From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sun Jan 9 23:48:39 2005 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id j0A7kIGm005464 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 9 Jan 2005 23:46:19 -0800 (PST) Received: from rwcrmhc13.comcast.net (rwcrmhc13.comcast.net [204.127.198.39]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id j0A7f7Af005355 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 9 Jan 2005 23:41:08 -0800 (PST) Received: from 204.127.197.111 ([204.127.197.111]) by comcast.net (rwcrmhc13) with SMTP id <2005011007410601500n1h7te>; Mon, 10 Jan 2005 07:41:06 +0000 Received: from [24.6.248.198] by 204.127.197.111; Mon, 10 Jan 2005 07:41:06 +0000 From: [[email protected]] (Birdermom) To: [[email protected]] (Jean Myers), [[email protected]] (SBB Chat Group) Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 07:41:06 +0000 Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> X-Mailer: AT&T Message Center Version 1 (Dec 17 2004) X-Authenticated-Sender: YmlyZGVybW9tQGNvbWNhc3QubmV0 Cc: Subject: [SBB] 01/08/05 Panoche Valley Adventure! 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]] Dear fellow Birders: Yes - we made it out alive!!! OK, so the best day to visit Panoche Valley turns out not to be the day after record-breaking rains in the area... Those of us thick-headed enough to venture to our meeting place took off without our leader (Clay - did a streak of sanity hit you in the morn?). The "Road Closed" signs didn't deter us once we saw other cars descend the mountain. Passing the rock slide (one of which was the size of my living room) was challenging on the sloshy gravel road they poured next to the edge of the cliff but the rest of the way up the pass was uneventfull, if wet. The views and colors were shockingly clear and striking when we hit clear patches, and we had a great day in the valley and over Shotgun Pass. It was on the way home that we really knew we'd pushed our (and my car's) limits. It turns out that the record-breaking rains that had pelted San Benito Mountain and surrounding areas had caused a damn or some blockage to break and a flash flood ensued. The first creek we passed we came to had rushing muddy water, shallow (less than 1 ft.) and wide (about 30 feet). What a thrill to drive through it. The next creek was a raging mess! It was about 2 feet deep and was crammed into an area about 18 feet wide with a steep silty bank on the other side and a dropoff with large rocks below on the downhill side. We fretted (read about the rest of this adventure on my photo website, accessed below, which I will update by 10pm on Monday, 1/10 to include pictures). Birds we saw included:At the damn near Paicines - 7 Swan sp. (Tundra is most likely as 8 were seen here last week), Common Merganser, Double-crested Cormorant, Crow, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Starling, Red-winged Blackbird, 2 Bald Eagles in their tree, Bufflehead, Scaup sp. (rain obscured clear vision) On the way up and over the mountains (raining most of the time) - Yellow-billed Magpie, Golden-crowned Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Brewer's Blackbird, Northern Mockingbird. Nuttall's Woodpecker, CA Quail, Dark-eyed Junco, Greater Yellowlegs, Mallard, Rock Pidgeon, Oak Titmouse, Western Scrubjay, Bewick's Wren, CA TowheeOnce in the valley - Horned Larks (perhaps 250-300 over the day), Western Meadowlark, large flocks of Savannah Sparrows (30+ in each of 3-4 flocks), White-tailed Kite (near the best restaurant in Panoche Valley -has this bird been seen up here before?), Lark Sparrow (flock of about 60-100), Western Bluebird (saw about 12 males in valley and 9 males just over shotgun pass - didn't take time to id females), Golden Eagle (saw 8 over the day - a couple of which could have been same birds - three immatures all with slightly different wing/tail coloration), 3 Ferruginous Hawks, Turkey Vulture, Northern Harrier, Loggerhead Shrike (must have seen 20 during the day), Black Phoebe, Say's Phoebe (10+), Raven (150+), American Pipit (about 400+ scattered in flocks of about 80-200) At the top of Shotgun Pass we spotted a large (150+) flock of smallish birds. Upon examination, it included 9 male Mountain Bluebirds with about 140 Finches, mostly House Finches and some Purple Finches. There were a few meadowlarks and sparrows mixed in. Down the hill, we paid our $1 each to view the Long-eared Owls, 5 of them in one tree! It was well worth the money for John, who had not seen one before. Notable misses were Chukar, Mountain Plover, Phainopepla and Prairie Falcon. Overall, with the fantastic rain clouds dancing in formation above us and the resulting sunny spots, shadowy spots, rain and rainbows combined with the thrilling driving adventure, it was simply a fantastic day! Thanks to Richard, John, Lindsey and Greta for sharing this adventure with me. Happy Birding! Jean Myers ( http://community.webshots.com/user/birdermom) _______________________________________________ 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]]