[SBB] Some miscellaneous birds

[Bill Bousman <[[email protected]]>]

Folks:

This morning, 5/30/06, I stopped at Hidden Villa in Los Altos Hills.  Just 
as Garth Harwood did earlier, I heard the BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW singing 
along the ridge above the hostel.  I first heard the bird along the Hostel 
Trail beyond the trail junction with the Toyon Trail.  I spent most of my 
time near the switchback on the Hostel Trail after it splits off from the 
Toyon Trail and enters the chaparral.  I thought the singing male was 
100-150 m away, but not moving around very much.  Later in the day I ran 
into Dave Weber at San Antonio (we were both trying for afternoon views of 
the no-show Western Screech-Owl) and he said that he thought the bird was 
moving around a good bit.  I was there from about 1035 to 1120 hrs and Dave 
was there later in the day.  While I was there, the bird would go through 
singing bouts of up to 13 songs and then become quiet.

Also at Hidden Villa, I saw an adult SHARP-SHINNED HAWK fly across the 
chaparral.  This is likely a local breeding bird.  All during the period I 
was there, small groups of BAND-TAILED PIGEONS were flying down the canyon 
and towards the urban area--are these local birding birds that are foraging 
in our urban areas?

Late in the afternoon I stopped by Rancho San Antonio OSP to see if the 
famed Western Screech-Owl was out and about (it was not).  Walking back to 
the car, I saw two VAUX'S SWIFTS over the park.  One of this pair 
repeatedly flew into the thin, dead tops of California laurels that are 
slightly downstream of the tennis courts and broke off small twigs for its 
nest.  This is a new confirmation for Block 8030, although I have no idea 
where they are building their nest.

Bill Bousman
Santa Clara County records compiler 


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