From [[email protected]] Sun Mar 01 12:11:30 1998 I would like my name and e-mail address removed for the time being. Thank You, JOE [[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 Mar 01 18:02:36 1998 I spent a little time in the southern part of Santa Clara Co. today, hoping to duplicate some of the success Steve Rottenborn had at the flooded fields at the extreme southern end a few weeks ago. Alas, the fields are now largely unflooded, so none of the Swans or other good stuff. Still, a few birds worth noting from today: Ducks at the Ogier Rd. ponds were dominated by Scaup (at least 250), with at least 13 COMMON GOLDENEYEs and a pair of HOODED MERGANSERS. This was around midday; a dog trainer there said there had been many more ducks (dabblers, I gather) earlier in the day. 5 COMMON MERGANSERS in Coyote Creek at the end of Burnett Rd., Morgan Hill. 2 OSPREYs (no doubt the ones previously reported at several nearby locations) at Parkway Lakes; they were sort of whistling to each other. 3 COMMON MOORHENs at the marsh by the entrance to the Coyote Ranch. A bunch of TREE SWALLOWs were checking out nest sites (perhaps even building) in the Euc's on Dunne Lane (east of San Felipe Lake). Al Eisner March 1, 1998 ========================================================================== 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 Mar 01 18:53:27 1998 On Sunday, 22 Feb 98, I went to Shoreline Lake to see if anything = unusual had shown up. Frank Vanslager showed up (though I wouldn't = say he was unusual) and together we scoped out the lake. Eleven = BLACK SKIMMERS were foraging on the lake for a while, and a = female RED-BREASTED MERGANSER was here as well. We could = find no unusual scoters or any Barrow's Goldeneyes. Moving on to the Palo Alto duck pond, the GREATER WHITE- FRONTED GOOSE was still present. Among the gulls was a first- winter THAYER'S and an unusual-looking first-winter MEW (I believe = that this was the same bird Steve later reported - Kamchatka type?). I ran into Al Eisner and Ron Thorn and we headed for Alviso to check = out salt pond A12. Here we had 10 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, = including an adult male. The pond at Spreckles and Grand had 1 male = EURASIAN WIGEON and the EURASIAN x AMERICAN WIGEON = hybrid. A number of VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS were over the = marsh. On Saturday, 28 Feb 98, I went to Stevens Creek Park. I was hoping to = find Orange-crowned Warblers singing on territory by now, but there = wasn't a single one around. A RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER was at = the Villa Maria picnic area. Breeding activity is starting to rise; with = CALIFORNIA THRASHERS singing and HUTTON'S VIREOS paired = up. Unusual was a PEREGRINE FALCON soaring over the ridge = behind the picnic area. RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS were calling = quite constantly from the creek, and I heard what sounded like a = COOPER'S HAWK call briefly from along the creek just below the = dam, where they have nested in the past. = I went down to the Palo Alto flood control basin, where I found 7 = BLUE-WINGED TEAL (5 males and 2 females). Most were in the = vegetation near the pullout on the frontage road, but one pair was in = Adobe Creek near the Forebay. I overtook Jennifer Matkin's field trip = at the southeast corner of the Forebay, where the AMERICAN = BITTERN was putting on a good show. Two SORAS were also = scampering around here, and a GREEN HERON was frozen along the = edge of the cattails. = I moved on to the Los Gatos Creek Park ponds, where 2 COMMON = LOONS and an adult male WHITE-WINGED SCOTER were found on = the northern pond (I believe these were just recently reported by = someone else). The Oka Ponds had 2 female HOODED = MERGANSERS. Overhead were 4 NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED = SWALLOWS and 2 WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS. = On Sunday, 1 Mar 98, I made a quick stop at Fair Oaks Park, but failed = to find the Palm Warbler. There was an ORANGE-CROWNED = WARBLER here, though. = At the Sunnyvale sewage ponds I found very few SURF SCOTERS on = salt pond A4 (and no White-winged), but still hundreds of GREATER = SCAUP. Of interest here was a pair of WESTERN GREBES = performing courtship displays=21 Two birds, each carrying vegetation in = their bills, swam towards each other, jerking their heads from side to = side. As they came together, they turned side-by-side and then both = raised up the front of their bodies in the water. they started swimming = together side-by-side. They each dropped the vegetation they were = carrying and began a bowing display, where each quickly turned its = head and bent it down to its back, quickly bringing it back up and = forward again. They seemed to do this almost in synchronization. They = soon stopped, and I then left the area. I went through Alviso, where I found 17 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS = on salt pond A12, 1 male EURASIAN WIGEON and the hybrid = EURASIAN x AMERICAN WIGEON at Spreckles and Grand. At CCRS, I talked to Chris Otahol, who had seen 3 HOODED = MERGANSERS on the sludge ponds on his way in that morning. TREE = SWALLOWS had returned in force here, and I was able to pick out a = BARN SWALLOW among them. The GREAT BLUE HERONS are = occupying at least 7 nests in the willows at the =22delta=22. I then went to Shady Oaks Park, where I found the EASTERN = PHOEBE about 200 yards into the orchard. 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]] Sun Mar 01 20:27:59 1998 Around 1 PM Sunday March 1, I was birding Charleston Slough. Walking in from the San Antonio end, I noted Bufflehead in the pond on the left (west) side of the dike across from the Mountain View Forbay. After passing the "pump house" (no sign of nesting swallows) there were numerous Greater Scaup in the Palo Alto flood control basin and 2 Green-winged Teal males. Further down the dike were Canvasbacks (both sides). A Forster's Tern flew by. It was back lit and hard to see, but was not in breeding plumage. 49 Marbled Godwits were roosting at the end of the slough. After passing the renovation sign and bearing left on the dike the following were located in the Palo Alto flood control basin; one Western Grebe, 29 Canada Geese (more flew in later) and 2 Red-breasted Mergansers. On the bay side; one Surf Scoter, 2 Long-billed Curlews and 13 Black Skimmers. Down 1 from my count of 14 in November. 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]] Sun Mar 01 22:22:17 1998 On Sat. Dan Froelich and I saw four Swallow species over the Palo Alto FCB Several TREE and VIOLET-GREENs, some BARN, and one N. ROUGH-WINGED. WHITE-THROATED SWIFTs were also active. This was around 4:00PM. Then we went to Barron's Creek near Arastradero and Foothill Expy. The pond adjacent to the Foothill Research Park was dry. However, the pond downstream from that (near the dam and the bike path) had water and had 4 imm. male and 3 female HOODED MERGANSERs. I think this is the largest count that has been reported in the last 2-3 weeks. The area was teeming with birds, and included NUTTAL's and DOWNY WOOP.s, RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER, a single CEDAR WAXWING, SPOTTED TOWHEE, CAL. THRASHER and a MERLIN with an unid. prey. Today at around 10:00AM, there were 5-6 MEW GULLs at the end of Nortech Parkway. Using Dan's scope I was finally able to see the EURASIAN WIDGEON at the intersection of Spreckles and Grand, in the flooded fields to the south. We actually saw two widgeons with red heads and yellowish crowns. Only the heads were visible, so we could not decide, which of these (if either) was the hybrid. Scoping from the obs. deck outside EEC, we found yet another EURASIAN WIDGEON in the marsh north of EEC. A half-hour stop at Lake Cunningham did not yield the LBBG, but we were rewarded by a single CLIFF SWALLOW. W-T SWIFTs were here too. 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 Mar 02 08:49:45 1998 In a message dated 98-03-01 22:02:07 EST, Mike Mammoser wrote: << I overtook Jennifer Matkin's field trip at the southeast corner of the Forebay, where the AMERICAN BITTERN was putting on a good show. Two SORAS were also scampering around here, and a GREEN HERON was frozen along the edge of the cattails. >> That spot was definitely the highlight of the day, and many thanks to Mike for spotting the first SORA. There was also a COMMON MOORHEN in the same place, so we were able to see all of these great birds at once. We also heard a VIRGINIA RAIL call in there. After that, most of the participants stuck around late to go see one of Mike's male BLUE-WINGED TEAL, which was tucked in with two CINNAMON TEAL well up Adobe Creek. A great ending to a fun trip. We never did see the BLACK SKIMMERS, but there were so many other great birds that it didn't seem to matter. We saw approximately 65 species in a four- hour trip, and we spent a lot of time studying the grebes, ducks and shorebirds carefully so we didn't cover too much territory. I did see my first BARN SWALLOW of the year, looking fabulous, though I don't think anyone else got much of a look at it. There also was an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER with a very gray head near Shoreline Lake before the trip started. I wanted to thank all of you who sent advice and tips on birding this area. Thanks to all of you, the field trip was a great success and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. Of course, the gorgeous weather didn't hurt! Thank you! Jennifer ------------------------- Jennifer Matkin 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 Mar 02 09:59:08 1998 All, On Saturday 2/28/98, Alma Kali and I stopped by Los Gatos Creek CP on the way over the hill to Santa Cruz, where we hoped to refind the Rock Sandpiper. At the northernmost pond the adult male WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, the two COMMON LOONS, and a hunting (one unsuccessful dive) male OSPREY put on quite a show. Also here were 7 SURF SCOTERS, including a few splotchy molting immature males (and one adult male as well). The OSPREY was in fairly heavy molt, missing some feathers from the left wing near the primary/secondary junction and regrowing 2-3 feathers in the tail. In order to better guess at how many of these birds are around this winter it would be helpful if observers would note sex (or extent and pattern of the "necklace" of brown streaks) and any apparent molt. A female-plumaged HOODED MERGANSER was on the nearby Oka Ponds and about 5 NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS and 2+ WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS were foraging overhead there. ...and the ROCK SANDPIPER was still in Santa Cruz, foraging with BLACK TURNSTONES and SURFBIRDS opposite 1510 West Cliff Drive just east of Swift St. A SEA OTTER was near here as well. On Sunday 3/1/98, I made a quick stop at Lake Cunningham, hoping for some Lesser Black-backed Gull action, which didn't happen. Interesting gulls included a 3rd winter GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL, 4 HERRING GULLS of three ages, and a pale second-winter THAYER'S GULL with secondaries bleached completely white. This bird had typical dark primaries and tail band, but completely lacked any secondary bar in flight (in fact the secondaries were the palest portion of the wing!). Many of the coverts were also very pale but nicely marbled with tan. An adult male SURF SCOTER was the most interesting duck and a large swallow flock of about 75 birds included 2+ TREE, 8+ VIOLET-GREEN, 4+ NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED, 10+ CLIFF SWALLOWS, 5+ BARN SWALLOWS, and about 10 WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS. These bird foraged widely over the nearby suburbia and an accurate total count of each species was impossible. 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]] Mon Mar 02 10:28:44 1998 All: I scoped Shoreline Lake Sunday afternoon about 4:15. There were many (close to 100) Surf Scoters in the lake. There was one Black Scoter with them, along the southern edge of the lake, about 50 yards west of the peninsula that points out to the island. It looked like an immature male (NGS) or a female (Peterson). Medium dark brown, with a contrasting beige rectangular face/throat/neck patch. At that distance (though the light was very good) I couldn't see specifics on the bill. After perhaps 10 minutes, the bird flew north across the lake, showing the beige face/throat/neck patch very clearly in my scope (20x). I lost it, and could not later find it in the lake (despite extensive scoping), so I assume it continued north toward the Bay. The bird looked very different than a female Ruddy Duck (of which I saw only one in the lake). Scoter-sized and shaped. No dark eye-line. No stiff tail. And the beige patch was substantial, extended down the neck, even-colored, and rectangular. 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]] Mon Mar 02 12:14:14 1998 Birders, The February 1998 archive of the south-bay-birders mailing list is now online. Thanks in part to a contribution from Don DesJardin, this month's photo quiz features a controversial bunting. Is it Indigo or Lazuli? A disputed hawk is also available for your consideration. The "answers" and voting results from last month's goldeneye quiz are now available. Thanks to all who took the time to vote and share opinions. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. The url is at http://hills.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/. Just follow the "rare bird" links. -- Joseph Morlan SF Bay Area birding, Rarity photos, ID quizes. 380 Talbot Ave. #206 http://hills.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]] Mon Mar 02 15:16:43 1998 MARCH 1 1998 SANTA CLARA COUNTY YEAR LIST UPDATE Not much to add for the month of February, but migration should help us soon! Still need Oldsquaw, Short-eared Owl, and Sage Sparrow. 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: 202: 1/ 1/98 CANYON WREN 203: 2/ 8/98 KINGBIRD sp. 204: 2/21/98 PACIFIC LOON 205: 2/26/98 CLIFF SWALLOW 206: 3/ 1/98 BLACK SCOTER Please send any additions, corrections, or comments to Mike Rogers, [[email protected]]. SANTA CLARA COUNTY YEAR LIST - 1998 SCR MMR MJM COMP SOURCE 377 178 159 158 206+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 1/16 SCR 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 Cattle Egret 1/ 2 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 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/ 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 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 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 1/25 NLe Ring-necked Pheasant 1/ 6 1/13 2/22 1/ 6 SCR Wild Turkey 1/ 1 JMa California Quail 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/18 1/ 1 SCR,DJC Mountain Quail 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 Semipalmated Plover 1/ 6 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 1/ 6 SCR Solitary Sandpiper Willet 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Wandering Tattler Spotted Sandpiper 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 Black Turnstone Red Knot 1/ 6 1/ 6 SCR Sanderling 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 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Long-billed Dowitcher 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 2 SCR,MJM,AVe Common Snipe 1/ 5 1/ 1 DJC Wilson's Phalarope Red-necked Phalarope Red Phalarope 2/11 2/ 8 2/ 8 SBT Pomarine Jaeger Parasitic Jaeger Long-tailed Jaeger Laughing Gull Franklin's Gull Little Gull 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 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 Elegant Tern Common Tern Arctic Tern Forster's Tern 1/ 6 2/ 8 1/ 2 1/ 2 MJM Least Tern Black Tern 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 1/ 1 SCR White-winged Dove Mourning Dove 1/ 1 1/ 4 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Yellow-billed Cuckoo Greater Roadrunner Barn Owl 1/ 9 1/ 9 MMR,RJe Flammulated Owl Western Screech-Owl 1/ 1 JMa Great Horned Owl 1/14 1/ 1 DJC Northern Pygmy-Owl 1/ 1 1/ 1 SCR,JMa Burrowing Owl 1/ 5 1/20 1/ 2 1/ 1 DJC Long-eared Owl Short-eared Owl Northern Saw-whet Owl 1/ 1 JMa Lesser Nighthawk Common Nighthawk Common Poorwill Black Swift Chimney Swift Vaux's Swift White-throated Swift 1/18 1/21 2/22 1/ 8 RWR,FVs Black-chinned Hummingbird Anna's Hummingbird 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Costa's Hummingbird Calliope Hummingbird Broad-tailed Hummingbird Rufous Hummingbird Allen's Hummingbird 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 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 Olive-sided Flycatcher Western Wood-Pewee Willow Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Hammond's Flycatcher Dusky Flycatcher Gray Flycatcher Pacific-slope Flycatcher 1/ 4 CCRS Black Phoebe 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Eastern Phoebe 1/ 2 3/ 1 1/ 2 SCR Say's Phoebe 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/18 1/ 2 SCR Ash-throated Flycatcher Tropical Kingbird Cassin's Kingbird kingbird sp. 2/ 8 AGu Western Kingbird Eastern Kingbird Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Horned Lark 1/25 AME Purple Martin 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 Cliff Swallow 3/ 1 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 1/ 1 JMa White-breasted Nuthatch 1/ 3 1/ 6 1/13 1/ 1 DJC Pygmy Nuthatch 1/ 1 1/ 1 SCR,JMa Brown Creeper 1/ 1 1/17 1/ 1 m.ob. Rock Wren 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 Winter Wren 1/ 1 1/ 1 SCR Marsh Wren 1/12 1/12 1/ 2 1/ 2 MJM American Dipper Golden-crowned Kinglet 1/ 2 1/ 2 SCR Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 3 1/ 1 m.ob. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1/ 5 CJC Western Bluebird 1/ 2 1/ 6 2/16 1/ 1 DJC Mountain Bluebird 1/17 JLu Townsend's Solitaire Swainson's Thrush 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 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 1/ 1 JMa Phainopepla 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 Plumbeous Vireo Hutton's Vireo 1/ 1 1/19 1/ 3 1/ 1 SCR,JMa Warbling Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Tennessee Warbler Orange-crowned Warbler 1/ 4 1/24 3/ 1 1/ 4 SCR,CCRS Nashville Warbler Virginia's Warbler Northern Parula Yellow Warbler 1/ 4 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 1/ 9 SBT Townsend's Warbler 1/ 1 1/ 1 SCR,JMa,DJC Hermit Warbler 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 Common Yellowthroat 1/ 4 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 2 MJM Hooded Warbler Wilson's Warbler Yellow-breasted Chat Summer Tanager Scarlet Tanager Western Tanager 1/23 RWR Rose-breasted Grosbeak Black-headed Grosbeak Blue Grosbeak Lazuli Bunting Indigo Bunting 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 1/ 2 SCR American Tree Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Clay-colored Sparrow Brewer's Sparrow Black-chinned Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Lark Sparrow 1/19 1/ 4 1/ 4 MJM Black-throated Sparrow Sage Sparrow Lark Bunting Savannah Sparrow 1/ 2 1/12 1/ 4 1/ 1 DJC Grasshopper Sparrow 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 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 1/ 2 SCR Western Meadowlark 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 DJC Yellow-headed Blackbird Brewer's Blackbird 1/ 1 1/ 4 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Great-tailed Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird 1/ 2 1/16 1/18 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Hooded Oriole Baltimore Oriole Bullock's Oriole Scott's Oriole Purple Finch 1/ 1 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 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, CCRS-Coyote Creek Riparian Station,CH-Caralisa Hughes,CJC-Chuck Coston,CKS-Chris Salander,DJC-Don & Jill Crawford, FVs-Frank Vanslager,GLB-Gloria LeBlanc,HGe-Harriet Gerson,HLR-Heather Rottenborn, JDa-Jim Danzenbaker,JLa-Jolene Lange,JLu-John Luther,JMa-John Mariani,JMe-John Meyer, JML-Jeanne Leavitt,JSa-June Santoro,KLP-Kathy Parker, MH-Matt Heindel,MJM-Mike Mammoser,MLF-Mike Feighner,MMR-Mike Rogers,NLe-Nick Lethaby, RJe-Richard Jeffers,RCo-Rita Colwell,RLe-Rosalie Lefkowitz,RWR-Bob Reiling,SBT-Scott Terrill,SCR-Steve Rottenborn,SGu-Stephan Gunn,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 Mar 03 08:31:36 1998 All: On my bike commute this morning, 3/3/98, I found a BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER along Stevens Creek about halfway between L'Avenida and Crittenden. This may be an early migrant or the bird Chuck Coston found earlier in the winter. Lower down on the creek was a single GREEN HERON, looking quite naked along the muddy banks where cattails once grew. Shoreline Lake is still full of GREATER SCAUP, SURF SCOTERS, and at least one female RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 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 Mar 03 09:27:41 1998 All, Yesterday evening from 5:45pm to 6:15pm I checked Shoreline Lake for ducks. Many SURF SCOTERS were flying into the lake to roost and by the time I left there were 240+ SURF SCOTERS there. I picked out the immature male BLACK SCOTER fairly quickly as the bird slept in the northeastern part of the lake. By walking around there and getting closer I was eventually afforded nice close views. The bill has no "knob" yet, but there is a flesh-colored line where the base of the "knob" will be. Also, there is much dusky mottling under the chin and onto the sides of the lower cheeks, as well as black barring on the chest (and some side) feathers. Thus I believe that this is the same bird that John Meyer had the day before. Also on the lake were 2 fem/imm RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS and several EARED and HORNED GREBES, a few of which were well on their way to alternate plumage. 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]] Tue Mar 03 13:26:47 1998 Oops, forgot to mention that the scoter threesome was rounded out by 3 female/immature WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS that flew into the lake at 6:00pm. Not surprisingly, they became more difficult to pick out once they landed, but also allowed close views in the northeast corner of the lake. 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 Mar 04 07:21:10 1998 Folks: Don Roberson and Rita Caratello saw a CASSIN'S KINGBIRD on Sunday, 3/1/98, along Hwy 152 SE of Road G7 in a large eucalyptus. It's not clear to me how near this is to last year's nest trees, but it seems close. He notes that this is a typical arrival date for Monterey birds. 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]] Wed Mar 04 08:53:38 1998 1. Larry Tunstall has updated the Bay Area Calendar for March 7-13. 2. Mike Rogers has updated the 1998 Santa Clara County Year List (#202-#206). 3. Mike Feighner's 1997 California Big Year List is Posted (403 species) under Misc. Trip Lists. 4. I have added the DIRECT URL for Joe Morlan's "Santa Clara Birders' Mailing List Archive" (see under "Santa Clara ..."). 5. Have you tried out the bird identification test on "The Virtual Birder" URL? Kendric South Bay Birders Unlimited (SBBU) http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~kendric/birds/ ========================================================================== 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 Mar 04 15:55:46 1998 All, I tried again at lunch for the Lake Cunningham 2nd-winter LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL and this time was successful, finding the bird swimming just east of the island. It later flew to the flooded fields to the north (Rolling Hills Picnic Area) to eat dead fish with several other gulls, allowing for some nice photos. The bird has changed quite a bit since October 31st, as others have noted. The back is now predominantly gray and the primaries are fully grown. The bright yellow eye really stands out against a very dark "black eye" formed by heavy smudging and streaking in this area. The bill base was still pretty dark, with only a hint of flesh tones at the base of the lower mandible. The tip to the tail is whiter, with especially broad white tips to one or two feathers just left of center. The CLIFF SWALLOWS are already nesting under the eaves of the building at the base of the pier. A quick check of nearby Shady Oaks Park quickly turned up the EASTERN PHOEBE, less than 100 yards south of the park about halfway between the street and the blue jungle gym. Mike Rogers 3/4/98 ========================================================================== 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]] Thu Mar 05 12:39:42 1998 All: On 2 March, the imm. GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE was still at Hellyer Park. The pair of OSPREYS were at Parkway Lakes, the male calling incessantly. We ought to keep an eye on this pair, as they should begin nest-building soon if they're going to breed here. An imm. GOLDEN EAGLE, an imm. male COMMON GOLDENEYE, and 4 GREATER SCAUP were aso here. On 4 March, two pairs of AMERICAN CROWS were building nests in fan palms along Blossom Hill Road in south San Jose, and a crow from a third pair was carrying nesting material. Along Silver Creek Valley Road, I had three male ALLEN'S HUMMINGBIRDS, a pair of ad. GOLDEN EAGLES, and a pair of PRAIRIE FALCONS. On pond A-12 in Alviso, Scott and I counted 12 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS (including one ad. male); a female was in the small marsh between the marina and the railroad tracks (visible from Scott's office!). Today (5 March), I had another pair of AMERICAN CROWS building a nest in a fan palm along Monterey Highway in south San Jose. The pair of OSPREYS were still at Parkway Lakes. This afternoon, I had a RED- NECKED GREBE in New Chicago Marsh right at the corner of Gold St. and Elizabeth St. in Alviso; the bird had some black on the head and a hint of rust on the neck, but it was still mostly in basic plumage. The bird was not present in the morning, and I was unable to refind it 15 minutes later. I don't think that it was the same bird that Scott and I saw previously at pond A-12, as we've covered the area pretty well over the past few weeks without seeing it. 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 Mar 05 17:14:47 1998 Hi SBBers - I had the (rainy) day off and decided to bird my way north starting at the south end of Hwy. G8. Uvas Reservoir was dead, only a few MALLARDS there. Calero Reservoir was a little better with OSPREY, BONAPARTE'S GULLS, COMMON GOLDENEYE, and other assorted regulars. At Almaden Reservoir, all I could find were 4 WOOD DUCKS (2 pairs) and several MALLARDS. Nothing unusual was at Almaden Lake Park despite the large numbers of gulls there. I then tried for the PALM WARBLER at Fair Oaks Park, but no luck there! I also checked Shoreline Lake for the scoters, but the only scoters there were SURF SCOTERS. On my way back home in Monterey County, I saw an immature GOLDEN EAGLE along Highway 101 near the place where you can pay to fish. I checked it pretty thoroughly to make sure it wasn't a BALD EAGLE, which is what I would have expected near a bocy of water like that. So, that's why we call it the rainy day blues! Nothing exciting. 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]] Fri Mar 06 12:39:28 1998 All, This morning Frank Vanslager and I saw a male Osprey flying from Santa Cruz County into Santa Clara County near where the paving ends on Loma Prieta Rd. We also had a Spotted Sandpiper near the boat launch area of Lexington Reservoir. Two male and one female Common Merganser , 12-14 Eared Grebes as well as approximately six Western/Clark's grebes were in the reservoir with the "usual suspects". Take care, Bob Reiling, 12:19 AM, 3/6/98 ========================================================================== 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]] Fri Mar 06 16:19:59 1998 Hello All Today (3/6/98) a check at the northeast corner of Shoreline Lake (near the little pier) revealed a good number of both HORNED GREBES as well as EARED GREBES, with a couple of PIED-BILLED GREBES as well. There were 8 to 12 each of both EARED and HORNED, with some well on the way to Alternate plumage, as previously reported. Also, the north pond of the Palo Alto flood control basin turned up 3 pairs of BLUE-WINGED TEAL in addition to 8 to 10 GREEN-WINGED TEAL, along with the usual suspects. 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]] Fri Mar 06 17:18:55 1998 A pair of RED-TAILED HAWKS is building a nest on a power tower across Hellye= r Ave from where I work. = 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 Mar 07 13:27:16 1998 While birding in some Doug Fir forest in the Santa Cruz mountains today, I pished up a couple of Fos Sparrows. One was a typical member of the Pacific NW/W Alaska groups (I'll call it a Sooty Fox Sparrow for the rest of the this message), which constitute the great majority of wintering Fox Sparrows in this area. The other was quite different. Compared to the Sooty Fox Sparrow, this bird was clearly less stocky and smaller-headed and billed. I was unable to see yellow on the lower mandible, even though it was obvious on the Sooty Fox Sparrow. However, to some extent this may be due to the much smaller bill size of the odd bird. This bird showed a fairly well-defined gray supercilium, which is rarely/never shown by Sooty Fox Sparrow. The ear-coverts were reddish brown. The breast was streaked reddish-brown. The streaks formed well-defined lines and were not scattered randomly. In contrast the Sooty Fox Sparrow showed an almost solidly dark brown upper breast with heavy random spotting further down (this pattern is typical). On the upperparts, short dark streaks could clearly be seen in the mantle and the tertials and upper greater coverts were obviously dark centered, much more so than the Sooty Fox Sparrow, which also lacked streaking on the mantle. Both sparrows were most obviously reddish brown on the tail/rump area. The odd Fox Sparrow was not dramatically brighter red than the Sooty Fox Sparrow (my recollection is that E Coast Fox Sparrows are brighter red than this bird). Looking at Olson's book, this bird seems to clearly be either an altivagens or a zaboria. Any idea which? Nick Lethaby Director of Strategic Partnerships 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]] Sat Mar 07 20:14:37 1998 Jean and I spent a good 20 minutes scoping a very white gull on the mud bank of the Salinas River just upstream of the bridge past the marina. It was standing on one foot and preening. This bird was WHITE except the breast showed quite a bit of grayish-brown -almost as if it was lightly oiled. There was some gray spotting on the upper part of the mantle and the scapulars and lesser coverts appeared to have some pale dark spotting. The wing tips and the tail were white. The wing tips protruded beyond the tail but from our angle (head on at about 45 deg to line of sight) they didn't appear to protrude very far past the tail. The bill had a shallow (near 180 deg) gonidial angle and was all black. The eye appeared to be brown. Legs were pink or on the pink side of flesh-colored. The left foot or leg appeared to be injured as the bird held it up at all times and the foot hung limply and at an odd angle. It was close by a second-year California and fairly close to a flock of Ring-billeds. Its size was somewhat larger than the California and the Ring-bills. A Glaucous-winged x Western flew over and was clearly much larger. Neither Jean nor I have ever seen an Iceland Gull (L. glaucoides) but a first winter Iceland is the nearest thing to it in our books. We never saw it fly. After we ate lunch it was still in the same location. The Moss landing harbor area was full of Surf Scoters although we saw a few White-winged Scoters fly in. We saw 8-9 Pelagic Cormorants and several dozen Double-crested as we motored along the Pacific Grove shoreline. Lou Young ========================================================================== 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 Mar 08 10:52:56 1998 All: a Short Eared owl was at Mountain View's Shoreline Park on Saturday from 9 to 12 a.m. out on the dike near the new tidal gates. We had excellent views as he flew along the dike showing off his dark wrist marks and floopy flight pattern. -- Richard 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]] Mon Mar 09 09:49:29 1998 Yesterday, Sunday, March 8, Jeanne Leavitt and I saw an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER on the canyon trail above Belgatos Park, S. of Blossom Hill Rd. on Belgatos Rd. The bird was about 2/3 of the way up the trail, looking for food. It was mostly in breeding/summer plummage, except for the eye, which had a partial yellow ring rather than a line above it. The trail is very muddy along the creek -- boots recommended. - 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 Mar 09 12:08:20 1998 Hello all: On Sunday 3/7, I did a short trip to Merced NWR and stopped at some south county sites along the way. At San Felipe Lake, the GREAT BLUE HERONS were adding sticks to their nests, AMERICAN COOTS were also starting nest construction. Dunne Lane was quiet except for TREE SWALLOWS checking out holes in the eucalyptus - no kingbirds, as was Bloomfield Rd. (route G7). I did see a BARN SWALLOW on the Santa Clara county side of the Pajaro River on Bloomfield. Steve 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 Mar 09 14:12:48 1998 On 3/8, scouting for herons, Joan and I had a pair of TURKEYS fly across Chesbro lake just above the dam. Are they seen often in that area? cjcoston ========================================================================== 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 Mar 09 14:29:08 1998 All: Today (9 March), I checked Shoreline Lake for the Black Scoter but had to settle for an adult male BARROW'S GOLDENEYE. Scott Terrill later checked the lake and had a basic-plumaged RED-NECKED GREBE near the boathouse. This evening, I saw 15 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS (including one adult male) still on salt pond A-12 in Alviso. A dead female-type (headless) WHITE-WINGED SCOTER was near the Alviso marina. 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]] Mon Mar 09 14:41:15 1998 On Saturday, 7 Mar 98, I went to the coast, starting at West Cliff Drive = in Santa Cruz. I failed to find the Rock Sandpiper, though I did get = good looks at a couple of BRANT that were feeding on the mossy = rocks. It was interesting to see ROCK DOVES actually using the cliff = face here. Ocean scoping wasn't very good, but at Pigeon Point I did get very nice = views of a winter-plumaged adult BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE = sitting on the rock. At Pescadero Beach an immature Kittiwake = provided even better looks. On Sunday, 8 Mar 98, I joined Steve Rottenborn at the Sunnyvale = sewage ponds. Steve found an interesting gull on the levee, but our = hopes of studying it were dashed when a maintenance truck came by = and flushed it away. The bird may have been the size of a Herring Gull = (or a little smaller), with a less massive bill than Western Gull. It had a = = mantle approaching the darkness of Western Gull, and had a very pale = eye. Steve initially thought it looked like a Lesser Black-backed, but the = bird had pink legs and feet. Steve watched it when it flew, and said that = the wing tip pattern looked like Western Gull. It remains something of = a mystery, unless Steve was able to dig something up in research. Other = than that, we had an adult male MERLIN on a power tower, and a pair = of WESTERN GREBES was again performing courtship displays in = salt pond A4. One of these grebes had more of an orangey colored bill = than the other, and we wondered whether it may have been a hybrid. At Sunnyvale Baylands Park we had a pair of EURASIAN WIGEON, = with the female looking quite distinctive compared to nearby = AMERICAN WIGEON. A pair of BLUE-WINGED TEAL was also = here, and we flushed up a COMMON SNIPE. At Shoreline Lake, it took us some minutes to pick out the BLACK = SCOTER, but we finally found it. It did have a yellowish line on both = sides of the bill along, what would have been on a male bird the base of, = the knob. However, I was unable to see any swelling in this area that = would indicate a young male, and in all other respects this bird looked = like a female. ?? The RED-BREASTED MERGANSER was still on the = lake as well. The AMERICAN BITTERN was in the southeast corner = of the Forebay, and 4 BLUE-WINGED TEAL (including 3 males) were = in the Palo Alto flood control basin. = We ran into Les Chibana at Charleston Slough leading a group on a Big = Duck Day. Since Steve had to leave, I decided (inspired by Les' quest) = to spend the afternoon chasing waterfowl species, to see what I could = come up with. I went to the Palo Alto Baylands, where I found the immature = GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE at the duck pond, and the = male WOOD DUCK that Les' group had seen on the estuary. I then = went to Alviso, where I had 6 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS on salt = pond A12. A stop at the Los Gatos Creek Park produced the 2 = COMMON LOONS and adult male WHITE-WINGED SCOTER that = have been on the northern pond, and the 2 female HOODED = MERGANSERS on the Oka ponds. I then drove to the goose farm off of Tennant in the south county, where = I found that the 8 ROSS' GEESE were still present. Good looks at 2 of = them grazing in the enclosure showed them not to be toe-cut, banded, or = pinioned. A count of SNOW GEESE turned up 21. Recent counts of = captive birds here this winter indicate that some of these should be free- flying birds, so I added them to the list based on that logic. The 11 birds= = I was able to study well all showed signs of captivity though. A tour of the south county reservoirs produced 2 COMMON = MERGANSERS on Chesbro and 28 WOOD DUCKS on Uvas. I then = drove all the way back to the Palo Alto flood control basin and scoured = it for a Redhead, but came up empty. So I drove to Arastradero and = found a flock of 115 RING-NECKED DUCKS on Felt Lake. Returning = to Shoreline Lake, I scoured it for a Barrow's Goldeneye, failing that as = well. So I finished the day scoping the bay from the mouth of the Palo = Alto estuary, hoping for a last minute Oldsquaw. My final tally of = waterfowl was 27 species. The big misses were Redhead and Barrow's = Goldeneye. 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 Mar 09 14:56:25 1998 All, Saturday, 3/7/98, I heard the full song and saw a male VARIED THRUSH in my yard. Earlier in the week had heard only one drawn out note from the song. I also had a singing BROWN CREEPER last week. This comes from the western border of Santa Clara County along Skyine Blvd. at about 2200 ft. elevation. Starting on a new yard list in a new yard sure is a lot of fun! Sunday, 3/8/98, I led my class on a "Duck Blitz" to find as many ducks as possible locally. We managed to stop at 5 of a planned 11 locations and found 21 duck species and 2 geese. The highlight ducks: BLACK SCOTER (female) on pond A1, WOOD DUCK at Palo Alto Baylands, and a EURASIAN WIGEON at Sunnyvale Baylands Park. We also found a female RED-BREASTED MERGANSER near the turnout in the PA Flood Control Basin (PAFCB), 3 male/1 female BLUE-WINGED TEAL also in the PAFCB, BARROW'S GOLDENEYE on Shoreline Lake, and HOODED MERGANSERS at Oka Ponds. We also found the imm. GREATER-WHITE FRONTED GOOSE at the PA Baylands. Of the duck species seen recently in the South Bay, we missed White-winged Scoter, Common Merganser, and Ring-necked Duck. The Black Scoter was with a large raft of SURF SCOTERS, scaup sp., and RUDDY DUCKS about halfway across pond A1. Frank said that the group was much closer to the Shoreline Park side of the pond when he first found it. It was dark brown overall with a clearly demarcated, un-mottled, off-white cheek and foreneck. I could not see any bill detail at that distance; also, it slept with its bill tucked in most of my viewing time. The male Wood Duck was found at high tide along the shore of the body of water that lies between Bixby Park and the Sea Scout bldg. It was very near the first parking area after the gates to PA Baylands. A very odd location for a woody. The Eurasian Wigeon was seen to the north from the curved viewing structure east of the ballfields. We also saw the AMERICAN BITTERN at Mtn. View Forebay. We did not see the BLACK SKIMMERS in the Charleston Slough vicinity in the morning, but I found 13 of them roosting on the exposed mud very near the Sea Scout bldg. at PA Baylands in the afternoon. Thanks to Mike Mammoser and Steve Rottenborn for telling us that they saw a Black Scoter on Shoreline Lake that later flew out in the direction of pond A1. Thanks to Frank Vanslager for telling us about the bird that we saw and for his Questar. Thanks also to Mike Mammoser for telling us about the Eurasian Wigeon at Sunnyvale Baylands Park. Les ========================================== Les Chibana, Mountain View [[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 Mar 09 15:25:30 1998 All, Today 3/9/98, while crossing highway 237 to visit the CCRS library I was treated to an OSPREY soaring low off to the north just before crossing the Guadalupe River in Alviso. Saturday 3/7/98 the wintering ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was again along Montecito Ave in Mountain View. 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]] Mon Mar 09 15:56:16 1998 While walking along the Coyote Creek trail at lunch time today, I had a coup= le of singing ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS. 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 Mar 09 16:58:49 1998 Hi Birders - I was informed today of a TUFTED DUCK seen today near King City on private property. Last time there was a TUDU in Monterey County it was in the very same location. Might be a returning bird. However, the last one was there for only 1 day. If anyone wants information on the bird (I can't tell you where it is, but I can tell you who to contact) e-mail me. 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 Mar 10 10:06:36 1998 All, Steve has been researching just what it takes to separate immature male and female Black Scoters and it may not be easy. I called the Shoreline Lake Black Scoter an immature male because 1) There was a line of fleshy yellow developing where the front part of the base of the yellow knob would be on a male. 2) There was some dusky mottling under the chin that extended onto the lower cheek. This was mainly visible from head-on. From the side it could disappear and look just like a "scrunched" up neck. 3) There was some black barring on the chest and flanks, again perhaps only visible from head-on and at close range. The NGS "first-winter male" obviously has much more of a yellow knob, but the black barring is an excellent match and the duskiness below the eye looks very much like that on the chin and upper neck of the Shoreline Lake bird. Others have called the bird a female because these marks are all hard to see at a distance and there is no obvious black mottling in the back or elsewhere that should perhaps be expected of an immature male at this time of year. Although keep in mind that an immature male Black Scoter at Shoreline Lake in mid-May! of 1991, although having a yellow knob, showed only partial black/dusky molting on the face even two months later! Steve has found that female Black Scoters can have yellow "at the base" of the bill, but it is unclear whether they can show the Shoreline Lake bird's pattern. Also Madge & Burn's Waterfowl shows female BLSC with some dark (black?) scalloping on the chest. Thus perhaps more work needs to be done to definitively sex this bird. This in mind, I headed back to Shoreline Lake yesterday evening 3/9/98. Unfortunately I was unable to get there until 6:10pm and didn't find the BLACK SCOTER until 6:23pm, by which time it was pretty dark. Also the bird was near the island and by viewing from the Terminal Ave end of the lake the distances were much greater than my previous observation. Thus I could see nothing new, although I could confirm the duskiness under the chin. A female-plumaged RED-BREASTED MERGANSER was on the lake as well. This morning 3/10/98 I found an AMERICAN CROW nest along Shoreline Ave near Middlefield Rd. Seems like they're breeding in force this year! 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]] Tue Mar 10 11:40:33 1998 REPLY RE: Black Scoter sex All, = No, nothing kinky here.... at least, to us birders... I'm glad Mike Rogers posted the note about the sex determination of the Black Scoter sightings; I was expecting to see some discussion about this. I've been poring through different guides, also, and decided = that my report of the weekend sightings should have said "female-type" = Black Scoter, as it was much too distant for me to make any definite = statement about its sex. Frank Vanslager may want to weigh in with = his opinion as he got a closer look at the bird in pond A1 with his = Questar = while it was preening. I saw it raise its head once as it spent most of = my viewing time sleeping. A COMMON RAVEN was back at the power pylon near Mtn. View Forebay, apparently continuing with the nest building that seemed to stop for a = week or two. This tower is located across the street from 2685 Marine Way. = Les ========================================================================== 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 Mar 11 18:29:55 1998 On Tuesday, 10 Mar 98, I went for a walk along the Coyote Creek trail at lunch time. The immature GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE was still at Hellyer Park. Two pairs of WOOD DUCKS were on the creek just outside of work. NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS were checking out the holes in the hwy 101 overpass of the creek. Also, last Sunday as I came by Calero Reservoir, I checked the power towers. As I mentioned previously, the Golden Eagle nest that had been there for a number of years has fallen apart. However, on the next tower over I noticed a metal plate attached to the top. On this plate was a mass of sticks, and there may be a chance that the eagles are building a new nest here. 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 Mar 12 08:16:02 1998 All, On the Wednesday SCVAS field trip an adult Bald Eagle was in a tree across from the boat launch area of Colero Reservoir. This bird was best seen from the Ranger residence east of the boat launch facility. We also had a huge flock of Cliff Swallows, the first that I had seen this year. (Last Sunday my wife and I had a flock of 7-8 Barn Swallows, also first of the year, near the bridge over Adobe Creek at HWY 101.) Take care, Bob Reiling, 7:45 AM, 3/12/98 ========================================================================== 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]] Thu Mar 12 11:42:47 1998 All: On my bike commute this morning, 3/12/98, I saw an adult male BARROW'S GOLDENEYE and two female RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS in Shoreline Lake. I estimated 210+ SURF SCOTERS in the lake as well and scaup species remain abundant in the salt ponds and impoundments next to the Palo Alto and Mountain View bike trails. 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 Mar 12 17:06:25 1998 This didn't seem to go out on the first try. Apologies for duplicates if it did. L All, I got home at about 10:30 last night to hear some Western Screech-Owls calling around the house; one apparent WESO gave a few staccato "cluck" sounds at one point. Mary heard a Northern Saw-whet Owl calling at about 9:15p out back. Great Horned Owls took over the song duties later. This is in the northeastern corner of Santa Clara County off Skyline Blvd. We also caught and moved a mouse outdoors. As far a we could tell, it looked like a Pinyon Mouse (Peromyscus truei), but we didn't bother to measure it to be sure. It had large ears, eyes, a long tail and a bit of a tuft at the tip of the tail. Les ========================================== Les Chibana, Mountain View [[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 Mar 12 17:41:00 1998 To everyone, The Black Skimmers have been seen frequently on the island in the newly restored marsh at the Palo Alto Baylands. They are exhibiting a behavior that many of us have never seen, sort of a sideways scraping motion. Does anyone have information on this type of behavior in these birds? I'm trying to keep a record of the Black Skimmers in the Palo Alto Baylands, I would appreciate any input. Thank you, Deborah Bartens ========================================================================== 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 Mar 13 07:15:37 1998 On Thu., 12 march, Deborah Bartens wrote: > The Black Skimmers have been seen frequently on the island > in the newly restored marsh at the Palo Alto Baylands. They > are exhibiting a behavior that many of us have never seen, > sort of a sideways scraping motion. Does anyone have > information on this type of behavior in these birds? > I'm trying to keep a record of the Black Skimmers in the Palo Alto > Baylands, I would appreciate any input. There were 13 on the island during the noon hour yesterday, March 12, when the tide was quite high. There were also numerous gulls and avocets on the island. ---------------- 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]] Fri Mar 13 08:33:28 1998 >>The Black Skimmers have been seen frequently on the island >> in the newly restored marsh at the Palo Alto Baylands. They >> are exhibiting a behavior that many of us have never seen, >> sort of a sideways scraping motion. Where is this newly restored marsh? Skimmers and terns usually nest by making a scrape in the sand with their bodies. -- Joseph Morlan SF Bay Area birding, Rarity photos, ID quizes. 380 Talbot Ave. #206 http://hills.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]] Fri Mar 13 12:08:53 1998 > From: [[email protected]] (Joseph Morlan) > Where is this newly restored marsh? Skimmers and terns usually nest > by making a scrape in the sand with their bodies. I'll write this as if you were a stranger to the area. Sorry if I include things you already know. Baylands is at the end of Embarcadero Rd (E from 101). Go past the airport, L at the stop sign, and proceed to water's edgewhere there is a parking lot on the right & the Lucy Evans Nature Center bldg on the left. As you enter the parking lot, the restored marsh is on your R. There are 2 islands, a hilly one right close, and a low one past the end of the parking lot. The Skimmers were on the low one. If you park and walk along the continuing road a bit, there's an observation bench well placed for looking at the island. Better view than I've seen in their other favorite place near San Antonio Rd. But still had all 13 birds in one field of view of 10X bins. We've had increasing numbers each winter for several years, but no nests yet, as far as I've heard. ---------------- 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]] Fri Mar 13 13:05:02 1998 REPLY RE: Owls If you didn't catch it and it matters to you, we're in the northWESTern = corner of the county. = I wrote: >All, > >I got home at about 10:30 last night to hear some Western Screech-Owls >calling around the house; one apparent WESO gave a few staccato "cluck" >sounds at one point. Mary heard a Northern Saw-whet Owl calling at about = 9:15p >out back. Great Horned Owls took over the song duties later. This is in >the northeastern corner of Santa Clara County off Skyline Blvd. > =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Les Chibana, Mountain View [[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]] Fri Mar 13 15:10:46 1998 [[email protected]] wrote: > We've had increasing numbers each winter for several years, but no > nests yet, as far as I've heard. > ---------------- > George Oetzel <[[email protected]]> We've had several successful nesting attempts in the south bay in recent years. In Santa Clara County, birds were fledged from a nest in a private salt pond near Moffett Field one year, and a very public and avidly watched nesting attempt fledged two young from a small island in a salt pond at the border of Shoreline Park a couple years ago. Alameda County has also had successful nesting attempts in recent years at Hayward Regional Shoreline. 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 Mar 13 16:02:26 1998 Larry Tunstall has updated the Bay Area Calendar for March 14-20 Kendric South Bay Birders Unlimited (SBBU) http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~kendric/birds/ ========================================================================== 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 Mar 14 10:40:44 1998 Friday evening( 5:30-630PM low tide) the Black Skimmers( 13) were on the mud flats in front of the Yacht Harbor Building. Also on Friday a Wood Duck, male, was walking and foraging on the mud flats Northeast of the Skimmers.( approximately 20 -30 yards)The flight feathers appeared to be resting somewhat asymmetrically on the back, with the feathers on the birds left side appearing lighter in color. It made no attempt to fly and was fairly approachable. Perhaps this was the same bird we saw on Les Chibana's field trip last Sunday. Would this bird be moulting or injured? ========================================================================== 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 Mar 14 17:03:33 1998 Hi South-bay-birders, This morning Jolene and I walked the footpath along Alamitos Creek from the parking area on Camden Avenue near Graystone down to Almaden Lake Park. Looks like it's still too early for most migrant songbirds. Did see numerous VIOLET-GREEN and N. ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS, and a SCRUB JAY that was carrying nesting material, so spring is partially here. Heard RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS singing many times along the trail. OAK TITMOUSES/MICE and CALIFORNIA THRASHERS were also singing, with one of the latter doing his raspy bit on a limb right beside the path. If there are any photographers out there who want close-ups of COMMON MERGANSERS, we saw plenty of both sexes along the creek, and they seem pretty accustomed to the human traffic. At Almaden Lake there was 1 COMMON MOORHEN with the coots. Heard but did not see a SELASPHORUS type hummer on our way back. Also on the way back watched a GREAT EGRET wolfing down a Western Fence Lizard. Good birding-- John Mariani [[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 Mar 14 18:42:19 1998 On Sat. March 14, Cliff Swallows were seen at the northwest corner of Gold St.and Highway 237. They historically nested under the bridge at the end of this seasonal marsh. There were about 25 flying under the bridge and back out again. The water is quite high and there was not much room under the bridge. Does anyone know if they nested under this bridge last year? Side note. Though this marsh will be preserved, the illegally filled area that lies between it and the Guadalupe Slough, will soon be developed. Ginny ========================================================================== 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 Mar 15 15:41:10 1998 All: Today (15 March), Heather, Rebecca, and I went to Ed Levin C.P., where we ran into Mike Mammoser near the ranger's residence. We eventually saw 4 male ALLEN'S HUMMINGBIRDS, 2 GOLDEN EAGLES (1 ad., 1 subadult), 2 RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKERS, and the male hybrid flicker that has been here for several consecutive winters. After Mike left, I found a very unusual duck in the pond here. The bird was apparently mated to a female MALLARD, as it and the female fed and rested together for more than two hours, during which time this male chased a number of male Mallards away from the female. I suspect that it was a hybrid between Mallard and either Northern Pintail or Gadwall, but I was not able to determine what the non-Mallard parent species was. The bird was approximately the same size and shape as a typical male Mallard but was possibly somewhat smaller-headed and thinner-necked. The head was somewhat more rounded and had a slightly steeper crown than a typical male Mallard, and the bill was narrower (as seen from above) and less deep (especially at the base) than that of a typical male Mallard. The legs and feet were bright yellow (like those of a Gadwall, not orange like those of a Mallard). The bill was extensively black along the culmen (from the base to the black nail) and along the very lower edge of the bill near the tip; the sides of the bill were gray, except for a narrow black line right at the base of the bill. The bill pattern was superficially similar to that of a male pintail, but the black on the culmen was not as well defined (having more irregular edges) as on a pintail, and there was no blue tinge to the gray on the sides of the bill. The head feathering was mostly green on the posterior half of the head. There was some green feathering on the anterior portion of the head on the lower head and near the eye, but most of the cheeks, chin, foreface, and forehead were a warm buff-brown with dark dusky spots or short streaks. This portion of the head actually looked most similar to a female Eurasian Wigeon (!), and given that this bird was a male, I honestly don't know how such a pattern would be derived. There was no white on the neck (as would be shown by a Mallard or pintail) at all. The breast had warm cinnamon-brown and black barring but also had extensive dark rusty brown like a male Mallard. I was not able to determine exactly how this patterning produced the overall Mallard-like breast pattern, but these feathers were clearly not typical of a Mallard's. The sides of the breast, the sides, and flanks were grayish overall, being finely vermiculated with black and gray-white. This vermiculation was not as fine as that of a male Mallard (which has extremely narrow dark barring in these areas), being more similar to a male Gadwall or pintail; these areas were slightly darker overall than on a male Mallard. This vermiculation also extended onto the sides of the breast, feathers that would normally be dark chestnut-brown on a pure male Mallard. The back and scapulars were also vermiculated with black and gray/brown, being slightly more brown than the flanks. The feathers of the upper back were vermiculated (unlike the plain dark brown feathers of a male Mallard, and there was no dark "stripe" on the edges of the back/scapulars as on a male Mallard, so the upperparts, sides, and flanks, were more uniformly colored than on a male Mallard. There were no distinctively colored longer scapulars as would be present on a pure Gadwall or pintail. The extreme rear flanks had a narrow row of white feathers next to the black under-/uppertail coverts. All but the innermost pair of tail feathers were pale grayish (almost white) with broad white edging. The innermost pair of rectrices were all-black and pointed and stuck out 1.5-2 inches beyond the tip of the other (white) rectrices. In this respect the tail looked like a miniature version of a pintail's tail, but I'm not sure that this indicates that it is definitely a pintail hybrid. These central tail feathers were probably no longer than those of a pure male Mallard, but those of a Mallard are curled so that they do not stick out beyond the rest of that tail as they did on this bird. The long tertials were plain, pale gray like those of a typical male Mallard. The bird's only vocalizations (that I heard) were low and soft "chatter" like that of a male Mallard. Unfortunately, I was unable to see the spread wing well during the two hours I watched it. A view of the spread wing would probably clinch the ID, so I'll try to refind the bird in the next few days and photograph it. Acknowledging the amazing variation in different "forms" of the Mallard, I think this was a hybrid. Despite the wigeon-like face, I don't think it was a wigeon hybrid. Several features were good for a Mallard X Northern Pintail (most notably the bill pattern). However, the bird was certainly not as pintail-like as the hybrid at the Moffett Field golf course several years ago, the bill pattern did differ from that of a pintail, and the yellow feet are not consistent with a Mallard X Northern Pintail. The yellow feet and overall pattern of the back, flanks, and sides suggest Mallard X Gadwall, but it is hard to ignore the pintail-like bill pattern. So, without seeing the wings, I don't want to conclusively call this bird anything but an "apparent Mallard hybrid" at this point. If anyone sees this bird and has an opinion on its identity, please share it. The bird was very approachable, feeding at the edge of the pond, occasionally within a few feet of me; if it hangs around, it should be easy to refind. 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]] Mon Mar 16 07:34:53 1998 This AM, while getting myself ready to bicycle to work, I noticed the high-pitched sounds of Cedar Waxwings. There was a tightly clustered flock of 26 high in the neighbors' oak tree, along with 2 American Robins and the inevitable few House Finches. My wife came out and spotted a few more in another nearby tree, but didn't count them. ================================ 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]] Mon Mar 16 11:33:02 1998 All, I led two trips for my birding class to Panoche Valley this weekend. The weather was beautiful and the area was lush! We entered from I-5, as Hwy 25 is closed south of Tres Pinos and Panoche Road is closed between Paicines and Little Panoche Road. Word from the Panoche Inn is that a temporary road is expected to be completed in two weeks to bypass the problem areas along Panoche Rd. (new habitat to see?). Highlights were two LARK BUNTINGS see on both days along Panoche Rd. at Silver Creek Ranch, about 5.3 miles east of Little Panoche Rd. GREATER ROADRUNNERS seemed to be in abundance: 3 seen on Sat. and 5 seen on Sun. The 5 on Sun. were found along Little Panoche Rd. between a point approx. 3 mi. west of I-5 and the Detention Dam. VESPER SPARROWS were seen frequently along all roads. On Sat, a PRAIRIE FALCON was seen in Panoche Valley and an OSPREY was seen 2 miles east of the Detention Dam. A BURROWING OWL was seen in an area south of the BLM access road from a mile up the access road on Sat.; two owls were at the burrow on Sun. WESTERN KINGBIRDS were plentiful on Sat., fewer on Sun. LOGGERHEAD SHRIKES were abundant on both days. GOLDEN EAGLE sightings were scarce, with one on Sat. and two on Sun. We could not locate any Mountain Plovers, Ferruginous Hawks, or Mountain Bluebirds. We may have been late in the season for these species. Les ========================================== Les Chibana, Mountain View [[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 Mar 16 14:33:38 1998 On Sunday, 15 Mar 98, I went out to Stevens Creek Park, where breeding activ= ity included a BEWICK'S WREN carrying nesting material. Even some nonbreeding w= inter birds are gearing up, such as singing RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS and TOWNSEND'S WARBLERS. At Pichetti Ranch, above Stevens Creek Park, breeding activity included drumming by a male NORTHERN FLICKER, copulation by a pair of AMERI= CAN KESTRELS, and singing by PURPLE FINCH and CALIFORNIA THRASHER. = I then went to Ed Levin Park, where I eventually met Steve, Heather, and Re= becca Rottenborn. Steve and I managed to see a few male ALLEN'S HUMMINGBIRDS, an = adult and immature GOLDEN EAGLE, and 2 RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKERS. YELLOW-BILLED MAG= PIES were carrying nesting material. Up on the summit of Sierra Road, I had another adult GOLDEN EAGLE, singing HORNED LARKS, WESTERN MEADOWLARKS, SAVANNAH and LARK SPARROWS. 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 Mar 16 14:56:59 1998 I went out along the Coyote Creek trail at lunch. The water is still running high, fast, and muddy. However, there was a pair of WOOD DUCKS and a pair of COMMON MERGANSERS out there. A WHITE-TAILED KITE was chasing a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. Disturbing was the profusion of german ivy growing in this important riparian corridor. 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 Mar 16 23:26:20 1998 All: Yesterday (16 March), I checked Ed Levin County Park for the Mallard hybrid. It was not on the pond in the park, but I relocated it on the wet golf course across the road, where it was foraging with Mallards and Canada Geese only 100 m from the golf course office. At the golf course office, I asked permission to photograph the bird and was escorted out to see the bird. I took a few photos and eventually flushed it back to the Ed Levin pond, where it was again very cooperative. In flight, the green speculum points to the bird's NORTHERN PINTAIL heritage, and I'm comfortable calling this a MALLARD X NORTHERN PINTAIL; nothing on the wing pattern was a good match for Gadwall. Nevertheless, the unusual coloration of the foreface/head, strangely scalloped breast, yellow-tinged legs (more orange than I had thought yesterday, but still more yellow than those of a typical Mallard), and bill pattern are unusual. These characters are neither typical of either parent species nor intermediate between the two. Also at Ed Levin yesterday were a male RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, a WESTERN KINGBIRD, 3 ALLEN'S HUMMINGBIRDS, and 2 RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKERS. Conducting surveys in the Silver Creek hills between Hellyer Ave. and Silver Creek in south San Jose yesterday, I saw 3 WILD TURKEYS (1m, 2f), a migrant ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, nest-building COMMON MOORHENS, and 20+ RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROWS. 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 Mar 17 08:29:18 1998 Hi All, Pete LaTourrette and I did our monthly survey on Jasper Ridge on Saturday. We ended the day with 43 species (a decent total). Highlights included some remaining wintering birds (2 Cedar Waxwings, 1 Fox Sparrow, 5 Golden-crowned Sparrows, 1 Hermit Thrush) and signs of breeding activity. A pair of Cooper's Hawks were engaged in a nuptial display flight and later one of them seemed to be vocal and disinclined to leave an area where they may have bred in the past. We had about 15 singing Orange-crowned Warblers, so they have arrived in force. I was up on the Ridge on the previous Saturday as well (March 7) and heard only 2 singing OCWA on that day. One week made a big difference. Other birds of interest were 1 heard-only Selasphorus hummingbird and around 7 Violet-Green Swallows. Cheers, Richard ========================================================================== 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 Mar 17 10:27:24 1998 Lots of Additions to SBBU: 1. Updated list of 4-letter bird banding codes, and related URLs. 2. List of threatened or endangered birds. 3. New Yard List (Los Gatos) 4. New Misc. Bird List (Livermore Yard List) 5. New Bay Birding Calendar (March 21-27) 6. New Birding Web Site URLs (e.g., California Flowers for when the birds take their naps; Santa Clara Valley info on floods, earthquakes, environment) Kendric South Bay Birders Unlimited (SBBU) http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~kendric/birds/ ========================================================================== 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 Mar 17 11:31:47 1998 All: Maria and I saw a Black-Legged Kittiwake resting on the shore at the base of Fisherman"s Wharf, in Monterey, yesterday after noon. Perhaps 5 yards below the sidewalk coming from the parking lot. Winter plumage adult. In the water on the other side of the Wharf was an Ancient Murrelet, seen at very close range: I don't know how common that is. 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]] Tue Mar 17 12:33:18 1998 South Bayers: I was driving to Santa Cruz this morning, and stopped en route at Los Gatos Creek County Park. There were a number of interesting birds, all in the northernmost of the large ponds: Common Loon - 2 [I'm pretty sure one was an immature; the other was a possible adult. I'll have to check references at home to see if my view was adequate to tell.] Horned Grebe - 1 or 2 Surf Scoter - 3 White-Winged Scoter - 1 male [the plumage appeared to be full adult, except the flanks were not as solidly dark as I'd expect] In addition, there was an adult Green Heron along the channel leading out to Dell Street. Notice I didn't name the pond, because I'm now confused about this. We previously agreed these were the Campbell ponds, and that's what the AAA map used to say. However, the latest version of that map which I have refers to them as the Camden ponds (with the ponds east of the creek still called the Oka ponds). Taxonomy is much simpler! Cheers, Al Eisner ========================================================================== 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 Mar 17 22:40:48 1998 All: As Mike Mammoser wrote previously, I saw the Black Scoter at=20 Shoreline Lake last Sunday (8 March). I saw the bird fairly well and=20 looked for black feathering that might indicate an immature male, but=20 I saw none. The crown and hindneck were very dark sooty brown,=20 darker and more sooty than the brown back, sides and flanks, and=20 contrasting strongly with the pale gray face and sides of the neck. =20 The only dark splotches I saw on the sides and back turned out to be=20 wet feathers, as these splotches disappeared when the bird preened=20 and shook; there was some vague paler barring on the sides and=20 flanks. I missed the gray markings on the chin and dark barring on=20 the chest seen by Mike Rogers and Mike Mammoser. The bill, as=20 described previously, was all dark gray-black with a very narrow=20 yellow line on the culmen curving around where the anterior portion=20 of the "knob" would be on a male, near the nostrils. There was no=20 swelling here. Mike Rogers wrote that he thought the bird was an immature male based=20 on the narrow yellow line on the bill, the dark barring on the=20 breast, and the dark markings on the chin. I too thought that it was=20 probably an immature male based on the yellow on the bill, but after=20 looking at references, I'm not sure that I'm comfortable identifying=20 it to age/sex. I first looked at Palmer's Handbook of the Birds of North America=20 (1976). According to Palmer, immature males get swelling at the base=20 of the culmen "beginning during their 1st fall or winter". Palmer=20 states of the immature male: "Basic I is quite blackish and generally has appeared on head=20 and foreparts of body by early Oct. and more is acquired soon=20 afterward. There is no sheen, at least in prepared skins. =20 Feathers of lower breast to beyond vent are light with dark=20 ends, giving a finely barred effect clear to base of tail.... =20 Molting varies, being sometimes slowed or late. Generally,=20 molting (this time into Alt. I) starts again in late Oct. on=20 head-neck and anterior body, and sweeps over the body. This=20 plumage is black with some sheen and some striated effect on=20 head-neck. It is, in general, like male Def. Alt. Not later=20 than the time it begins to appear, the basal portion of the=20 upper mandible begins to swell and turn yellow.=B2 This description did not match the Shoreline Lake bird, so I looked=20 at the descriptions of females. Palmer's description of the adult=20 female matches the Shoreline Lake bird (as I saw it) well, and he=20 writes, "Bill black, with hint of yellowish in basal part of upper=20 mandible." It is not clear where exactly this yellow might be=20 located, but because Palmer describes the yellow knob of the immature=20 male as being "on the basal portion of the upper mandible", I don't=20 think that his description of the location of yellow on a female's=20 bill is inconsistent with the Shoreline Lake bird. I then looked at other references. Bellrose's Ducks, Geese and Swans=20 of North America (1976) states,=20 =B2Immature black scoters are similar to females in appearance,=20 but upper parts are lighter brown and their breasts and bellies=20 are more mottled with white. In midwinter, black feathers=20 begin to appear among the brown feathers of the juvenile males,=20 and they continue to appear through the spring.=B2 Bellrose does not mention yellow on the bill of females, although an=20 illustration shows a small, dull greenish-yellow or grayish-yellow=20 patch near the nostrils on the female. In his Life Histories..., Bent (1923) wrote, =B2In the juvenal plumage the sexes are practically=20 alike....[This plumage] is worn during the fall and often well=20 into the winter without change. Sometimes as early as=20 November, but more often not until January or later, the sexes=20 begin to differentiate; a growth of black feathers begins in=20 the head and neck of the young male and a similar growth of=20 brown feathers appears in the young female. The growth of=20 black feathers in the male increases during the winter and=20 spring until some of the most advanced birds become nearly all=20 black except on the belly and wings.=B2 In their Birds of North America account, Bordage and Savard (1995)=20 wrote, =B2Most young drakes acquire some black feathering late in their=20 first fall, with a narrow line of yellow in the nostril area,=B2=20 matching the Shoreline Lake bird well. Although they allow for a=20 large amount of individual variation in the timing of the Prebasic I=20 and Prealternate I molts, they state that the Prebasic I molt "begins=20 on head and foreparts before Oct in male". They further state,=20 "Prealternate I molt (at least in males) begins by late Oct. =20 Molt begins on head and neck and anterior portion of body, then=20 continues through remaining areas. Male plumage black with=20 some sheen. Similar to Definitive Alternate plumage. During=20 this plumage, basal portion of upper mandible begins to swell=20 and turn yellow." Based primarily on Palmer's information, they also state, =B2Bill...In=20 female, blackish with hint of yellow in basal part of upper mandible=20 but with very little or no swollen area.=B2 An interesting article by Hoffman and Bancroft in Wilson Bulletin=20 (1984) describes the plumages of 15 specimens found dead or dying on=20 Florida beaches in winter and spring during an "invasion" year. They=20 found that the molt of immature Black Scoters in their first winter=20 was somewhat later than Palmer reported, but all the males that died=20 in March or earlier had replaced much of their juvenal feathering in=20 the upperwing coverts and upperparts. A photo shows a first-year=20 male Black Scoter collected in early March that still shows little=20 black in the pale face patch, but this bird also had much black in=20 the upperparts. =20 Ron Thorn gave me some details from two notes in Birding World. In=20 the June 1992 (Vol. 5, No. 5) issue, Jonathan Alderfer wrote that the=20 swollen base of the upper mandibles on the immature males he had seen=20 was a "clearly recognizable" fleshy-yellow. He wrote, "By mid to=20 late winter the shape of the bill base approaches that of the adult=20 male." He also wrote that most immature males have started to=20 acquire black on the head by mid-winter, although this varied among=20 individuals. David Waring wrote a note with illustrations in the=20 March 1993 issue of Birding World (Vol. 6, No. 2). In this, Waring=20 stated, "Up to 10% of about 200 adult females studied on the Pacific=20 coast of the USA and Canada showed variable but often extensive and=20 prominent yellow marks and patches on the bill". Although I have not=20 seen the illustrations, Ron described to me Waring's illustrations of=20 adult female Black Scoters showing extensive fleshy-yellow on the=20 bill, concentrated most in the nostril area. Unfortunately, Ron said=20 that Waring did not write how he distinguished these presumed adult=20 females from immature males. So, based on all these references, this bird would be extremely late=20 in acquiring black in the head and upperparts and in showing swelling=20 and more extensive yellow on the bill if it is an immature male. The=20 yellow on the bill was so limited in extent that it sounds, based on=20 Waring's illustrations, as though it is within the range of variation=20 shown by female American Black Scoters. The dusky coloration on the=20 chin described by Rogers and Mammoser does seem unusual for a female. =20 However, one of the illustrations in Waring's article in Birding=20 World showed a darker chin and throat contrasting with a paler breast=20 (according to Ron), and a photo in Johnsgard's book on waterfowl (I=20 forget the title) showed a female with vague dusky mottling on the=20 chin and elsewhere on the sides of the face. Both Rogers and=20 Mammoser described dark barring on the breast; a photo in Johnsgard's=20 book shows an adult female with dark brown barring on a paler brown=20 breast, so unless the barring on the Shoreline Lake is actually=20 black, I'm not sure that it rules out a female. =20 I'm not comfortable ageing or sexing this bird conclusively. Given=20 that this bird's characters are apparently not inconsistent with a=20 female, I don't think it would be prudent to label it an immature=20 male (or even a "probable" immature male) when its acquisition of=20 definitive or "adult" features seems to be more retarded than in any=20 description or reference I've been able to find. I suppose it's too=20 much to ask for the bird to hang around for another month or two. Sorry for the incomplete citations, but most of the references are at=20 work, and if I don't get this message out today I may never get it=20 out. If anyone is interested in following up on this info, I can get=20 the complete references. Steve Rottenborn =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the=20 message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]]ord= .edu From [[email protected]] Wed Mar 18 08:29:40 1998 While on my regular "bagel walk" to a local bakery, I heard what seemed to be a "mewing" sound in a (still) bare tree at the SE corner of Arbor & Middle in Menlo Park, CA. When I looked up, I got a good look at a female(?) Cooper's Hawk sitting on a branch. I base the ID mostly on size as the bird was fairly uniform in back and head color (gunmetal gray), nice regular pinkish strips down the breast. Other strollers interrupted me and asked about the bird - which stopped me from getting more details. At any rate, as I/we watched - a second COHA materialized and promptly perched on the first's back. Copulation? This nominal male hopped off to a nearby branch and was shortly seen to depart in a SE direction to a nearby Cypress-type tree, bearing a foot long twig in its beak. By the time I'd gotten my binocs off and handed them to one of the passersby - the second bird had also disappeared somewhere. My wife & I returned an hour or so later to "fix" the spot in our collective memories. No birds were readily seen . The initial spotting was done in the bare tree in front of the house right at the SE corner of Arbor & Middle. This tree has "pea pods" for whatever that's worth. It's friend flew into a cypress-like thing about "a block" to the SE (no actual block; but, around street # 35x or so.) Lots of vertical trunks and just to right of a tall single trunked redwood(?). Since we have the occasional COHA in our back yard, at our bird feeder, I guess they're not that uncommon - but I've not seen a pair, locally, to the best of my recollection. Cheers, Scott ========================================================================== 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 Mar 18 10:18:04 1998 This morning, in Lower Stevens Creek park, along the creek starting from the road by the ranger station and upstream: Pacific-Slope Flycatcher - 1 (heard only) Warbling Vireo - 2 (both singing, one of them seen) Plus, of course, lot's of Orange-Crowned Warblers. Al Eisner ========================================================================== 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 Mar 18 13:38:15 1998 I went out on the Coyote Creek trail today, 18 Mar 98, at lunch time. I had a calling PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER near where the bridge crosses from Shady Oaks Park. There's an ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD building a nest in the courtyard of our building. 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 Mar 18 14:25:03 1998 Hi Everyone-- I had excellent looks at the Black Scoter at Shoreline Lake last Friday at it fished for barnacles around the boat dock. As I saw it, the bill was black with a black knob (there's a slight ridge that separates the upper base from the rest of the bill, with the part inside the ridge having a distinct bulging curvature), with flame-shaped orange marks running along each side just above the ridge. The feather tips on the breast and sides had some brownish-gray, giving a slightly scaled appearance. The throat area looked darker than the chest area beneath in strong light. The back and nape areas were uniform dark brown, the face a pale tan. I checked Madge and Brown (part of Houghton Mifflin's series of family monographs; I think it's called "Waterfowl of the World"), but they don't show any Black Scoter with that sort of bill marking. However, the young male they do show (of the European race nigra) shows orange developing in the knob and the pale face filling in with dark. The American race is supposed to be similar (nigra males only get orange on the side of the knob, compared to americana which get an entirely orange knob; it wasn't clear if the two races develop bill color the same way). One could imagine a young male getting the first hint of orange in its bill before its face has a chance to molt, but I haven't seen one in quite this plumage before. Mark PS: The ranger on duty gave me a bird list with drawings of some of the resident birds, including Little Blue Heron. The list needs some major updates. Has anyone at SCVAS considered helping out? ========================================================================== 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 Mar 18 14:46:02 1998 REPLY RE: gasoline on a burning question So, are two, slightly different birds being described? I suppose that = until someone sees two birds at the same time, or one in the Lake and one = in pond A1 at the same time, we can't be too sure. In answer to Mark's question about the Shoreline bird list, yes, it's = being updated. It's a long, drawn-out process. The birding coverage has = been so intense lately that the list keeps getting longer and the species = status keeps changing :-) Les ========================================================================== 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 Mar 19 12:50:36 1998 All: Ten minutes ago (March 19) a pair of Bullock's Orioles appeared at the oriole feeder I put out a couple of days ago. Hadn't heard anyone report them in the area yet. We also have Western Bluebirds checking out nestboxes here in the park for the first time in some (how many?) years. Violet-green Swallows are acting very competitive with them whenever they alight on a box, swooping very low and close. Bushtits are putting the finishing touches on their nests here, and titmice are doing the same in several of our boxes. One was observed with a beakful of grubs this morning. --Garth ========================================================================== 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 Mar 20 07:27:13 1998 My wife saw a Golden Eagle from Sand Hill Rd yesterday (3/19) in late afternoon. It was in the usual tree in the horse park at the top of the hill above 280. Seeing one or two there was a regular event in January, but this is the first one either of us has logged since Jan 28. ---------------- 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]] Fri Mar 20 11:13:20 1998 Folks: Both the Marin and Monterey Breeding Bird Atlases described Cooper's Hawk as a resident of remote forested areas away from human disturbance. However, in the later 1980's I started receiving reports of urban Cooper's Hawks including birds at Stanford and in the Willow Glen area of San Jose. During our own atlas field work we found this species to be a widespread nesting species in urban areas and the Alameda atlas has had similar experiences in recent years. However, Summer Bird Count data do not indicate that there has been a population increase in Cooper's over the last 15 years. Red-shouldered Hawks, on the other hand are showing a substantial increase in their local populations and Steve Rottenborn is preparing a paper on the results of his research on this species. He has noted that this hawk makes extensive use of palms and eucalyptus, both trees that weren't here 150 years ago. White-tailed Kites have also nested in urban areas in the last few years and this is a species that almost disappeared from California in the 1920s and 1930s. It's recovery is probably complete by now. We have also noted that our most abundant hawk, the Red-tailed Hawk, will use secure nest sites in the middle of urban areas, such as large eucalyptus, and then forage in grasslands well away from the nest tree. There are probably multiple causes for the success of urban-nesting hawks in this area and there is ample room for speculation. If you read Bent's account of the Cooper's Hawk, written in the first part of the century, he describes the agressiveness of this accipiter in taking chickens from the average homeowner. I would guess many people in Menlo Park a hundred years ago had their own chicken coop out back and a gun was always close at hand. Now, a century later, we go to the store for our eggs (or bagels) and carry binoculars instead of guns. If you are used to winter views of Cooper's Hawk and have only seen them as they perched on distant tree or briefly while dashed by, then carry your binoculars in an area where they are nesting. At this time of year the pairs are very vocal as they build their nest and the courting birds fluff out their white undertail coverts so they look like they are carrying one of those old time shaving brushes around. They really are spectacular during courtship. 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]] Fri Mar 20 11:33:19 1998 All: I heard a Wilson's Warbler at our orchard along Pescadero Creek this AM. First I'd heard this season. Salmonids (most likely steelhead) were spawning all week now that the waters have receded to the point that they can find their preferred riffles. Two pairs of Wood Ducks were cruising the stream together, purposefully I should think...same with one pair of Common Mergansers a couple of days ago. These species have probably lost a lot of nest trees in the recent floods. Sadly, I lost my one duck box to El Nino as well. All of these things are happening within sight of the Pescadero Road bridge located at Mile 5.8 from the coast highway (sorry, no public access to the adjacent lands, although I would be happy to make arrangements for our place on request). Western Bluebirds are actively nest-building at McClellan Ranch Park today in some of the SCVAS nestboxes. Just in time for our Education Day event from 10-2 here, tomorrow (Sat. March 21). --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]] Fri Mar 20 11:44:14 1998 All, Moments ago (11:30am) an OSPREY was hunting the Guadalupe River at the airport. Nick ========================================================================== 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 Mar 20 12:08:05 1998 At about nine o'clock this morning (3/20) I was at Bixbee Park in Palo Al= to on a trail, which goes to the right and uphill into grasslands just past the parking area. A Savannah Sparrow perched on Coyote Brush was joined = by a Kingbird, which sat with its back to me. I could see the gray on the head blend into the olive on the back. The squarish brown tail showed buffy tips, but no white on the outer rects. I was unable to see the throat. Rosalie Lefkowitz ========================================================================== 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 Mar 20 13:08:10 1998 I just wanted to report what a great time we had on the Susanville/Honey = Lake trip last weekend, led by Bob Hirt. He had been to Japan, Honk Kong, Tai= wan, and China during the week, landing in the Bay Area Friday morning - the s= ame Friday we and he drove up to Susanville! What a guy. This was our first Honey Lake trip, having started birding in 1995, but Bob's 22nd. And many thanks to shortgun-rider Calvin, who should be named "Eagle Eye"= for his spectacular spotting ability while riding in Bob=92s lead vehicle. H= ow does he do that? Also to Bob's son John for flushing the Barn Owl for us, bet= ween lizard- and snake-chases. BEST BIRDS SEEN Outstanding birds seen by the group, in approximate order of excitement f= or my wife Sharon and I were: Sage Grouse, our main objective and a lifer for us, on their lek, togethe= r with a pronghorn herd Red-naped Sapsucker, a trip record (according to Bob, and this was his 22= nd trip) and also a lifer for us Sandhill Cranes, including a pair doing simultaneous courtship calls White-headed Woodpeckers (not seen by all) Rough-legged Hawks Pinyon Jays Townsend=92s Solitaires Nesting Prairie Falcon at Eagle Lake Mountain and Western Bluebirds BIRDS WE SAW, NOT SEEN BY THE GROUP Driving up on Friday, and stopping to change drivers at a Highway 80 rest= stop near Gold Run (past Auburn), Sharon spotted a BARROW=92S GOLDENEYE on wha= t looked like a small sewage treatment pond associated with the rest stop. = We had to consult all our books to make sure it was a Barrow=92s, but we are= 99% confident. Late that afternoon, just before sunset, we were birding the Dakin Wildli= fe Refuge area, and began to see clouds of birds up against the mountains. = We scoped them and it was huge flocks of SNOW GEESE. They flew to a resting= area and all landed. Then a few minutes later, they took to the air again, an= d all flew right over us, in wave after wave. I would estimate they were in th= e ten-thousands. The flocks were absolutely gorgeous with that fantastic evening sunlight directly on them. Next day, at the scheduled end of the Saturday trek, most everyone else w= anted to return to an area recently burned to resume the search for Black-backe= d Woodpeckers (unsuccessful, although they did have interesting conversatio= ns with some of the local citizens, while waiting to chase woodpeckers). Sh= aron and I and our two riders Ed and Judy were pooped, and decided to go back = to the motel. On the way back up Mapes Road (Lane?) as I recall, we came upon a pickup pulled off the road, and a Sonoma County couple looking through a Swarovs= ky scope aimed at a treetop bird. "What are you looking at?" we asked. "A NORTHERN SHRIKE," they said. We pulled over and bailed out, setting up o= ur scope and looking through it and theirs. We carefully checked the mask t= o confirm that it didn=92t "wrap around" the area just above the beak. Fan= tastic. Lifer for us. The Sonoma couple was heading up to the sage grouse lek th= e next morning. I don=92t recall whether we saw any adult Bald Eagles with the group, but returning over Route 36, near Chester, we saw a pair of adults doing circ= les, such that if they were skywriters, their paths together would look like a figure eight. They were both circling the same clockwise direction but w= ere "out of phase", so they approached each other head-on each time the circl= es met. They slowly flew their "eight" away from the town and toward nearby= Lake Almanor. I got a few photos, but they were a long way up, even at 420mm telephoto. We=92ll see. =09 TOTAL LIST =09 Here=92s the complete list, in alphabetical order, although I=92m sure I = have made a few omissions. I created the list from looking through my NGS and reca= lling whether we had seen each bird. Not the best method. I think somebody ke= pt an "official" trip list, but I'm not sure what happened to it. # Last First Comments - ------ ------ -------------- 1 Blackbird Brewer's=09 2 Blackbird Red-winged=09 3 Blackbird Tri-colored not seen by all 4 Bluebird Mountain=09 5 Bluebird Western=09 6 Bufflehead =09 7 Canvasback =09 8 Chickadee Mountain=09 9 Coot American=09 10 Cormorant Double-crested=09 11 Crane Sandhill mating calls 12 Creeper Brown=09 13 Crow American=09 14 Dove Mourning=09 15 Dove Rock=09 16 Dowitcher Long-billed=09 17 Duck Ruddy=09 18 Eagle Bald Did the group see any? I think so. 19 Eagle Golden=09 20 Egret Great=09 21 Falcon Prairie cliff nesting 22 Finch Cassin's=09 23 Flicker Red-shafted=09 24 Goldeneye Common males doing head-tilted-back mating display 25 Goose Canada=09 26 Goose Snow Did group see any? I think so. 27 Grebe Horned or Eared 28 Grebe Pied-billed=09 29 Grebe Western=09 30 Grouse Sage on lek, with pronghorn 31 Gull California=09 32 Gull Ring-billed=09 33 Harrier Northern=09 34 Hawk Red-tailed=09 35 Hawk Rough-legged great looks 36 Heron Great Blue=09 37 Jay Pinyon=09 38 Jay Scrub=09 39 Jay Steller's=09 40 Killdeer =09 41 Kinglet Golden-crowned=09 42 Lark Horned=09 43 Magpie Black-billed=09 44 Mallard =09 45 Meadowlark Western=09 46 Merganser Common=09 47 Nuthatch Pygmy=09 48 Nuthatch White-breasted=09 49 Owl Great Horned barn flush 50 Pelican American White=09 51 Phoebe Black=09 52 Phoebe Say's=09 53 Pintail Northern=09 54 Pipit American unusual? 55 Raven Common=09 56 Redhead =09 57 Robin American=09 58 Sapsucker Red-naped trip record 59 Shoveler Northern=09 60 Shrike Loggerhead=09 61 Solitaire Townsend's=09 62 Starling European=09 63 Swallow Tree=09 64 Swan Tundra=09 65 Teal Blue-winged Green-winged? 66 Teal Cinnamon=09 67 Towhee Spotted=09 68 Vulture Turkey=09 69 Waxwing Cedar no Bohemians, dang! 70 Wigeon American =09 71 Woodpecker Acorn=09 72 Woodpecker Hairy=09 73 Woodpecker White-headed short look 74 Woodpecker Lewis' great looks 75 Wren Marsh=09 75 species! Pretty cool, huh? ANY CORRECTIONS OR ADDITIONS? I welcome correctional comments and additions on birds I missed or mis- identified here. For example, I believe I recall someone mentioning scau= p on Eagle Lake, now that I think about it. Great birding. It=92s springtime. Bob and Sharon Lutman=09 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D This message was posted through the Stanford campus mailing list server. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the=20 message body of "unsubscribe south-bay-birds" to [[email protected]]ord= .edu From [[email protected]] Fri Mar 20 15:11:12 1998 Great trip report! Beautiful blue skies, no wind, shirt sleeve weather and some great looks at some of the birds made the trip very enjoyable. Comparing my report to Bob and Sharon's (I was in David McIntryre's car with Ann Verdi): Yes, we saw 2 bald eagles - Probable horned, rather than eared grebe, but not certain, we drove by it I think you intend #60 to be Northern Shrike. We saw it too. We saw green-winged, not blue-winged teal We saw about 200 tundra swans sitting on the ice as we went over causeway coming home on #36. Saw bald eagle there too and snow geese. Adding to list: Snowy Egret Song Sparrow House Sparrow (in parking lot of motel) White-faced ibis American Kestrel Oregon Junco Gadwell Cooper's Hawk Sharp-shinned Hawk Band-tailed Pigeon American Goldfinch Ruby-crowned Kinglet Lesser Scaup David saw a Barn Swallow David heard the White-headed Woodpecker out the car window as we were driving and we stopped and had fantastic views of 4 of them. The Lewis's woodpeckers at the cemetary were very plentiful and beautiful to watch. They were making a strange sound that Bob Hirt said wasn't mentioned in any of the bird books. The Rough-legged Hawk we saw going to Eagle Lake, was joined by another one. so, we saw 2 driving back to Susansville. Amazingly close looks. Our car did not see: Ring-billed Gull American White Pelican Black Phoebe So, our car's trip list totaled 85 Bob Hirt was a phenomenal leader. It was a great horned owl his son, John, flushed out of the barn. Just like in a movie! Calvin was a definite asset riding "shotgun" for Bob. I highly recommend the trip to anyone who has the endurance for it. Bob did an excellent job of putting carpools together. Sign up now for next year for his 23rd annual Honey Lake trip--2nd weekend of March!!! Only 20 can go. While birding outside Susanville, we came upon the president of the local Audubon group, Stewart Anderson. They have 85 members. He was quite talkative! If you're over there, you might give him a gingle...He used to live in Woodside---and long ago lived in Brooklyn where our esteemed president, David McIntrye, used to live - and I might add where I was born. Three Brooklynite's birding together at Honey Lake, pretty scary human migration! I'm looking forward to spending more time with our feathery friends this weekend on Ann Verdi's Quicksilver trip. Gloria LeBlanc ========================================================================== 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 Mar 20 16:01:03 1998 At noon today I was some distance out on the Charleston Slough levee and I paused to look near the bench that's approximately across the salt pond from the new concrete structure that's on the fenced-off side levee. (The sign by the gate says, Charleston Slough Restoration Project.) A Short-eared Owl came flapping in along that levee from the north, causing considerable uproar. As it passed the southern end of that concrete structure, another Short-eared Owl flew up and vigorously chased off the intruder! It flew back along the levees to the northwest, frequently mobbed by small birds, and was last seen dropping down low in the direction of the Adobe Creek flood control basin dam. The resident Short-eared Owl landed on the levee a few yards south of that concrete structure (towards the shoreline amphitheater end, near the line of old pilings), and stayed in plain sight for 10 minutes, or so. When a harrier came by, the owl disappeared. Frank Vanslager ========================================================================== 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 Mar 21 08:42:46 1998 Friday March 20, at 2:30 PM I saw a Western Bluebird right in the center of the Foothill College campus. It was in a grassy area across the courtyard from the library. Last year on March 7, a pair of Western Bluebirds was seen investigating a hole in one of the beems of the Computer Center building. A pair of Ravens hang out in Staff Parking Lot #2 (either in the eucalyptus trees or on the light poles) They always fly off and head towards the Animal Health Technology building. Not sure if the Bluebirds or the Ravens actually nest on campus. I am working with the biology department, we hope to get bluebird nest boxes placed on the outskirts of campus. Ginny ========================================================================== 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 Mar 21 22:40:39 1998 All: In response to Bill Bousman's note about urban hawks, we thought we'd add our observations. We live in West Menlo Park, near Altschul and Valparaiso. Approximately 10 years ago there was a Cooper's hawk nest in a pine tree, on Altschul, near the corner of Camino a los Cerros.The tree was in someone's front yard and a lot of it hung over the street. We didn't know about the nest while it was active, but we were informed of it the following spring by Winkie Lennihan (a Jasper Ridge docent at the time), who lived close by. The nest was not used again the following spring, but according to Winkie, had been used for two or three consecutive years. Then, about five years ago (?) a pair of Cooper's hawks nested up the hill from us, at the top of Valparaiso, on Hallmark, and they fledged five babies. Jim Rosso spent many hours photographing the birds over several weeks. The nest was in an oak tree less than 35 ft from a house. We have had backyard chickens for nearly 15 years. We have also been avid bird feeders for over 20 years. In our backyard we have lots of small birds and doves and, in spring and summer, 20 to 40 band tailed pigeons, A Cooper's hawk (we have not seen more than one at a time but it is possible that more than one individual is on our guest list) is pretty much a daily visitor in our yard...and seems to confine his (her) efforts to taking mourning doves. In recent years, the Cooper's have not gone after our chickens or the band tails.The year that the Cooper's hawks nested up the hill from us, one of the parents once dived one of our chickens, but did not succeed in catching or killing her. She limped for about a week, but was not any the worse for wear and lived to the age of 10+. A red-tailed hawk often hangs out at the top of our sequoia tree, a high point in the neighborhood. The Cooper's hawk chooses to relocate to other nearby areas when the red tail is around. Joan and Paul Armer ========================================================================== 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 Mar 22 17:19:32 1998 For the last 5 years we have had Cooper's Hawks in our neighborhood on the boundary of San Jose & Cupertino roughly bounded by Bollinger, Lawrence Expressway, Prospect and Miller/Wolfe. We had a family of Mallards set up shop in our backyard in 1996 and while we were watching the 7 babies with their mother, the female Cooper's zoomed over them not more than 4 feet off the ground. We can tell when one is perched above our back yard because the local Scrub Jays raise holy heck. It's pretty exciting when walking in the mornings down the next block to see one of the hawks flashing overhead in a slalom run through the trees. ========================================================================== 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 Mar 22 19:06:36 1998 Saturday 1:00 - 3:30PM: Could not find the Rock Sandpiper in Santa Cruz along W. Cliff Drive from near Bay St. to about 3/4th of a mile west of the Ligthouse park. Black Turnstones, Surfbirds and Sanderlings were around. Sunday 3:30-5:30PM: Yet another failed attempt for Short-eared Owls along Charleston Slough. I am all ears for further reports of sightings of this species. So please do keep them coming. 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 Mar 23 07:43:41 1998 Just a few blocks from the Armers, at Altschul and Ashton, we have had regular, but not daily, visits from a Coopers Hawk this winter. Judging by feather debris, it collects a Mourning Dove from our feeder area every 2 or 3 weeks. A smaller-than-usual feather pile suggests an unsuccessful attempt Sat (3/21), though we didn't see the attack. Two years ago, a Merlin was an almost daily visitor from Oct-Feb. Last year, we never saw one, but had a return visit in late Feb this year. Seeing the familiar bird in its favorite cedar-tree perch leads me to suspect that it was the same individual stopping in transit early in its migration north. Last weekend (3/15), we had a brief visit by a Red Shouldered Hawk, the first time we've seen or heard one in the neighborhood. ================================ 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]] Mon Mar 23 08:36:44 1998 Amy and spent all day Saturday 3/21, at Henry Coe State Park. The wildflowers are superb this year, with entire fields covered in purple, yellow, and white. The display is the best I have ever seen in the park. All the early migrants have returned. Two birds are of special interest. The first was a singing Marsh Wren at Coit Lake. This is the first record for this species in the park that I am aware of. A Lewis' Woodpecker was seen near Wilson Ranch. This species is very rare in the southern part of the park and what is interesting is that a single bird was observed in exactly the same tree last November. James Yurchenco ========================================================================== 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 Mar 23 10:10:39 1998 All: I found a Red-Necked Grebe in salt pond A1, at noon Sunday. Another, or the same bird, was in Charleston Slough a little later. Yours, John Meyer PS On Saturday, the Rock Sandpiper in Santa Cruz was with Black Turnstones at the foot of Fair St. Up the coast, Maria and I refound Todd Newberry's Pygmy Owl. It was exactly where he reported it. Low in a tall conifer leaning over the road that follows the west bank of Waddell Creek. About 150 yards north of the second gate on that road. ******************************************************************** 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]] Mon Mar 23 10:56:46 1998 Hello All, The predicted rains for Sunday, Mar 22, never materialized so the SCVAS Quicksilver CP Field Trip in the New Almaden area of South San Jose went as planned. We came up with a total of 57 species, including birds seen in the vicinity of Almaden Reservoir. Highlights at Quicksilver included spring migrants, such as PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER and BULLOCK'S ORIOLE along Alamitos Creek, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS and a newly arrived WARBLING VIREO in the oak woodlands, and buzzy BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS in the chapparal. A partial list of other interesting birds seen and heard at Quicksilver included the usual denizens of our oak woodlands and chapparal: California Quail (heard only), Band-tailed Pigeon, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Hairy Woodpecker (seen briefly), Violet-green Swallow (great looks), Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Oak Titmouse, Bushtit (on nest), Hutton's Vireo (heard only), Bewick's Wren, Western Bluebird, Wrentit, California Thrasher, and Spotted Towhee. A few of us opted for a side trip to Almaden Reservoir after the Quicksilver hike. Here we found seven WOOD DUCKS and three COMMON MERGANGERS as well as one Double-crested Cormorant. On our walk along Alamitos Road leading toward the Twin Creeks community we saw a BELTED KINGFISHER, several PURPLE FINCH in a tasseling oak, a SELASPHORUS hummer briefly visiting a poker plant, a rather large male WILD TURKEY sauntering along the hillside, and most special to me, a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK on nest upstream along Herbert Creek. Painted Lady butterflies were seen throughout our walks, and yes, the wildflowers are blooming in abundance. Quicksilver has whole trailsides filled with lupine, brodaiea and buttercups, as well as golden violets, fiddleneck, paintbrush, shooting stars, poppies, etc, etc. A good time to be out and about. Ann Verdi ========================================================================== 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 Mar 23 13:35:52 1998 All: Steelhead were in the act of spawning this morning, 3/23/98, at Pescadero Creek near Dearborn Road (approximately Mile 6 on the roadside signs.) Spawning takes only a few hours so we don't observe it very often, but the female should continue to put on a show for a week or two as she thrashes the gravels just upstream from her nest to cover the eggs, with help from the current, with a protective layer of cleaned material. Fishing in any form is highly illegal on this part of the creek, of course, so if you observe anyone in the act, tell them so, and/or call the Fish & Game poaching hotline! Pacific-slope Flycatchers, Warbling Vireos, and Barn Swallows all showed up at the same location over the weekend. Interesting that they appear to be a bit later on this side of the hills. --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 Mar 23 13:42:33 1998 All, On Saturday (3/21) at around 11 AM during the 6th Annuual SCVAS Education Day at McClellan Ranch Park an Osprey (sex?) was seen (flying north over the ranch). Two (a pair?) Sharp-shinned Hawks were also in attendance. Roxie Handler informs me that an ad male Hooded Oriole visited her feeders (in Sunnyvale) on Sunday. She and I both have recently hatched Mourning Doves. Take care, Bob Reiling, 1:14 PM, 3/23/98 ========================================================================== 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]] Mon Mar 23 14:13:40 1998 Hi Birders, Sunday afternoon, we drove up to Santa Teresa Park, and took the trail that passes by a water tank, then heads in the direction of the golf course. It rises moderately, passes under a nearly-bare oak tree that often has a Prairie Falcon or Kestrel in it, then sweeps around to the left (north) and a panoramic view of all the territory around Bernal Road. It's the area below the work ranch fence. If you follow it long enough, it begins to drop down, and eventually you cross an old paved road that's out of use. We took that old road back to the right. And that's where we saw most of the birds. Highlights (about 4pm) were mated pairs of Song Sparrows which were acting for all the world like House Wrens - singing and flicking their tails straight up in the air, White-tailed Kites, Nuttall's Woodpeckers, Kestrels, Flickers and (Sharon saw) Hermit Thrushes. We also saw a young pair of young (probable) female turkeys, but the bird of the hike was a spectacular male Bullock's Oriole singing for a mate. The turkeys were climbing in an oak tree, when a supporting branch broke and one of them came tumbling/flying down. Pure birders can stop here. Everytime I see turkeys I have to gobble at 'em. When I was a boy in mid- Missouri, I would go to the country to spend a week with my cousin. His dad - my uncle - raised turkeys and would sleep down there in an old Henry J with a .22, firecrackers, bells and all sorts of stuff to keep the foxes and coyotes away. And my gobbles would always get a huge response. Although he would drive about one mile an hour, every week or so he'd run over one. And my aunt would fix it for supper. Great birding, Bob & Sharon Lutman [[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 Mar 23 17:28:39 1998 Hello All A male HOODED ORIOLE arrived Saturday, March 21st and was investigating a nearby Palm in my neighborhood in the Cambrian area of San Jose. 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]] Tue Mar 24 12:08:45 1998 Janet and I picked up a new "yard bird" today at the SFBBO office in Alviso. A female OSPREY was perched on a pole in Pond A8. It is the first time I have observed an Osprey perched within a salt pond. The Cliff Swallow colony is up to about 300 birds and they are building nests in the deserted cannery building again this year. Good birding, Tom ******************************************** Tom Ryan San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory P.O. Box 247 1290 Hope St. Alviso, CA 95002 (408) 946-6548 (408) 946-9279 fax [[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 Mar 24 12:11:31 1998 This morning, after a weekend down on MOnterey Bay (Fulmars off Wharf 2, Laughing Gull in MOss Landing Harbor, but no Kittiwakes) I decided to walk around my neighborhood (vicinity of Frenchman's Meadow on the STanford campus) to see what was up. A lot! I heard a song I wasn't familiar with, and it turned out to be a singing TOWNSEND'S WARBLER getting ready to go. Plenty of AUDUBON'S WARBLERS getting ready to go, many in full alternate plumage. I heard no less than three singing WILSON'S WARBLERS (saw two) - which I don't think are nesters here, so they are probably passing through. First BULLOCK'S ORIOLE of the spring, a male, in the meadow (which normally is home to several of them plus a pair of Hooded which nest in one of the fan palms). I checked for the RED-TAILED HAWKS which have nested in a redwood overlooking the meadow for the last six years (as long as I've been birding) and have been missing this spring. Turns out they are nesting right around the corner at 630 Gerona Road, in another redwood. Had a flyover by a (prob male) SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. But the best spot of the hour's walk was a male WESTERN TANAGER, partly molted (the head was faint orangey at a distance, presumably a mix of red and yellow feathers.) He was right smack in the middle of the meadow and flew into one of the nearby eucs. All this within a few blocks of the meadow. -- 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 Mar 24 15:38:36 1998 All: On 20 March at the EEC in Alviso, an adult GOLDEN EAGLE was perched on a tower along the entrance road, the RED-TAILED HAWK and COMMON RAVEN nests were still being attended, and a pair of WHITE-TAILED KITES were near a completed nest in the top of an elderberry on the north side of Artesian Slough at the bend in the EEC entrance road. The male ANNA'S X COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD was still near the EEC building, giving its intermediate display while dive-bombing Golden-crowned Sparrows. A singing ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER here was probably a migrant, and the overwintering YELLOW WARBLER was still present (quite shabby now, and undergoing its pre-alternate molt). An adult male MERLIN was near the Shoreline Park golf course. Today (24 March), I checked the Palo Alto Baylands as the tide was receding. Thirteen BLACK SKIMMERS were in the flats on the yacht harbor (at least three banded), and two basic-plumaged RED KNOTS were among the dowitchers and peep near the sailing station at the yacht harbor mouth. A male EURASIAN WIGEON was on the bay nearby (in Santa Clara County), but it was too far away for me to be able to identify the female with it. In addition to the imm. GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE, there was an unusual MALLARD at the duck pond. This bird's plumage was mostly typical of a male but with an oddly patterned head formed by patches of pure brown separated by narrow pure green stripes. This alone might not be too unusual for an immature acquiring its first alternate plumage (although I've never seen a pattern quite like this), but the bird's bill was typical of a female Mallard's bill. The bill (orange at the base, near the tip, and along the cutting edge but with an extensive blackish "saddle") was virtually identical to that of nearby females, but I did not think that immature males (or males in any plumage) had bills colored like this. Again, given the range of variation in Mallards and their feral "forms", this might not be too unusual, except that a typical male Mallard courted this bird incessantly and repeatedly chased away any other males that swam near it. In Alviso, salt pond A12 still had 10 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS (3 imm. males, 7 apparent females), but the number of SURF SCOTERS was down to 15. The effects of the February storms are still visible throughout Alviso -- even today, Greater Scaup were still foraging in small puddles in fields throughout the Alviso area, Surf Scoters were in small numbers in New Chicago Marsh, and 8+ Horned Grebes were still foraging in New Chicago Marsh. 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]] Wed Mar 25 10:11:19 1998 MARCH 24 1998 SANTA CLARA COUNTY YEAR LIST UPDATE My apologies to Ann Verdi and Caralisa Hughes for forgetting to add their HERMIT WARBLER to the composite list on the last update! Should be lots of new species to add as migration rolls through! 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: 207: 2/ 1/98 HERMIT WARBLER : 3/ 1/98 CASSIN'S KINGBIRD (replaces KINGBIRD, SP.) 208: 3/ 7/98 SHORT-EARED OWL 209: 3/16/98 RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD 210: 3/16/98 WESTERN KINGBIRD 211: 3/18/98 WARBLING VIREO 212: 3/19/98 BULLOCK'S ORIOLE 213: 3/21/98 HOODED ORIOLE 214: 3/24/98 WILSON'S WARBLER Please send any additions, corrections, or comments to Mike Rogers, [[email protected]]. SANTA CLARA COUNTY YEAR LIST - 1998 SCR MMR MJM COMP SOURCE 377 188 163 166 214+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 Cattle Egret 1/ 2 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 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 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 1/ 1 JMa California Quail 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/18 1/ 1 SCR,DJC Mountain Quail 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 Semipalmated Plover 1/ 6 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 1/ 6 SCR Solitary Sandpiper Willet 1/ 6 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Wandering Tattler Spotted Sandpiper 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 Black Turnstone Red Knot 1/ 6 1/ 6 SCR Sanderling 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 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 Red Phalarope 2/11 2/ 8 2/ 8 SBT Pomarine Jaeger Parasitic Jaeger Long-tailed Jaeger Laughing Gull Franklin's Gull Little Gull 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 Elegant Tern Common Tern Arctic Tern Forster's Tern 1/ 6 2/ 8 1/ 2 1/ 2 MJM Least Tern Black Tern 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 3/15 1/ 1 SCR White-winged Dove Mourning Dove 1/ 1 1/ 4 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Yellow-billed Cuckoo Greater Roadrunner Barn Owl 1/ 9 1/ 9 MMR,RJe Flammulated Owl Western Screech-Owl 1/ 1 JMa Great Horned Owl 1/14 1/ 1 DJC Northern Pygmy-Owl 1/ 1 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 1/ 1 JMa Lesser Nighthawk Common Nighthawk Common Poorwill Black Swift Chimney Swift Vaux's Swift White-throated Swift 1/18 1/21 2/22 1/ 8 RWR,FVs Black-chinned Hummingbird Anna's Hummingbird 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Costa's Hummingbird Calliope Hummingbird Broad-tailed Hummingbird Rufous Hummingbird 3/16 3/16 SCR Allen's Hummingbird 3/ 4 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 Olive-sided Flycatcher Western Wood-Pewee Willow Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Hammond's Flycatcher Dusky Flycatcher Gray Flycatcher Pacific-slope Flycatcher 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 Tropical Kingbird Cassin's Kingbird 3/ 1 DRo,RCa kingbird sp. 2/ 8 AGu Western Kingbird 3/16 3/16 SCR Eastern Kingbird Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Horned Lark 3/16 3/15 1/25 AME Purple Martin 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 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 1/ 1 JMa White-breasted Nuthatch 1/ 3 1/ 6 1/13 1/ 1 DJC Pygmy Nuthatch 1/ 1 1/ 1 SCR,JMa Brown Creeper 1/ 1 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 Winter Wren 1/ 1 1/ 1 SCR Marsh Wren 1/12 1/12 1/ 2 1/ 2 MJM American Dipper Golden-crowned Kinglet 1/ 2 1/ 2 SCR Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1/ 1 1/ 6 1/ 3 1/ 1 m.ob. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1/ 5 CJC Western Bluebird 1/ 2 1/ 6 2/16 1/ 1 DJC Mountain Bluebird 1/17 JLu Townsend's Solitaire Swainson's Thrush 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 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 1/ 1 JMa Phainopepla 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 Plumbeous Vireo Hutton's Vireo 1/ 1 1/19 1/ 3 1/ 1 SCR,JMa Warbling Vireo 3/18 AME Red-eyed Vireo Tennessee Warbler Orange-crowned Warbler 1/ 4 1/24 3/ 1 1/ 4 SCR,CCRS Nashville Warbler Virginia's Warbler Northern Parula Yellow Warbler 1/ 4 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 1/ 9 SBT Townsend's Warbler 1/ 1 3/15 1/ 1 SCR,JMa,DJC Hermit Warbler 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 Common Yellowthroat 1/ 4 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 2 MJM Hooded Warbler Wilson's Warbler 3/24 TGr Yellow-breasted Chat Summer Tanager Scarlet Tanager Western Tanager 1/23 RWR Rose-breasted Grosbeak Black-headed Grosbeak Blue Grosbeak Lazuli Bunting Indigo Bunting 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 1/ 2 SCR American Tree Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Clay-colored Sparrow Brewer's Sparrow Black-chinned Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Lark Sparrow 1/19 1/ 4 1/ 4 MJM Black-throated Sparrow Sage Sparrow Lark Bunting Savannah Sparrow 1/ 2 1/12 1/ 4 1/ 1 DJC Grasshopper Sparrow 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 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 1/ 2 SCR Western Meadowlark 1/ 2 1/ 6 1/ 2 1/ 1 DJC Yellow-headed Blackbird Brewer's Blackbird 1/ 1 1/ 4 1/ 2 1/ 1 m.ob. Great-tailed Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird 1/ 2 1/16 1/18 1/ 1 AVe,CH,DJC Hooded Oriole 3/21 AWa Baltimore Oriole Bullock's Oriole 3/19 GHa Scott's Oriole Purple Finch 1/ 1 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 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, CCRS-Coyote Creek Riparian Station, CH-Caralisa Hughes, CJC-Chuck Coston, CKS-Chris Salander, CWh-Clark White, DJC-Don & Jill Crawford, DRo-Don Roberson, FVs-Frank Vanslager, GHa-Garth Harwood, GLB-Gloria LeBlanc, HGe-Harriet Gerson, HLR-Heather Rottenborn, JDa-Jim Danzenbaker, JLa-Jolene Lange, JLu-John Luther, JMa-John Mariani, JMe-John Meyer, JML-Jeanne Leavitt, JSa-June Santoro, KLP-Kathy Parker, MH-Matt Heindel, MJM-Mike Mammoser, MLF-Mike Feighner, MMR-Mike Rogers, NLe-Nick Lethaby, RCa-Rita Caratello, RCo-Rita Colwell, RiC-Richard Carlson, RJe-Richard Jeffers, RLe-Rosalie Lefkowitz, RWR-Bob Reiling, SBT-Scott Terrill, SCR-Steve Rottenborn, SGu-Stephan Gunn, 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]] Wed Mar 25 14:04:38 1998 Join the fun and be part of the SCVAS Annual Birdathon! This event takes place in April every year (you set your own exact date). If you are interested in forming a new Birdathon team and spending a day trying to attain a goal of 'n' species of birds, call the SCVAS office at (408) 252-3747 or Bobbie Handen at (408) 356-4263. ========================================================================== 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 Mar 25 15:34:33 1998 Thank God for the South Bay Bird List. My first HOODED ORIOLE of the year is feeding at my feeder. It's a male, and so gorgeous. I needed to share my thrill with someone(s)!!! Gloria LeBlanc ========================================================================== 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 Mar 25 16:09:03 1998 --------------BB66C9FF83E115A610388250 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > This morning at the SCVAS field trip to Arastradero Preserve, many > observers saw two distinctly different looking Barn Swallows perched > on telephone wires at the beginning of the walk. One was a > typical-looking BARS--blue-black above, rusty below with a slightly > darker throat patch and forehead. The other BARS was blue-black > above, creamy white breast, belly, and undertail coverts. The throat > patch was dark rust in color and separated from the breast by a > thinnish dark band. The forehead was also a deep rust color and the > face pattern fairly crisply defined. After examining the swallow > plate in "Birds of Europe" by Lars Jonsson, I found the illustration > for the European Swallow to be quite close to the bird seen--the rust > color perhaps not so intense and the breast band not as wide. As I > understand it (and please correct me if I am wrong), Sibley and Monroe > describe the European Swallow, Hirundo rustica rustica, as the > nominate race with the Western Hemisphere Barn Swallow as another > race, Hirundo rustica erthyrogaster. According to Svevsson > "Identification Guide to European Passerines" adult European swallows, > like North American swallows, have a complete fall molt and both adult > and immatures have a partial spring molt. This bird looked like it > could have been a second-year bird (hatched last year) thus causing > the lighter rust color and thinner breast band. If this individual > indeed was the European race, I wonder as to the frequency of their > appearance in Santa Clara County--(Bill...Mike R?) Rita Colwell > --------------BB66C9FF83E115A610388250 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
This morning at the SCVAS field trip to Arastradero Preserve, many observers saw two distinctly different looking Barn Swallows perched on telephone wires at the beginning of the walk.  One was a typical-looking BARS--blue-black above, rusty below with a slightly darker throat patch and forehead.  The other BARS was blue-black above, creamy white breast, belly, and undertail coverts.  The throat patch was dark rust in color and separated from the breast by a thinnish dark band.  The forehead was also a deep rust color and the face pattern fairly crisply defined.  After examining the swallow plate in "Birds of Europe" by Lars Jonsson, I found the illustration for the European Swallow to be quite close to the bird seen--the rust color perhaps not so intense and the breast band not as wide.   As I understand it (and please correct me if I am wrong), Sibley and Monroe describe the European Swallow, Hirundo rustica rustica, as the nominate race with the Western Hemisphere Barn Swallow as another race, Hirundo rustica erthyrogaster.   According to Svevsson "Identification Guide to European Passerines" adult European swallows, like North American swallows, have a complete fall molt and both adult and immatures have a partial spring molt.  This bird looked like it could have been a second-year bird (hatched last year) thus causing the lighter rust color and thinner breast band.  If this individual indeed was the European race, I wonder as to the frequency of their appearance in Santa Clara County--(Bill...Mike R?)  
Rita Colwell
 
--------------BB66C9FF83E115A610388250-- ========================================================================== 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 Mar 25 17:58:57 1998 I was one of the group on the SCVAS field trip this morning(3/23), who h= ad pretty good looks at the strange Barn Swallow. I checked the new Pyle "Identification Guide to North American Birds". It seems to me that the bird pretty well matched the sub-species that Pyle calls H.r. gutturalis.= = Incidentally the bird appeared to have a tail considerably shorter than that of the "usual" Barn Swallow next to it on the wire. Rosalie Lefkowitz ========================================================================== 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 Mar 26 11:07:47 1998 By now you've already received Rita Colwell's and my notes on the possibl= y vagrant Barn Swallow seen on yesterday's SCVAS field trip, which was led = by Grace Sain. Some further word should be added on the conditions of the trip. It was the muddiest SCVAS trip I've ever enjoyed with lots of deep,= gushy stuff. There was also a short rain shower mid-morning. However, w= e saw lots of good birds before and after the rain. Last week's wave of Orange-crowned Warblers had passed through, but there were a few still around. Many Yellow-rumps were present in breeding plumage including at least one Myrtle (probably more). American Goldfinches are in alternate plumage. A couple of Pine Siskins were with them in an oak near the lake= =2E The Green Heron was hiding, but had showed itself on the Saturday scoutin= g trip. Garth Harwood joined us and pointed out nest box locations. A White-breasted Nuthatch is nesting in an oak just above one of the bluebi= rd boxes. White-tailed Kites and the Red-shouldered Hawks are there as usua= l. A Red-tailed Hawk caught a mouse with everyone watching. Re Urban Hawks...A pair of Cooper's Hawks were at Matadero Creek between Greer and Louis Rds. in Palo Alto on Tues. 3/24. They have nested in thi= s general area for several years. A pair of White-tailed Kites are back in= some garden trees behind the Kenneth Drive cul-de-sac off Greer Rd. just south of Loma Verde. They too have nested in the same area for a number = of years. Rosalie Lefkowitz ========================================================================== 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 Mar 26 12:39:35 1998 On Saturday, 21 Mar 98, at the Palo Alto Baylands, I saw the GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE at the duck pond, the 13 BLACK SKIMMERS in the estuary, and COMMON RAVENS building a nest on a power tower on Hook=92s Isle. On Sunday, 22 Mar 98, at CCRS, I heard a couple BULLOCK=92S ORIOLES and a= handful of WILSON=92S WARBLERS singing. A GREAT HORNED OWL has taken over= an old raptor nest in the top of a cottonwood along the creek, just north of the trailers. I had 8 GREAT BLUE HERONS occupying nests at the delta. 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 Mar 27 12:37:54 1998 Had a Yellow-shafted Flicker (yellow, not red under-wings and red V on back of head) and a male Bullock's Oriole yesterday about 3pm, at the second picnic area on the right, after you enter the park from main road. Bob Lutman [[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]] Fri Mar 27 13:48:01 1998 All, A walk below the dam at Steven's Creek County Park early this morning failed to turn up anything new for the composite list but some of our early migrants were present in fair numbers, including 5 WARBLING VIREOS, 5 WILSON'S WARBLERS, and 2 BLUE- GRAY GNATCATCHERS. Plenty of ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS around, but only 1-2 PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS. Also a single SPOTTED SANDPIPER in the spillway. Mike Rogers 3/27/98 ========================================================================== 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]] Fri Mar 27 15:33:29 1998 The good news: A cooperative SORA has been hanging out in the small reed islands adjcent to the MV Forebay pump station for two weeks now. Most visible mornings and evenins, but active and visible even mid day. THE BAD NEWS: Charleston Slough pond is awful. The best shorebird spot in the Bay now flooded. I kept hoping that the water level would go down but it never does, just up and up. What happened? Are the new pipes jammed? This is terrible. Now its just another near barren salt pond. Old nesting islands all flooded. No activity on new islands. Wasn't it supposed to be tidal with the new pipes? The water keeps coming in but not going out. Thank God Palo Alto did their restoration correctly. Skip Mountain View, go to Palo Alto for Shorebirds. Dick -- 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]] Fri Mar 27 17:59:41 1998 All: Those of you following urban hawks closely will be interested in two dead raptors brought to the SCVAS office this week (we have a "dead specimen permit" from the state and will have some birds prepared as teaching specimens; they are currently frozen). First, a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK was killed on 3/16 along Iris Ave in Palo Alto. As accipiters will, it had apparently smacked into a window during the chase. It was collected with several chunks of bright red meat found around its head - anyone want to run a toxicology test just for kicks? What bugs me a little bit is why the bird would be involved in a gung-ho chase if it had just eaten...and no-one SAW it hit the window. Second, an adult female MERLIN was brought in today (3/27) from the Cambrian Park area of San Jose. This bird had also recently eaten; bits of meat were adhering to its beak and there are orangish feathers in its talons (House Finch?) The finder says she thinks pigeons are regularly poisoned in the area; she has seen a number of them staggering about and dying in convulsions in the past (not in the last several months). Sorry to pass along bad news - but though you'd want to know. Some interesting birds at MCClellan Park right now, by the way...a SAY'S PHOEBE has been hanging around in the middle of the field for the past couple of days, near the nestbox where a pair of WESTERN BLUEBIRDS was putting the finishing touches on a nest today. PURPLE FINCHES have been hanging around in the orchard area for the past couple of weeks. And today a gang of CEDAR WAXWINGS was joined by a male TOWNSENDS WARBLER in bright, fresh plumage in the trees directly above the office. WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES are nesting for the second year in a reddish nestbox on an old phone pole about 100' down the creekside trail from the parking lot. --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]] Sun Mar 29 09:19:47 1998 Hi Everyone-- On Friday morning I visited Bowers Park. The Hooded Orioles are not in yet, but there are 4 BULLOCK'S ORIOLES in the sycamore trees. A male ALLEN'S HUMMINGBIRD was feeding in the eucalyptus trees across the creek at the softball field. I then went over to Ed Levin Park. Quiet there; another male Allen's was in the group picnic area. On a whim I then drove over Mt Hamilton and through the San Antonio Valley. I saw at least 3 different GOLDEN EAGLES (an adult and 2 younger birds), a singing HOUSE WREN near the first major creek crossing past the A2Z ranch, 2 PHAINOPEPLAS in the sage north of The Junction, a PINE SISKIN with Lessers in the same area, a ROCK WREN along Mines Road (the road makes a bend around a large rock outcropping; I believe the area is around MP 19 in Alameda county, but I did not record the exact spot), and a pair of COMMON MERGANSERS in the creek a bit farther north. There's a lot of water in the valley, and the wildflowers are looking showy. 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]] Sun Mar 29 10:22:09 1998 On Saturday 3/28/98 at Coyote River Park at Anderson Dam in Morgan Hill, I saw a Huttons Vireo, a Rufous Crowned Sparrow, 20-25 Northern Rough Winged Swallows, 2 Common Mergansers and several California Thrashers. The Hutton's Vireo was seen in the trees near the small pond. The Common Mergansers (male & female) were in the pond. The Rufous Crowned Sparrow was along the road at the dam spillway, along with the 20-25 No Rough Winged Swallows that nest there every year. And 2 California Thrashers (obviously a mated pair) were singing on the hill side of the dam. To get to the park, take 101 to Morgan Hill, (south of San Jose), take the Cochran Ave exit, and go east about 2 miles, the park is on the left side of the road. I park in the first parking lot, and then walk through the park following the trail or road up the side of the dam. If you come to the area, you might as well try to see the Borrowing Owls on the other side of the freeway, take Cochran road west of the freeway, turn left on Sutter Blvd (at the Marie Callender's) and turn right at the first street Jarvis Drive. Most of the time, they can be seen at the end of Jarvis drive, but if not, then drive around the streets in the area (the streets form a square with dead end roads at each corner of the square). Also keep an eye out for the Golden Eagle that seems to be fairly resident. Gary Meyer ========================================================================== 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 Mar 29 12:35:10 1998 All: Yesterday (28 March), I visited the Sunnyvale WPCP. Finding nothing unusual on the ponds, I briefly birded the eucalytpus along the road, seeing a WILSON'S and 4 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, a male RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, and a pair of nest-building crows. I then birded the Alviso area. I spent quite a bit of time studying the swallow flock in the Arzino Ranch/San Jose WPCP area, but a single TREE SWALLOW was the only species other than 450+ VIOLET-GREEN, 500 CLIFF, and 75 BARN SWALLOWS (Rough-winged and more Tree Swallows were at CCRS later). The flooded fields on Arzino Ranch had only 3 CATTLE EGRETS, but a flooded field NW of the junction of Zanker and Hwy. 237 (scoped from the overpass at 237) had 8 LESSER and 32 GREATER YELLOWLEGS. A total of 90 MEW GULLS and 140 BONAPARTE'S GULLS were still hanging around the WPCP. At CCRS, I had several BULLOCK'S ORIOLES and a WILSON'S WARBLER, and 5 GREATER SCAUP were still with 7 LESSERS in one of the sludge ponds. By simply paying a little closer attention to the KILLDEER I saw at various places in the Alviso area, I found six nests with eggs while birding the area; 5 of these were on or along the edges of active roads. Later in the afternoon, Heather, Rebecca, and I had 3 PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS and a WARBLING VIREO at Stevens Creek County Park. Today (29 March), the three of us took a walk at Almaden Lake Park and along Alamitos Creek. Highlights included two pairs of COMMON MERGANSERS, a CLARK'S GREBE, 10 THAYER'S GULLS, 2 HOUSE WRENS, and 5 each of HOODED and BULLOCK'S ORIOLES.  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 Mar 29 12:52:49 1998 On Saturday, March 28 SFBBO sponsored a field trip to Elkhorn Slough/Moss Landing and the shoreline of Monterey Bay. Highlights included Red-necked Grebe (Moss Landing, Coast Guard Pier in Monterey) White-winged Scoter (Moss Landing and Monterey Harbor) Northern Fulmar (Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey) Sooty Shearwater (Pt. Pinos) Mew Gull (Coast Guard Pier in Monterey) Black-legged Kittiwake (El Torito & Coast Guard Pier in Monterey) Details: At Moss Landing we observed RED-THROATED LOON, RED-NECKED GREBE, WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, LONG-BILLED CURLEW, and RUDDY TURNSTONE, as well as numerous Sea Otters, (I know they aren't birds, but they sure are enjoyable to watch). The large gull flock was not here (9-10am, high tide) and we did not observe the Laughing Gull. At Elkhorn Slough we observed both the Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets at the rookery, some were apparently incubating eggs. Other highlights included WHITE-TAILED KITES (displaying), ALLEN'S HUMMINGBIRD (displaying), PACIFIC- SLOPE FLYCATCHER, TREE SWALLOW, N. ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW, BARN SWALLOW, ORANGE- CROWNED WARBLER, and WILSON'S WARBLER. Unfortunately, it was getting quite windy by the time we got to the willows and oaks. In Monterey, we observed BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE while eating lunch at El Torito, a lunch-lifer for all participants! Another kittiwake was also observed at the Coast Guard Pier. Also near the CG Pier were a basic plumage RED-NECKED GREBE, COMMON MURRE, PIGEON GUILLEMOT, and MEW GULL. We were able to get close views here of breeding plumage Brandt's and Pelagic Cormorants. The Brandt's Cormorant is particularly striking with it outrageous blue gular pouch, aquamarine eyes, and plumes on the sides of its head. Also from this vantage point we observed an intermediate plumage NORTHER FULMAR feeding with cormorants and pelicans at Fisherman's Wharf. From a distance it sits high in the water and appears much like a giant phalarope. At Pt. Pinos we observed numerous SOOTY SHEARWATERS close to shore. On shore we observed BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, RUDDY TURNSTONE, BLACK TURNSTONE, SURFBIRD, BLACK OYSTERCATCHER, and GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL. In all a very enjoyable day, despite ominous thunderstorms which seemed to go just north and south of our route. Despite a relaxed pace, we totaled 95 species. Leader: Tom Ryan Participants: Irene Contreras, George and Marty Oetzel, Chris Shoemaker, Vivek Twari Good birding, Tom ******************************************** Tom Ryan San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory P.O. Box 247 1290 Hope St. Alviso, CA 95002 (408) 946-6548 (408) 946-9279 fax [[email protected]] "While in my own estimation my chief profession is ignorance, yet I sign my passport applications and my jury evasions as Ornithologist." - William Beebe ========================================================================== 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 Mar 29 13:33:50 1998 Hi Birders - This morning, Kent Van Vuren and I checked some of the usual spots in North San Benito County and south Santa Clara County. On my way to his house, I stopped by the intersection of Castroville Blvd. and Highway 156 (Castroville, Monterey County), where a BURROWING OWL had been seen on a couple of occasions. It was there again this morning. After picking Kent up, we drove along Frazier Lake Road where we saw a beautiful GOLDEN EAGLE in San Benito County. San Felipe lake had lots of VIOLET-GREEN, TREE and NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS, as well as the usual COOTS and other water birds. Interesting, were the four GREAT-BLUE HERON nests in the willows in the middle of the lake. On to Lover's Lane, Fry Road and Lake Road. In the fields just south of the intersection of Shore and Lake Roads, two BURROWING OWLS were present. We then went to the county line on San Felipe Road where we saw 6 COMMON MERGANSERS along the creek and several LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCHES in the pine trees by the residences (Santa Clara Co.). A couple of OAK TITMICE were there, too. Further north in Santa Clara County, at least one CASSIN'S KINGBIRD was calling and singing from the middle eucalyptus on the east side of the road. The Hollister Sewage Ponds were closed, but you need permission to enter anyway. We scoped these ponds from the outside and from the top of the hill just outside the fenced area and saw approximately 220 SANDERLING. According to Kent, that is equal to the most ever seen in one place in San Benito County. A beautiful male BULLOCK'S ORIOLE was flying between the eucalytptus trees there, and another CASSIN'S KINGBIRD flew over us calling. The industrial ponds (just south of the San Benito River on the northern outskirts of Hollister) and San Justo Reservoir turned up nothing of note. The large pond on Southside Road near the public works yard was very full, the San Benito River having cut through the levee and filling it up. It doesn't look like AMERICAN BITTERNS will be nesting there this year. The road to Paicines south of Hollister is still closed 4 miles south of Tres Pinos. That is all. Good birding to everyone. 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 Mar 29 15:55:48 1998 Today on Alamitos Road right by the bridge upstream from Twin Creeks I found an AMERICAN DIPPER. Later I ran into John Mariani, who went up there and found a pair of them, so perhaps they are nesting under that bridge. On Almaden Reservoir, a SPOTTED SANDPIPER and 5 COMMON MERGANSERS. In the sycamore grove above Sandy Wool Lake in Ed Levin Park a singing HOUSE WREN. -- 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 Mar 29 17:45:56 1998 Howdy South-bay-birders, Today (Sunday) Jolene Lange and I went birding along Alamitos Creek and upstream from Almaden Reservoir at Twin Creeks. Heard 2 HOUSE WRENS, the first one at Twin Creeks and the second at New Almaden--these are the first I've detected this spring. PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS have also returned to those areas. Ran into Tom Grey, and he told us he had just seen an AMERICAN DIPPER upstream from Twin Creeks. We went up there to have a look, and found a pair right where he had found them, at the first bridge past Twin Creeks. They have nested here before, and from their behavior I suspect a nest is nearby. Along the path between Graystone Lane and Almaden Lake, along Alamitos Creek, there were more PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS, 1-2 BULLOCK'S ORIOLES, a singing RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW, a pair of COMMON MERGANSERS, and COOPER'S and SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS. Watched a TURKEY VULTURE munching on a drake MALLARD down in the creekbed. Pretty good day-- John Mariani [[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 Mar 29 23:08:09 1998 Hi South-bay-Birders, Jolene & I went down to Morgan Hill late this afternoon to look for the Burrowing Owls at the end of Jarvis Drive. Found a pair of them perched atop a land developer's sign there--looks like they are due to be evicted-- John Mariani [[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 Mar 30 09:31:54 1998 All, While heading to the San Jose Airport on Saturday 3/28/98, I was treated to an OSPREY flying north over highway 101 at the Guadalupe River. These birds are probably nesting somewhere in the county by now - keep looking! 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]] Mon Mar 30 09:40:19 1998 On Sunday, March 29, Jeanne Leavitt and I saw a pair of COMMON MERGANSERs sleeping on a log in the middle of the Guadalupe River in San Jose north of Trimble, across from the middle of the Viking truck yard. - 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 Mar 30 09:43:40 1998 On Saturday morning in Ed Levin park, a Rufous Hummingbird provided nice looks in an oak near the Elms picnic area. (I had about 6 male Selasphorus in all, mostly quite uncooperative.) Bullock's Orioles were in good evidence. At the Environmental Education Center in Alviso, the Yellow Warbler was still present -- strange looking in mid-moult. (As on a couple of previous tries, I failed to notice any Hummngbirds at all, much less the hybrid individual.) Several Horned Grebes in the pond on the north side of Grand by Spreckels were in a location where I haven't previously seen them. An impressive horde of Swallows was in this area, as Steve has already noted. In early afternoon at the Palo Alto Baylands, 9 of the Black Skimmers were on the new island which serves as a high-tide roost spot (except at super-high tides); I assume the rest were somewhere in the area. Shorebirds coming in to the old Yacht basin on the outgoing tide included two Whimbrels. One Black- Bellied Plover was already in full alternate plumage, and a number of Dunlin and Western Sandpipers were en route to it. Cheers, Al Eisner ========================================================================== 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 Mar 30 10:27:57 1998 Hello All, Caralisa Hughes and I visited Lake Cunningham on Sunday, Mar 29, and here are some of the birds we saw: An imm/female-type RED-BREASTED MERGANSER The imm LESSER BLACK-BLACKED GULL seen on a rock at the cormorant-roosting island Several TRI-COLORED BLACKBIRDS in with the Red-winged Blackbird/Brewer's Blackbird flock by the boat house We had a total of six gull species: California Gull (lots), Ring-billed Gull (lots), Herring Gull (one adult, one imm), Thayer's Gull (one imm), Bonaparte's Gull (several on the lake), and of course, the LBBG. And then there were many more gulls out in the middle of the lake that we couldn't ID. Also a few FORSTER'S TERNS were seen swooping and diving over the lake. And that's it for now - Ann Verdi ========================================================================== 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 Mar 30 12:03:26 1998 On Saturday morning in Ed Levin park, a Rufous Hummingbird provided nice looks in an oak near the Elms picnic area. (I had about 6 male Selasphorus in all, mostly quite uncooperative.) Bullock's Orioles were in good evidence. At the Environmental Education Center in Alviso, the Yellow Warbler was still present -- strange looking in mid-moult. (As on a couple of previous tries, I failed to notice any Hummngbirds at all, much less the hybrid individual.) Several Horned Grebes in the pond on the north side of Grand by Spreckels were in a location where I haven't previously seen them. An impressive horde of Swallows was in this area, as Steve has already noted. In early afternoon at the Palo Alto Baylands, 9 of the Black Skimmers were on the new island which serves as a high-tide roost spot (except at super-high tides); I assume the rest were somewhere in the area. Shorebirds coming in to the old Yacht basin on the outgoing tide included two Whimbrels. One Black- Bellied Plover was already in full alternate plumage, and a number of Dunlin and Western Sandpipers were en route to it. Cheers, Al Eisner ========================================================================== 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 Mar 30 12:53:42 1998 On Saturday, 28 Mar 98, I started out at the Guadalupe River. I had about 120 CEDAR WAXWINGS fly overhead, and 2 female COMMON MERGANSERS were on the river. There wasn=92t a lot of activity, but a single LINCOLN=92S SPARROW popped up from the undergrowth, and a couple WILSON=92= S and ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS were singing. = Later, at CCRS, the GREAT HORNED OWL was still on the nest, sitting as though it were incubating eggs. A WHITE-THROATED SWIFT was overhead with the swallows. On Sunday, 29 Mar 98, I started the day at Stevens Creek Park. Like Mike Rogers, I was able to find singing WARBLING VIREOS along the creek below the dam. Also here, an ANNA=92S HUMMINGBIRD was feeding half-grown young in a nest in an oak tree. Two female NORTHERN FLICKERS seemed to be courting a single male. They hopped about on branches near the male, spreading their tails and wagging their heads from side to side. Later, at the Villa Maria picnic area, a male flicker was digging a nest hole. At the bottom of the spillway, a basic-plumaged SPOTTED SANDPIPER was foraging and bathing. TOWNSEND=92S WARBLERS were singing up a storm, and = a small flock of AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES were eating buds from a valley oak. A single male OSPREY flew by, heading in a northerly direction. Perhaps a migrant? A RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER was still around at the Villa Maria picnic area. I finally heard a BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER at this picnic area too. Later, along Coyote Creek just outside of work, I found an adult WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. Then today, 30 Mar 98, at lunch time I heard it singing across the creek from where I found 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 Mar 30 13:04:01 1998 A Sunday morning walk along the Corte Madera trail to the Escobar Gate at Jasper Ridge with Bill Gomez to study vegetation was enhanced by some nice birding. Two SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS chased over a hillside dazzling with lupines. Also seen, COOPER'S HAWK and 1-2 GOLDEN EAGLES (adult). ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS were singing in abundance. I heard a BULLOCK'S ORIOLE but was not able to located it. A selasphorus hummingbird blazed by near the Escobar Gate; if my non-binocular view of it's back was accurate, it was a rufus. The ranger mentioned a Barn Owl in a valley oak near the serpentine grassland. As we approached the tree, I saw a Barn Owl-sized and -colored bird move up above the opening. The wildflowers in the serpentine grassland were fabulous; I've already forgotten the names! ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS have reached the 2200 ft. elevation in the Santa Cruz Mtns. I heard several and saw one this morning. A week ago, an OAK TITMOUSE was carrying food near my house. Les ========================================== Les Chibana, Mountain View [[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 Mar 30 15:11:36 1998 All: The female/immature male Black Scoter was still in Salt Pond A1 Sunday afternoon, with the big raft of Surf Scoters. No visible Sora near the pumphouse at the Forebay. The group of Blue-Winged Teal remains, rather hidden, in the reedy area of the North Pond, PAFCB. 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]] Mon Mar 30 15:19:28 1998 Today, 30 Mar 98, at lunch time I had a pair of COMMON MERGANSERS on Coyote Creek, just outside work, which is just north of Shady Oaks Park. 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 Mar 31 07:22:45 1998 After the SFBBO Monterey trip Sat, Marty and I stayed two nights at the Carmel River Inn, right by the bridge on Hwy 1. We totaled 25 species on the Inn grounds, primarily in the early mornings. Of most interest was an active Red Shouldered Hawk nest on the grounds, in a large tree between cabins 19 & 20. We scoped the nest from an open field and saw the mother bird sitting. Most of the time, her head was barely visible, but she raised it and looked out for awhile, facing directly at us. The male bird was often perched in nearby trees and also frequently heard. ================================ 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]] Tue Mar 31 08:10:39 1998 Folks: Last week Rita and Rosalie described an unusual Barn Swallow and raised the possibility that this was one of the old world subspecies. Referring to the book "Swallows and Martins" by A. Turner and C. Rose (1989), the nominate form _Hirundo rustica rustica_ breeds in Europe and into Russia while our North American bird is _erythrogaster_. As Rosalie points out the Asian subspecies _gutturalis_ is more likely in western North America. There are also a number of subspecies around the Mediterranean with limited ranges. Turner and Rose illustrate both _rustica_ and _erythrogaster_, but not _gutturalis_. _Rustica_ is very distinctive with its creamy underparts and a wide breast band, unlike our own _erythrogaster_ with its orange underparts and a breast band reduced to patches along the chest. Both subspecies show a rich orange-chestnut forehead and throat. The band separating the throat and chest on _rustica_ is quite wide. I don't know whether this band is thinner in _gutturalis_ and matches Rita's "thinnish dark band." _Rustica_ is a larger bird with wing span of 118-129 mm compared to _erythrogaster_ with 114-126 mm. Most of us would probably have trouble seeing this difference on flying or perched birds. By comparison, Bank Swallow has a wingspan of 103-109 mm and is very noticeable by size in a group of swallows. Rita's specific question was how often _gutturalis_ occurs in Santa Clara County and my limited research (and library) suggests that it has not been recorded here. The AOU's Fifth Edition of the Check-List of North American Birds records _gutturalis_ from Alaska, but nowhere else in North America. The Sixth Edition dropped consideration of subspecies and I have not received my copy yet of the much awaited Seventh Edition (any day now). From Rosalie's description this bird appeared to be in a delayed molt ("a tail considerably shorter than that of the "usual" Barn Swallow next to it on the wire"). This certainly raises the question of whether the bird was hormonally-challenged to use the proper PC phrase. 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 Mar 31 11:23:51 1998 All, FWIW, in August '96 I saw a Barn Swallow in Foster City with white underparts but a thin breast band. At the time, I discounted it as an extreme variant, and didn't take any notes. My fuzzy recollection of Barn Swallows in Hong Kong is that their black breast band was noticably wider than that of the North American race. Cheers, Adam Winer [[email protected]] San Mateo, 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 Mar 31 14:46:18 1998 Hi South Bay birders, Today (31 Mar.) I made a trip to Santa Clara Co. to look at gulls and try for the Alviso Calypte. I missed the hummingbird again, but I did see some gulls. At CCRS, most of the birds were in the smaller body of water west of the Waterbird Pond. A first-year GLAUCOUS GULL was among the other gulls there, along with two THAYER'S GULLS (one first and one second-year) and one of those "giant Thayer's things" that may or may not be Herring x Glaucous-winged (or H. x Glaucous) hybrids. The Glaucous Gull still had quite a bit of smudging on the body, but the wings were entirely pure white, coverts and all. I arrived at Lake Cunningham at noon and immediately found the second-year LESSER BLACK-BACKED-type GULL perched on a pole on the small island on the east side of lake. I drove around to that side and had excellent views of the bird as it preened at close range and flew around the lake. Unfortunately, I was only able to study it until 1:00, when it disappeared and the rain became very heavy. Still a great bird to see - thanks to everyone who has posted updates on its presence. On the way home I took a wrong turn and ended up at Shoreline Lake, where I saw the BLACK SCOTER. 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]]