From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Mon Dec 27 16:15:48 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id iBS0DWlF014141 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 27 Dec 2004 16:13:33 -0800 (PST) Received: from imo-m18.mx.aol.com (imo-m18.mx.aol.com [64.12.138.208]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id iBS0CkYK014099 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 27 Dec 2004 16:12:47 -0800 (PST) Received: from [[email protected]] by imo-m18.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v37_r3.8.) id t.e0.9ade2c3 (18707) for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 27 Dec 2004 19:12:40 -0500 (EST) From: [[email protected]] Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 19:12:40 EST To: [[email protected]] MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: 9.0 Security Edition for Windows sub 5000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5b1 Subject: [SBB] Calero Sector - Calero-Morgan Hill CBC 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]] Hello All, I will send a complete report summarizing the Calero-Morgan Hill CBC highlights as soon as I receive all the results. But for now - here are a few highlights from the Calero Sector which I covered for the Calero-Morgan Hill CBC, Dec 26, 2004. After meeting the Almaden team at 7:00 am to get things started, I then headed over to Alamitos Creek on the east side of the junction of McKean & Harry Rds - a nice little riparian stretch. Things were very quiet in the early morning - only one Calif Towhee seen and a heard-only American Crow - so I decided to head on to my next stop and come back to this area later. Next stop was the pull-out along McKean Rd near Schillingburg Rd where you can get a good look at the Golden Eagle nest structure on the transmission tower. No Golden Eagle seen at this early hour, but lo and behold - an adult BALD EAGLE flew by - heading from west to east presumably over to Calero Reservoir. I tried re-locating this eagle later, even hiking over to cove at the far southwestern end of the reservoir, but didn't see it again. Janna Pauser had seen it there earlier in the week, and I suspect it was somewhere around. I spent most of my time at Calero Reservoir & County Park. An adult GOLDEN EAGLE was seen perched on an oak along the road just east of the boat ramp. The reservoir has been quite dry throughout the fall season and hence not as many waterfowl have been seen recently - I had to work for what I saw. The most abundant duck species were COMMON GOLDENEYE (85) and COMMON MERGANSER (78). Only four CANADA GEESE were seen - I had one CACKLING GOOSE on Dec 23 as a Count Week bird, but it didn't show up on Count Day - bummer. Only nine EARED GREBES were counted - usually there are quite a few more here during the winter months - but I did see one HORNED GREBE which has been present off and on for the past couple of weeks. At Calero County Park & horse corral area, I spent some time scanning the blackbird flocks, where I estimated about 500 RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS. At least twenty TRICOLORED BLACKBIRDS were in the mix, but there may have been more. I was only about to pull out seven BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS, but surely there must have been more - I've found this species to be more easily seen at the boat ramp during good weather when lots of cars and boats are there, but on this gloomy day hardly anyone was at the boat ramp except me. 78 WILD TURKEYS were counted at Calero CP. Fifteen males strutted along a hillside practicing their tail-spreading displays. All the rest were females and juveniles feeding in the haystacks, foraging in the creek bed, and standing around on the levee road. After leaving Calero, I did some back-tracking. At the Golden Eagle spot I saw an immature GOLDEN EAGLE perched on a lower rung of a transmission tower. Then back to the little riparian area at McKean & Harry Rds where a flock of 36 PINE SISKINS flew into the trees near a backyard feeder. This was a good little spot to observe other small woodland birds including HUTTON'S VIREO, CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE, OAK TITMOUSE, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, BUSHTIT, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, and others. I ended up with 67 species for the day - which sort of surprised me. Ann Verdi _______________________________________________ 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]]