From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Wed Sep 15 13:25:34 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i8FKKEwW009110 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 15 Sep 2004 13:20:15 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mail07a.vwh1.net (mail07a.vwh1.net [131.103.218.80]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with SMTP id i8FGNv1c005471 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 15 Sep 2004 09:23:57 -0700 (PDT) Received: from www.hiddenvilla.org (209.238.180.140) by mail07a.vwh1.net (RS ver 1.0.94vs) with SMTP id 1-0476005435 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 15 Sep 2004 12:23:55 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <023f01c49b38$c1c1e480$[[email protected]]> From: "Garth Harwood" <[[email protected]]> To: "SBB" <[[email protected]]> Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 08:29:13 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1409 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1409 X-Loop-Detect: 1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5b1 Subject: [SBB] Alpine Pond Area - some SCL, some not 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 i8FKKEwW009110 Alpine Pond, just a few yards west of the SCL county line, was deceptively quiet when I stopped off at the Russian Ridge parking lot at 5PM last evening (9/14/2004). It was still hot and bright and I could hear nothing - much less see it. But I walked through the pedestrian tunnel to the pond area and found it pretty entertaining after all. I heard Red-breasted Nuthatch almost immediately, from the tall pines over the Visitor's Center. Two well-seen Golden-crowned Sparrows seemed early; at least one was an immature bird. I thought I heard more but could not coax them out of the brush. One Townsend's Warbler was the only warbler detected. A mysterious, grayish sparrow with smudgy-streaked flanks flitted into view with the GCSP but was gone before I could focus. Can't get 'em all, I guess. I was eventually able to see the RBNU in the pines behind the V C. Several Pygmy Nuthatches foraged low in the pines there too. Then I walked a short ways up the road behind the pond, past the MROSD headquarters, onto the beginning of the "Alternate" Ridge Trail. For a short ways, the SCL county line dodges westward of Skyline Blvd. to include the area just south of the HQ (marked as "Skyline Ranch" on the old Mindego Hill USGS 15-minute series topographic map). This SCL fragment includes most of this "Alternate Ridge Trail" to Horseshoe Lake. There are two rows of Monterey Pines lining the road/trail just behind the ranch buildings, and they held at least two more RB Nuthatches, which were busily snatching Douglas-fir seeds from open cones and transporting them to a hidden location in the rough-barked pines. As I was leaving, at 5:50 PM, an Osprey appeared and circled over the southernmost portion of Russian Ridge before it moved south and east (briefly into Santa Clara County) before gliding away down the crest of the mountains. A Hidden Villa addendum - Townsend's Warblers have been appearing in the mixed oak woodlands around the farm since at least 9/9 (elevation about 600').One was seen on that date, three were seen on 9/10, and two on 9/14. Definitely an early year for the return of this species, according to the county checklist. One Warbling Vireo was with chickadees at HV on 9/14. An American Kestrel (male) also appeared at HV on 9/14, the first AMKE seen there in several months. They are not generally seen at HV during the breeding season.. --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]]