From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Sun Jan 16 22:05:03 2005 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id j0H64LGo001476 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 16 Jan 2005 22:04:23 -0800 (PST) Received: from pop-a065c05.pas.sa.earthlink.net (pop-a065c05.pas.sa.earthlink.net [207.217.121.183]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id j0H5xpAf001387 for <[[email protected]]>; Sun, 16 Jan 2005 21:59:51 -0800 (PST) Received: from dialup-4.246.42.103.dial1.sanjose1.level3.net ([4.246.42.103]) by pop-a065c05.pas.sa.earthlink.net with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 1CqPvX-0006TZ-00 for [[email protected]]; Sun, 16 Jan 2005 21:59:48 -0800 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v609) To: SBB <[[email protected]]> Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> From: Matthew Dodder <[[email protected]]> Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2005 22:03:09 -0800 X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.609) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5b1 Subject: [SBB] SWPCP 01-15-05 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 j0H64LGo001476 All, My Palo Alto Adult School birding group visited Sunnyvale Water Pollution Control Plant ponds yesterday for a great morning of birding. This was the first outing of the winter term and one of our tarket species, EURASIAN WIGEON, was located. It was quite distant, but identifiable. We began the day by getting great looks at a single BURROWING OWL on the hillside above the parking area, by crossing the small bridge and looking back. After admiring the bird for a few moments we headed out to the ponds, finding GREEN HERON, CANADA GOOSE, GREATER SCAUP, COMMON MOORHEN, GREATER YELLOWLEGS, BELTED KINGFISHER, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, SONG, FOX and both "CROWNED" SPARROWS along the way. Waterfowl numbers seemed down from a few weeks ago, but most of the expected species were located including the beautiful drake EURASIAN WIGEON on the creek at the far end of the north-south levy trail and small numbers of COMMON GOLDENEYE on both the west and east ponds. Gulls included a majority RING-BILLED, a few HERRING and small numbers of CALIFORNIA, THAYER'S and BONAPARTE'S. No Westerns were seen at Sunnyvale, but they, plus a GLAUCOUS-WINGED appeared at the Alviso Marina. Along the levy trail, we had numerous opportunities to view YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, and while most were "Audubon's" forms, several proved to be "Myrtle". The first of three SAY'S PHOEBE was not in the area we expected, but over the west pond, apparently flying back toward the grassy hills where we would see the species again. After returning from the ponds we headed up the hill to see WESTERN MEADOWLARK, two more SAY'S PHOEBE and about a dozen TREE SWALLOWS circling overhead. The view of the ponds on the west side of the hill produced the remainder of our Shorebirds, namely BLACK-NECKED STILTS, AMERICAN AVOCET and some DOWITCHERS (species unknown). Also found were two additional Dabbling Ducks, specifically GREEN-WINGED and CINNAMON TEAL, and three or four BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS hiding in the reeds. Looking back over the west pond, great numbers of RUDDY DUCK, CANVASBACK and a group of 4 RING-NECKED DUCKS that we had missed earlier appeared. We finished up the group formal trip and a few of us continuted toward the Alviso Marina where we found the GREATER ROADRUNNER immediately (I look forward to seeing Jean's pictures). Other new species for the day include a flock of 120 white Geese that was comprised of both ROSS' and SNOW, RED-BREASTED MERGANSER, GLAUCOUS-WINGED and MEW GULLS, FORSTER'S TERN, CALIFORNIA TOWHEE, and LINCOLN'S SPARROW. After everyone separated, Cricket and I took the Disk Drive back toward Hwy 237 and located a PRAIRIE FALCON on the long fence near the Jubilee Church. Conspicuous absences during the day were Western Bluebird and Loggerhead Shrike, but nevertheless a wonderful day with perfect weather. Matthew Dodder http://www.birdguy.net Pied-billed Grebe Horned Grebe Eared Grebe Clark's Grebe Aechmophorus species Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Snowy Egret Green Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Snow Goose (Alviso) Ross' Goose (Alviso) Canada Goose Green-winged Teal Mallard Northern Pintail Cinnamon Teal Northern Shoveler Gadwall Eurasian Wigeon American Wigeon Canvasback Ring-necked Duck Greater Scaup Surf Scoter Common Goldeneye Bufflehead Red-breasted Merganser (Alviso) Ruddy Duck Turkey Vulture White-tailed Kite Northern Harrier Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk (Alviso) Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Peregrine Falcon Prairie Falcon (Alviso) Common Moorhen American Coot Killdeer Black-necked Stilt American Avocet Greater Yellowlegs Dowitcher species Bonaparte's Gull Mew Gull (Alviso) Ring-billed Gull California Gull Herring Gull Thayer's Gull Western Gull (Alviso) Glaucous-winged Gull (Alviso) Forster's Tern (Alviso) Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove (Alviso) Greater Roadrunner (Alviso) Burrowing Owl Anna's Hummingbird Belted Kingfisher Black Phoebe Say's Phoebe Tree Swallow American Crow Common Raven Bushtit Bewick's Wren (Alviso, heard only) Marsh Wren Northern Mockingbird American Pipit European Starling Yellow-rumped Warbler (both "Audubon's" and "Myrtle") Common Yellowthroat California Towhee (Alviso) Savannah Sparrow Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow (Alviso) Golden-crowned Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Red-winged Blackbird Western Meadowlark Brewer's Blackbird House Finch American Goldfinch (heard only) House Sparrow --end _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. 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