From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Fri Mar 26 12:57:22 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i2QKt5Ar005165 for <[[email protected]]>; Fri, 26 Mar 2004 12:55:06 -0800 (PST) Received: from mail-out3.apple.com (mail-out3.apple.com [17.254.13.22]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i2QKrqpJ005119 for <[[email protected]]>; Fri, 26 Mar 2004 12:53:52 -0800 (PST) Received: from mailgate1.apple.com (a17-128-100-225.apple.com [17.128.100.225]) by mail-out3.apple.com (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id i2QKrq2A004184 for <[[email protected]]>; Fri, 26 Mar 2004 12:53:52 -0800 (PST) Received: from relay3.apple.com (relay3.apple.com) by mailgate1.apple.com (Content Technologies SMTPRS 4.3.6) with ESMTP id <[[email protected]]> for <[[email protected]]>; Fri, 26 Mar 2004 12:53:52 -0800 Received: from [17.201.23.142] (langba3.apple.com [17.201.23.142]) by relay3.apple.com (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id i2QKroVK019796 for <[[email protected]]>; Fri, 26 Mar 2004 20:53:51 GMT Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v613) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed To: [[email protected]] From: Barry Langdon-Lassagne <[[email protected]]> Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 12:53:43 -0800 X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.613) Subject: [SBB] Any tips on identifying Calliope Hummingbirds? 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]] I spent the morning on the trail along the backside of Stevens Creek Reservoir and had a wonderful time enjoying the birds and the flowers. At several sites - always in a Live Oak tree there was a confusing hummingbird. It made constant "chip-chip-chip" noises both when it was flying around in the oak tree and when it was perched. I only saw the bird twice, and it was either an immature or female so there wasn't much to go on for field marks: green back, a little white behind the eye, plain-gray throat (so far as I could tell). It had a thin slightly downcurved bill but I wouldn't have called it "short". It didn't look "tiny" to me like I expect a Calliope would look. When I listen to Stoke's bird songs, only the Calliope has a distinct "chip-chip-chip" that matches what I was hearing, but that seems pretty tenuous to go on. I did occasionally hear a faint wing buzz, but I attributed that to passing selasphorus hummingbirds, not necessarily to the hummingbird I was watching. Is the chipping sound distinct, or similar to sounds that several hummers make? Are oak trees at Stevens Creek Reservoir a reasonable habitat to see a Calliope? I thought they preferred higher altitudes; could yesterday's rains have "downed" them? Is it possible that I heard three separate Calliope Hummingbirds, or are they much more rare than that? Barry ----- _______________________________________________ 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]]