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From: Bill Bousman <[[email protected]]>
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Subject: [SBB] San Antonio Valley (Mt. Hamilton CBC)
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Folks:

On Sunday, 1/2/2005, Rich Page and I had about an eight-mile ramble around 
San Antonio Valley, participating in the Mt. Hamilton CBC.  The first three 
hours were exceedingly pleasant, at least in comparison with the rest of 
the day as the rain came down.  It was a relatively uneventful journey.  We 
found WOOD DUCKS in a couple of places and tallied 27 for the day.  A 
single GREAT EGRET was in one of the ponds and is unusual here.  Our best 
bird of the day was a PRAIRIE FALCON, probably the one that was missed that 
day in Isabel Valley by the Mikes.  The oak mast seems especially plentiful 
this year and we counted at least 11 LEWIS'S WOODPECKERS on our 
walk.  Quite a few were found along San Antonio Valley Road, where they've 
been found in past years.  The chamise crop seemed rather poor.  Once we 
reached the chaparral fields the rain was coming down.  Pishing brought out 
quite a few Fox Sparrows, but no Sage Sparrows.  Most of the Fox Sparrows 
that were well seen were 'SOOTY' FOX SPARROWS, with lesser numbers of 
'SLATE-COLORED' FOX SPARROWS.  Our species count for the day was 43, which 
is down from the 25-year average of 46.

The biggest surprise of the day was the flowering shooting stars that we 
encountered on all the rangeland.  In March and April these can create 
colorful swathes with 20 to 30 plants per square meter.  This day, the 
density was much lower with only 1 or 2 plants per square meter.  I assume 
it is some strange confluence of rainfall and temperature that had brought 
about this midwinter flowering.  I've never seen this before.

Bill

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