turkey Vulture White-tailed Kite Cooper's Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Wild Turkey California Quail Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Anna's Hummingbird Selasphorus species Belted Kingfisher Acorn Woodpecker Nuttall's Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Pacfic-slope Flycatcher Black Pheobe Ash-throated Flycatcher Cassin's Kingbird Western Kingbird Tree Swallow Violet-green Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Barn Swallow Western Scrub Jay Steller's Jay Yellow-billed Magpie Common Raven Chestnut-backed Chickadee Oak Titmouse Bushtit White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Bewick's Wren House Wren Western Bluebird American Robin Wrentit European Starling Hutton's Vireo Warbling Vireo Orange-crowned Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler (both Audbon's and Myrtle) Common Yellowthroat Black-headed Grosbeak Spotted Towhee California Towhee Savannah Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow Golden-crowned Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Red-winged Blackbird Western Meadowlark Brewer's Blackbird Brown-headed Cowbird Bullock's Oriole Purple Finch House Finch Lesser Goldfinch Lawrence's Goldfinch American Goldfinch --end _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. 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