[SBB] Hidden Villa swift flock etc.

["Garth Harwood" <[[email protected]]>]

Hello All,

Yesterday 7/18/2005 I was leaving Hidden Villa about 4:30 PM when I heard the sound of calling Vaux's Swifts over the Visitors' Center. Expecting one or two birds I looked up...and was unable to count them all, mainly because they never bunched up very tightly and they are indeed swift! A very conservative estimate is that there were 15 VASW in the widely swirling flock, which also included several swallows and just one White-throated Swift (which provided a useful contrast.) Seems early for flocks of this species, but I am also seeing hundreds of Violet-green Swallows staging on telephone wires along Skyline in San Mateo County. 

At the same time a recently fledged group (2+) of Cooper's Hawks were yelling for meat from the bay trees near the entrance. An adult was seen attending them.

BTW, Hidden Villa is closed for summer camp until 8/22, except for the weekends of 7/23-24 and 8/6-7. Not that it's very birdy right now anyway...

I also made a visit to the little pond at Monte Bello's Gate 5 yesterday morning 7/18, where a female Lazuli Bunting was lurking in the pond-side willows with at least one fledgling. A male could be heard singing from the slope above. The pond is dragonfly heaven right now!

--Garth Harwood
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