From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sat Apr 17 22:46:14 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i3I5ib0d009909 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 17 Apr 2004 22:44:37 -0700 (PDT) Received: from la.znet.com (la.znet.com [207.167.96.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i3I5hW2D009848 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 17 Apr 2004 22:43:32 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [69.19.247.248] (host-69-19-247-248.rev.o1.com [69.19.247.248]) by la.znet.com (8.12.6/8.12.6/le1-la) with ESMTP id i3I5hSfS019137 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 17 Apr 2004 22:43:29 -0700 (PDT) X-Envelope-From: [[email protected]] X-Envelope-To: <[[email protected]]> Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2004 22:43:41 -0700 To: [[email protected]] From: Dean Manley <[[email protected]]> Subject: [SBB] SFBBO Arastradero Preserve Trip 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]] Hi SBBers, Today, 4/17/04, I attended SFBBO's "Expert Guided Walk Series" at Arastradero Preserve guided by Garth Harwood. Since Garth's internet service is on the fritz I'm doing this report from my participants point of view. I must say that this mornings guided walk met or exceeded the high expectations I've come to have from my previously attended SFBBO Expert Guided Walks. Lots of expert knowledge shared and good birds found. Some highlights were 6 pr WESTERN BLUEBIRD, 2 singing male LAZULI BUNTING, 5 ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, 3 PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER, 5pr BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, 5 WARBLING VIREO, BULLOCK'S ORIOLE, CALIFORNIA THRASHER, WILSON'S WARBLER (heard) and WHITE-THROATED SWIFT. VAUX'S SWIFT were seen through out the morning, usually in 2s. For raptor highlights we had a dispaying GOLDEN EAGLE that did a couple of verticle loops and finally, in a long stoop, disappeared behind a hill. A male AMERICAN KESTREL snatched up a vole(?). He carried it to a perch where he plucked fur and eviserated it before flying off with his lightened load, perhaps to a picky mate. We had 2 COOPER'S HAWKS, another accipiter, and other usual raptor suspects. Part of the aim of the trip was some educaton on bird (nest) boxes. Garth installs and monitors a large number of bird boxes in the preserve. The monitoring includes opening the box to inspect for activity or progress. One (of 5) bird box we inspected contained a sitting OAK TITMOUSE. It was amazing how unmoving and dedicated to her brooding mode Mom was while several alien creatures looked her over from only a couple of feet away. Another box contained the beginings of a Blue-grey Gnatcatcher nest. Not in a box, but on a tree limb we saw a lichen covered Blue-gray Gnatcatcher nest. My species count for the morning was 55. I think I'm missing a couple but it is getting late. After lunch and with the official trip over I accompanied Garth on his bird box monitoring rounds on the parking lot side of Arastradero Rd. Taking the dirt path out of the parking lot up the grassy hill, I spotted a striking sparrow like bird on the path ahead near the top of the hill. Garth quickly identified it as a LARK SPARROW. A very handsom cooperative bird and good close looks were had. A first for me. We picked up 2 more species for the day including NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW and the first TURKEY VULTURE of the day bringing my count to at least 58 for the day. And a fine day it was. Dean Manley _______________________________________________ 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]]