From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Mon Sep 27 13:00:43 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i8RJwAwO027494 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 27 Sep 2004 12:58:10 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mail07b.vwh1.net (mail07b.vwh1.net [131.103.218.112]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with SMTP id i8RJv01c027453 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 27 Sep 2004 12:57:01 -0700 (PDT) Received: from www.hiddenvilla.org (209.238.180.140) by mail07b.vwh1.net (RS ver 1.0.94vs) with SMTP id 5-0672434851 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 27 Sep 2004 15:54:12 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <003601c4a4cb$b5be9920$[[email protected]]> From: "Garth Harwood" <[[email protected]]> To: "SBB" <[[email protected]]> Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 12:53:48 -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] Monte Bello OSP - Chipping Sparrows etc. 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 i8RJwAwO027494 All, I have been hanging out at my new favorite "patch" a lot this week, studying sparrows and being surprised on each visit at the productivity of a tiny pond in the "high country" at this time of year. The patch in question is the unnamed pond 1/4 mile down the dead-end trail from Gate 5 of Monte Bello OSP. (Directly across Page Mill Rd. from its intersection with Alpine Rd.) The little pond is usually deceptively quiet as I arrive but I always end up wishing I had more time to see what keeps emerging from the grasses and shrubs. It is adjacent to mixed woods with a lot of Doug-fir, too, so a surprising number of forest species can be detected from this spot. This morning's (9/27/2004) surprises included a Wilson's Snipe flying off as I arrived, two winter-plumaged Chipping Sparrows, four or more Savannah Sparrows, at least two Lincoln's Sparrows, and, alas, another pale sparrow with an unstreaked underside which I simply couldn't ID with the views I had. Another trip in order, I guess. >From the nearby woods in the uppermost reaches of Steven Creek I heard Pileated Woodpecker several times between 9-9:30, and a Red-breasted Nuthatch yank-yanking once. Two Western Tanagers flew by to the northwest (?!), one of them still brilliantly colored. A Hermit Thrush was the first I'd seen this fall. On a briefer stop on Friday afternoon 9/24 at 4:15PM, I had a fast, pure flock of 27 Vaux's Swifts scoot over the ridge southbound. Forty-five minutes later I could see at least a dozen milling about with many swallows in the southerly distance. It was the first time I'd seen swifts here. --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]]