From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Mon Jan 12 13:19:13 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i0CLDk2m023419 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 12 Jan 2004 13:13:46 -0800 (PST) Received: from mail07c.vwh1.net (mail07c.vwh1.net [207.201.152.68]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with SMTP id i0CLCX1l023361 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 12 Jan 2004 13:12:34 -0800 (PST) Received: from www.hiddenvilla.org (209.238.180.140) by mail07c.vwh1.net (RS ver 1.0.88vs) with SMTP id 2-0549651947 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 12 Jan 2004 16:12:28 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <005e01c3d950$907f9fc0$[[email protected]]> From: "Garth Harwood" <[[email protected]]> To: "SBB" <[[email protected]]> Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 13:10:52 -0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 X-Loop-Detect: 1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.2+ Subject: [SBB] Hermit x Townsends Warbler, etc. at Hidden Villa X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2+ 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]] Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by plaidworks.com id i0CLDk2m023419 All, On Saturday 1/10/2004, as I was wrapping up a volunteer training session at 3:30 PM, I saw a fairly drab warbler in the solitary Monterey Pine at the edge of Hidden Villa's first parking area to the right of the entrance. At first the very active (and silent) bird was tantalizingly close, working the lowest branches of the tree, but after only 30 seconds or so it moved to the uppermost, much denser branches of 2 adjacent ornamental cedars, where it foraged in and out of view with a couple of Townsend's Warblers for another 5 minutes or so. I got good, if fleeting looks at both ranges, and ultimately decided I was looking at a Hermit X Townsends hybrid, and probably a young female bird. The most striking thing about the bird was its all-yellow head. The throat was a fairly bright, clean yellow which faded quickly (but not sharply) to a whitish breast and belly below. The face was also completely yellow, with dark eye and bill. There was no supercilium or distinct eye-ring etc. Although there was a broad, smudgy suggestion of a darker pattern especially in the auricular area, it was nowhere near as distinct a pattern as one sees on a typical Townsend's of any gender or age. The crown and nape were a different shade of yellow with a greenish cast. I could not see how far down the back this coloration extended, or whether there was any streaking on the back. The rump and uppertail coverts appeared to be a soft gray. The wings were a shade darker gray, with one bold wingbar (the uppermost, I believe) and the other less distinct. Flanks appeared to be completely unstreaked, but were duskier than the pale breast and belly. The tail, seen only from below and folded, had the typical Hermit/Townsend's pattern, almost all white with blackish exterior edging along its entire length (this was the only part of the bird that appeared black at all.) On Friday 1/9, I walked up the Toyon Hill Trail and down the Hostel Trail at HV at mid-day. The thrush pandemonium was in full swing as the toyon berries are peaking in a patchy way. The hundreds of excited American Robins as well as many Varied and Hermit Thrushes probably accounted for the prevalence of bird-hunting raptors. I had one each of Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks, Red-Shouldered Hawk, and a Pacific-type Merlin which was startled up from the ground near the ridgeline. Remains of 1 Robin and 1 Varied Thrush were typical of raptor kills and suggested that hunting was quite good. Also on 1/9, I chased a mysterious, repetitious, querying call from a mobile bird across the upper chaparral slopes above the Hostel. The call strongly suggested a Phainopepla was lurking about, but I never found it (my views were mostly obscured by tall foreground shrubs.) A review of tapes strengthens my suspicions and I'll be snooping around for it soon. --Garth Harwood _______________________________________________ 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]]