From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 01 08:23:24 1998 Mike: You must have been at the Grackle spot before I was there. I was there just before noon on Saturday. I found the male instantly in the reeds. I never did see the female. I too went twice to Bettencourt Dairy without seeing anything of importance. Later I could not refind the grackle until he flew out of the reeds to the east never to transverse Santa Clara County air space. I too have questions about the county line. People have said in the past only that the lake in in San Benito and the Dairy in Santa Clara County, but where is the line? Also, is the Red-tailed Hawk nest with three young in San Benito County or Santa Clara County? Also, someone reported to the Monterey RBA a Least Tern at the Grackle spot on Saturday. Aparently it was none of us. -- Mike Feighner, Livermore, CA, [[email protected]] (home) Sunnyvale, CA, [[email protected]] (work) Please reply to both addresses above for a quicker response. Thanks. ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 01 09:11:50 1998 I just had a Bushtit that was unusual in that it was a] foraging on the ground under a feeder in my backyard (black oil sunflower chips), and b} showed the gray crown and darker brown lores and auriculars of the interior forms. Its eye was black, so it was a male. My first reaction on seeing it was of a crestless titmouse with an unusually long tail and something else not right. After looking at the field guides, the something else not right turned out to be the dark feathering running from the base of the bill back under the eye. Kaufmann (Lives of North Am Birds) says Bushtits "occasionally" eat seeds, though I don't recall ever seeing one foraging on the ground. Grinnell and Miller (Distribution of the Birds of California) record the westernmost appearances of the _californicus_ form (our coastal form, with the brown cap, is Psaltrparus minimus minimus) as Solano, Napa, and San Benito Cos, the Solano Co record being from Benicia. -- Tom Grey Stanford CA [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 01 09:37:23 1998 Oops, I should have looked at my Pyle before posting. The bird I saw had characteristics of P. m. plumbeus, not californicus (the latter, the normal Central Vally subspecies, like our normal coastal minimus, is brown-capped). Also, if the bird reappears, I will try to get a closer look at the coloring of the facial/auricular feathers - are they really dark brown, or do they have black in them? The latter indicates a juvenile male, which seems more likely what this one is, given the black eye. Grinnell and Miller show plumbeus only in extreme northeast of state, and between 4500 and 5600 feet (!) Pyle says it intergrades clinally with californicus. I'm now really hoping for another look. -- Tom Grey Stanford CA [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 01 11:08:43 1998 It seems to me that the Great-tailed Grackle nest site at San Felipe Lake is close enough to the county line to warrant a serious investigation as to which county it is in. I attempted a measurement of the site's location, and will relate that measuement here. I drew an imaginary line from the tule clump that contains the nest to the road edge, that was perpendicular to the straight edge of the road. This line intersects the road where it straightens out after the curve coming from the Bettencourt Dairy. The USGS topographic map of this area (1:24000 size) indicates (by my measurements) that the county line is about 40 meters to the south of the road along this imaginary line. I then moved towards the call box pullout and found a point along the straight edge of the road, where a sight line along a 45 degree angle with respect to the road pointed right at the tule clump. This line, the imaginary line perpendicular to the road, and the road edge should form an equilateral triangle, where the 2 sides of the triangle (the distance between the 2 points on the road and the distance between the road and the tule clump) should be exactly equal in length. I then paced off the distance along the road, getting a total of 70 paces. Based on my pace being equal to about 27 inches, I came up with a distance of 48 meters to the nest site. This would place the nest about 8 meters into San Benito County. In fact, the county line would probably run between the tules and the willow clump along the edge of the lake. So, if you see the grackles in the willows, they are probably in Santa Clara County. If you see them in the tule clump, they are likely in San Benito County. If anyone can come up with a more accurate measurement, or can even reproduce my measurement, I would be interested in hearing of it. Mike Mammoser ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 01 11:41:02 1998 REPLY RE: banner egret/heron day All, Mike Mammoser caught an error in my report of the Little Blue Heron (Thanks, Mike!). I didn't look at the Salt Pond maps carefully enough. The heron was first seen flying south from the direction of the heronry at the edge of Pond A16, NOT Triangle Marsh, which is north of the Alviso Marina area at the northeast corner of Pond A15. (It may be possible to find one in the Triangle Marsh area, too.) If these pond references sound like gibberish, go to Kendric Smith's South Bay Birders Unlimited Web site: He has several maps put together by Bill Bousman at the Salt Pond Maps link. These maps show the Cargill salt pond numbering along with explanations. Happy heroning Les Les Chibana wrote: >After taking my class on a fieldtrip to CCRS this morning, some of us >lunched at the Alviso EEC. There was a beautiful CATTLE EGRET in New Chicago >Marsh on the left side, just before the 1st left turn along the entrance >road. Later, while looking from the main levee north of the EEC bldg. in >the general vicinity of the Little Gull sightings, an adult LITTLE BLUE >HERON, in non-breeding plumage (as far as I could tell), flew south toward us >from the Triangle Marsh area at the eastern edge of pond A16. It continued >south over the New Chicago Marsh and the Arzino Ranch where we lost track >of it. > >This rounded out a day of seeing the GREAT BLUE HERON rookery at CCRS, >with large nestlings; GREEN HERON at the CCRS Waterbird Pond; GREAT EGRET, >SNOWY EGRET, and BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON at the Alviso EEC. 7 members of >Ardeidae without even trying! So, where's an American Bittern when you >need one? > [snip] >Les ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 01 12:12:31 1998 All, The Palo Alto count taking place this Saturday has a couple of serious gaps to fill. A large number of veteran counters will be out of town, so we badly need volunteers to fill in! Two areas of special concern are 1) Russian Ridge (excellent birding, 0 counters!) and 2) the baylands, where the various waterbirds usually account for the numerical majority of the birds seen on this count circle. There are also openings in a couple of other sections, including the urban ones (good for new counters). If you have even part of this Saturday free, please consider pitching in. If interested, contact me by return e-mail and I'll pass your contact info to one of the section leaders. Thanks!! --Garth Harwood, SCVAS Chapter Manager ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 01 12:12:38 1998 All, Several volunteer monitors in our nestbox program report that the cold storm last week resulted in the loss of numerous nestlings. The usual pattern has been a gradual dying off of the entire clutch over a period of about 2 days after the nest material becomes saturated. This pattern was probably not limited to our nestboxes. I believe our local bird community took a real hit last week. --Garth Harwood ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 01 15:17:35 1998 JUNE 1, 1998 SANTA CLARA COUNTY YEAR LIST UPDATE We still need White-faced Ibis, Wilson's Phalarope, and Black Swift. Be on the lookout for eastern vagrants like the male ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK reported to Bill Bousman from a feeder in Mountain View. Mike P.S. Some advice from Kendric: [To make the columns line up, please copy this list to a word processor, and change the font to a monospaced font (Monoco, Courier, etc.), and set the right hand margin to 7.5 inches.] ________________________________________________________________________ Recent progress of the composite list: 248: 4/19/98 SNOWY PLOVER 249: 4/29/98 LITTLE BLUE HERON 250: 5/ 3/98 TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE 251: 5/ 3/98 YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT 252: 5/13/98 FRANKLIN'S GULL 253: 5/13/98 MOUNTAIN QUAIL 254: 5/14/98 PURPLE MARTIN 255: 5/15/98 COMMON TERN 256: 5/17/98 RED-NECKED PHALAROPE 257: 5/24/98 BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW 258: 5/25/98 GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE 259: 5/25/98 ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK 260: 5/26/98 BANK SWALLOW 261: 5/28/98 WILLOW FLYCATCHER Please send any additions, corrections, or comments to Mike Rogers, [[email protected]]. SANTA CLARA COUNTY YEAR LIST - 1998 SCR MMR MJM COMP SOURCE 377 231 211 214 261+ICGU % OF COMPOSITE FOR 1998 % OF 377 (Iceland Gull not counted) Red-throated Loon 2/16 2/ 8 2/ 8 SBT Pacific Loon 2/21 SBT Common Loon 2/ 8 2/11 2/14 1/ 2 AVe Pied-billed Grebe 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Horned Grebe 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Red-necked Grebe 1/ 2 1/16 1/ 2 1/ 1 DJC Eared Grebe 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Western Grebe 1/ 2 2/11 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Clark's Grebe 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH Northern Fulmar Sooty Shearwater Ashy Storm-Petrel Brown Booby American White Pelican 1/ 2 1/16 1/ 2 1/ 1 DJC Brown Pelican 1/ 6 2/ 8 1/ 4 JMa Double-crested Cormorant 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Brandt's Cormorant Pelagic Cormorant Magnificent Frigatebird American Bittern 1/16 2/28 1/15 CWh Least Bittern Great Blue Heron 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Great Egret 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Snowy Egret 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Little Blue Heron 5/ 7 4/29 PJM Cattle Egret 1/ 2 4/24 4/26 1/ 2 SCR Green Heron 1/ 6 2/11 2/13 1/ 1 DJC Black-crowned Night-Heron 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC White-faced Ibis Fulvous Whistling-Duck Tundra Swan 1/ 2 1/ 7 1/ 3 1/ 1 CKS,JML,DJC Greater White-fronted Goose 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH Snow Goose 1/ 2 1/ 3 1/ 2 SCR Ross' Goose 2/ 8 1/19 1/16 1/16 MJM Brant Canada Goose 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Wood Duck 4/21 4/11 1/18 1/ 1 AVe,CH Green-winged Teal 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Mallard 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Northern Pintail 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Garganey Blue-winged Teal 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH Cinnamon Teal 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Northern Shoveler 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Gadwall 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Eurasian Wigeon 1/26 2/24 1/ 2 1/ 2 MJM American Wigeon 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Canvasback 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Redhead 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH Ring-necked Duck 1/ 2 1/ 7 1/31 1/ 1 m.ob. Tufted Duck 1/ 2 1/ 2 MJM Greater Scaup 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Lesser Scaup 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Oldsquaw Black Scoter 3/ 8 3/ 2 3/ 8 3/ 1 JMe Surf Scoter 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC White-winged Scoter 2/11 1/ 6 2/13 1/ 6 MMR Common Goldeneye 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Barrow's Goldeneye 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 DJC Bufflehead 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Hooded Merganser 1/ 4 2/28 2/28 1/ 1 AVe,CH,NLe Common Merganser 1/ 2 1/ 7 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Red-breasted Merganser 1/16 2/11 1/ 2 1/ 2 MJM Ruddy Duck 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Turkey Vulture 1/ 1 1/ 4 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. California Condor Osprey 3/ 2 1/19 1/18 1/17 JMa,JLa White-tailed Kite 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 2 SCR,MJM Bald Eagle 2/ 8 2/16 1/16 SGu Northern Harrier 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 DJC Sharp-shinned Hawk 1/ 2 1/19 4/26 1/ 2 SCR Cooper's Hawk 1/ 2 1/ 6 2/22 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Northern Goshawk Red-shouldered Hawk 1/ 2 1/16 1/ 3 1/ 1 DJC Broad-winged Hawk Swainson's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Ferruginous Hawk 1/ 2 1/19 1/ 2 SCR Rough-legged Hawk 1/ 3 1/ 3 SCR Golden Eagle 1/ 6 1/ 7 1/17 1/ 1 DJC American Kestrel 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Merlin 1/ 9 2/ 9 1/ 3 1/ 2 fide CKS Peregrine Falcon 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 DJC Prairie Falcon 3/ 4 1/25 NLe Ring-necked Pheasant 1/ 6 1/13 2/22 1/ 6 SCR Wild Turkey 3/16 4/11 4/ 5 1/ 1 JMa California Quail 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/18 1/ 1 SCR,DJC Mountain Quail 5/13 MLF Yellow Rail Black Rail 1/12 1/12 2/ 8 1/ 9 VTi,RWR,FVs Clapper Rail 1/12 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Virginia Rail 1/ 2 1/12 1/31 1/ 2 SCR Sora 1/ 2 1/16 2/ 8 1/ 2 SCR Common Moorhen 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC American Coot 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Sandhill Crane Black-bellied Plover 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 DJC Pacific Golden-Plover American Golden-Plover Snowy Plover 5/13 4/19 TRy,SSa Semipalmated Plover 1/ 6 4/24 1/ 2 1/ 2 MJM Killdeer 1/ 1 1/ 7 1/18 1/ 1 m.ob. Mountain Plover Black Oystercatcher Black-necked Stilt 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC American Avocet 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Greater Yellowlegs 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 DJC Lesser Yellowlegs 1/ 6 4/24 1/ 6 SCR Solitary Sandpiper 4/19 PJM Willet 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Wandering Tattler Spotted Sandpiper 4/27 2/ 8 2/16 1/ 1 AVe,CH Whimbrel 1/ 6 1/ 6 2/ 8 1/ 4 CKS,JML Long-billed Curlew 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Hudsonian Godwit Bar-tailed Godwit Marbled Godwit 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Ruddy Turnstone 4/28 RWR Black Turnstone Red Knot 1/ 6 1/ 6 SCR Sanderling 5/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 6 MMR Semipalmated Sandpiper Western Sandpiper 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Least Sandpiper 1/ 2 1/ 6 2/14 1/ 1 AVe,CH White-rumped Sandpiper Baird's Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Dunlin 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH Curlew Sandpiper Stilt Sandpiper Buff-breasted Sandpiper Ruff Short-billed Dowitcher 1/ 6 1/ 6 4/26 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Long-billed Dowitcher 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 2 SCR,MJM,AVe Common Snipe 1/ 5 3/ 8 1/ 1 DJC Wilson's Phalarope Red-necked Phalarope 4/17 4/17 MJM,AVE,FVs Red Phalarope 2/11 2/ 8 2/ 8 SBT Pomarine Jaeger Parasitic Jaeger Long-tailed Jaeger Laughing Gull Franklin's Gull 5/13 RWR,FVs Little Gull 4/28 4/29 4/28 4/28 SCR Black-headed Gull Bonaparte's Gull 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 DJC Heermann's Gull Mew Gull 1/ 2 1/19 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,TGr Ring-billed Gull 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. California Gull 1/ 1 1/ 4 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Herring Gull 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Thayer's Gull 1/ 2 1/16 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH ??Iceland Gull 1/16 1/16 SBT,SCR,AJa,MH Lesser Black-backed Gull 1/18 3/ 4 1/ 2 1/ 2 MJM Western Gull 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Glaucous-winged Gull 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,TGr Glaucous Gull 1/ 6 2/24 1/ 6 SCR Black-legged Kittiwake Sabine's Gull Caspian Tern 4/17 4/11 4/11 4/ 2 RWR Elegant Tern Common Tern 5/15 SBT Arctic Tern Forster's Tern 1/ 6 2/ 8 1/ 2 1/ 2 MJM Least Tern Black Tern 5/ 7 4/29 4/28 TGr,JSt,RWR Black Skimmer 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Common Murre Ancient Murrelet Cassin's Auklet Rock Dove 1/ 1 1/ 4 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Band-tailed Pigeon 1/ 1 3/27 3/15 1/ 1 SCR White-winged Dove Mourning Dove 1/ 1 1/ 4 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Yellow-billed Cuckoo Greater Roadrunner 4/19 SMi Barn Owl 4/19 1/ 9 4/26 1/ 9 MMR,RJe Flammulated Owl Western Screech-Owl 4/26 1/ 1 JMa Great Horned Owl 1/14 4/25 3/22 1/ 1 DJC Northern Pygmy-Owl 1/ 1 4/12 1/ 1 SCR,JMa Burrowing Owl 1/ 5 1/20 1/ 2 1/ 1 DJC Long-eared Owl Short-eared Owl 3/ 7 RiC Northern Saw-whet Owl 4/26 1/ 1 JMa Lesser Nighthawk Common Nighthawk Common Poorwill 4/26 4/26 MJM,GKH,DSt Black Swift Chimney Swift Vaux's Swift 4/13 4/25 4/25 4/12 DPo,SMi White-throated Swift 1/18 1/21 2/22 1/ 8 RWR,FVs Black-chinned Hummingbird 5/ 6 5/ 8 4/18 4/16 CCRS Anna's Hummingbird 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Costa's Hummingbird Calliope Hummingbird 4/19 4/19 SCR,HLR,RPR Broad-tailed Hummingbird Rufous Hummingbird 3/16 4/ 8 4/ 5 3/16 SCR Allen's Hummingbird 3/ 4 4/11 3/15 1/25 AME Belted Kingfisher 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/17 1/ 1 DJC Lewis' Woodpecker 1/ 6 NLe,RWR,FVs Acorn Woodpecker 1/ 1 1/ 6 2/28 1/ 1 SCR,JMa,DJC Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1/ 2 1/ 1 CKS,JML Red-naped Sapsucker 1/ 6 1/ 6 MMR Red-breasted Sapsucker 1/ 2 1/ 7 1/17 1/ 1 m.ob. Williamson's Sapsucker Nuttall's Woodpecker 1/ 2 1/ 7 1/ 3 1/ 2 m.ob. Downy Woodpecker 1/ 1 3/ 4 1/ 3 1/ 1 SCR,CKS,JML Hairy Woodpecker 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 3 1/ 1 SCR,JMa,DJC Northern Flicker 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Pileated Woodpecker 4/12 4/12 MJM Olive-sided Flycatcher 4/26 5/ 6 4/25 4/16 JCo Western Wood-Pewee 4/26 4/25 4/25 4/19 JDa Willow Flycatcher 5/28 5/28 SCR Least Flycatcher Hammond's Flycatcher 4/30 4/11 4/11 4/11 MMR,MJM Dusky Flycatcher Gray Flycatcher Pacific-slope Flycatcher 3/28 3/27 3/18 1/ 4 CCRS Black Phoebe 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Eastern Phoebe 1/ 2 3/ 4 3/ 1 1/ 2 SCR Say's Phoebe 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/18 1/ 2 SCR Ash-throated Flycatcher 4/14 4/25 4/26 4/ 8 RWR Tropical Kingbird Cassin's Kingbird 5/ 4 4/11 4/11 3/ 1 DRo,RCa kingbird sp. 2/ 8 AGu Western Kingbird 3/16 4/ 8 4/11 3/16 SCR Eastern Kingbird Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Horned Lark 3/16 4/26 3/15 1/25 AME Purple Martin 5/14 RCi Tree Swallow 1/18 1/19 3/ 1 1/17 LCh Violet-green Swallow 2/ 5 1/19 2/22 1/18 JDa Nor. Rough-winged Swallow 2/ 8 2/25 2/28 2/ 8 SCR Bank Swallow 5/26 NLe Cliff Swallow 3/ 2 3/ 1 3/ 8 2/26 TRy Barn Swallow 1/ 2 1/19 3/ 1 1/ 2 SCR Steller's Jay 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/17 1/ 1 m.ob. Western Scrub-Jay 1/ 1 1/ 4 1/ 3 1/ 1 m.ob. Clark's Nutcracker Black-billed Magpie Yellow-billed Magpie 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 3 1/ 1 m.ob. American Crow 1/ 1 1/ 4 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Common Raven 1/ 1 1/ 5 2/13 1/ 1 m.ob. Chestnut-backed Chickadee 1/ 1 1/16 1/ 3 1/ 1 m.ob. Oak Titmouse 1/ 3 1/ 6 1/ 3 1/ 1 CKS,JML,DJC Bushtit 1/ 1 1/ 4 1/ 3 1/ 1 m.ob. Red-breasted Nuthatch 4/12 1/ 1 JMa White-breasted Nuthatch 1/ 3 1/ 6 1/13 1/ 1 DJC Pygmy Nuthatch 1/ 1 4/12 1/ 1 SCR,JMa Brown Creeper 1/ 1 4/25 1/17 1/ 1 m.ob. Rock Wren 3/ 16 1/19 1/13 1/13 MJM Canyon Wren 1/ 1 JSa,HGe Bewick's Wren 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 3 1/ 1 m.ob. House Wren 3/29 4/ 8 4/ 5 3/21 LAY Winter Wren 1/ 1 4/ 4 1/ 1 SCR Marsh Wren 1/12 1/12 1/ 2 1/ 2 MJM American Dipper 4/11 3/29 TGr Golden-crowned Kinglet 1/ 2 1/ 2 SCR Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 3 1/ 1 m.ob. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4/26 3/27 3/29 1/ 5 CJC Western Bluebird 1/ 2 1/ 6 2/16 1/ 1 DJC Mountain Bluebird 1/17 JLu Townsend's Solitaire 5/ 6 5/ 3 MHa,DHa Swainson's Thrush 4/30 5/ 6 5/ 9 4/19 JDa Hermit Thrush 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/13 1/ 1 SCR,JMa American Robin 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/13 1/ 1 m.ob. Varied Thrush 1/ 1 1/ 1 SCR Wrentit 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/17 1/ 1 SCR,JMa,DJC Northern Mockingbird 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Sage Thrasher 4/ 7 BWe Brown Thrasher California Thrasher 1/ 1 1/ 6 2/28 1/ 1 SCR Red-throated Pipit American Pipit 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 DJC Bohemian Waxwing Cedar Waxwing 1/ 2 1/14 3/28 1/ 1 JMa Phainopepla 4/18 1/ 6 NLe,RWR,FVs Northern Shrike Loggerhead Shrike 1/ 1 1/19 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. European Starling 1/ 1 1/ 4 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Bell's Vireo Blue-headed Vireo Cassin's Vireo 4/26 4/11 4/12 4/ 5 LAY Plumbeous Vireo Hutton's Vireo 1/ 1 1/19 1/ 3 1/ 1 SCR,JMa Warbling Vireo 3/28 3/27 3/29 3/18 AME Red-eyed Vireo Tennessee Warbler Orange-crowned Warbler 1/ 4 1/24 3/ 1 1/ 4 SCR,CCRS Nashville Warbler 4/14 4/25 4/12 JMM Virginia's Warbler Northern Parula Yellow Warbler 1/ 4 4/11 4/25 1/ 4 SCR Chestnut-sided Warbler Magnolia Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Black-throated Gray Warbler 4/30 4/25 4/ 5 1/ 9 SBT Townsend's Warbler 1/ 1 3/27 3/15 1/ 1 SCR,JMa,DJC Hermit Warbler 4/26 4/ 4 2/ 1 AVe,CH Black-throated Green Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Prairie Warbler 1/ 4 1/17 1/ 4 SCR Palm Warbler 1/ 4 1/13 1/ 4 SCR,HLR Blackpoll Warbler Black-and-White Warbler American Redstart Prothonotary Warbler Worm-eating Warbler Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush Kentucky Warbler Connecticut Warbler MacGillivray's Warbler 4/26 4/25 4/19 NLe Common Yellowthroat 1/ 4 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 2 MJM Hooded Warbler Wilson's Warbler 3/28 3/27 3/22 3/22 MJM Yellow-breasted Chat 5/ 6 5/ 3 CCRS Summer Tanager Scarlet Tanager Western Tanager 4/24 4/26 4/25 1/23 RWR Rose-breasted Grosbeak 5/25 KCo,MWr Black-headed Grosbeak 4/ 8 4/11 4/11 4/ 5 VTi Blue Grosbeak 5/ 6 5/11 4/19 4/19 MJM Lazuli Bunting 4/19 4/26 5/ 3 4/19 SCR Indigo Bunting Passerina sp. 4/10 4/10 SCR Dickcissel Green-tailed Towhee Spotted Towhee 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 3 1/ 1 SCR,JMa,DJC California Towhee 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/13 1/ 1 m.ob. Rufous-crowned Sparrow 1/ 2 4/ 8 4/11 1/ 2 SCR American Tree Sparrow Chipping Sparrow 4/27 4/26 3/31 GFi,MPl Clay-colored Sparrow Brewer's Sparrow Black-chinned Sparrow 5/23 JGa Vesper Sparrow Lark Sparrow 4/ 8 1/19 1/ 4 1/ 4 MJM Black-throated Sparrow Sage Sparrow 4/12 AME,DPo Lark Bunting Savannah Sparrow 1/ 2 1/12 1/ 4 1/ 1 DJC Grasshopper Sparrow 4/10 4/10 SCR Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow 1/ 9 fide AME Fox Sparrow 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Song Sparrow 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Lincoln's Sparrow 1/ 2 1/13 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH Swamp Sparrow 1/ 2 1/ 2 SCR White-throated Sparrow 3/29 1/15 AJb Golden-crowned Sparrow 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. White-crowned Sparrow 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Harris' Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 3 1/ 1 m.ob. Lapland Longspur Chestnut-collared Longspur Bobolink Red-winged Blackbird 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Tricolored Blackbird 1/ 2 1/14 4/11 1/ 2 SCR Western Meadowlark 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 DJC Yellow-headed Blackbird 5/ 4 4/ 4 NLe Brewer's Blackbird 1/ 1 1/ 4 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Great-tailed Grackle 5/25 5/28 5/30 5/25 SCR Brown-headed Cowbird 1/ 2 1/16 1/18 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Hooded Oriole 3/29 4/24 4/26 3/21 AWa Baltimore Oriole Bullock's Oriole 3/28 4/ 8 3/22 3/19 GHa Scott's Oriole Purple Finch 1/ 1 3/27 2/28 1/ 1 SCR Cassin's Finch House Finch 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Red Crossbill Pine Siskin 1/18 1/ 9 TGr Lesser Goldfinch 1/ 1 1/13 1/ 4 1/ 1 m.ob. Lawrence's Goldfinch 5/ 5 4/26 4/26 1/ 6 NLe,RWR,FVs American Goldfinch 1/ 1 1/ 7 1/20 1/ 1 m.ob. Evening Grosbeak House Sparrow 1/ 2 1/ 6 2/22 1/ 1 CKS,JML,DJC Observer codes: m.ob.-many observers, AGu-Arnel Guanlao, AJa-Al Jaramillo, AJb-Alberta Jasberg, AME-Al Eisner, AVe-Ann Verdi, AWa-Alan Walther, BWe-Bruce Webb, CCRS-Coyote Creek Riparian Station, CH-Caralisa Hughes, CJC-Chuck Coston, CKS-Chris Salander, CWh-Clark White, DHa-David Haveman, DJC-Don & Jill Crawford, DPo-David Powell, DRo-Don Roberson, DSt-Dick Stovel, FVs-Frank Vanslager, GFi-George Finger, GHa-Garth Harwood, GKH-Grant Hoyt, GLB-Gloria LeBlanc, HGe-Harriet Gerson, HLR-Heather Rottenborn, JCo-Jack Cole, JDa-Jim Danzenbaker, JGa-Jim Gain, JLa-Jolene Lange, JLu-John Luther, JMa-John Mariani, JMe-John Meyer, JML-Jeanne Leavitt, JMM-John & Maria Meyer, JSa-June Santoro, JSt-John Sterling, KCo-Kitty Collins, KLP-Kathy Parker, LAY-Amy Lauterbach & James Yurchenco, MH-Matt Heindel, MHa-Merry Haveman, MJM-Mike Mammoser, MLF-Mike Feighner, MMR-Mike Rogers, MPL-Marjorie Plant, MWr-Marti Wright, NLe-Nick Lethaby, RCa-Rita Caratello, RCi-Rich Cimino, RCo-Rita Colwell, RiC-Richard Carlson, RJe-Richard Jeffers, RLe-Rosalie Lefkowitz, RPR-Rebecca Paige Rottenborn, RWR-Bob Reiling, SBT-Scott Terrill, SCR-Steve Rottenborn, SGu-Stephan Gunn, SMi-Steve Miller,SSA-Susan Sandstrom, TGr-Tom Grey, TRy-Tom Ryan, VTi-Vivek Tiwari, WGB-Bill Bousman SANTA CLARA COUNTY YEAR LIST HISTORY 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 HIGH COMP 278 295 303 293 296 305 305 SCR 279 291 262 251 268 291 MJM 234 250 265 242 253 276 276 MMR 214 234 254 271 257 258 275 275 MLF 136 183 199 209 215 235 194 165 218 265 265 WGB 216 228 245 170 245 AME 240 220 219 231 240 KLP 232 232 RWR 204 201 203 228 228 TGr 189 211 211 CKS 185 195 186 195 GLB 190 190 ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 02 08:19:38 1998 It's been a pleasant surprise to have a YELLOW WARBLER in the bottle brush et al in my backyard for the past 3 days. Another lifer for my backyard list. Gloria LeBlanc Los Gatos near Quito http://www.lgsia.com and http://www.wallstreetgifts.com ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 02 09:30:08 1998 Folks: On my bike commute this morning, 6/2/98, I counted about 30 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS on the North Pond of the Palo Alto Flood Control Basin. So I guess the first of our "wintering" birds are back and it's not even summer yet. A GREEN HERON (unaged) was flying SE over the Mountain View Forebay and I counted seven BLACK SKIMMERS roosting together on the small island on Salt Pond A1. I saw one MARBLED GODWIT in the forebay--this is one of our few shorebirds that regularly oversummers. Bill ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 02 10:47:29 1998 Hello All I thought I would report some birds seen yesterday (June 1st) while fishing at Loch Lomond Lake in the Santa Cruz Mt's near Felton. I know this is out of the ususal area for reporting to this list, but what the heck! Fish loving birds abounded at Loch Lomond. A pair of BELTED KINGFISHERS were present all morning, as well as a pair of OSPREY'S, which we saw get several good size fish. The OSPREY'S were quite vocal as well. There were also, DOUBLE-CRESTED COMORANTS, and a few CASPIAN TERNS. We observed one CASPIAN TERN dive for a fish, and succeed in getting a fairly large fish. In fact, the prey was so big, the TERN could not get airborn from the water, so it had to leave the fish behind!! There were also a pair of GREEN-BACKED HERONS at the lake. Lastly, there was a COMMON LOON in full Alternate plumage (beautiful). I first found the Loon because I heard it calling, quite loud! It almost made me think of possible nesting (??), but I've never heard of Loons nesting locally. Alan W. ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 02 14:14:44 1998 All, Today Frank Vanslager and I saw an ad male Blue Grosbeak just down the hill from (west of) the windsock seen above the Sycamores above Sandy Wool Lake in Ed Levin County Park. The bird was about 50 ft. from the top of the hill and after a few minutes flew north until out of sight (the next ridge). We also had several Rufous-crowned Sparrows (some carrying food), a pair of Bullock's Orioles (nest in the top of the first tree east of the trail), a male Black- headed Grosbeak, an Ash-throated Flycatcher, a couple of House Wrens, at least three Bewicks Wrens, several Lesser Goldfinches, a very loud Northern Mockingbird, a pair of Western Kingbirds and a pair of American Kestrels down by the lake {one AMKE making one of the kingbirds very upset). Take care, Bob Reiling, 2:00 PM, 6/2/98 ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 02 14:39:42 1998 I just called Shoreline Park about what is going on at Charleston Slough. As most of you probably know, there has been a big project there in the last year, to open Charleston Slough up to full tidal action. I had been expectantly waiting to see the fluctuation occurring, thinking that they hadn't opened the new gates all the way yet. The few times I'd been out there I kept wondering if it was high tide each time until others told me they had the same experience. So I called and asked why we had no mudflats appearing, and little or no apparent tidal fluctuation. The explanation is, that the gates are open but that outer Charleston Slough is silted up, trapping the water in. The project apparently planned for this and what is expected to happen is that natural processes will scour a channel and it should slowly erode out and we should see tidal action take effect. Project personnel say that this scouring is already starting to occur. If it hasn't progressed far enough by next year, the project has money to assist with some sort of an agitation dredge. That is about all I know at this point. Leda Beth Gray ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Wed Jun 03 11:44:56 1998 All, Yesterday morning 6/2/98 I ran my Breeding Bird Survey route. For those of you unfamiliar with the Breeding Bird Survey, it is a nationwide (routes in Canada too actually) effort to monitor the populations of breeding birds. This is done via annual surveys taken along prescribed 24.5 mile routes, with 3-minute stops at 50 predetermined points roughly a half-mile apart. My route runs roughly along Metcalf Road, south to Bailey Ave, up to Calero Reservoir, over to Almaden Reservoir, and finishes at Guadalupe Reservoir. Yesterday's survey tallied 78 species (not counting a heard-only pheasant in New Almaden that probably was kept along with the many chickens and peafowl). This is better than last year's 73 species, but still well below the totals of 83, 84, and 83 I had in 1994, 1995, and 1996. This may be at least partly due to the increasing level of development in the area - there is now lots of traffic in the middle half of the route. Species found yesterday that have not been noted in the past 4 years include GREEN HERON (1 at Parkway Lakes), WILD TURKEY (single birds at stops 1 and 4), California Gull (1 with 9 CASPIAN TERNS at the Calero boat launch), and CEDAR WAXWING (a flock of 34 heading south over Coyote Creek at Metcalf Road and another flock (including some of the same birds?) of about 45 birds heading south a half-mile south of Metcalf Road along Monterey Highway). After last year's low counts of 4 BULLOCK'S and no HOODED ORIOLES, oriole numbers rebounded to 17 BULLOCK'S and 3 HOODED ORIOLES (both high counts for the five years). The pair of HOODED ORIOLES at stop 35 at "The Browns" along Almaden Road had an apparently occupied nest in a fan palm. Had the usual GREAT HORNED and WESTERN SCREECH-OWLS at the first stop (5:14am) at the junction of San Felipe and Las Animas Roads, but no Poorwills this year. Highlights along Metcalf Road included 2 singing GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS near the United Technologies Plant (I was wondering if these birds would show up this year given their scarcity at other local sites) and single singing HORNED LARK, ROCK WREN, and LAZULI BUNTING near the motorcycle park. A GREAT HORNED OWL flying up Metcalf Canyon at 6:20am was a surprise. No eagles nesting below Calero Reservoir this year, but did have an AMERICAN KESTREL nest with young there. OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHERS were silent at their normally dependable spot in New Almaden, but two birds were singing near Almaden Reservoir. No mergansers or Wood Ducks at Almaden Reservoir this year and not much on Guadalupe Reservoir either. Regarding late WAXWINGS, keep track of any lingering birds for Saturday's Summer Bird Count. Anything seen from today through Tuesday 6/9 counts as a "count week" bird even if not seen on count day Saturday 6/6/98! Mike Rogers ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 04 09:09:24 1998 Hello All: I just returned from Death Valley and Westgard Pass. At the top of Westgard Pass and up the White Mtns. at an elevation of 7400 - 9000 ft. is a great spot to see the plumbeus bushtits. It was one of the most common birds there. These birds have no discernible cap at all and are very pale, with no brown suffusion. The color difference is very striking and would not cause any confusion. Steve Miller ---------- From: Tom Grey [SMTP:[[email protected]]] Sent: Monday, June 01, 1998 9:37 AM To: South Bay Birders list Subject: Interior Bushtit? - more Oops, I should have looked at my Pyle before posting. The bird I saw had characteristics of P. m. plumbeus, not californicus (the latter, the normal Central Vally subspecies, like our normal coastal minimus, is brown-capped). Also, if the bird reappears, I will try to get a closer look at the coloring of the facial/auricular feathers - are they really dark brown, or do they have black in them? The latter indicates a juvenile male, which seems more likely what this one is, given the black eye. Grinnell and Miller show plumbeus only in extreme northeast of state, and between 4500 and 5600 feet (!) Pyle says it intergrades clinally with californicus. I'm now really hoping for another look. -- Tom Grey Stanford CA [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 04 11:54:03 1998 Nothing major to report but in any case .... I have been out of the country for the past month and missed out on all the action in May. Went to Stevens Creek Park yesterday morning to make amends. Spend a couple of hours at the lower parking lot. YELLOW and WILSON's WARBLER, CASSIN's VIREO, PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER, WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE. ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER. Found a WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE nest. There was an attending adult in the nest. This was on a bare tree right next to the unpaved road that goes up the stream past the ranger station. A PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER in the picnic area by the stream was very active. "Singing" continuously and moving from one perch to the other in the understory of a few adjoining trees. All the perches together outlined an imaginary polygon. This went on for over an hour and the bird was at it even when I left. It didn't appear to make an sallies for food during this time. Is this the display behavior of a PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER? Was it outlining its territory? Vivek PS: I am not too familar with P.S. FLYCATCHER vocalizations and was very confused by the bird. It wasn't giving the "suwheet" call a lot. Mostly sharp "chewup"s and other such notes with an occasional "pew-whit" or "peew-it" mixed in. Some soft "whit"s mixed in. Listening to the Peterson's tapes, I can't rule out CORDILLERAN. Do these mixed vocalizations constitute the "song"? Is it possible to reliably distinguish P.S./Cordilleran by voice in the field? For this bird, the assumed display/territorial behavior would rule out Cordilleran I guess. ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 04 12:25:44 1998 Hi South-bay-birders, In answer to Vivek, from the description it sounds like a singing Pacific-slope Flycatcher. I would describe the typical song as being composed of three parts: a "suwee" shortly followed by a stacatto "pre-dep" followed (usually) by a very soft high note "e". This is the usual order of the song, although the order of notes is sometimes varied, and occasionally they throw the "su-weep" position call into the mix. Now about Cordilleran's song... I recorded some songs of presumed Cordilleran Flycatchers in the Warner Mountains last year. To my ears there was little difference between them and my recordings of Pacific-slope songs, except that the Cordilleran's singing was more monotonous--they rarely varied the order of the parts of their songs, sticking more closely to the above formula. The bahavior would be consistant with a singing bird--I've noticed they often change postition, singing at different points outlining the same general area. John Mariani [[email protected]] Vivek Tiwari wrote: > > Nothing major to report but in any case .... > I have been out of the country for the past month and missed out on all > the action in May. Went to Stevens Creek Park yesterday morning to make > amends. Spend a couple of hours at the lower parking lot. > YELLOW and WILSON's WARBLER, CASSIN's VIREO, PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER, > WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE. ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER. Found a WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE nest. > There was an attending adult in the nest. > This was on a bare tree right next to the unpaved road that goes up the stream > past the ranger station. > A PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER in the picnic area by the stream was very active. > "Singing" continuously and moving from one perch to the other in the understory > of a few adjoining trees. All the perches together outlined an imaginary > polygon. This went on for over an hour and the bird was at it even when I left. > It didn't appear to make an sallies for food during this time. > Is this the display behavior of a PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER? > Was it outlining its territory? > > Vivek > PS: I am not too familar with P.S. FLYCATCHER vocalizations and was very > confused by the bird. It wasn't giving the "suwheet" call a lot. Mostly sharp > "chewup"s and other such notes with an occasional "pew-whit" or "peew-it" > mixed in. Some soft "whit"s mixed in. Listening to the Peterson's tapes, I > can't > rule out CORDILLERAN. Do these mixed vocalizations constitute the "song"? > Is it possible to reliably distinguish P.S./Cordilleran by voice in the field? > For this bird, the assumed display/territorial behavior would rule out > Cordilleran I guess. > > ========================================================================== > This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list > server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the > message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 04 15:36:33 1998 South-Bay-Birders, Today I tried for the grackles at San Felipe Lake without success, but I did easily see a Cassin's Kingbird along San Felippe Road in the middle of the three eucalyptus trees at the north end of the road. I have updated my website at http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan with a new photo quiz (a shorebird and an owl) and answers to last month's controversial warbler and gull pictures. In addition an archive of the May 1998 South-bay-birds messages has been posted. Enjoy! -- Joseph Morlan California birding, Rarity photos, ID quizzes. 380 Talbot Ave. #206 http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/ Pacifica, CA 94044 [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 04 16:16:06 1998 On Thu, 04 Jun 1998 12:25:44 -0700, "John S. Mariani" <[[email protected]]> wrote: >I would describe the typical song as being >composed of three parts: a "suwee" shortly followed by a stacatto >"pre-dep" followed (usually) by a very soft high note "e". There is a supposed difference in the "pre-dep" phrase between these species. It is low-high in Pacific Slope and high-low in Cordilleran. Good luck in detecting this difference! -- Joseph Morlan California birding, Rarity photos, ID quizzes. 380 Talbot Ave. #206 http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/ Pacifica, CA 94044 [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 04 16:48:46 1998 At the end of May I took a short trip to Washington State and British Columbia. It was primarily a non-birding trip, but I will mention what I saw for the benefit of any birders who are thinking about going to that area. First of all, all the articles and guides about this area dwell on all the water birds and occasional Arctic rarities that come into the area in the winter. However, if you don't want to go to this area from November to March, you will not see most of the birds they refer to. Combine this with the fact that most of the birds in this area in the warm months are the same species that we see in our area, and you have to lower your expectations! The first life bird I saw in this area was the NORTHWESTERN CROW, which we saw in small groups, scavanging along the beaches of Puget Sound. I noticed immediately that it was smaller. Most of the crows close to shore are NW, as are all the crows on Vancouver Island. The most common gull throughout the area was the GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL. Most other species were hard to find. GWGU are not unknown here, but this was a good opportunity for a full frame photo. A visit to parks and lakes in the Seattle area produced the same species we have locally. Out on the Olympic Penisula, facing Puget Sound (Hood Canal, acutally), the most common waterbirds were COMMON LOON and PIGEON GUILLEMOT. We also saw these on our ferry trips. At one point on the NE corner of the penisula we were overflown by an immature BALD EAGLE. On the trip north to BC I saw a FERRUGINOUS HAWK having lunch on a fence post. The book _Birds of the Vancouver Area_ was not much use, since we did not go to Vancouver, just Victoria. The one area we went to that was covered in that book was the Tsawwassen ferry pier. As the book predicted, birds were quite scarce, but it was GREAT BLUE HERON time, with about 30 of these birds on the mud flats next to the pier. The other book available from the ABA, _Birds of the Straits of George_ was of no use, since it only talked about special islands, so it was only of use to someone equipped with a private boat. In Victoria, however, we bought _Birds of Victoria_. It wasn't very good, but was some help. On the 90 minute ferry trip from Tsawwassen to Victoria, we kept scanning the grey water and sky with our binoculars. We did not come up with any new or interesting birds, but we did see one Minke whale. You can take a 2 hour ferry from Anacortes WA to Victoria BC, but there is only one a day, it leaves at 8 am, and there are various restrictions. There is also one ferry from Seattle to Victoria that leaves at noon and takes 4.5 hours. The BC ferries leave Tsawwassen almost every hour and are quite posh. They pass through the Gulf Islands. In Victoria we had a small park in front of our hotel, where we found a pair of nesting YELLOW WARBLERS, and saw a crow in hot pursuit of a small hawk. Otherise, birding for all but our last day there was very poor, thanks to constant rain. We did drive out to Oak Bay, on the east side of town, and found our second life bird, two HARLEQUIN DUCKs (both males), swimming and diving just off of the beach of a small park. As this time of year, according to the book, all the HADU have moved inland and started to nest, but then the males start to come back out to the coast alone and shed their breeding plummage. There were also a CALIFORNIA GULL. On our last day (a half day), the sun came out and bird activity went way up. We went out to a coastal park SW of Victoria called Witty's Lagoon. Inland there was soaring RTHA, hammering DOWO, singing WAVI, zipping RUHU, and demonstrating RWBL. Offshore were Kingfishers and Oystercatchers and more GBHE, and lots of seals. Waiting for the ferry to leave the island, I watched an enormous PILEATED WOOPECKER call and fly around after being disturbed by a hawk. On the trip back to the mainland, two full adult BALD EAGLEs circled over the boat. I had only had one BAEA siting before this trip, at long distance, so this was almost like a life bird. Marbled Murrelets, Rhinocersos Auklets, and Tufted Puffins are supposed to be reasonably common in the warm months, and a trip focused specifically on birdwatching will probably turn them up. Chris Salander ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Fri Jun 05 13:52:07 1998 Hi Everyone-- The BURROWING OWL pair on the berm near the entrance to Lockheed Martin building 107 (nearest cross streets are 11th Avenue and H Street) in Sunnyvale have produced 3 young, which now stand outside their burrow with their parents. If there are any censusers in the area, you can see them easily from your vehicle. From 101, get off at Ellis Street in Mountain View, drive toward Moffett Field, then turn right on the frontage road (Manila Drive), follow Manila to its end at H Street (there's a traffic light), turn left, follow H Street to the next traffic light (11th Avenue), turn right, then turn right again into the parking lot for building 107. The owls are on your immediate left as you enter the parking lot. Mark Miller ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Fri Jun 05 15:23:12 1998 To All Concerned, Saw a flock of 16 Cedar Waxwings flying over my home in Belmont on June 4,1998 Somewhat a late sighting, but not unprecedented. Paul Noble---Scchowl ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Fri Jun 05 16:55:01 1998 All, Early this morning (June 4 1998) a bluebird trail monitor, Tina Peterson, and I observed 4 immature White-tailed Kites, bearing the distinctive brownish markings of young birds, at Arastradero Preserve among several large oaks just North of Arastradero Lake. Later we passed the same spot and an adult kite was in attendance. We also observed numerous ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS including some with downy young in SCVAS nestboxes. VIOLET-GREEN and TREE SWALLOWS also have young in our boxes at this point but most everything else has fledged. However, we observed a pair of WESTERN BLUEBIRDS inspecting nestboxes as if intending to nest again. Tempting to think this might be a pair that lost its young in last week's foul-weather episode, attempting to compensate (it's pretty late for WEBU to be setting up housekeeping around here.) BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS were vocal at several points including along the trail just above Arastradero Lake. We had the unnerving luck to witness one fledgling of that species be taken by a WESTERN SCRUB-JAY after the jay fended off determined attacks by the male parent. Oddly, two other species joined in the fray briefly at the point of capture: a CALIFORNIA TOWHEE and a SPOTTED TOWHEE each made an ineffective run at the miscreant jay. --Garth Harwood ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sat Jun 06 14:11:44 1998 Birders, Today while walking my dog at Princeton Harbour, San Mateo County, California I heard a sound entirely unfamiliar to me. First it was faint then it became louder as the bird came in closer. I described it as a loud whistle with a squeaky quality. Two syllables were given each time and the calls were separated by intervals of 2 seconds or longer. The two syllable call lasted approximately one second in legth. I described it as too-leeek (perhaps trrr-leeek), with a variant which was lower pitched (too-loook). The closest thing I would describe it as sounding like was an American Golden-Plover. Once I found the bird overhead (perhaps 60m away or slightly more) I was entirely surprised to see that the culprit was a tattler. It was very overcast this morning, with light rain at times, so all I could see was the bird's sillouette. I did notice that one primary on the left wing (I think) was broken off, but no barring or plumage characters. It was stocky, the bill just longer than the head length, nicely squared tail etc. No obvious white patches anywhere. The bird circled about one and a half times, perhaps looking for a place to land before continuing to the west and behind a large hill. I may have listened and watched it flying for nearly one minute, that was all. I see plenty of Wandering Tattlers here but actually seldom hear them. What I have heard sounded nothing like the bird today. I am thinking that the bird that flew over today was a Grey-tailed Tattler. I would like to know if calls are really diagnostic for these species and if what I heard sounds pretty good for Grey-tailed or if it may be some rare call of Wandering. Remember that the calls given by the bird were unsolicited calls of a bird flying over, not alarm calls of a bird flushed from a beach. I have never heard a Grey-tailed Tattler and do not have any recordings of their calls to compare with. Does anyone have any recordings they could send me as zipped .wav files???? Cheers. Al. Alvaro Jaramillo "It was almost a pity, to see the sun Half Moon Bay, shining constantly over so useless a country" California Darwin, regarding the Atacama desert. [[email protected]] Helm guide to the New World Blackbirds, Birding in Chile and more, at: http://www.sirius.com/~alvaro ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sat Jun 06 14:15:59 1998 Birders, Just sent a message regarding a possible Grey-tailed Tattler I saw flying over at Princeton Harbour this morning. I have just come back from a search around Princeton Harbour and the beach beyond the peninsula, but located no tattlers of any type. A flock of 6 oversummering Black-bellied PLovers were around, that was about it. Hopefully this bird will be found farther north, Pt. Reyes may be a good place to look. As well, just after seeing this tattler I saw a nice Black Skimmer flying low over Princeton Harbour. This is only my second observation of this species in the county. Finally, there are still many thousands of Sooty Shearwaters out on Half Moon Bay, I have yet to sit down and give them a good scoping. Perhaps a Black-vent or Manx could be out there, who knows. There are also about 2 dozen Black Brant summering at Princeton Harbour this year. All for now Al. Alvaro Jaramillo "It was almost a pity, to see the sun Half Moon Bay, shining constantly over so useless a country" California Darwin, regarding the Atacama desert. [[email protected]] Helm guide to the New World Blackbirds, Birding in Chile and more, at: http://www.sirius.com/~alvaro ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sat Jun 06 14:57:54 1998 Yesterday (6/5) at about 6:30 near the end of a bicycle ride around the "loop", I saw two huge birds hanging in the wind over the usual hill on Sand Hill Road. I stopped and took out my binocs to watch the pair of Golden Eagles for quite awhile. They circled a few times, each making a brief foray to the ground. If they got anything, it was too small to keep them busy or carry off. After awhile, they crossed the road, one of them right over me, and drifted on over SLAC. When last seen, an unidentified bird was mobbing one. This morning, in Sharon Hills Park (the Valparaiso Hill in MP), I rounded a corner and encountered a Great Blue Heron hard at work breaking up a rat in preparation for a hearty breakfast. (I think the idea must be to smash the skeleton to make it easier to swallow.) It didn't interrupt its meal, even tho I was so close that I couldn't see the whole bird at once with my binocs. After swallowing the rat, it walked slowly away through the trees. ================================ George Oetzel Menlo Park, CA <[[email protected]]> ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sat Jun 06 15:31:13 1998 Hi South Bay birders, Today (6/6), I did the area between Shoreline Lake and San Francisquito Creek for the Summer Bird Count. Starting at Shoreline, I had the immature male BLACK SCOTER and the leucistic HORNED GREBE. The adjacent salt ponds had five BLACK SKIMMERS and an alternate-plumaged EARED GREBE. A little after 9:00 am, I heard an interesting loose-trill song in some shrubs near the Rengstorff House on the east (maybe southeast) side of the lake. I went to investigate and found a very nice male PALM WARBLER feeding low in the shrubs and weeds and singing regularly. The bird was across the slough from the Rengstorff House, in the area of the concrete bridge with rusted footbridges on both the up and down-stream sides of it. A little later at Charleston Slough, an adult FRANKLIN'S GULL flew by, providing excellent views. It eventually started soaring and, after becoming a mere speck in the sky, began to meander northward. I also had a male RED-NECKED PHALAROPE in that area. The GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE and very bedraggled male WOOD DUCK were still at the Duck Pond. Bert McKee Pescadero, CA [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sun Jun 07 10:38:57 1998 Phyllis Browning and I were at Shoreline, Mountain View around nine this morning (6/7) looking for the Palm Warbler, which Bert McKee found during yesterday's Palo Alto SBC. We were disappointed at not seeing it near the Rengstorff House, but entertained by three Green Herons in a single tree. However, we moved on to the Black Skimmer vista point by Salt Pond #1, and there we found the bird singing vigorously. It was hard to see clearly since it remained deep within the Coyote Bush, but numerous quick glimpses were enough for an ID as a western form with a whitish lower breast and belly. The rusty cap is much brighter than the one shown in the National Geographic. It sang one song for some minutes and then shifted to a slower version. Rosalie Lefkowitz ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sun Jun 07 19:09:10 1998 To All Concerned Saw another flock of Cedar Waxwings today (6/7). This one numbered 55 individuals. Seen over Belmont. Paul L. Noble---Scchowl ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sun Jun 07 19:59:11 1998 HiBirders - Today, Kent Van Vuren and I decided to look for the LAUGHING GULL at the Pescaderso Creek mouth, and then after, check to see if we could find the PILEATED WOODPECKER seen on several occasions by birders within the last month. We started at the LAUGING GULL, but had no luck. Ron Thorn, Al Eisner and Gary Dagi (sp?) were all there as well. In addition to the sightings of these three San Mateo birders, we saw thousands of SOOTY SHEARWATERS streaming by off shore and in large rafts. When we had our fill of these birds (and birders - HAHA), we decided to head up to Skyline Road and look for that PILEATED WOODPECKER. On the way, we decided to stop at the store in Pescadero, where I promptly locked the keys in the car (while it was running!). Luckily, the sherriff was right there and called AAA for us (who lives right behind Duarte's Tavern) and we were on our way in a few minutes. Finally, we got up to the trailhead where you look for PILEATED WOODPECKER. On our way down (10:00 AM), Kent and I heard a different warbler song. I immediately thought of OVENBIRD and Kent make sure we didn't jump to conclusions, so we went in search of it. Kent was the first to locate it as it was still belching out its song. OVENBIRD! The bird was seen to the left of the trail (as you head downhill) just before the right turnoff for the private residence. We set up a pile of rocks on the edge of the road to mark the spot. We then headed down to the PILEATED WOODPECKER spot and we immediately saw the female fly from the nest tree. We didn't hang out too long, and headed back up. We were hoping to see/hear the OVENBIRD again, but didn't hear it as we passed the spot at around 11:00 AM. We had no other species of note. When I tried to call the birdbox, I had difficulties recording my message. The tape would constantly interrupt my recording. Thus, my message was as brief as possible, and I forgot to mention the pile of rocks. Steve Rovell [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 08 09:01:13 1998 Hi, Saturday June 7 I was touring Alviso, taking photos to document wetland habitat. Much of Alviso is slated for development. The EIR for the Alviso Master Plan should be out. Anyway, at the intersection of Grand, Speckles, and Los Estranos I found a Loggerhead Shrike sitting on the chain linked fence. The Arzino Ranch area seems loaded with Western Meadowlarks, their yellow breasts were absolutely brilliant. In case you are interested in Wetlands (Arzino Ranch), read on. The culvert is open connecting Arzino Ranch and New Chicago Marsh. Until this year there has always been cement bags blocking the culvert preventing tidal action. I think the heavy rains and the flooding dug out the channel. I have no idea what happened to the cement bags. But the area is restored to tidal action. I have no doubt that the someone will fill the channel and place cement bags to prevent this tidal action. Thanks for indulging my passion for wetlands. If you happen to see any attempt to block the tidal action at Arzino Ranch please E-mail me at [[email protected]]. Ginny Becchine ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 08 14:45:10 1998 [[email protected]] wrote: > In case you are interested in Wetlands (Arzino Ranch), read on. The > culvert is open connecting Arzino Ranch and New Chicago Marsh. Until > this year there has always been cement bags blocking the culvert > preventing tidal action. I think the heavy rains and the flooding dug > out the channel. I have no idea what happened to the cement bags. But > the area is restored to tidal action. I have no doubt that the someone > will fill the channel and place cement bags to prevent this tidal > action. Actually, the pipe connecting New Chicago and Arzino was just installed about 6 months ago. I get the impression that it was quite intentional, and believe it will probably stay that way. I don't know that the action is truly tidal. I believe that New Chicago Marsh gets water only when the high tide exceeds a certain level, and that it can't drain below that level. At that point it only loses water due to evaporation. At least that's my understanding. Mike Mammoser ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 08 14:58:41 1998 Today at around 10:00AM, I saw a black-headed gull with a big red bill in the pond opposite the trailers at CCRS. This is a kind of gull that I am not too experienced with and I don't have access to my field guides right now. I also haven't been following the posts lately so don't know if a LAUGHING/FRANKLIN's has been reported from CCRS lately. The bird was swimming near the north-east corner of the pond. It was larger than the BONAPARTE's that are there. The bill seemed large and bright red. Crescents on the eye. I should have checked with the staff at CCRS but needed to hurry back for a meeting. I also didn't get a chance to post this until now. Sorry. I would appreciate any comments about this bird. Thanks, Vivek [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 08 15:28:03 1998 A brief visit to the area at Stevens Creek park's lower parking lot area on Friday 6/5 around 5:00 pm yielded some common birds for this time of year. WESTERN-WOOD PEWEE'S were there, as well as OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHERS, PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER, WARBLING VIREO'S, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK,YELLOW WARBLER, BEWICK'S WREN, CROWS, STELLER'S JAYS, and BLACK PHOEBE. A little further on, close to the dam, while hiking I inadvertantly flushed a female CALIFORNIA QUAIL that I almost stepped on! Upon investigating, I discovered a nest with 14 eggs under a clump of native grass about 1.5 feet long. I took a few quick photo's of the clutch and left to allow Mom to continue with her incubation duties. Alan Walther ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 08 15:46:09 1998 Today I found a female COMMON MERGANSER on a mud bar in a pond in the Coyote Creek Overflow Channel north of Montague Expressway. She was keeping close company with a male MALLARD. They were the only two waterbirds around. - Chris Salander ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 08 18:32:23 1998 South Bay Birders--- On Saturday June 6, Karen and I did our usual breeding bird census for the Palo Alto Count in the area bounded by Arastradero Rd., Alpine Rd., Junipero Serra Blvd. and Page Mill Rd. This includes the "Dish" region between I-280 and Junipero Serra above Stanford campus and the Piers Dairy land, including Felt Lake, west of 280; also the Los Trancos Crk. riparian habitat along Alpine to Rosatti's at Arastradero Rd. We started owling at 4:40 AM and were rewarded with young BARN OWLS making begging calls from a tree cavity on Old Page Mill Rd. We were able to tape out 2 WESTERN SCREECH OWLS and get nice visuals on each before dawn. The second bird responded at 5:20 AM as dawn broke, which is about as late as I've ever had one show itself in June/July. The first non-nightbirds detectable were VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS, which were busy foraging in the pitch dark, their "electric" sounding vocalizations giving them away. The other species that was most audible before dawn was ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER---we heard six of them along Old Page Mill before we saw a single bird of any species besides owls. Unfortunately we heard no GREAT HORNED OWLS, and as of the countdown on Sat. evening, no one else who reported results did either. We then checked the riparian corridor near Alpine/Arastradero which turned up a number of expected species but nothing remarkable. For the first time in several years we were unable to find YELLOW WARBLER at this usually reliable site. Karen spotted a GREEN HERON flying along the creek near Ladera as we headed for Piers Ranch and Felt Lake. The lake was only moderately interesting, with another GREEN HERON and a CASPIAN TERN being the most notable finds. We missed GOLDEN EAGLE, as did others on the Count, but it appears that 2 adults were seen during Count Week in the area around Sand Hill Rd. and I-280. Our final coverage area was the Stanford Preserve on the east side of 280, accessed from Alpine Rd. We were disappointed in the first hour and a half as we missed several target species, but on the hike back to the car I found a LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, possibly the only one of the Count, perched in a small tree where they have bred in previous years. I also had a family group of WHITE-TAILED KITES near Junipero Serra and Mayfield. I'm assuming this is a different family group than the Arastradero group found by Garth Harwood et al. and the ones at Jasper Ridge. My best find was at the Big Dish itself, where an excited chatter alerted me to a WESTERN KINGBIRD, which flew to a juncture of bright blue girders on the Dish's support structure and began feeding young birds in a nest. We had walked past this spot earlier and missed both the kingbird and shrike, so I guess sometimes it pays to retrace your steps. At the Countdown dinner at McClellan Ranch Park in Cupertino, it became obvious that we suffered from poor coverage again this year. Bert McKee and Jack Cole did a great job of covering the Bayside habitat from Redwood City to Mountain View, and Bill Cabot covered Moffet Field. The rest of us were stretched pretty thin as well, as the foothil areas require lots of legwork. It seems we may have missed such species as GREAT HORNED OWL, CEDAR WAXWING, CASSIN'S VIREO, GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, VIRGINIA RAIL, GREEN-WINGED TEAL and others that are often recorded on the Count. I know Gloria Heller had both HERMIT WARBLER and HERMIT THRUSH in her area around Wundedrlich Park, and Bert McKee has already reported his good finds from the Bayside. Would Jack Cole, Dick Stovel, Richard Jeffers, Garth Harwood, Phyllis Browning and others who participated mind posting their "good birds" on e-mail? Did we really miss Great Horned Owl and Cassin's Vireo?! Thanks to Garth for organizing the Count and to Ruth and Gene Troetschler for providing pizza and salad for the crew that showed up at McClellan Ranch. Let's hope coverage is better next year. ---Grant Hoyt To: [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 09 09:53:02 1998 On Tue, 9 Jun 1998, Rusty Scalf wrote: > Here in the San Francisco Bay area (or at least > the East Bay) Spotted Towhee song seems to > be a single trill; emphatic, with a somewhat > explosive quality. > > I have often thought of putting together a bird > call/song tape for beginning birding students. > Spotted Towhee has been a frustration in this > endeavor since the Peterson tape version has > definite introductory notes (3 I think) just before > that trill. When I play this for students, I have > to ask them to mentally clip off those intro notes > and just listen to that trill. It so happens I just the other day heard a Spotted Towhee give the preliminary notes (in this case two) before the trill, which I agree is usually all by itself. I suspect that Peterson's and other tapers would look for instances of western Rufous-sided Towhee that had the (rare) preliminary notes, because they assumed the song should follow the classic "drink-your-teeeeeeee" pattern of the eastern (then) subspecies. -- Tom Grey Stanford CA [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 09 10:04:01 1998 I went back to CCRS today to try to get a better look at the FRANKLIN's/LAUGHING GULL I saw there yesterday. Frank Vanslager and Bob Reiling were there scoping the pond opposite the CCRS trailers. There were several FRANKLIN's GULLs swimming in there! At least 7 by our count, with 3 in adult breeding plumage. Rest were in a transitional(?) plumage - bill black (with maybe a hint of red?), dark hood with some white speckling on the forehead. Mantle slightly darker than the adult BONAPARTE's that are around. The white band on the upperwings was visible on the folded wing. The tips of the folded primaries were black and white. The breeding plumage adults had more white on the primary tips than is shown in the field guides. Bob and Frank continued out to the other ponds and they may post more details later. Incidentally, I had gone back yesterday evening to the same spot but there weren't any gulls around. Instead they seem to be there in the mornings. Also, at least some of the non-breeding FRANKLIN's GULLs were there yesterday morning too, but I hesitated to make the call since I wasn't sure. Vivek Tiwari [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 09 11:02:42 1998 Hello All: I have heard Spotted Towhees even do the introductory notes without the trill at all!! For some really confusing birds, the interior birds (such as at Westgard Pass in the White Mtns.) I have heard give up to six introductory notes without a trill and do a series of these before interspersing trills. The trill itself gets slower too, with Colorado birds giving a trill not much faster than eastern birds. It would be great to get tape samples from throughout its range. Steve Miller ---------- From: Tom Grey [SMTP:[[email protected]]] Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 1998 9:53 AM To: South Bay Birders list Subject: Re: Spotted Towhee On Tue, 9 Jun 1998, Rusty Scalf wrote: > Here in the San Francisco Bay area (or at least > the East Bay) Spotted Towhee song seems to > be a single trill; emphatic, with a somewhat > explosive quality. > > I have often thought of putting together a bird > call/song tape for beginning birding students. > Spotted Towhee has been a frustration in this > endeavor since the Peterson tape version has > definite introductory notes (3 I think) just before > that trill. When I play this for students, I have > to ask them to mentally clip off those intro notes > and just listen to that trill. It so happens I just the other day heard a Spotted Towhee give the preliminary notes (in this case two) before the trill, which I agree is usually all by itself. I suspect that Peterson's and other tapers would look for instances of western Rufous-sided Towhee that had the (rare) preliminary notes, because they assumed the song should follow the classic "drink-your-teeeeeeee" pattern of the eastern (then) subspecies. -- Tom Grey Stanford CA [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 09 11:30:08 1998 [[email protected]] wrote: > > By 8:20 AM this morning Frank Vanslager and I realized that there was not just > one, possible Franklin's/Laughing gull but a "flock" of 8 to 9 Franklin's > Gulls feeding in the pond adjacent to the Coyote Creek Riparian Station > trailers. Included were three red-billed alternate plumage adults (one with > just a bit of white in the lower throat) and at least five all gray mantled > (no brown), black billed (some red?), white-faced and white-throated, "2nd > summer" birds with white-windowed black primaries. These sound more like birds in first alternate plumage to me. The bird that looked like an adult but with some white on the throat could possibly be in second alternate plumage, but I don't think birds of this age are reliably distinguished from older adults (I believe second alternate is its first definitive plumage anyway, despite the fact that some birds apparently retain immature features; someone please correct me if I'm wrong). It's possible that this bird had simply not completed its prealternate molt, and it may yet replace those feathers. Grant claims that Franklin's completes its prealternate molt on the wintering grounds, but a bird that Joe Morlan and I studied last week off Monterey had not yet replaced its inner secondaries and was actively molting its upperwing coverts. Bert McKee ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 09 14:56:40 1998 All, By 8:20 AM this morning Frank Vanslager and I realized that there was not just one, possible Franklin's/Laughing gull but a "flock" of 8 to 9 Franklin's Gulls feeding in the pond adjacent to the Coyote Creek Riparian Station trailers. Included were three red-billed alternate plumage adults (one with just a bit of white in the lower throat) and at least five all gray mantled (no brown), black billed (some red?), white-faced and white-throated, "2nd summer" birds with white-windowed black primaries. Vivek Tiwari then stopped by on his way to work for a more definitive (50-power) look at the birds he saw yesterday on his way to work. Frank and I then checked out the "Waterbird Pond" and parts of Coyote Creek before returning to the CCRS trailers. We were once again looking at the FRGUs, with Al Jaramillo and Steve Rottenborn when at about 11:15 AM the sun broke through the clouds and the birds flew/soared toward the south and out of sight. Take care, Bob Reiling, 2:19 PM, 6/9/98 ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 09 15:05:54 1998 Miller* Steve E wrote: > I have heard Spotted Towhees even do the introductory notes without the > trill at all!! ... The trill itself gets slower too, with Colorado birds > giving a trill not much faster than eastern birds. The local Spotted Towhees (Santa Clara County) will give introductory notes prior to the trill on occasion. Also, I don't think that the cadence of the trill is geographically related. I have heard local towhees give a trill so slow that you'd think you were listening to a Dark-eyed Junco (and all speeds in between). Mike Mammoser ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 09 21:29:41 1998 Birders: As Bob mentioned as soon as the sun came out at 11 am or so the Franklin's Gulls began soaring and flycatching. They eventually flew out of sight. However, later I was able to find one or two by looking at the sky and checking wheeling groups of California Gulls. At times the gulls would come back to the pond immediately behind the trailers and at other times they were not present at all. If they are not in the pond, look in the sky, if that doesn't work then patience will have to prevail. All for now. Al Alvaro Jaramillo "It was almost a pity, to see the sun Half Moon Bay, shining constantly over so useless a country" California Darwin, regarding the Atacama desert. [[email protected]] Helm guide to the New World Blackbirds, Birding in Chile and more, at: http://www.sirius.com/~alvaro ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 09 22:13:54 1998 To all, I would like to correct a statement I made in a recent message. On Sunday I wrote that New Chicago Marsh was tidal. I called the refuge and was informed that the marsh is classified as a managed marsh. There is a culvert that is open in the summer to allow water flow into the marsh, but the culvert is closed in the winter. I apologize for my error. Ginny Becchine ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Wed Jun 10 07:37:47 1998 Thanks, Grant, for the good write-up of your count area last Saturday. Here's mine. In Region One, Chuck Coston birded the area from Cooley Point to the Dumbarton bridge, and Ed Frost and I covered the area north of the bridge. Chuck's best birds were three RED-NECKED PHALAROPES along University Avenue just south of the bridge. Ed and I found three BROWN PELICANS, single BUFFLEHEAD, COMMON GOLDENEYE, RED-BREASTED MERGANSER, and three SEMI-PALMATED PLOVERS, birds that were not found elsewhere on the count to the best of my recollection. On Tuesday morning, I heard two MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLERS singing along Langley Hill Road for an additional count-week bird. Another check of Russian Ridge revealed once again that Savannah sparrows had replaced the grasshopper sparrows so prevalent there in past years. Chuck had two WESTERN KINGBIRDS at Bayfront Park last Wednesday, but no evidence of nesting. That's it. Jack Cole _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Wed Jun 10 12:38:20 1998 Re Saturday's birds, there are two Great Horned Owls and a large infant out of nest which were sitting low amidst eucalyptus trees only a block from our house on Lathrop Drive on campus. Also saw a Blue-grey Gnatcatcher on nest in the Stanford hills above Old Page Mill not far from Foothill Blvd. And found a House Wren going in /out of a cavity and singing some 120 yards north of the "dish," one which was singing like a very happy bird! Other than that, I spent a half hour that afternoon watching the two adult Pileated Wodpeckers down in the canyon east of Skyline, with the female then feeding two nestlings which were showing the dull red caps -- a great sight of four, well worth the hour spent walking down there, and back!! A very nice day indeed. David (857-9219) On Mon, 8 Jun 98 18:32:23 PDT Grant Hoyt <[[email protected]]> wrote: > South Bay Birders--- > On Saturday June 6, Karen and I did our usual breeding bird > census for the Palo Alto Count in the area bounded by Arastradero > Rd., Alpine Rd., Junipero Serra Blvd. and Page Mill Rd. This > includes the "Dish" region between I-280 and Junipero Serra above > Stanford campus and the Piers Dairy land, including Felt Lake, west > of 280; also the Los Trancos Crk. riparian habitat along Alpine to > Rosatti's at Arastradero Rd. > We started owling at 4:40 AM and were rewarded with young BARN > OWLS making begging calls from a tree cavity on Old Page Mill Rd. > We were able to tape out 2 WESTERN SCREECH OWLS and get nice visuals > on each before dawn. The second bird responded at 5:20 AM as dawn > broke, which is about as late as I've ever had one show itself in > June/July. The first non-nightbirds detectable were VIOLET-GREEN > SWALLOWS, which were busy foraging in the pitch dark, their > "electric" sounding vocalizations giving them away. The other > species that was most audible before dawn was ASH-THROATED > FLYCATCHER---we heard six of them along Old Page Mill before we saw > a single bird of any species besides owls. > Unfortunately we heard no GREAT HORNED OWLS, and as of the > countdown on Sat. evening, no one else who reported results did > either. We then checked the riparian corridor near > Alpine/Arastradero which turned up a number of expected species but > nothing remarkable. For the first time in several years we were > unable to find YELLOW WARBLER at this usually reliable site. > Karen spotted a GREEN HERON flying along the creek near Ladera > as we headed for Piers Ranch and Felt Lake. The lake was only > moderately interesting, with another GREEN HERON and a CASPIAN TERN > being the most notable finds. We missed GOLDEN EAGLE, as did others > on the Count, but it appears that 2 adults were seen during Count > Week in the area around Sand Hill Rd. and I-280. > Our final coverage area was the Stanford Preserve on the east > side of 280, accessed from Alpine Rd. We were disappointed in the > first hour and a half as we missed several target species, but on > the hike back to the car I found a LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, possibly the > only one of the Count, perched in a small tree where they have bred > in previous years. I also had a family group of WHITE-TAILED KITES > near Junipero Serra and Mayfield. I'm assuming this is a different > family group than the Arastradero group found by Garth Harwood et > al. and the ones at Jasper Ridge. > My best find was at the Big Dish itself, where an excited > chatter alerted me to a WESTERN KINGBIRD, which flew to a juncture > of bright blue girders on the Dish's support structure and began > feeding young birds in a nest. We had walked past this spot earlier > and missed both the kingbird and shrike, so I guess sometimes it > pays to retrace your steps. > At the Countdown dinner at McClellan Ranch Park in Cupertino, > it became obvious that we suffered from poor coverage again this > year. Bert McKee and Jack Cole did a great job of covering the > Bayside habitat from Redwood City to Mountain View, and Bill Cabot > covered Moffet Field. The rest of us were stretched pretty thin as > well, as the foothil areas require lots of legwork. It seems we may > have missed such species as GREAT HORNED OWL, CEDAR WAXWING, > CASSIN'S VIREO, GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, VIRGINIA RAIL, GREEN-WINGED > TEAL and others that are often recorded on the Count. > I know Gloria Heller had both HERMIT WARBLER and HERMIT THRUSH > in her area around Wundedrlich Park, and Bert McKee has already > reported his good finds from the Bayside. Would Jack Cole, > Dick Stovel, Richard Jeffers, Garth Harwood, Phyllis Browning and > others who participated mind posting their "good birds" on e-mail? > Did we really miss Great Horned Owl and Cassin's Vireo?! > Thanks to Garth for organizing the Count and to Ruth and Gene > Troetschler for providing pizza and salad for the crew that showed > up at McClellan Ranch. Let's hope coverage is better next year. > > ---Grant Hoyt > > To: [[email protected]] > ========================================================================== > This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list > server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the > message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Wed Jun 10 15:28:49 1998 All, This morning 6 FRANKLIN'S GULLS were present in the pond opposite the CCRS trailers, 5 first-summer birds and one adult-like bird with a few white throat feathers that may indicate a second-summer bird (it did not flap its wings to reveal the amount of white and black in the primaries to confirm this). The two full-adult birds reported yesterday were not around. The banding board had some birds of interest, including five ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS thru 6/7 with at least two more today 6/10, a recaptured HERMIT THRUSH on 6/5, 8 MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLERS in May with 1 recapture on 5/16 and another on 6/2!, a recaptured WILSON'S WARBLER on 6/2, and of course the 4 YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS on 5/3, 5/8, 5/9, and 5/13. Mike Rogers ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Wed Jun 10 16:21:47 1998 Hi Everyone-- >From 1 'til1:30 PM Wednesday, I watched 14 BONAPARTE'S GULLS and 6 FRANKLIN'S GULLS in the settling pond behind the trailers at CCRS. One of these had a black hood with white throat and reddish bill, another had a fully black hood and bright red bill; the others had fuzzy black on the head and dark bills. I presume the black-headed birds are older. I expected to see a strong white bar between the gray mantle and the black wingtips; in the white-throated bird, molt made the pattern indistinct, and the black-throated bird had no such pattern (it did have crisp white crescents on the outer 4 primaries, though). In April at least, adult Franklin's have a pink flush on the chest; none of these showed any pink, however. They don't fly much, so it's hard to get long looks at the wings. It also means they might stay another day. Mark Miller ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Wed Jun 10 20:10:26 1998 Taking Grant Hoyt's suggestion, here are the best birds that I found on the Palo Alto count last Saturday in the Moffett Field region and the adjoining Shoreline Tech Park, Stevens Creek, Lockheed-Martin (Sunnyvale) area, and the salt ponds to the north. BURROWING OWLS have their last stronghold in the Palo Alto count region on and near Moffett Field, of course, but I turned up disappointingly few (only 12 altogether). There were almost none to be found on the west side of the base, where there has previously been a healthy (breeding) population. I only found 4 adults and 1 juvenile near the runway, 2 adults near the Moffett Golf Course, and one adult on the Ames/Lockheed fence near the corner of 11th Avenue and H Street. Thanks to the timely e-mail by Mark Miller before the count I was able to get 1 adult and 3 juveniles by Bldg. 107 at Lockheed -- the adult sitting on the fence down the street probably belonged to this family. A GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE was still at the Moffett Golf Course, consorting with the domestics. A pleasant surprise was finding a lone VAUX'S SWIFT amongst the throngs of cliff swallows, barn swallows, and (the few) white-throated swifts blanketing the fields in the NW corner of Moffett Field (bordered by Stevens Creek and Crittenden Marsh). I saw this bird two different times in the coarse of the morning in the same region -- I had to assume it was the same one -- and got a very good look. Two SWAINSON'S THRUSHES, in short succession, flew onto the path and into the brush along the narrow marshy area in the Shoreline Tech Park (near the Christmas tree farm). Both a male and a female HOODED ORIOLE were seen foraging along different stretches of Stevens Creek in the same region; but I didn't notice any activity around the palm tree nearby where a pair of them nested last year. A lone HORNED GREBE was seen in Crittenden Marsh with half a dozen pair of eared grebes, many of whom were displaying courting behaviour. The water is still so high there that they may have to try nesting on the shore, if they are so inclined. Finally, an adult PEREGRINE FALCON spent the entire afternoon sitting in a high-voltage tower at the end of Salt Pond B2 near the bay, occasionally dodging angry Forster's terns, but otherwise not budging. I won't go into all the ones I missed -- that would be to lengthy. -- Bill Cabot ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 11 08:53:54 1998 Folks: I drove down to San Luis Obispo yesterday and checked on some of the South County stakeouts. At San Felipe Lake there was considerable activity in the willows with the GREAT BLUE HERON and DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT nest (of which I believe there are 12 now). As best I could tell, all the herons were full sized and nearly fledged while the cormorants were incubating. The male GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE appeared to stay in complex of willow trees SW of the call box and sometimes squawked from the willows, sometimes moved to the top and gave a three-note squawk and sometimes flew out over the tules where I assume the nest is and gave a long "wheeerrriiieee" as he flew over the nest. Once he landed in the tules and remained for a few minutes. Although the Surveyor-General of Santa Clara County had declared the willows within Santa Clara County, I was glad to see the male fly over to the dairy to interact with his other blackbird friends. Along San Felipe Road, the CASSIN'S KINGBIRD was on the east side of the middle eucalyptus. At one point he flew after a local Red-tail and rode on his back for a few seconds in kingbird fashion and then returned to one of his favored perches. Bill ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 11 08:57:21 1998 Steve Rottenborn reported that he had seen a male Costa's Hummingbird at Senter Park, near Capitol Xway. The bird was in cottonwoods just north (or downstream) from a large stand of eucalyptus trees along the west side of Coyote Creek at Capitol Xway. This bird was seen on Monday. Mike Mammoser ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 11 09:47:48 1998 The Stanford campus produced few surprises on the Breeding Bird Count. There were two BARN OWLs at the nest box near the stables just before dawn and a third on Green Library roof showing much interest in the twittering from the WHITE-THROATED SWIFT roost. The intense aerial vocalizations near the stables and elsewhere before dawn I presumed to be from bats. San Francisquito Creek had most of its usual specialties: RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, STELLER'S JAY, WOOD DUCK, BELTED KINGFISHER (carrying something in its bill toward El Camino, where Phyllis Browning reported a nest). Lush El Nino-nurtured vegetation may have contributed to the presence of BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK and WARBLING VIREO, not ususally found in this area on the count. PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERs were also well represented. Lake Lagunita had a PIED-BILLED GREBE and a RUDDY DUCK as well as the usual MALLARDs which included at least two MALLARD families with small chicks. A fly-over pair of CASPIAN TERNs may well have been the same seen elsewhere. Four GREAT BLUE HERONS scattered about away from water were probably hunting gophers - one had a gopher in its bill. (Reminds me of a story: once earlier this year I was watching a GBH trying to swallow a gopher while standing in the middle of the woods near the Cactus Garden. It was having a lot of trouble and made several attempts over the course of 10-15 minutes without success. All of a sudden a red-shouldered hawk swooped down and flew right by the heron's head, whereupon the heron quickly swallowed the gopher in about two seconds.) Missed was SONG SPARROW. This species was a common campus bird in the 1930's (based on bird lists in the biology library, not from memory), but lately has been found only in one stretch of San Francisquito Creek and not found this time. Three ORIOLE sp. flying away from the Frenchman's Road stakeout in the dim early light were not identifiably HOODED, so this species was missed. Regards - Dick Stovel [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 11 10:07:29 1998 We saw a pair of WTKI yesterday morning 280 and Sand Hill with at least one young bird in tow. The Arastradero pair? Also we have been watching a pair of BUOW on the corner of El Dorado and Moffat (sic) in Alviso. Haven't seen the second bird for a while but one is quite regular on a burrow very close to the road. I haven't seen a band yet but always one leg up! Janet Hanson SFBBO ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 11 11:03:41 1998 [[email protected]] wrote: Although the > Surveyor-General of Santa Clara County had declared the willows within Santa > Clara County, I was glad to see the male fly over to the dairy to interact > with his other blackbird friends. It's really hard to determine exactly where the county line is here. Some say that the county line runs through the willows, where possibly only the very inner part of the large leafy willow may be in the county. If one wants this bird on their Santa Clara County list, it may be best to see it further inside the county line, just to be sure. Mike Mammoser ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 11 11:33:09 1998 All: Maria and I saw at least 4 Franklin's Gulls in the pond opposite the CCRS trailers this morning around 8:30, along with a very few Bonaparte's Gulls. Yours, John Meyer ******************************************************************** John W. Meyer, Dept. of Sociology, Stanford U., Stanford, Cal. 94305 [[email protected]] (650) 723 1868 ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 11 13:49:11 1998 All: Today (11 June), Scott Terrill and I checked CCRS for Franklin's Gulls, seeing 4 first-summer and 1 apparent second-summer bird in the WPCP pond near the trailers. Later, I returned to bring something to CCRS, and these five Franklin's were still present. I then checked the waterbird pond, where two first-summer and two adult-type (having all-black hoods with no white mottling, fairly bright red bills, and limited black and very extensive white in the primaries) Franklin's Gulls were present. While I watched these birds, a second-summer FRGU (not the one I had seen earlier near the CCRS trailers) flew in, for a total of 10! Eventually four of the five birds at the waterbird pond flew off, heading straight to the Newby Island dump. I have not doubt there are more than 10 present down there. Steve Rottenborn ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 11 15:41:53 1998 All, Grant Hoyt requested some kind of report from section leaders of last Saturday's Summer Bird Count. As others have reported, it was a pretty lean day all around. My section, Region 8, includes Monte Bello OSP (surveyed by Howard Higley & Dick Carlson), portions of Los Trancos Creek OSP, Foothills Park, and Rancho San Antonio County Park. Given the nature of the season, misses may be of equal or greater interest than what we did find! At higher elevations we missed the usual compliment of Grasshopper Sparrows and Black-chinned Sparrows. LAZULI BUNTINGS were present in typical numbers, however, as were CHIPPING SPARROWS. A single BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER provided the most excitement for our fog-bound party early on, although a solo PINE SISKIN which scooted overhead at daybreak turned out to be the only one reported at the countdown. HUTTON'S VIREOS were encountered in small numbers but despite every effort, Cassin's was missed by our party (along with all others reporting in that evening). A singing YELLOW WARBLER near the picnic area in Foothill Park was probably our best bird there. BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS were hard to find, even in prime chaparral habitat. However, we encountered several boisterous family groups of BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS, especially around the visitor center at Foothill. The lake at Foothill was disappointing; no Terns, no Black-crowned Night Herons, just a trio of RUDDY DUCKS and a PIED-BILLED GREBE along with the usual Coots, mixed Swallows, and RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS. (Tree Swallows may have been missed on the entire Count, however.) At Rancho San Antonio, a HOUSE WREN along the left side of the big water tank was, I believe, the only one reported at the countdown. Are they really so scarce hereabouts? --Garth Harwood ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 11 21:24:32 1998 To all, Having read the reports of Franklin's Gulls at CCRS for the past 10 days or so, has caused me to ponder. What are these prairie nesting birds doing here in California at such a late date? Any ideas? Paul L. Noble----Scchowl. ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Fri Jun 12 10:03:59 1998 Hi All- Here are some highlights of the count in Region 3, a mostly urban section covering an area that includes most of Menlo Park, Atherton and portions of Redwood City. St. Pat's Seminary in Menlo Park had a pair of Red Tailed Hawks in a tall eucolyptus tree but we could not see any nest. We did see an American Kestral feeding young behind some decorative moldings on the seminary building. Acorn Woodpeckers were active around the palm trees on the front lawn. We also saw a pair of Downy Woodpeckers, a few White-breasted Nuthatches (one carrying food), and a Pacific Slope Flycatcher. Development of large chunks of the Seminary in the last few years has shrunk the somewhat natural habitat, so overall numbers are down. No Orange-crowned Warblers (not in any of the areas we counted) CA Quail, blackbirds, Killdeer or orioles were seen at the seminary. We did not see the Pygmy Nuthatches that have been found in residential Menlo Park in past years. Only a few California Quail were seen in this area as well as a couple of Hutton's Vireos. One species flourishing in this area was Pink Lawn Flamingo totalling out at 21 for this count. Other counting locations and highlights included Bear Gulch Reservoir (Ash-throated Flycatcher and CA Quail- no cliff swallow nests on the large tanks where we had seen hundreds in the past but some nests on other structures), Canada College (two pairs of bluebirds, one of which was active at a nestbox), Menlo College (juncos carrying nesting material), Sacred Heart Prep (Nesting Acorn Woodpeckers) and Stulsaft Park in Redwood City, an amazingly natural seeming hillside in an otherwise residential area with serpentine rock, native chaparral and riparian vegetation, nice trails and a creek running through it. The latter is along Jefferson Ave in RWC and had quite a few juncos, a Pacific Slope Flycatcher, Wrentit and Song Sparrow. We got our dependable Steller's Jay at Flood Park, as well as Northern Orioles. We counted quite a few Chickadee and Scrub Jay fledglings during the day as they are pretty easy to recognize by ear. The day ended with a Red Shouldered Hawk in a tree on the grounds at Sunset Magazine not far from San Francisquito Creek. Leda Beth Gray ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Fri Jun 12 10:51:40 1998 I headed over to CCRS this morning and shortly before 8:00 easily found at least four FRANKLIN'S GULLS on the pond opposite the trailers. Al Eisner showed up shortly thereafter as well as another birder whom I did not recognize. During the observation, one of the adult FRGUs left the pond and flew south. Also on the pond were BONAPARTE'S GULLS, which offered an interesting comparison when the two different species could be viewed in the same scope field. I did not have time to check the water bird pond. Mark ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Fri Jun 12 13:03:30 1998 At lunch time today, 12 Jun 98, I checked out Senter Park along Coyote Creek near Capitol Xway, hoping to refind Steve Rottenborn's Costa's Hummingbird. I had no luck with the hummingbird, but I did find two singing WILLOW FLYCATCHERS. These birds were acting very territorial. They had set up perch sites within about 50 yards or less from each other, and when one sang the other would answer immediately. They would then counter each other 2 or 3 times. At least one of them was being very aggressive, chasing the nearby HOUSE FINCHES. This was on the west side of the creek near Capitol Xway, along the edge of a disced field that has a small Vietnamese nursery. Look for the 3 tall flagpoles in the nursery. Mike Mammoser ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Fri Jun 12 13:56:26 1998 Mike Mammoser wrote: > > At lunch time today, 12 Jun 98, I checked out Senter Park along Coyote > Creek near Capitol Xway, hoping to refind Steve Rottenborn's Costa's > Hummingbird. I had no luck with the hummingbird, but I did find two > singing WILLOW FLYCATCHERS. These birds were acting very territorial. > They had set up perch sites within about 50 yards or less from each > other, and when one sang the other would answer immediately. They would > then counter each other 2 or 3 times. At least one of them was being > very aggressive, chasing the nearby HOUSE FINCHES. I noted the same behavior from two migrant WIFL along Coyote Creek at Shady Oaks Park in June several years ago. The birds were singing vociferously and chasing HOFI around repeatedly. I was wondering at the time whether they were chasing HOFI because of the similarity between the WIFLs' song and the last phrase of the HOFIs' song (often a burry "fee-bew" that can sound very much like a WIFL). Steve ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Fri Jun 12 16:08:24 1998 Hi all, I was "stuck" in the South Bay all day today, so I decided to take advantage of this unique opportunity to look at molt and variation in the Franklin's Gulls at CCRS. I had a total of about 4-6 birds through the day; there were definitely two adult-types and two first-years at the very least. Although the only birds I could find at first were flying in the distance, two first-years and an adult eventually landed in the pond across from the trailers, and they stayed in the area until I left. Another adult was with the California Gull flock on the Waterbird Pond. A fall migrant WILSON'S PHALAROPE, an adult female, was also briefly on the Waterbird Pond in the late morning. Bert McKee ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sat Jun 13 10:04:59 1998 I went to CCRS this morning, 13 Jun 98, and found 4 FRANKLIN'S GULLS on the pond across the fence from the trailers. No full adults among them. On an adjacent pond I had 4 WILSON'S PHALAROPES. Mike Mammoser ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sat Jun 13 10:19:28 1998 Has anyone had Black Swifts at Ano Nuevo this year? I have a friend coming in from the east who would like to see them, and MacArthur Burney Falls is a lot farther away from San Francisco than the San Mateo coast. Thanks for your input -- Luke Luke Cole San Francisco, CA [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sat Jun 13 13:23:56 1998 Walked in to Table Mountain this morning, and ran into Vickie Silvas-Young (sp?) also looking for the woodpeckers. We set up under the "viewing tree" and within ten minutes a young PILEATED WOODPECKER appeared in the nest cavity, soon followed by a second. They called, without immediate effect, but after an hour or so, the ad female showed up and fed the young (she called, flew in near but still out of sight, a laid low for about 10 minutes first). She was soon followed by the ad male, who also fed both of the young. The two adults hung around long enough for Vickie to get plenty of pix in good sunlight, after the morning fog cleared. The young birds heads are fully feathered, and the adult birds spent quite a bit of time calling from nearby - the male did this for quite a while before doing any feeding - and we speculated that this might be behavior aimed at drawing the young birds out of the nest. (So if you haven't seen this great sight, you might think of getting up there. Also seen or heard: a male Selasphorus hummingbird, probably Allen's, near the Pileated nest; a FLICKER feeding young in a nest in a nearby snag; all three Vireos, ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS, a BROWN CREEPER, WILSON'S and ORANGE=CROWNED WARBLERS, BAND-TAILED PIGEONS. I drove down to Yerba Buena Nursery early - no luck on MacGillivray's, but a WINTER WREN was singing its spectacular song right by the road between the highway and the quarry. -- Tom Grey Stanford CA [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sun Jun 14 11:56:57 1998 All: Sorry for the delay in reporting these birds. On 28 May, I spent a few hours along Coyote Creek in the vicinity of Senter Park, an old city park between Capitol Expressway and Tully Road in south San Jose. There were large numbers of migrants around in addition to the species that breed in the broad, relatively undisturbed riparian corridor here. Here I had a WILLOW FLYCATCHER (much less frequently detected in the county in spring than in fall), 1 HAMMOND¹S FLYCATCHER, a female-type TOWNSEND¹S WARBLER, 2 female LAZULI BUNTINGS (fairly rare along Coyote Creek this far north, especially in spring), 7 WESTERN WOOD-PEWEES (probably does not breed here, so these are migrants), 6 WESTERN TANAGERS, 5 YELLOW WARBLERS, 3 male BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS, 4 ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS (this species does breed here), 6 WESTERN TANAGERS, 4 SWAINSON¹S THRUSHES, 7 BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRDS (4 m, 3 f), 1 WILSON¹S WARBLER, and 5 PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS. A male COOPER¹S HAWK dive-bombed me when I got close to its nest; a pair has nested here since 1995 or earlier. I returned to Senter Park on 29 May and birded the entire riparian corridor along the west side of the creek from Capitol downstream to Tully. Again, migrants were in abundance. I had a female MACGILLIVRAY¹S WARBLER, 5 WILLOW FLYCATCHERS (plus 1 unseen Empid giving a ³whit² call), 1 CASSIN¹S VIREO, 20+ WESTERN WOOD-PEWEES, 6 OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHERS (again, an unusual migrant on the valley floor), 14 WESTERN TANAGERS, 1 ad. male ALLEN¹S HUMMINGBIRD, 1 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, 14 YELLOW WARBLERS, 22+ WARBLING VIREOS (plus two broods of young being fed by adults), 8 SWAINSON¹S THRUSHES, 7 WILSON¹S WARBLERS, 10 BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRDS (6 m, 4 f), 1 WRENTIT (rare on this part of the valley floor; breeding here?), 2 CALIFORNIA THRASHERS, 5 ad. HUTTON¹S VIREOS (including two pairs feeding fledged young), 1 LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, and 10 PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS (including a pair carrying food to an unseen nest inside an abandoned trailer, entering through a small hole in a broken window). On 30 May, I took Rebecca up to Russian Ridge OSP, then down to the Ravenswood area so I could study the SAVANNAH SPARROWS breeding in upland vs. bayside areas (bayside birds appeared somewhat darker, primarily on the back). A LAWRENCE¹S GOLDFINCH flew over Russian Ridge, and down at the bay, I had a SAVANNAH SPARROW nest with young and a pair of HORNED LARKS near the west end of the Dumbarton Bridge. On 31 May, after hearing Mike Mammoser¹s query regarding the precise location of the Great-tailed Grackle nest relative to the county line, Rebecca and I went to San Felipe Lake to take another look. Standing on Hwy. 152 at its closest approach to the grackle nest, I measured a distance along the road that seemed to me to be equivalent to the distance between the road and the nest. Doing this, I estimated the distance between the road and the nest to be 45-50 m (MJM had determined using another method that it was 48 m). Using the topo map, I was able to look at the relative positions of an old silo foundation, the road, and the county line and the distances between these. I then used this information to estimate the relative positions of the county line, the nest, and the willow clump near the nest. Doing this, I estimated that the willow clump is entirely or mostly within San Benito County; that is, the county line runs just north of this clump, or possibly runs within the willow clump so that the willow branches closest to Hwy. 152 are barely within Santa Clara Co. In any case, I think that the dead willow branches on the south side of this clump, where the male GTGR often sits, are within San Benito County, and the nest is probably 20-25 m inside San Benito County. Both the male and female GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE were present. The female flew in with a tule stem, stayed on the nest for 15 minutes, then flew off to the east and was gone for at least 10 minutes. The male flew west into Santa Clara County, returning 10 minutes later from the direction of the Bettencourt Dairy. While here, I noticed 4 alternate plumaged CATTLE EGRETS sitting in trees around the lake. Two appeared to be just loafing. Another pair were perched in willows at the south end of the lake when one of the birds broke off a dead branch from one of the willows, and both birds flew deeper into the willow thicket out of sight. Several minutes later, these birds returned, and one again broke off a stick before both flew back into the same portion of the willow thicket. While they were flying off, a third alternate-plumaged bird flew in from the southwest carrying a stick and also carried it into the thicket. Assuming that these birds were building nests (which is a logical conclusion, I think), this would be the first breeding record of Cattle Egret for San Benito County. Also at San Felipe Lake were 1 FORSTER¹S and 9 CASPIAN TERNS, 1 juv. BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON (fledged here?), and 1 CLARK¹S GREBE. On 8 June, I made another visit to the Senter Park area, covering the entire segment of creek between Capitol and Tully on both sides of the creek but finding only a few migrants. Migrants included 1 WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, 1 WILLOW FLYCATCHER, and a subadult GOLDEN EAGLE (not so much a migrant as a nonbreeder), while breeders included 4 male BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS, 7 ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS (including a tail-less adult carrying food and another adult feeding young in a nest), an ad. male ALLEN¹S HUMMINGBIRD and a female Selasphorus sp., 16 BLACK- CHINNED HUMMINGBIRDS (9 m, 7 f), 3 ad. LOGGERHEAD SHRIKES (including a pair feeding fledged young), 12 ad. WARBLING VIREOS (plus 3 broods of newly-fledged young), and 11 PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS. Surprisingly, I recorded no Yellow Warblers, a species that I confirmed breeding at a number of locations in this area in 1995 (maybe they were unusually quiet during this visit). The best bird was an adult male COSTA¹S HUMMINGBIRD that repeatedly gave its whiny dive display to both male and female ANNA¹S HUMMINGBIRDS (and to a House Finch on one occasion) among the smaller cottonwoods just north of the eucalyptus grove along Capitol Expressway on the west side of the creek. This bird was very conspicuous for 15+ minutes, perching high in a cottonwood and almost constantly giving high-pitched call notes (in addition to the dive display). On 9 June, Al Jaramillo called me about the FRANKLIN¹S GULLS at CCRS. I went to take a look, seeing 7 FRGU in the WPCP pond near the trailers. Five were first-summer birds, while the other two were adult/second-summer-type birds (at least one with white mottling on the throat). Later that afternoon, I had a cormorant fly past our office in Alviso which I think was a Brandt¹s. However, even though the bird¹s size and silhoutette were typical of Brandt¹s, I did not see the bird through binoculars until it was very distant and flying almost directly away, so I won¹t call this bird. A pair of GREEN-WINGED TEAL were in New Chicago Marsh along Spreckles St. in Alviso. On 10 June, I stopped by CCRS again, seeing 6 first-summer and 1 second-summer FRANKLIN¹S GULLS in the WPCP pond near the trailers. A male BLUE-WINGED TEAL, still completely in alternate plumage, was in the northernmost WPCP pond along the CCRS road. A male GREEN-WINGED TEAL (also still completely in alternate plumage), a brood of RING- NECKED PHEASANT young, and a juvenile BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT- HERON (plus numerous older BCNH) were near South Coyote Slough. Thirty-three adult DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS and 22 active nests were on the electrical towers in pond A-18. On 12 June, the imm. GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE was still at the Palo Alto Baylands duck pond. This bird flapped its wings, showing no obvious injuries that might explain its presence so late. On 14 June at Shoreline Lake, we saw the partial albino HORNED GREBE, 8 SURF SCOTERS (5 m, 3 f), and the male GREATER SCAUP. Steve Rottenborn ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sun Jun 14 15:59:43 1998 I just received the Princeton University Press Catalog, and found the following: The Life of Birds David Attenborough Princeton University Press Due: November 1998 320 pages, 180 color photos, 7x10 0-691-01633-X $29.95 The book is based on the 10 part program on PBS that apparently will air this fall/winter after the book is published. ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 15 09:13:05 1998 > Hello, As a science librarian at SJSU and a birder, I am preparing an article to help public librarians choose field guides and other supplementary books and material for birders and birdwatchers. Which field guides and other books on birds would you like to see in a public library and why? What hints would you give librarians to help them assist users with birding questions?Specifically, which field guides are best for beginners (US or North America)? What do you recommend for Mexico and South America? Canada? Europe? Africa? Which birding magazines do you like and why? Videos? CD ROMs? What can public librarians do to assist birders, new and experienced? I have already written a draft of my paper, but it would be better with opinions and suggestions from other experienced birders Thanks in advance. You may direct your answers to me personally. [[email protected]] Best wishes, Tina Peterson -- Christina A. Peterson Life Sciences Reference Librarian San Jose State University California [[email protected]] 408-924-2727 (voicemail) 408-924-2701 (fax) Visit the Library without Walls! http://library.sjsu.edu/staff/peterson/peterson.htm ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 15 09:26:34 1998 On Sunday at Henry Coe SP, Amy and I found a Steller's jay sitting on a nest it had constructed on a beam deep inside of an old barn. Has anyone ever heard anything about this behavior before? James Yurchenco [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 15 09:32:44 1998 Yesterday (June 14) Les Chibana and I hiked down to the nest site of the PILEATED WOODPECKER at Table Mt. We started hiking about 9:30am and arrived at the site at 10:40. We immediately saw a nestling PILEATED WOODPECKER peering out of the nest hole, and soon the adult male flew in to a nearby snag and called often, staying nearby. A spectacular sight! Soon Leda Beth Gray and company arrived, and we all enjoyed an extended feeding session of the nestlings by the adult female Pileated. Sometime later, the adult male spent some time disgurging the considerable amount of bugs to feed the 3 nestlings (2 female and 1 male). After another 40 or 50 minutes the female came back to feed the nestlings. Les and I took many photo's. The nestlings appear to be very close to fledging, fully feathered, and occasionly sitting at the edge of the nest hole. The NORTHERN FLICKER silently flew in every so often to feed it's nestlings as well, as mentioned by Tom Grey. Also, as Tom Grey mentioned, this is a very "birdy" spot, great for brushing up on recognizing calls of the Vireo's, Flycatchers, etc. We left around 1:05 and arrived at the car around 2:30 (going down was much easier!). On another note, there were two BROWN PELICANS hanging around Lexington Reservoir in Los Gatos on Saturday, June 13th. Regards! Alan ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 15 09:48:02 1998 REPLY RE: birds I was at CCRS on Saturday, 6/13/98, also. I checked the same pond at about 11:45a and there were only two BONAPARTE'S GULLS. Five minutes later three FRANKLIN'S "appeared"; one adult, two first summer. One of the first-summer birds seemed to have first-winter head plumage. I didn't see any of their their spread wings. Banding has slowed way down as the migration has definitely tailed-off among the passerine species that we net. We netted a family of Bullock's Orioles, four birds, at one net run. Mom and dad were already banded and, if I recall correctly, both were second year birds. We also banded a female Hooded Oriole; it was nice to see the difference in bill shape and the smaller "feel" of its size in-hand compared to the Bullock's. At first I thought it odd to have a Hooded Oriole at CCRS at this time of year, but I noticed that there are palm trees east of Coyote Creek at the farm. She had a brood patch and quite likely has a nest in those palms. Les Mike Mammoser wrote: >I went to CCRS this morning, 13 Jun 98, and found 4 FRANKLIN'S GULLS on the >pond across the fence from the trailers. No full adults among them. On an >adjacent pond I had 4 WILSON'S PHALAROPES. > >Mike Mammoser ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 15 09:57:04 1998 Les wrote: > Banding has slowed way down as the migration has definitely tailed-off = > among the passerine species that we net. We netted a family of Bullock's = > Orioles, four birds, at one net run. Mom and dad were already banded and, = > if I recall correctly, both were second year birds. We also banded a = > female Hooded Oriole; it was nice to see the difference in bill shape and t= > he smaller "feel" of its size in-hand compared to the Bullock's. At first = > I thought it odd to have a Hooded Oriole at CCRS at this time of year, but = > I noticed that there are palm trees east of Coyote Creek at the farm. She = > had a brood patch and quite likely has a nest in those palms. = On Friday (June 12) I saw a Hooded Oriole family along the creek trail rather close to a couple of palms across the creek. It consisted of a one-year male (I asked Al Jaramillo about this, and he says it is quite common for Orioles), a female, and two or three young fledgelings. I had good enough looks at one of the latter to see some remaining down. (By the way, these young birds had extensive dirty-white on the underparts, making me think of Bullock's, but they were clearly associating with the adult Hooded's; one also gave a whistled vocalization reminiscent of a Hooded's call.) Cheers, Al ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 15 10:10:33 1998 Yesterday I went down to San Felipe Lake. The GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE nest still seems to be active. Atleast the male was seen flying back and forth between the tule clump, the willows (both the south side and once on the north side branches). It mostly flew east while I watched and once it flew west past the NW corner of the lake. It called - a 3-4 noted call - when it left the tule clump. The female made an appearance once - flew to the adjoining tule clump and then back. The GREAT-BLUE HERONS were also in their nests. A CASPIAN TERN flew over the lake and north across Rt.152. A CASSIN'S KINGBIRD was seen on the middle eculalytus on San Felipe Rd. It occasionally flew over the field on the west and a couple of times flew to the northern-most eucalytus. Drove back through Canada Rd. My first time there. Beautiful area. Very birdy though I stopped just once for a singing LARK SPARROW. And once for a couple of handsome COYOTEs. Seemed to have brownish hues on the back and sides. Also looked hefty. The other times I have seen COYOTEs in the eastern hills, it was winter and the animals were all grey and slimmer. Vivek Tiwari [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 15 10:22:01 1998 REPLY RE: Table Mt Pileated A couple of additional notes to Alan's report: I wasn't sure that Pileated Woodpecker nestlings could be sexed by plumage at the time of viewing. The current Pyle's includes woodpeckers and it says that nestlings can be sexed by plumage. Their facial plumage matches the adults in a juvenal sort of way. The male PIWO also appeared to regurgitate vegetable matter (ovoid, non-insect-like things) while feeding the nestlings. We observed one female nestling calling in response to the adults in a slightly higher-pitched "kekking". One adult appeared to forage on a log laying on the ground a few yards further north near the trail. We saw a female selasphorus hummingbird (prob. ALLEN'S) feed briefly at Madrone blossoms near the PIWO nest. We also heard a YELLOW WARBLER on the way back out. We couldn't hear any Ovenbird-like song at the road fork to the ranger residence :-( . Les ======================================== Les Chibana, Mountain View [[email protected]] ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 15 11:57:39 1998 Birders: We last banded a Tricolored Blackbird in 1993. From what others have told me they used to nest at CCRS, in an area between the entrance gate and the trailers. I am trying to find out a little bit more about this population of Tricolored Blackbirds from some of you who may have seen them years ago. Here are my questions: What did they nest in? Thickets of blackberry, or coyote bush? Any idea how many were present? During which years were they present? Any ideas on why they don't nest here any longer? Thanks for the input. Alvaro Jaramillo "It was almost a pity, to see the sun Half Moon Bay, shining constantly over so useless a country" California Darwin, regarding the Atacama desert. [[email protected]] Helm guide to the New World Blackbirds, Birding in Chile and more, at: http://www.sirius.com/~alvaro ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 16 13:49:46 1998 All: Today (16 June) at CCRS, there were 5 WILSON'S PHALAROPES at the waterbird pond and 28 more in one of the WPCP ponds. Other WPCP ponds had single male BLUE-WINGED and GREEN-WINGED TEAL, but only two BONAPARTE'S GULLS and no Franklin's. An agitated WARBLING VIREO in the willow clump at the extreme northernmost net lanes may have been nesting in the cottonwoods across the creek. Recent birds reported to me by others: Dave Johnston had a black-backed male LESSER GOLDFINCH near Sargent on 4 June. Penelope Delevoryas had a pair of duetting CLAPPER RAILS in the recently created tidal marsh east of Permanente Creek at Shoreline Park on 11 June. Most significantly, Scott Terrill had a pair of WESTERN KINGBIRDS with a nest (contents unknown) on the Palo Alto golf course near the Palo Alto Baylands on 12 June, a very unusual record. Steve Rottenborn ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 16 15:35:14 1998 All, At a special SCVAS trip for the Cupertino Senior Center this morning (Tues. 6/16), a group of WILD TURKEYS stole the show with 3 displaying males, 4 females, and at least 12 quail-sized young. These were foraging under live oaks near the tennis courts and a bit upslope of them. The males even obliged by "gobbling" for our group. Other species seen were generally "the usual suspects": BARN, CLIFF, and VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS, LESSER GOLDFINCHES, HOUSE FINCHES, ACORN and NUTTALL'S WOODPECKERS, SPOTTED and CALIFORNIA TOWHEES, 2 pairs of WESTERN BLUEBIRDS, one pair of ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS, BLACK PHOEBES, BEWICK'S WREN, OAK TITMICE, CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES, BUSHTITS, STELLER'S and WESTERN SCRUB JAYS. No warblers or vireos at all, but conditions were uncommonly hot and bright. Flyovers included COOPER'S HAWK with prey, COMMON RAVEN with rodent-sized prey, AMERICAN KESTREL, and TURKEY VULTURE. --Garth Harwood ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Wed Jun 17 10:01:28 1998 On Sunday, 7 Jun 98, I headed out to the bayside to do some birding, starting at the EEC in Alviso. I had a GOLDEN EAGLE along the entrance road, perched on a power tower. I flushed a female GADWALL from a nest right at the edge of the parking lot. It contained at least 6 eggs. I also had both a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD and a CALIFORNIA TOWHEE carrying nesting material. At the Alviso Marina I checked salt pond A12, finding 5 WESTERN GREBES and a single CLARK’S GREBE. Thirty-two AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS were out on the more distant ponds. AMERICAN AVOCETS had precocial young in the impoundment between the ponds and the railroad tracks. At Calabazas Marsh I managed to find at least 1 SNOWY PLOVER in the south end of salt pond A8 by scoping across the slough. GADWALL had broods in the marsh, and there was 1 pair of NORTHERN PINTAIL. A brief stop at Crittenden Marsh produced 2 pairs of EARED GREBES, and a dingy male LESSER SCAUP that was in or entering eclipse plumage. AMERICAN COOTS had numerous young here. Mike Mammoser ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Wed Jun 17 10:03:43 1998 Sorry, the date for my last posting should have been 14 Jun 98 and not 7 Jun 98. Mike Mammoser ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Wed Jun 17 13:18:30 1998 All, The big summer slowdown has already begun to take effect here at McClellan, but a number of interesting birds and/or bird behaviors are still in progress. On an evening walk here between 6-6:30 PM I observed the WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES feeding young nestlings in the swallow box on the old telegraph pole about 100 yards from the parking lot (their second clutch in that box this season). Likewise, a second clutch of BLACK PHOEBE nestlings looked ready to fledge from a mud nest attached under the low eaves at the back of the 4-H shed behind the barn. They were sitting up on the rim of the nest. CALIFORNIA TOWHEES were feeding young for the second time this season, as were EUROPEAN STARLINGS in a sycamore-limb cavity above the trail at numbered post #5. Both species of Orioles are still ever-present around the office feeders. A pair of HOODED ORIOLES was seen in possible association with a young BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD, a situation I will be watching closely as last year's HOOR-BRCO association was apparently the first reported incidence of cowbird parasitism of that species in Santa Clara County. A WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE was observed on the nest and feeding nestlings at a height of about 30' on a leafless sycamore limb above the flood-damaged "amphitheater" area between posts 8 and 10. This area is a wide spot in the trail covered with creek-bottom rocks and scattered with bits of concrete, chain, and the phone-pole type log sections which once made up a seating area for nature walks and such. There is a large, irregular natural log there with a big limb pointing upwards almost directly at the nest. Finally, a HUTTON'S VIREO almost landed on my head as I stood beneath a buckeye tree at post #14. This bird was almost silent except for some rather high pitched, murmuring notes issued so softly I would have missed them at any greater distance. This is the first Hutton's I've seen here this year. A single BARN SWALLOW among the small swallow flock foraging over the big field was likewise the first of the year here. Hope to see some of you at tonight's SCVAS annual dinner (6PM). --Garth Harwood ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 18 12:35:47 1998 Thank you to all the folks who replied to my questions about field guides and other books for birders in public libraries. Your comments will help make my article much more interesting. One other question: which national list(s) should I query on the same topic? Now that I have the local perspective, I'd like to ask at the national or international level. Thanks! This is such a great list; I love to read the birding reports and really appreciate your responses to my questions! Tina Peterson -- Christina A. Peterson Life Sciences Reference Librarian San Jose State University California [[email protected]] 408-924-2727 (voicemail) 408-924-2701 (fax) Visit the Library without Walls! http://library.sjsu.edu/staff/peterson/peterson.htm ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 18 15:57:28 1998 Folks: The San Francisco Bay Area Wetland Ecosystem Goals Project has prepared a draft report on goals for the San Francisco Bay estuary. It is possible that this effort will join the overburdened shelves of local agencies and never again be seen or it may come to be used by local communities for all of their planning related to the San Francisco Bay estuary. Who knows? Important dates: June 22, 1998: Last day to call the Goals Hotline at 510-286-1221 to request a copy of the draft. July 13, 1998: Public meeting for the South Bay on 2nd Floor of the SamTrans Building in San Carlos, from 7:00 to 9:30 pm. August 14, 1998: Written comments are due on the draft. Does this draft report address the needs and desires of the local birding community? Good question. The great birder extraordinaire, Buff McLugnut, was once quoted as saying "Binoculars give you tunnel vision." I recommend you get a copy, read it, and comment. Bill ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 18 16:39:48 1998 Yesterday, 17 Jun 98, I had a GREEN HERON flush from along Coyote Creek, south of Hellyer. Today, there were numerous bird families roaming the creek. They included SCRUB JAY (FY), WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH (FY), BEWICK'S WREN (FL), and AMERICAN ROBIN (FY). PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS are well-spaced along the creek and singing, and I'm working on getting a confirmation for them. Mike Mammoser ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 18 17:29:58 1998 On Tuesday (June 16) I found two SPOTTED SANDPIPERS along the edge of a pond in the Coyote Creek overflow channel. The valve on an old well has been opened, allowing fresh groundwater to flood the area. It has attracted Kingfishers, Egrets, and a variety of other birds. If the water keeps flowing this summer, it could become quite a magnet for birds. - Chris Salander ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Fri Jun 19 11:19:38 1998 At 10:36 AM 6/19/98 -0800, you wrote: >Folks: > > Paul Noble asked about the status of FRANKLIN'S GULL, considering the >number of adult and sub-adult birds found locally and its nominal status as a >prairie-nesting species. Although I've not looked up the details, this >species has been a sporadic breeder at the Lower Klamath N.W.R. in northern >California over the last decade and spring adults have been found regularly >along the central California coast. It breeds regularly at Malheur NWR in E. OR so it's incorrect to believe it's purely a prairie nester. I saw a spring individual (early June) near Portland. OR once. > > Bill >========================================================================== >This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list >server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the >message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] > Nick Lethaby Director of Business Development Elanix, Inc. Tel: 408 941 0223 Fax: 408 941 0984 ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Fri Jun 19 11:36:23 1998 Folks: Paul Noble asked about the status of FRANKLIN'S GULL, considering the number of adult and sub-adult birds found locally and its nominal status as a prairie-nesting species. Although I've not looked up the details, this species has been a sporadic breeder at the Lower Klamath N.W.R. in northern California over the last decade and spring adults have been found regularly along the central California coast. Bill ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sat Jun 20 18:27:44 1998 Ann Verdi and I hiked in to see the PILEATED WOODPECKER today, Saturday, June 20, and it must have flown the coop. Stayed for 1 1/2 hours hoping, since it was a life bird for me. I had been told the tree was on the left of the trail. The tree that seemed to us to be the most obvious was on the right side of the trail. If you sat on the cut tree trunk pieces in the middle of the trail you could see the pileated holes in the snag. I hope we were at the right place. But, disappointed. The "rarest" bird I saw was a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH near the tree we staked out. gloria leblanc los gatos http://www.lgsia.com http://www.wallstreetgifts.com ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sun Jun 21 23:27:24 1998 On Friday afternoon (6/19), there were about 170 WILSON'S PHALAROPES in the ponds across the fence from CCRS (the second pond on your left, driving in), including one in basic, gray plumage. We had no luck in the Franklin's Gull department, there or at Alviso Marina or at Don Edwards NWR. Luke Cole San Francisco, CA [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 22 08:27:47 1998 Luke Cole wrote: > On Friday afternoon (6/19), there were about 170 WILSON'S PHALAROPES in the > ponds across the fence from CCRS (the second pond on your left, driving in), > including one in basic, gray plumage. We had no luck in the Franklin's Gull > department, there or at Alviso Marina or at Don Edwards NWR. I estimated about 225 there on Sunday afternoon (6/21); also 6 Bonaparte's Gulls. Al ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 22 09:48:31 1998 The pond I am refering to has developed in the Coyote Creek overflow channel, along the west side of the creek, about 1/3 of a mile north of Montague Expressway, parallel to River Oaks Parkway. On Thursday (June 18), I again saw one of the SPOTTED SANDPIPERs at the pond. Also, in a group of Lesser Goldfinches feeding in the grass on the levee there was one BLACK-BACKED LESSER GOLDFINCH. I finally decided to take a good look at the male hummingbird I had been passing every day on my way to the pond. In the sunlight, I discovered that he was a BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD. He has been feeding at a feeder on a second floor balcony of the last townhouse on the corner next to the levee, and sometimes roosts on the green vinyl-covered fence between the townhouses and the company parking lot. He should be present on any day. - Chris Salander ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 22 12:54:57 1998 On Saturday, 20 Jun 98, I went to Coyote Creek near Capitol Xway. It was quite interesting to watch a female ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD flycatching right in front of me on the trail. A pair of WHITE-TAILED KITES was very defensive of its territory, quickly attacking a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK when it appeared along the creek. I had 7 BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRDS along the creek, 3 males and 4 females. Actually, I watched 3 of the females simultaneously mobbing a marauding SCRUB JAY, so they may have been a family unit that included immatures. Another female was sitting on a nest in a redwood tree near the San Jose Horseshoe Club. Also in this vicinity, was a pair of PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS feeding 3 newly-fledged young. On Sunday, 21 Jun 98, I stopped at CCRS first thing in the morning. There were 280 WILSON’S PHALAROPES on one of the sludge ponds on the way in, and another 11 of them on the waterbird pond. There was a recently fledged RING-NECKED PHEASANT at the pond as well. Five NORTHERN PINTAILS were among the GADWALLS and MALLARDS here. A female BULLOCK’S ORIOLE was feeding newly fledged young near the methane plant. I counted 22 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT nests on the power towers at A18. New Chicago Marsh, right along Spreckles in Alviso, had quite a concentration of egrets, with 118 SNOWY and 17 GREAT EGRETS. Also here were 20 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS, with a lot of rusty tones in their plumage. The Palo Alto duck pond still had the GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE, plus a MUTE SWAN. Seven LESSER SCAUP were on Matadeo Creek near its confluence with Adobe Creek. Ten GREATER YELLOWLEGS were in the North Pond of the Flood Control Basin. Mike Mammoser ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 22 21:08:22 1998 Hoping to see the Pileated Woodpeckers PIWO, Brooke and I had decided to make the trek to Table mountain inspite of postings indicating the young woodpeckers had fledged. Our experience brought us lots of vocalizing birds on a near perfect weather day. We hiked in on Charcoal Rd (the Bike Path) where Juncos, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and Spotted Towhees were among the most vocal of the birds. Other highlights were a Cooper's Hawk diving on a Red Tailed Hawk., a Selasphorus hummingbird, Red-shafted Flickers and a fierce battle between two large male Western Fence lizards. About two hundred yards from the nesting site where the trail emerged from the forest area to the clearing. We heard an unusual call sounding somewhat like a Flicker. Looking up we saw two large birds flying in different directions. Noting their size and the white linings on the underside of the wings I excitedly ran back to see one of the PIWO land on the very top of a pine. It sat atop the tree for about a minute affording us great views of the bird, with its brilliant red crest, longish neck, and strong bill. Then it flew off, and from that point it was heard but not seen. We attempted to follow the calls on past the nesting snag area hoping for another view, but this was in vain. One field guide indicated their range is up to two hundred acres. Considering the range of these birds and the wooded area it was a treat for both of us to see this "life Bird". Bob Juhl and Brooke Miller ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 22 21:24:29 1998 A summer adult LAUGHING GULL was at the Palo Alto estuary (formerly known as the Yacht Harbor) between 7:55 and 8:20 pm Monday, feeding on the mudflats at low tide. The lack of white in the primaries, seen fairly well from above and below in flight and while standing served to i.d. it relative to a Franklin's Gull. Otherwise, the dark hood, dark gray wings and mantle, red bill and white eye crescents could have been either species, given the distance and my skill level. Also, on Saturday afternoon, a subadult GOLDEN EAGLE was foraging and perched on the ground at Shoreline Park, northeast of the kite flying area. Cheers, Dick Stovel [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 23 12:31:09 1998 All: just to make life really interesting, there is an immature Franklin/Bonaparte's/Laughing gull at Palo Alto's tidal pond north of the Duck Pond.. From the size and all dark bill I think it's a Franklin's, but I didn't have time to check my books. -- Richard C. Carlson Palo Alto, California [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 23 13:16:04 1998 Bert McKee was kind enough to point out in a private communication that the details I provided in my report of a Laughing Gull may not be sufficient to distinguish the gull from a Franklin's: >Dick, > >Second-year Franklin's Gulls can have a full black hood but no obvious >white in the primaries. The upperwings, in fact, can look almost >identical to an adult Laughing Gull's. However, there seems to be a >consistent difference in underwing pattern: on Franklin's, the dark area >is very sharply defined and is mostly limited to the distal half of the >primaries, but on Laughing, the dark area is more diffuse and takes up >most of the underside of the primaries. > >This seems like a good summer for multiple Laughing Gulls to show up in >Northern California, given the large numbers of more regular Mexican >birds showing up on the coast, but there have been so many Franklin's >Gulls around that it is very important to confidently eliminate this >much more common species. Features such as bill size, overall shape, >tail pattern (if seen extremely well - the pale gray central rectrices >of Franklin's can be very hard to see but are diagnostic), eye crescent >shape, and exact upper and underwing patterns are all important. > >Bert McKee To which I offer the following additional comments: 1. The underwing pattern, which I made a point of looking for during the bird's 2-3 very brief flights, was as Bert describes for Laughing Gull, i.e. a gradual transistion from light to dark. I saw no sharply contrasting black-to-white transistions. One view of the underwing appeared to have duskiness extending well into the secondaries, reminiscent of the light to dark transistion on a Western Gull (and possibly suggesting a second summer bird?), although this view was from 400-500 yards with 8.5X binoculars. Later the bird flew to within 150 yards and flapped its wings a couple of times with the underside toward me showing the lack of contrast. 2. The size of the bird immediately struck me as being much larger than a Bonaparte's Gull. Only California Gulls were nearby for comparison, and it was significantly smaller than them, but the impression was of a bird perhaps only slightly smaller than a Ring-billed Gull, maybe halfway between Bonaparte's and California. 3. One thing that stood out from a distance was the relatively massive erect white neck contrasting with the dark hood and dark gray wings and mantle. The illustrations in the NGS guide show just this appearance for Laughing Gull whereas Franklin's Gull is shown less erect and with a less prominent neck. 4. The viewing distance was just too far for me to get the details of the bill shape and eye crescents, though I was aware of the importance of those features. However, my impressions of those marks are fully consistent with Laughing Gull. So, I'll stick with my Laughing Gull call for now (ha, ha), and hope that some more experienced guller can refind it and check up on me. It was found by looking across the mudflats from the Sea Scout building (across from the Duck Pond) toward the Byxbee Park/ Recycle Center entrance at 7:55 p.m. and remained past sunset around 8:20 p.m. Thanks to Bert for the comments. Cheers, Dick Stovel [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 23 14:35:38 1998 All, A partial scan of the park yesterday in the late afternoon turned up the WARBLING VIREO nest first described to me by Tim Johnson a couple of weeks ago. The nest is located at about 15' in a small , solo cottonwood tree to the meadow side of the nature trail at post #6. As I watched, an adult bird delivered food, settled in, and sang from the nest. The WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE nest 30' above the ruined amphitheater is still active with both parents tending the young, which look about ready to fledge (tails hanging over the side of the nest etc). A second nest was found across the creek from post #5. This nest is also being tended closely by the parents. I believe there is a third pewee territory near the park entrance. WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES are still feeding young in the box near the start of the trail. Both YELLOW WARBLER territories are still active but I've seen no direct evidence of nesting yet. A pair of BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS was active in the riparian trees between posts 6 and 8; I have yet to confirm breeding here (fledgling grosbeaks are already making their distinctive calls around my place in Pescadero, so if they produce young here it won't be hard to discover.) --Garth Harwood ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 23 17:47:48 1998 OOPs! The date of our sightings of the Pileated Woodpeckers was on Sunday June 21 at about 11:00AM Bob juhl ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Thu Jun 25 15:08:20 1998 All: A few recent sightings: On 17 June, I had 54 WILSON'S PHALAROPES and single male GREEN- WINGED and BLUE-WINGED TEAL at the San Jose WPCP (as seen from CCRS). On 18 June, in the Silver Creek hills at south San Jose, I had a CALIFORNIA QUAIL nest with eggs and a MOURNING DOVE nest with eggs on the ground in the middle of extensive grassland (a strange place for a MODO nest). Four adult GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS, including one feeding fledged young, were also here. RUFOUS-CROWNED and LARK SPARROW fledglings were also here. On 22 June, 2 GREATER YELLOWLEGS in the pond across the railroad tracks from the Alviso Marina were the first southbound individuals of this species I'd seen this year. I spent a couple of hours working the Guadalupe River between Montague and Trimble but got very little for my efforts (5 BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS but not Yellow Warblers, Warbling Vireos, Pacific-slope Flycatchers, or migrants). On 23 June, I spent some time at the Palo Alto Baylands hoping to refind Dick's Laughing Gull, without success. The first-year GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE was still at the duck pond and the partial-albino HORNED GREBE was on Shoreline Lake. On 24 June at CCRS, I had 22 first-summer BONAPARTE'S GULLS, 320 WILSON'S PHALAROPES, 10 WESTERN SANDPIPERS, and a singing WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE (probably a very late migrant). An adult BLACK SKIMMER was on the Forster's Tern-colony island in the southeast corner of pond A-16 near the EEC. I again checked the Palo Alto Baylands but had no luck with the Laughing Gull. Today (15 June), Scott Terrill and I were talking in his office (in Alviso) when an adult FRANKLIN'S GULL flew past the window, heading northwest over the marina and out of sight. Steve Rottenborn ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Fri Jun 26 07:30:03 1998 All, Yesterday, 6/25/98, Frank Vanslager and I saw a calling Canyon Wren on the rocks across (the East side of) the road from faded mile marker 07.41 on San Antonio Valley Road. Just south of there we saw an Osprey (sex?) flying East. I also had a female Wood Duck with several young (I was unable to count them before they reached the reeds) in the reservoir south of Del Puerto Canyon Rd. near its junction with San Antonio Valley Road. We were unable to find any "good" sparrows :-(. Take care, Bob Reiling, 7:07 AM, 6/26/98 ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sat Jun 27 10:45:17 1998 Birding in Alaska, May 24 - June 10, 1998 We were on a Sierra Club Birding Trip. The Co-Leaders were John M. O'Donnell (birds) and Carole Dienger (plants and birds), and Assistant Leader Howard Dienger (history). We spent a day or so birding the Anchorage area, then flew to Nome for a few days, back to Anchorage, then to Seward for a pelagic trip and birding the Kenai area, then back to Anchorage and up to Denali for a few days, and back to Anchorage to end the formal trip. My wife and I then went to Sitka for a few days before returning home. There were generally two kinds of birds in Alaska, those that were there last week, and those that were probably coming next week. Nevertheless, we had a good group and had a good time, and did see quite a few birds, but we had to work at it. There was often only one or two individuals of a species seen. Spring had not yet come to Alaska, especially in Nome. They had a mild winter in Alaska, but received 3-4 feet of snow the end of May, so some of the roads were not open yet. We had fog and light rain almost every day. I still have not seen Mt. McKinley after two trips. On our pelagic trip out to a glacier at Kenai, we wore everything we owned (long underwear, wind pants, etc.), and were none too warm. Sitka, being further South was warmer, but we still had fog and rain, especially on our pelagic trip. Sitka seemed more Alaskan, with Bald Eagles everywhere. The trees looked like Christmas trees with white lights on them. We saw very few Eagles elsewhere on our trip. There were many Ravens also at Sitka. The birds in greatest abundance on our trip were Townsend's and Wilson's Warblers (seen and heard), and Varied Thrushes (often heard, but seldom seen). The rarest bird was the Common Ringed Plover (Nome). The most exciting bird for me was a male Northern Goshawk near the nest (Anchorage). It was nice to see the common birds of California all dressed up in their breeding plumage. The Surfbirds were especially beautiful, as were the the Dowitchers. The picutres of these birds in the National Geographic Bird Book don't begin to show how beautiful they really were. I did not see a Merlin. I hope Merlie is OK (the Merlin that has spent the Winter by our house for the last 6 years). We found a baby Walrus under some old railroad machinery about 30 miles outside of Nome (walruses shouldn't be anywhere near Nome). We called U.S. Fish and Wildlife and they rescued it, and sent it to Tacoma, Washington for rehab. Things were looking good for a few days, but it died of an intestinal obstruction and the resultant operation. A week of no food after being born didn't help his chances. I saw 137 species of birds, with 28 being life birds (listed below). Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel Trumpeter Swan Emperor Goose Northern Goshawk Willow Ptarmigan Rock Ptarmigan Common Ringed Plover Hudsonian Godwit Long-toed Stint Glaucous Gull Thick-billed Murre Marbled Murrelet Kittlitz's Murrelet Tufted Puffin Horned Puffin Three-toed Woodpecker Alder Flycatcher Northwestern Crow Boreal Chickadee Northern Wheatear Gray-cheeked Thrush Bohemian Waxwing Lapland Longspur Rusty Blackbird Pine Grosbeak White-winged Crossbill Common Redpoll Hoary Redpoll ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sat Jun 27 11:43:57 1998 On Saturday, June 27, Ann Verdi and I "did" Shoreline. Highlights were: 3 BLUE WING TEAL on Adobe Creek, 2 WILSON'S PHALAROPE on "pond" beyond Adobe Creek, 2 LESSER YELLOWLEGS near phalarope's. We noticed a hundred or so AMERICAN PELICAN'S circling in the sky and they all came in and landed near the pump station where all the CLIFF SWALLOWS nest. There were 5 BLACK SKIMMERS on the "tern island" closer to the main building at Shoreline and not by the bench. There continues to be no islands near the bench for them to use. Gloria LeBlanc http://www.lgsia.com http://www.wallstreetgifts.com ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sun Jun 28 18:15:34 1998 Saturday afternoon, I hit several shorebirding spots at high tide, hoping for a Red-necked Stint in with early Westerns. However, Ravenswood OSP has too high a water level for roosting birds and Palo Alto proved virtually birdless. The Calabazas wetlands had 3 Greater Yellowlegs and 3 Caspian Terns. There were lots of birds at CCRS but the light was poor. I rechecked CCRS on Sunday morning and found 470 Wilson's and 3 Red-necked Phalaropes, 4 Westerns and a single Least Sandpiper. I had a hatrick of Teal including 2 male Blue-winged and a first-summer Bonaparte's Gull. Nick Lethaby Director of Business Development Elanix, Inc. Tel: 408 941 0223 Fax: 408 941 0984 ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sun Jun 28 20:17:26 1998 Hi Birders - This evening (Sunday, 6/28) around 7:00 pm my wife, 10-month old boy, 10-year old dog and I were taking a walk at Zmudowski State Beach. We walked the beach to the Pajaro River mouth where there were hundreds of gulls, terns and pelicans, and a few SANDERLING, including one in alternate plumage. There were no rarities. On the way back to the parking lot, we took the trail along the strawberry fields. At the north end of the pond, there is a small section that sticks out north beyond the large reeds. On the edge of the pond, just standing out in the open, was an AMERICAN BITTERN and a KILLDEER. The bittern quickly made its way back into the reeds and disappeared. However, a month or so ago, I saw an AMERICAN BITTERN in the same place. They could be nesting there. As I walked by, I heard a strange sound. At first, I thought it could have been the clucking of the bittern, but was unsure if they even made such a sound. Then I heard what sounded like a rail, but shortly after that, I heard the obvious song/call of the GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE. I never did see the bird, but this is prime nesting habitat for this species, and I wouldn't doubt that it is breeding there this year. I believe this would be the first nesting record for Monterey County if it can be confirmed. Steve Rovell [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Sun Jun 28 22:21:44 1998 All, I'll be in the San Diego area during the second week in July. Any suggestions about birding spots. I'm mostly interested in landbirds, especially since I don't have a scope. -- Dick Strubbe Silverton, OR ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 29 09:36:53 1998 Steve Rottenborn reports a male GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE in Alviso today. It was at the small pond on the north side of hwy 237 between Lafayette and Great America Parkway. This pond is right next to a short frontage road that connects the 2 streets. Mike Mammoser ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 29 12:57:07 1998 Fellow birders: I am finally going to the above Hawaiian Islands. Any suggestions for the best places to see as many of the endemics as physically possible in 10 days. Thanks for your help. ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 29 13:39:33 1998 I just spent a bit over a week in SE Oregon and have a few observations that may be of general interest. I was told that Malheur had 28 days with rain in May, 6 inches total vs an annual average of 9 inches. Plants were lush everywhere, and there were numerous small ponds and much grass in sage country you'd normally expect to be hot and dry in mid June. On a brief tour of the Lower Klamath refuge on the way to Klamath Falls (6/18) I found the roadside vegetation so tall that it was difficult to see much, just birds flying our from behind. I did have an otter cross the road right in front of the car, tho. I spent the night of 6/19 at the Malheur Field Station and toured the refuge by car the next day. The rest of the trip was a bicycle tour beginning in Burns with overnights at French Glen, Diamond, and various small towns in a 450-mi loop into Idaho & back to Burns on 6/27. Only life bird of the trip for me was a Bobolink. There was a small flock near P Ranch in the sourthern part of Malheur. I was surprised by the density of Willow Flycatchers and Yellow Warblers along the Central Patrol Road, which I traveled by both car & bike. The area around Rome, OR was good for a couple of observations of interest. In the trees by the "motel" there was a flock of Western Kingbirds, at least 6. I've never seen so many in one place. In a nearby field, I watched a Long Billed Curlew chase a Red Tailed Hawk out of the area. A few pecks with that long bill really ruffled the hawk's feathers and interrupted its flight pattern. There were thousands of Killdeer everywhere and shorebirds in unexpected places, as ponds were not always easily seen from the road. Avocets and Stilts were quite widespread, even far from major bodies of water. On a few occasions, I was surprised by Willets bursting out of the sage. Each evening, people in the cycle group would pose their "What was that bird I saw?" questions for me. Perhaps some of them will develop a greater interest as a result. ---------------- George Oetzel <[[email protected]]> ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Mon Jun 29 14:21:18 1998 On Sunday, 28 Jun 98, I stopped at CCRS in the morning. There were 581 WILSON'S PHALAROPES on the sludge pond along the levee, and 10 WESTERN SANDPIPERS. There were no small migrant shorebirds at the waterbird pond. I wonder if the aggressive breeding AVOCETS chase them away? A GRAY FOX was along the levee on the way in to CCRS as well. Mike Mammoser ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 30 07:31:13 1998 Leda Beth Gray and I have observed Nuttall's woodpeckers nesting successfully in city-planted maple trees in our section of Barron Park (Palo Alto) for the past two years. Unfortunately, they prefer to make their nest cavities in the older dying maples which are generally tagged by the city for replacement. In two specific cases, Leda Beth has been able to convince the city to delay cutting these trees down until after the Nuttall's chicks fledged. (Who knows what would happen if she was not vigilant). There are very few other woodpeckers in our area, even though we have some oaks and lots of pines. The Nuttall's is definitely not bashful when it comes to visiting peanut and suet feeders, and that may afford them an advantage during nesting in suburbia. And as Leda Beth described in one of her Avocet articles, the Nuttall's will also use hanging nest boxes, intended for chestnut-backed chickadees or oak titmouse, as safe places to sleep during both the day and night. To easily get into and out of a chickadee box, the Nuttall's simply opens up the hole - a job that requires about 1 hour of diligent pecking. Dave Drake ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 30 10:54:40 1998 Hi Michael, I've been a few times to Maui and I suggest going up to Haleakala. Got Nene near the top in the parking lot (seems unfair). There is also a picnic spot with a short trail a few miles from the top that I had good luck with some endemics. Forget the name but I've stopped there twice in my two visits and had good luck. Check flowering trees. Uh, need a guide? Don ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 30 11:05:04 1998 Hi all, I live in the Willow Glen area of San Jose and I saw (and heard) a Nuttall's Woodpecker in my backyard. Not being too near any nice valley oaks I thought this a bit unusual. Is it? I made doubly sure of my call and was rewarded with excellent looks. A female by the way. Don ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 30 12:57:46 1998 Hi Birders - This morning, EARLY, I went to Ano Nuevo State Reserve to look for the MASKED BOOBY. I got to a nice viewing point at about 7:00 AM and almost immediately picked out the booby just below and to the right of the right-most blind on the island. I did not see any BLACK SWIFTS, but I did see one male PURPLE MARTIN. I heard from others later that the bird left the island at 8:00 AM. Steve Rovell [[email protected]] ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 30 13:58:18 1998 > I live in the Willow Glen area of San Jose and I saw (and heard) a Nuttall's > Woodpecker in my backyard. Not being too near any nice valley oaks I thought > this a bit unusual. Is it? I made doubly sure of my call and was rewarded with > excellent looks. A female by the way. A seeming explosion of Nuttall's Woodpeckers this spring has had me wondering if they are another bird that is adapting very successfully to the human-altered environment of the Peninsula. Although there certainly are oaks in the Menlo Park-Atherton area that I frequent by bicycle, I have the sense that I most often hear or see them in other trees. I've heard them in as many as 5 distinct locations in one 4-mile trip home. Where I work at SRI, there is one readily available oak and a variety of smaller trees. Most of my observations have been in the smaller trees. They also seem partial to the Modesto Ash trees along the street near my house. In contrast, Acorn Woodpecker sights and sounds are becoming rare in these same areas, where once they were common. I wonder if they are less adaptable, and the Nuttalls are thriving partly at their expense? ---------------- George Oetzel <[[email protected]]> ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 30 14:03:53 1998 On Jun 30, 1:58pm, George Oetzel wrote: > In contrast, Acorn Woodpecker sights and sounds are becoming rare in > these same areas, where once they were common. I wonder if they are > less adaptable, and the Nuttalls are thriving partly at their > expense? Well Acorn has certainly adapted well to making and filling holes in the side of my house's wooden chimney! The thing is, Acorn may adapt to the presence of humans, but it certainly doesn't adapt to the non-presence of acorns. I had Nutall's here in a non-oak landscaping tree in the middle of an SGI building parking lot (across the street from Shoreline Amp.). +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ Paul Stevens Silicon Graphics [[email protected]] Mountain View, CA ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 30 15:21:55 1998 Folks: Nuttall's Woodpecker was considered scarce on the west side of the valley at the turn of the century. It appears to have been the most abundant _Picoides_ on the east side of the valley based on data from the San Jose CBC at least from 1950 on. This is not the case on the west side of the valley where it was not recorded on the Palo Alto CBC until 1968. It has expanded its range on the San Francisco Peninsula in the last 30 years and, now, is the most common _Picoides_ on this side of the valley. Based on CBC and Summer Bird Count data there is no evidence that the populations of Downy Woodpecker have been reduced by the expansion of this population. Whether this is a new bird for other valley floor sites, I don't know. Acorn Woodpeckers, as Paul Stevens noted, need acorns. In addition they require suitable mast-storage trees as well. There is no doubt that they are declining in urban neighborhoods on the valley floor. Ruth Troetschler, who studied them in the 1970s in Palo Alto and Los Altos, has noted that most of her colonies have disappeared and, where she can determine, the proximal cause has been the removal of a mast-storage tree. This woodpecker is one of most abundant woodpeckers in the county, but its needs do conflict with us. I am very interested in detailed records of this species from any valley floor location. By detailed records I mean that you have watched them long enough to obtain a rough idea of the colony size, its location, and the whereabouts of their mast-storage trees (or light poles or wooden chimneys). Their persistence in these sites is of great interest. And this brings up a query. How many Acorn Woodpecker colonies remain in Palo Alto on the valley floor? Are there any in Los Altos? Any in Mountain View? Howabout San Jose? I am not aware of any problems with this woodpecker off the valley floor so records from such locations are not of interest. Bill ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]] From [[email protected]] Tue Jun 30 16:16:40 1998 I spent an hour last Sunday sitting at a picnic table at the end of La Rinconada Park on the inside pathway. 11:30am-12:30pm It backs up to La Rinconada Country Club. I was intrigued with all the babies. There were 3 NUTTALL'S that were either on the same or adjacent trees (none were oak). One of the NUTTALL's persisted on flying next to a DOWNY. The DOWNY would be aggressive and it'd fly away and a couple of minutes later the NUTTALL'S would fly back. Seemed like it was trying to make a new friend. Interacting with these babies were to the best of my count 12 BULLOCK'S ORIOLES. one male, the rest were mostly immatures. I had never seen so many in one place or watched them flitter around on the ground, off the ground, this tree, that tree, they were all around me 360 degrees. flittered as much as warblers do, but lower to the ground. This is probably very typical behavior but I felt I was watching a play school! I was sad to have to leave, the hour passed very quickly. And, for Bill Bousman, I know there are ACORN WOODPECKER'S there too. I've seen them go into the eaves of a house across the street. I will get more specific info regarding all that. Just saw one ACORN on Sunday flying towards the house as I was leaving. They're normally at the other end of the park from where I was. Gloria LeBlanc http://www.lgsia.com http://www.wallstreetgifts.com ========================================================================== This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. 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