From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Mon Jun 7 14:11:36 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i57L9Aiv000706 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 7 Jun 2004 14:09:11 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mail07c.vwh1.net (mail07c.vwh1.net [207.201.152.68]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with SMTP id i57L8Kcu000667 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 7 Jun 2004 14:08:21 -0700 (PDT) Received: from www.hiddenvilla.org (209.238.180.140) by mail07c.vwh1.net (RS ver 1.0.94vs) with SMTP id 1-0981502491 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 7 Jun 2004 17:08:14 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <029e01c44cd3$7ac110a0$[[email protected]]> From: "Garth Harwood" <[[email protected]]> To: "SBB" <[[email protected]]> Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2004 13:58:15 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 X-Loop-Detect: 1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5b1 Subject: [SBB] Monte Bello OSP on the summer count 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]] Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by plaidworks.com id i57L9Aiv000706 All, Dean Manley, Maryann Boeger, Paul Chestnut and I trekked through most of MB-OSP on Saturday June 5 to winkle out the rarities that just had to be in there somewhere. However, it wasn't that kind of day in the end. We found a scattering of birds from the "medium-rare" category however. The day actually began with an owling foray as Bill Bousman and I walked down the Skid Road Trail from the Skyline Ridge OSP parking lot to the approximate base of the Indian Creek Trail, from which point Bill had had Common Poorwills last year. This route took us through some dense forest cover including mature Douglas Fir. At the point where we first reached forest cover a family of Western Screech owls made a racket in response to Bill's whistling; at least one fledgling was calling insistently from a tangle of low trees and brush. In the deepest part of the canyon, where we joined the Stevens Cr. Nature Trail, a different type of owlish fledgling-type call was heard, probably from multiple birds spaced well apart, and could well have been Northern Saw-whets; however, we couldn't rouse any adults and the jury is still out (but active) on the ID of those calls. We found no Poorwills, Pygmies, or strangely, Great-Horned Owls. The latter failure seemed all the more stark when no-one at the countdown dinner could account for any either. Perhaps there will be one in a late report. As the light built up I made my way up to the Page Mill parking area to meet the others by way of the White Oak Trail. Three Winter Wrens sang from the deep canyon, and the adjacent woodlands held several Black-throated Gray Warblers, numerous Pacific-Slope Flycatchers, one Olive-sided Flycatcher, and a pair of Cassin's Vireos. As the WOT entered grasslands dotted with shrubs, I encountered two singing Grassghopper Sparrows and near the top, two Chipping Sparrows and a Western Bluebird. The daytime crew began by ferrying a car to the top of the Grizzly Flat Trail, on Skyline Blvd. Then we returned to the Page Mill location and walked the "traditional" loop from the Page Mill Rd. access, starting down the Canyon Trail (where we had our only Lazuli Buntings and Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher of the day), then up the Bella Vista Trail to the backpack camp. It was windy up there and wierdly quiet in terms of birds, so we did not linger but headed down the Indian Creek Trail. We loitered in the traditional Black-chinned Sparrow area without success, and checked fruitlessly for any evidence of Roadrunner (or Turkeys) as well. It was nice to find a cooperative pair of Chipping Sparrows there however, carrying food no less. After descending to the Canyon Trail once more we headed downstream a couple of miles to the base of the Grizzly Flat Trail in Upper Stevens Creek County Park. Along the way we heard a couple of Western Tanagers and another Olive-sided Flycatcher, and several more Black-throated Gray Warblers, but little else of note. At the base of the Grizzly Flat Trail things were a bit more interesting, with 3 more Winter Wrens and, perhaps 1/4 mile up the western slope of the canyon, a small group of Golden-crowned Kinglets singing from the tops of the giant Douglas Firs in that area. I had had them there through mid-May before, but had missed them on previous Count Day attempts. Only two of our 4 could pick up the shrill laugh of the kinglets way up there, a challenge made more difficult by the presence of various families of Creepers, Chickadees, Titmice, and Pygmy Nuthatches in the general area. But they were most definitely GC Kinglets. Still farther up we encountered a Pygmy Nuthatch carrying food to a nest hole, where Dean set up his scope and we had a great time watching the show as parents fed nearly-fledged young which poked their fully-feathered heads out to receive the treats. Once we reached the car most of the team opted to take a ramble through Skyline Ridge OSP in hopes of Pileated Woodpecker, Hermit Warbler etc. but we had no success in finding anything intriguing in the afternoon doldrums. Thanks to those who helped out at Monte Bello and also to those who do all the unsung work behind the scenes to make it all work out, especially organizer Jack Cole and compiler Bill Bousman. --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]]