From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sat Feb 28 21:47:29 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i1T5jsl7003896 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 28 Feb 2004 21:45:55 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtp3.Stanford.EDU (smtp3.stanford.edu [171.67.16.117]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i1T5iHNY003818 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 28 Feb 2004 21:44:18 -0800 (PST) Received: from cottage-desktop.stanford.edu (DNab42a5b1.Stanford.EDU [171.66.165.177]) by smtp3.Stanford.EDU (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i1T5iEC2017703 for <[[email protected]]>; Sat, 28 Feb 2004 21:44:16 -0800 Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> X-Sender: [[email protected]] (Unverified) X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 4.3.1 Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2004 13:14:48 -0800 To: [[email protected]] From: Patty Ciesla <[[email protected]]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Subject: [SBB] misc. bird observations after our move 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]] Bird friends, A couple months ago we moved down the draw -- about 1/2 mile as the raven flies or 1 mile as the quail walks, and my home environment has changed a bit. The "new" place has much in common with the "old." Both cottages are under coast live oaks, both have grasslands uphill, chaparral to the side, and moist woods below. Both are on large lots that are 90% habitat and 10% yard. The new place is on the side of a much steeper hill. And our avian neighbors are somewhat changed. The neighbor downhill has three cats that rove freely. Our bird dog dislikes them and chases them out of our yard with righteous authority. Perhaps this will help bring in the quail. I miss the quail covey - 50 strong at times at the old place. They would forage on ground seed less than 30 feet from my quietly observant pointer, who approved of their presence. Here I've yet to see any quail in the yard. Occasionally I hear their poks in the evenings in the chaparral, so I know they are near. We still have plenty of juncos, chickadees, titmice, both towhees, and both jays, the crowned sparrows, and lesser goldfinches. Also a random nuthatch, a phoebe, and a resident Anna's hummer. I've only seen one chickadee on the nectar feeder. At the last place the whole flock seemed addicted to the sweet stuff. The oak at the new place is massive. Medusa-like, it arches over and extends its limbs out and down to the ground. From the windows I can look into and down on the foliage. What a treat to see the birds I could only hear before. House wrens are common. They flit about the branches crawling along the mossy bark, sometimes upside down. Goldfinches and bushtits now take form and can be discerned from leaves. Last week we had a Townsend's warbler. Pretty yellow face on him! We now live among red-shouldered hawks instead of red-tailed. They are much busier and louder than our previous neighbors, and more present. Constantly patrolling the draw, they keep the woods noisy with their keer keer keer keer keering. The red-shouldered hawks use a different stratum of the airspace than the red-tailed who soar high. They fly below treetop level with strong wingbeats, having mapped out highways among the branches. The Stellars jays are clearly a different population with a different vocabulary; they mimic these agile predators (at the old place they sounded exactly like red-tailed hawks with small lungs) and seem much more nervous in their warnings - always announcing that the hawks are perched nearby. Last night we had a screech owl in the yard. I stood on the porch to listen to the tremmelo hoots, but didn't go for the flashlight to see if I could catch a peek. Maybe next time. No sound of the booming great-horned owls we are accustomed to. My husband is undecided which is most romantic. Putting on shoes to get the paper in the morning is a new habit. The 10 minute walk each way extends "our yard" to the road. We get to enjoy song sparrows and their morning reveille along the wetlands. They share the dogwood and willow thickets with wrentits and house wrens and a melodious thrasher, and an assortment of other little birds I can never identify. I suppose I should bring binoculars to the mailbox. The wetlands also host Nuttall's woodpeckers -- a new neighbor for us. We moved away from a granary tree for the acorn woodpeckers, and while I can't say I miss their obnoxious arguments, I do miss their harlequin plumage and the occasional chaos when they visited the feeders. I often flush a cottontail bunny from the scotch broom stands along the driveway. Several patches of broom are standing dead, their stems girdled. It's the first time I've observed broom as having habitat value for wildlife and it makes me reconsider my gut reaction to pull it all out. Other residents of the broom understory are a pair of hermit thrushes. They seem to enjoy my yard work more than any other birds; they wait on the edges while I've been gathering a pile of rotted lumber from decayed fencing around the yard, and quickly come in to clean grubs and termites from the wet humus that coats the slimy, spongy boards. Next week an arborist is coming to trim the dead wood out of the oak. I'm concerned the wrens will be mad, but the debris on the deck after windstorms is frightening, and large dead limbs hang over our roof. I'm glad there are several dozen other oaks on the lot that can safely support a supply of decaying branches. Maybe I'll put out a suet cake to make amends for the tree trimming. Patty Ciesla Los Altos Hills near Byrne Preserve _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. 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