From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Thu Jul 22 14:00:12 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i6MKvoOY000909 for <[[email protected]]>; Thu, 22 Jul 2004 13:57:51 -0700 (PDT) Received: from rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (rtjones.nas.nasa.gov [129.99.142.32]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i6MKuSMR000851 for <[[email protected]]>; Thu, 22 Jul 2004 13:56:28 -0700 (PDT) Received: from rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (SGI-8.12.5/8.12.5/NAS-6n) with ESMTP id i6MKuSju013529 for <[[email protected]]>; Thu, 22 Jul 2004 13:56:28 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from mrogers@localhost) by rtjones.nas.nasa.gov (SGI-8.12.5/8.12.5/Submit) id i6MKuS6V013632 for [[email protected]]; Thu, 22 Jul 2004 13:56:28 -0700 (PDT) Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 13:56:28 -0700 (PDT) From: "Dr. Michael M. Rogers" <[[email protected]]> Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> To: [[email protected]] Subject: [SBB] RUTUs and COTEs in Alviso 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, Today 7/22/04, Richard Jeffers, Mike Mammoser, and I birded the ponds north of the Alviso Marina. The "Mallard" dredge has moved over to pond A9, and when they cut a hole in the A14/A9 dike to get it there much of the water in A9 drained out, leaving lots of mud bars for shorebirds. The water level in A14 has increased a bit since 7/11/04 (according to Richard), but they are rapidly pumping it into A15, which is quite high right now. The end result is that there is lots of good roosting habitat in both western A14 and in pond A9. A female-plumaged HOODED ORIOLE was near the entrance to the Marina before we started our loop. A few shorebirds were in the impoundment along the railroad tracks north of the Marina but the northern area was still very dry. When we got to the east edge of pond A14 we searched the southern A14 dike for turnstones - sure enough, Richard managed to pick out two alternate adult RUDDY TURNSTONES with his big 82mm KOWA scope (no mean task, as this is far away). As we neared the north part of A14, we stopped and scoped the roosting birds over on the west side of the pond. Again Richard picked out our target bird, a basic-plumaged COMMON TERN. This bird had the typical head pattern of a basic Common Tern, a mostly black bill and black-appearing legs, a somewhat faded carpal bar, and was slightly smaller and shorter-legged than the nearby FORSTER'S TERNS. Overall the bird was fairly worn and faded, and lacked any of the characteristic markings of juvenile plumage. This is almost certainly a one-year old bird (a bird in its second calendar year=SY). After 5 or 10 minutes the bird flew over to pond A9 and began foraging. Two adult CASPIAN TERNS were also here among the many FORSTER'S TERNS. We headed over to A9 and spent a fair amount of time scoping through all the herons, egrets, pelicans, cormorants, and gulls without finding anything very unusual - which was surprising given the good habitat and obviously productive foraging. We had 23 BROWN PELICANS on, or around, A9 (14 of these on the A9/A10 dike). The 3 BUFFLEHEAD were still in the northwest corner of A9 and 2 CASPIAN TERNS were foraging nearby as well. The dike between A9 and A10 still has about 50 active DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT nests (including some nest building), but as Bill noted there are not many signs of successful fledging of young. I noted just two juveniles, although there could easily be more as the birds are distant and hard to check carefully. At least 900 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS were on A10 and this dike, with hundreds more in A9 and nearby Coyote Slough. A single WESTERN GREBE was in the southeast corner of pond A10 and 2 recently fledged NORTHERN HARRIERS were begging from the bush across the dike. After completing our loop, Richard and I again headed out to pond A14 to recheck for the Common Tern. Instead of finding that same bird, however, I found a different COMMON TERN in the same area. This bird had a fairly red base to the bill and reddish-orange legs (both much redder than those of the nearby FORSTER'S TERNS). The head pattern was similar to that of the previous bird, with an extensive white forehead, but the carpal bar was almost absent on the sitting bird (a dull carpal bar was apparent later from some angles when the bird flew). Some FORSTER'S TERNS can approach the head pattern of this bird (although the pattern of black near the eye is different), so it was nice to confirm the ID by seeing the dark outer webs to the outer tail feathers as the bird preened. On both birds the "black wedge" in the primaries was not obvious from most angles, although on the second bird this contrast between primaries of different generations could be seen when the bird was hovering while facing away from us. Eventually this bird too flew over to adjacent pond A9 to forage. Given the red bill and leg color and the lack of an obvious carpal bar, this bird may be a second summer (two-year old or third calendar year=TY) bird, although it could possibly be a more advanced SY bird I suppose. It seems unlikely that it is an adult that has already molted its forehead feathers and acquired some basic-plumaged coverts to form a weak carpal bar given that we have several south bay records of adult Common Terns in full or nearly full alternate plumage through late August. Other birds of interest included many groups of up to 43 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES, 5 WILSON'S PHALAROPES, 25+ SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS in Coyote Slough, and 6 alternate-plumaged EARED GREBES. Mike Rogers _______________________________________________ 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]]