Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!yale!cmcl2!beta!unm-la!unmvax!nmtsun!john
From: john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Birding (NOT parrots)
Message-ID: <6@nmtsun.nmt.edu>
Date: 18 Mar 88 05:47:52 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Zoological Data Processing
Lines: 71
Keywords: seasons, Northern California, southwest New Mexico

May I interrupt all this flaming with some BIRDING stuff?  And by the
way, I vote in favor of parrot postings; I'm interested in bird
behavior, and I learn interesting things from aviculturists.  Don't
you parrot-haters have an `n' key on your terminals?

I agree with Mike Mammoser that summer is kind of slow in California;
Palo Alto Baylands is more exciting in the winter.  My favorite
summertime birding in Northern California was the coast.  Try
Pescadero Rock for Surfbird, Wandering Tattler, maybe a Rock Sandpiper
if you're lucky.  Moss Landing and Bodega Bay are also great.

My favorite beach access is a little ways north of A\~no Nuevo.
Driving south on S.R. 1 from the northern boundary of San Mateo
County, go south to milepost ``3.88 SM'' and look for the small blue
state park sign.  There is a short hike over the grasslands down to
the shore.  Where the trail joins the beach there is an excellent
tide-pooling area of vast extent during very low tides.  Hiking south
along the beach leads along both sandy and rocky beaches and will
usually provide views of Black Oystercatcher, both turnstones, Snowy
Plover, Wandering Tattler, and various sandpipers.  Turn back if you
see elephant seals; this area is closed during their breeding season.
Keep an eye open for Black Swift and Brant.

And for you Silicon Valley birders, don't miss Stevens Creek Park.
It's a short drive from the computer factories: take Foothill
Expressway under I-280 and keep going.  I like the first turnoff to
the left (below the dam), which leads to two parking lots---both the
lower and the upper have their merits.  Areas 3 and 4, well above the
dam, are good for hiking in cool shade.  Anywhere in this park you
might hear the subtle but glorious song of the California Thrasher.

New Mexico has four good birding seasons.  Winter is best for the
spectacle of massed waterfowl and cranes at the Bosque del Apache and
Bitter Lake refuges.  Spring and fall produce many migratory species
that don't winter or breed.  Breeding season is the best time to look
for Painted and Varied Bunting, Bell's and Gray Vireos, and other
southwestern specialties.

I just got back from three days birding in southwest New Mexico, and
it was great.  Common Black-Hawks return early, and we found one on
the Gila River above Cliff.  Horned Grebe is rare in this state, so
the one in partial breeding plumage at Evans Lake was a real find.
After a long time looking, I finally managed to see Black-tailed
Gnatcatcher in the state, near San Simon Cienaga.

I've been trying to find Abert's Towhee and Bendire's Thrasher for a
long time.  I've always thought of them together since they are (1)
dryland species, (2) named after early western zoologists, and (3)
rather localized in their distribution.  I finally ticked both
species---in the same day.  The towhee was a little ways downstream
from the Gila River bridge at Virden, NM (we also saw Verdin there---I
wonder if the names are related?).  It likes HEAVY brush, and stays in
it, worse than a Brown Towhee.  This bird looks a lot more like the
California race of Brown Towhee than the Rocky Mountain Brown Towhees
we see around here.

We saw Bendire's Thrasher on a dirt county road from Steins to Summit,
NM, while scanning the flowering spikes of yucca plants.  I had seen a
Bendire's Thrasher in the flight cage at the Desert Museum in Tucson
some years before, so I knew what to look for.  The bill was scarcely
decurved and only a bit over half as long as the bill of a Curve-
billed Thrasher.

Taxonomic note: I have heard rumors of possible splits in two
species, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher and Brown Towhee.  In both
cases, the California forms are reputed to be distinct.  Anybody
heard anything concrete?
-- 
John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, New Mexico
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  ``If you can't take it, get stronger.'' --Falline Danforth