From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Wed Jul 21 16:23:11 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i6LNKCOP012531 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 21 Jul 2004 16:20:12 -0700 (PDT) Received: from rwcrmhc13.comcast.net (rwcrmhc13.comcast.net [204.127.198.39]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i6LNInMR012482 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 21 Jul 2004 16:18:49 -0700 (PDT) Received: from 204.127.197.114 ([204.127.197.114]) by comcast.net (rwcrmhc13) with SMTP id <20040721231849015003lcehe>; Wed, 21 Jul 2004 23:18:49 +0000 Received: from [24.6.248.198] by 204.127.197.114; Wed, 21 Jul 2004 23:18:48 +0000 From: [[email protected]] To: [[email protected]] (SBB Chat Group), [[email protected]] (Mike Rogers), [[email protected]] (Bill Bousman) Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 23:18:48 +0000 Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> X-Mailer: AT&T Message Center Version 1 (Jun 24 2004) X-Authenticated-Sender: YmlyZGVybW9tQGNvbWNhc3QubmV0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5b1 Cc: Subject: [SBB] Breeding Chipping Sparrows - 7/21/04 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]] Hi! Today (7/21/04), I birded up at Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve. From the Southern entrance, about 2-3 miles south of Page Mill Rd. on the right side of Skyline Blvd., park in the lot on the left, in the upper portion near where you enter. What appeared to be several Chipping Sparrows could be heard "tseeping" and "tsikking" from this spot and glimpses were obtained when I arrived at approx. 9:30pm. Hike uphill on the path that takes you through the former Christmas Tree farm. Less than 5 minutes from the parking lot, at the top of the knoll (about 20-30' from Skyline), several birds were skittering about on the ground eating while others perched on the tops and within the young pines. The ground birds included Chipping Sparrow, CA Towhee and immature Dark-eyed Juncos. It was easily able to identify an adult(s?) in breeding plumage, complete with a reddish/rufous colored crown, which was held in an upright position (in case I had any trouble with the angle)! The black eyeline was distinct and so was the white supercillium (or eyebrow). The legs were pinkish and the chest was clear, but I never got a good look at the grey chest in an adult. The tail was long and notched and the wings had two white wingbars. Overall, the bird had the appearance of higher intensity color variation than do other "little brown jobbies". When feeding on the ground, this sparrow skittered and fed rather quickly, much faster than the Savannah Sparrow, for example. The birds were not shy, and I was able, after a stop and wait approach system, to get to within 25'. After watching for about 15 minutes, I could see the movement of a begging birds(?) I'd been hearing for quite some time. I got my binoculars on the bird and watched while an adult breeding Chipping Sparrow fed the bird in the mouth. The bird had heavy streaking on the chest and a faded black eyeline. The supercillium was a lighter tan, but not white. There was less contrast in overall coloring. I kept my eyes on this juvenile and saw that after 3 feedings, it flew to the ground very near me to forage. This made the adult most uncomfortable and it kept zooming in to sit next to the juvenile and then flying off to the dense part of a tree until the juvenile followed. The whole while, the Chipping Sparrows were creating a soft, medium-high pitched "tsep" over and over again in a random rythym. I'm pretty sure I saw more juveniles feeding on the ground, while the adults fed further away and perched on treetops. Occasionally a juvenile would perch on top of a tree also. _______________________________________________ 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]]