From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sun Jan 25 16:57:35 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i0Q0sxgY009922 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:55:00 -0800 (PST) Received: from nospam2.slac.stanford.edu (nospam2.slac.stanford.edu [134.79.18.86]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i0Q0s3Be009868 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:54:08 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtpserv2.slac.stanford.edu (smtpserv2.slac.stanford.edu [134.79.19.101]) by nospam2.slac.stanford.edu (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id i0Q0sC6j009724 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:54:12 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from [[email protected]]) Received: from flora05.slac.stanford.edu ([134.79.16.59]) by smtpserv2.slac.stanford.edu (PMDF V6.1-1 #37665) with ESMTP id <[[email protected]]> for [[email protected]]; Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:54:12 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost (eisner@localhost) by flora05.slac.stanford.edu (8.12.10+Sun/8.12.5/Submit-solaris) with ESMTP id i0Q0sCYV006510 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:54:12 -0800 (PST) Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:54:12 -0800 (PST) From: Al Eisner <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Message-id: <[[email protected]]> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-Authentication-warning: flora05.slac.stanford.edu: eisner owned process doing -bs Subject: [SBB] Some Palo Alto CBC miscellany, and a mini-quiz 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]] The Totals for the Dec. 15, 2003 Palo Alto CBC are 114112 birds of 166 species. The biggest single component was 17123 "Scaup, sp." (birds not specifically identified as Greater or Lesser), in turn dominated by a flock of 14000 Mike Rogers saw out on the Bay. Back in December I summarized the more unusual sightings. In this follow-up, I'll report instead on expected birds which we missed or "nearly" missed. We entirely missed six species we've recorded on 2/3 of recent counts: Barrow's Goldeneye (the Shoreline adult female must have been on an extended leave-of-absence), Snowy Plover, Lesser Yellowlegs, White-throated Swift (for which we got two count week reports) and Pine Siskin. Some other species were seen by only one party because they are typically found in special locations in the count circle: e.g., the Black Skimmer flock, which tends to stick together, or the neat shorebirds Mike always finds at the mouth of San Francisquito Creek (including the Ruddy Turnstone, which I mis-located in my earlier mail). But here I'll focus on more dispersed species which are in short supply on the count. "One-shots" on this count include: Wood Duck - 3 found at Jasper Ridge. This is the fifth year in a row we've had a very low count (1 to 3). Wilson's Snipe - just a single bird, at Moffett Golf Course. We missed it entirely last year. Ten years ago numbers found on the count were typically of order 10 or more. Thayer's Gull - 3 at Redwood Slough (Ann Verdi) is a not atypical number, although in some years it fluctuates up. Red-breasted Nuthatch - the same 2 birds in pines along Page Mill Road below the Montebello entrance were seen by two parties (David Suddjian, and Reilling/Vanslager). We usually get few (if any) of these. In addition there were several "two-shots": Spotted Sandpiper - 1 each in two locations near the Bay. This is actually an improvement, since we missed the species the previous four years in a row! Burrowing Owl - 1 at or by the Shoreline Golf Course, and 2 at or by the Moffett Golf Course. With other habitat vanishing, .... Golden-crowned Kinglet - 6 seen in Wunderlich Park (to be honest, I don't actually know if these were just a single flock), and 2 in upper Foothill Park. Probably not an atypical result. Tricolored Blackbird - just 2 at Felt Lake, and 1 at Moffett Golf Course. We've found far fewer of these the past few years than previously. Totals for the years from 1988 to 2003 have been 656-333-276-367-732-530-381-305-310-650-96-176-60-2-30-3. The count of Red-winged Blackbird has meanwhile held fairly steady (between about 500 and 1100). Is this a result of our coverage or of a real decline? We did better this year than last with Green Heron (3 in separate locations, all away from the Bay, vs. 1, but both numbers are in the "typical" range). I hope the above has provided at least a little amusement. For some more, here's a mini-quiz. Anyone wanting to "play" can respond *by January 28* via private EMail, or even post if you're bold enough. [Note to past compilers (you know who you are): I'm pretty sure you know the answer to at least question 2, so please don't post your response for a few days!] 1) I mentioned over 17000 "Scaup, sp." above. Guess what species had the largest number of individuals identified as to species on this count. 2) What was the most widespread species on the count? This was one species which was recorded by all but one of the daytime parties. Keep in mind that the count extends from the Bay to the Santa Cruz mountains (i.e., neither Northern Shoveler nor Hairy Woodpecker is a likely candidate). Al Eisner _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. 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