From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Thu Jul 1 16:52:04 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i61NnesH028405 for <[[email protected]]>; Thu, 1 Jul 2004 16:49:40 -0700 (PDT) Received: from imo-m20.mx.aol.com (imo-m20.mx.aol.com [64.12.137.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i61NmwQC028362 for <[[email protected]]>; Thu, 1 Jul 2004 16:48:58 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [[email protected]] by imo-m20.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v37_r2.6.) id t.ac.5be7c7cf (16335) for <[[email protected]]>; Thu, 1 Jul 2004 19:49:10 -0400 (EDT) From: [[email protected]] Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 19:49:09 EDT To: [[email protected]] MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: 9.0 for Windows sub 5113 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5b1 Subject: [SBB] County Red Knots 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]] All, Eleven o'clock this morning as Frank Vanslager and I started around the northern edge of Salt Pond A-9 we spotted BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS on the near edge mud flats of Coyote Creek. Frank was checking the Plovers out when a breeding plumaged RED KNOT walked into view. As we started to concentrate our attention on this bird it then walked up to another Red Knot; this bird however was in mostly "basic" plumage except for a red patch running from the throat to the chest. Both birds were somewhat smaller than the nearby Black-bellied Plovers, had dark legs, a short, straight black bill, spotted white vent and undertail coverts. The breeding plumaged bird had a uniform reddish head, neck, throat, chest and belly. Red and black marked coverts contrasted nicely with its medium gray upper body. The "basic" plumaged bird had a medium to light gray upper body and wings, had a white throat and chest (except for the previously noted red patch), and belly. My guess is that this "basic" plumaged bird is most probably a "first summer" bird as first year Red Knots don't get full breeding plumage in summer and they also don't usually migrate north. Unfortunately after 15-20 minutes a flock of shorebirds flew low over the Red Knots and both birds joined the flock which headed upstream quite a distance and then split with one group heading further upstream and the other heading toward Salt Pond A-14. We still had a long way to go and so couldn't back track to try and re-find the birds. Earlier we had two-three thousand Phalaropes over Salt Pond A-16 (looked like a large swarm of insects). The only Phalaropes we saw clearly were WILSON'S PHALAROPES. We also had a nice alternate plumage WESTERN SANDPIPER in with three LEAST SANDPIPERS and a nice breeding plumage WILLET (all in Salt Pond A-15), three WESTERN GREBES and a CLARK'S GREBE (Salt Pond A-10), at least ten BROWN PELICANS (one in nice breeding plumage) and lots of breeding plumage CALIFORNIA GULLS (now's a good time to check for the obvious red gape and red orbital ring on the breeding adults). Biggest miss of the day was a Yellowlegs that looked positively small when flying with BLACK-NECKED STILTS (the Greater Yellowlegs wingspan is very close to that of the Black-necked Stilt, as is its length and weight) but the bird didn't call as it flew out of sight toward New Chicago Marsh. Biggest disappointment, no hoped for Little Blue Heron. Take care, Bob Reiling _______________________________________________ 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]]