From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sun Nov 14 15:37:34 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id iAENZEjp025472 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 14 Nov 2004 15:35:14 -0800 (PST) Received: from web81702.mail.yahoo.com (web81702.mail.yahoo.com [206.190.37.133]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with SMTP id iAENXZVC025417 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 14 Nov 2004 15:33:35 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> Received: from [64.170.153.93] by web81702.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Sun, 14 Nov 2004 15:33:33 PST Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 15:33:33 -0800 (PST) From: Bob Power <[[email protected]]> To: south bay birds <[[email protected]]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Subject: [SBB] Alviso Trip Report (11-14-04) 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 all: Today's Palo Alto Adult School birding class went to Alviso looking for owls, raptors, and roadrunners. We weren't disappointed. Highlights of the trip were: Burrowing Owl (Outside the Environmental Ed Visitor Center) Peregrine Falcon (Adult, perched on power tower on the entry road to the visitor center) Greater Roadrunner (Alviso Marina; west end of the parking area in the open scrub area) Full report follows..... State and Spreckels was relatively quiet except for the outbreak of Killdeer. Scattered shorebirds and passerines included: Dunlin, Long-billed Curlew, Long-billed Dowitcher, Black-bellied Plover, Black-necked Stilt, Greater Yellowlegs, a phalanx of American White Pellicans (thank you Stephanie), European Starling, Say's Phoebe, Canada Geese, Lesser Goldfinch, and a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk dining workshop complete w/plucked feathers drifting in the wind. We would have made it in short order to the visitor center parking lot if it wasn't for that darn male American Kestrel perched on the power tower. Once I stopped for that, in short order we had an adult Peregrine Falcon dive-bombing the Kestrel and perching a couple of towers down, a Ring-necked Pheasant, a Loggerhead Shrike, another Red-tailed Hawk and Black-necked Stilts. The Visitor Center parking area and gardens had White-crowned Sparrows, Anna's Hummingbirds, Northern Mockingbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Say's Phoebe. The adjacent wetland habitat was fairly devoid of life, save for some foraging Canada Geese, distant White Pelicans and a steady stream of gull species. Fortunately or unfortunately, the board walk was closed at the end, causing us to slow our pace and scan the surrounding area. There we had the Burrowing Owl on the north side of the Visitor Center w/Scope-filling views for all. Class hasn't taken up the age-old practice of screaming "lifer!" and doing high fives, but I suspect this was a life bird for several (as may have been the Peregrine). We retraced our steps and went to the east side of the visitor center where we bumped into a Song Sparrow, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Hermit Thrush, and heard but not seen California Towhee. We took the trail out the levy for better views of the Burrowing Owl, 20-30 Eared Grebes, American Coots, Bufflehead male, a Willet, Ring-billed Gull, Golden-crowned and White-crowned Sparrows and barking Song Sparrows. We saved the best for last (I guess that's arguable) by relocating to the Alviso Marina and thanks to excellent directions from Thomas and Stephanie and excellent spotting by Mary, we were able to all see the legendary Greater Roadrunner. Very cool bird in a remarkable locale. The trip started winding down here, but highlights were still available: Lincoln's Sparrow (I think I was the only one on the bird; I hate that), Common Yellowthroat (male), Virginia Rail responding to smooching sounds, Loggerhead Shrike, Greater Yellowlegs, Least Sandpipers, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Red-breasted Mergansers (4-7)provided extensive opportunity for study and discussion. A good time was had by all. Good birding, Bob Power Oakland, CA _______________________________________________ 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]]