From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Mon Feb 2 11:00:49 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i12IvRGD018504 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 2 Feb 2004 10:57:27 -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 i12IuFCp018455 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 2 Feb 2004 10:56:15 -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 i12IuE78232174 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 2 Feb 2004 10:56:14 -0800 (PST) Received: (from mrogers@localhost) by rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (SGI-8.12.5/8.12.5/Submit) id i12IuEwB232168 for [[email protected]]; Mon, 2 Feb 2004 10:56:14 -0800 (PST) Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 10:56:14 -0800 (PST) From: "Dr. Michael M. Rogers" <[[email protected]]> Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Subject: [SBB] weekend birds, GLGUs arrive X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5a1 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 Saturday 1/31/04, I birded several different locations, working my way to the south county. I started at the Guadalupe River just south of Montague Expressway and made my way to Trimble Road and back on the east side of the river. Not many leaves left on the trees, but there were still a few birds around. Most interesting were 4 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS (no gray-headed birds). I then headed to the Ogier Ponds, where I failed to find a bittern in the pond by the skypark and failed to find the Yellow Warbler along Coyote Creek. I did see 2 TREE SWALLOWS, an OSPREY, and 5 COMMON YELLOWTHROATS (including a female doing her best Yellow Warbler impression) along this section of the creek though. Checking the gulls bathing in the ponds north of the entrance road turned up many THAYER'S GULLS and a variety of ducks. An AMERICAN BITTERN was initially in the reeds on an island and later foraging on the west shore. A pair of adult GOLDEN EAGLES was flying over the landfill to the east. Heading up Canada Road from Highway 152, I was surprised to find a LEWIS'S WOODPECKER in the oaks west of the road 1.3 mile south of the junction with Jamieson Road. At the edge of the plowed field 1.2 miles east along Jamieson Road I had a flock of 16 LARK SPARROWS, which are the first I've been able to find in 2004. Another was perched on the telephone lines just north of the Jamieson Road junction. A group of 44 WILD TURKEYS was at the water trough along Canada Road 1.2 miles north of Jamieson Road and I had 2 more a bit further north and at least a dozen along Coyote Lake Road. I had no luck with Bald Eagles at Coyote Reservoir, but interesting ducks included 2 pairs of WOOD DUCKS, 3 COMMON MERGANSERS, and many RING-NECKED DUCKS. I couldn't find any Rock Wrens at the dam, but did see 2-3 RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROWS there. On Sunday 2/1/04, I teamed up with Mike Mammoser to cover the salt ponds north of the Alviso Marina. We had 14 SANDERLINGS in the impoundment north of the Marina and 24 more on the A14/A15 dike. Another 14 seen later on the A9/A14 dike may have included some of the same birds. In the gull roost on the A13/A15 dike we saw a first-winter GLAUCOUS GULL, a very faded bird with a dull pink bill base. Later, while scoping salt pond A9, another first-winter GLAUCOUS GULL flew in and landed along the north edge of the pond. This bird was larger, heavier and brighter-billed and had more dusky smudging on the mantle. Still later, after Mike left for a Super Bowl party, I had a third first-winter GLAUCOUS GULL near the confluence of Alviso and Coyote Sloughs. This bird eventually flew over to roost with a gull flock in nearby Alameda County. A real surprise was a completely white gull with a completely dusky bill. Based on the bird's structure and bill shape this was either a Herring or Glaucous Gull. Given the bill color it was presumably a leucistic (eye color was dark) first-winter HERRING GULL. Salt Pond A9 was loaded with ducks; among the huge flocks of AMERICAN WIGEON we located 10 EURASIAN WIGEON (9 males and 1 female). Over on A10 we found 4 more male EURASIAN WIGEON and two male EURASIAN x AMERICAN WIGEON hybrids. These birds roughly had the body of a EUWI with the head of an AMWI, but the swath behind the eye was a dull brown instead of green. Other interesting ducks on A10 included 248+ REDHEAD and 2 male SURF SCOTERS (one immature and one adult). Other birds included an adult PEREGRINE FALCON on the A14/A15 dike and 5 RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS (low for here, presumably because so many are over at Salt Pond A4 now). In addition to the above Glaucous Gulls, Scott Terrill informs me that Steve Howell saw an adult GLAUCOUS GULL at Almaden Lake on Sunday 1/25/04, along with a pale THAYER'S GULL that showed some characters of an Iceland Gull. 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]]