N55DL5S Bulletin ofthe Sequoia Auduhon Socie~v. San Mateo County Volume 53, No. 4 • Founded 1949 April-May 2003 CHRISTMAS BIRDCOUNT Monthly Meetings HIGHLIGHTS San Mateo Garden Center PRESIDENT'S LETTER (See proxram details on paxe 2) llY AI. DEMARTINI April Our Conservation Committee at 1 Thursday, 10 h, 7:30PM Work The results of Sequoia Audubon's 2002-2003 Christmas Bird Count arc now Program: Birding Thailand BY MARTHA O'NEAL MACHO available on the National Audubon website May at www.audubon.org/bird/CBC. This arti­ Thursday, 8th' 7:30PM Having a recognized name in cle summarizes major findings trom our Program: Natural History ofAfio environmental matters, Sequoia counts. Nuevo Audubon receives requests li.lf our input June into a variety of issues: site clean-up, SPECIES IDENTIFIED Thursday, 12th, 7:30PM planning for wetland dredging and We have two count circles, counted on Program: Natural History of Kenya restoration, new planting~ of vegetation different days. The counts are named after and Tanzania that will encourage birds, endangered their more-or-less center points. The day bird studies from groups f()rming to of our Crystal Springs count was pleasant preserve remaining open areas, and in the morning, but around noon down­ Upcoming Field Trips infrastructure repair or expansion, among pours sent most of us running for cover. (See trip details on page 3) others. Though some of our intrepid counters April stayed the course, our total species count Recently our Conservation Committee Saturday, 5th Bair Island* was 177, lower than usual. On the day of 1 wrote letters on two topics. One Sunday, 6 h Williams Sister's our Afio Nuevo count, which is often responds to PG & E's proposed damp, we had glorious weather, with a Ranch Birds and Wildflowers transmission towers in the 1-280 corridor a total species count of 176, a good number Saturday, Izth • ncar Edgewood Park. Sequoia Audubon for the coast. requests study oftheir efl\:ct on Cloverdale Coastal Ranch migrating and resident birds, and UNUSUAL OR RARE SPECIES FOUND Sunday 13th suggests consideration of underground Crvstl!_L_fu2rings count: Blue-wing Teal, Elkhorn Slough, Monterey Bay Area lines. Tufted Duck, Oldsquaw, Tennessee War­ Saturday 26th bler, Palm Warblers. The second letter addresses the proposed Filoli Estate, Woodside weakening ofthe Clean Water Act. We Afio Nuevo count: Blue-wing Teal, Sunday 27th Edgewood Park urge that the EPA and U.S. Army Corps Eurasian Wigeon, Wild Turkeys, Pacific of Engineers not expand the decision of Golden Plover, Red Knot, Yellow-bellied Sunday 27th the U.S. Supreme Court regarding one Sapsuckers (3), Western Flycatcher, Barn Mines Road, Livermore particular aspect ofthe Act to Swallows, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher. May jurisdiction over all areas allcctcd by the HIGH COUNTS Saturday, 3rd Bair Island* Act. The rules, as proposed, will Crystal fulli_ngs cmmt: There were record Saturday, 3rd further endanger wetlands and vernal numbers of Brown Pelicans, Semi pal mated pools, which will affect our local San Pedro County Park Plovers, Hermann's Gulls, Forster's Terns, habitat. Saturday, I oth and Common Ravens. We also continue to monitor Bair Island International Migratory Bird Day* ~fio Nuevo count: There were many high and the large Marina Shores Village Saturday, 17th counts, among them 75 Whimbrcls, 374 project across the slough from Bair Common Ravens, and l 0 Pileated Wood­ San Bruno Mountain* Island, and the San Francisco Airport peckers. Sunday, 25th Edgewood Park expansion, which is currently stalled as a result of decreased air travel. As usual, the counts were lim. Count .June locations were assigned to the volunteers Sunday l't Members interested in conservation may according to their capabilities. Peninsula Humane Society Wildlife join our Armchair Activist program, and all members arc welcome at Sequoia Center Sec you there this winter! Audubon conservation committee meet­ Weekend 7th _gth ings. For inli.lfmation call Cynthia Yuba Pass & Sierra Valley McLaughlin at 650-299-9469. • (( 'ontinued on page 3) Sequoia Audubon MEETING PROGRAMS Society BY SUE COSSINS OFFICERS Birding Thailand President by Francis Toldi 11 Martha O'Neal Macho 650-692-8138 Thursday, April 10t , 2003 • Past President Robin Smith 650-325-3306 SAS members Francis Toldi, Peter Vice-President Metropulos and Alan Wofchuck will Bill Bechtel! 650-728-3946 present a program on their recent trip to Second Vice-President Thailand. Thailand is a country of great Howard Rathlesberger 650-367-1296 physical beauty, with forests, temples, Secretary spectacular birds and warm-hearted people. any I'd ever seen before. just one Sue Cossins 650-347-9358 This program will focus on two of the red stripe on their shoulders, not at all Treasurer many regions of interest within Thailand: wide, and with no yellow stripe at all. I got Peter Grace 415-467-0343 Khao Yai National Park (forested a good look at them because I was outside DIRECTORS mountains in the central part of the eating a sausage and feeding them pieces '03' Peggy Bechtel!, Gary Deghi country) and Chiang Mai (a city in the far of bread, and they took some right out of '04' Merry Haveman, ClifT Richer north, including nearby peaks). my hand. My Field Guide to Western Birds •os' Rick Baird, Tom Vanden Bosch has no such creature in it. Of course since 'Term ending Natural History Of Afio Nuevo I've moved to Califixnia, I've often been by Ranger Frank Balthis STANDING COMMITTEES 11 confused. My knowledge of birds is almost Thursday, May 8t , 2003 Audubon Canyon Ranch Host all eastern, and there arc a lot orthings out Shirley Carpenter 650-343-4433 In addition to being a r------------------. here that aren't in Audubon Canyon Ranch seasonal ranger at Afio Monthly Meetings the books at all-­ Representative Nuevo State Reserve, San Mateo Garden Center goldfinches, for Francis Toldi, Rick Baird Frank Balthis is a example. Anyhow, Audit/Finance 605 Parkside Way, San Mateo professional natural ir anyone knows Rick Baird Parksidc Way is west ofA/ameda de las anything about this, . Bluebird Recovery history photographer. Pulgas. hctwecn 26th and 2Hth Avenues. I'd love to know. I Howard Rathlcshergcr 650-561-9532 I lis credits include ~----------------------~ Christmas Count books, magazines, Francis Toldi replies: AI De Martini 650-345-6988 calendars and his own line of wildlife cards Conservation Rot;tting Chair entitled "Nature's Design". lie has been Red-winged Blackbirds have a number of Call Robin Smith 650-325-3306 studying and photographing elephant seals dif1'crent subspecies. The most common Education since 1980 and has a thorough subspecies in Cali f(lrnia is the "Bi­ OPEN understanding of their behavior. His colored," which as its name suggests, has Field Trips presentation will cover, not only the only red on the otherwise black wing. The Carol Masterson 650-347-1769 rest of the country has subspecies that have Hospitality marine mammals, but also the birds and Eileen Kay 650-592-4626 natural history of Afio Nuevo. red and yellow in the wing. Given the typically eastern orientation of most bird Membership Natural History Tour Of Kenya And Teri Tith Concannon 650-637-1662 publications, for years West Coast birders Needles Editors Tanzania were baffled by the lack of yellow in "our" Kakali and Manoj Das by Bob and Sue Cossins redwings. Some of the more recent edi­ Programs Thursday, June 12th, 2003 tions of some guides (e.g. National Geo) Sue Cossins Join SAS members, Bob and Sue Cossins now illustrate our bird as well. Also note PO Box 755, Millbrae CA 94030 in reliving scenes of their recent trip to that sometime in winter you sec very worn 650-692-8138 East Africa. Some ofthc areas visited "eastern" types \\ith very little yellow [email protected] include Tarangire National Park, Lake showing (or red, for that matter). www.sequoia-audubon.org Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Olduvai Gorge, Scrcngcti Plains, Members are encouraged to submit Samburu Game Reserve, and Nakuru original or uncopyrighted material Sierra Club Training National Park. articles, artwork, cartoons, photos­ The Sierra Club I ,oma Prieta chapter is to be published in the Needles. The holding a political endorsement process deadline for the submission of RED WINGED training session on Saturday April 5, 2003 materials is the first day of the BLACK BIRDS from 9:30am-5pm in Palo !\Ito. Topics month preceding publication. Send include: candidate research and evalua­ comments and contributions to: Paul 0. Williams, a member, asks: tion, endorsements, campaign support, and sas _ [email protected] Do rcdwinged blackbirds hybridize? Re­ local political context. hlr more int(Jrma­ cently I was at the Foster City Costco and tion, contact Stephanie Schaaf at 0~ Printed on recycled paper saw two rcdwings that were dif1'erent from sas(iralumni.bnmn.edu or 650-428-1833. • liu<":"J 2 Sequoia Needles April-May 2003 ------------------·---·------~ FIELD TRIPS Upcoming Field Trips A BY CAROL MASTERSON (('ontinuedfi-om page I) need to car pool trom Pescadero to the • Bair Island Saturday 14111 entrance. Saturday, April 5, 9:00AM Leader: Rick Johnson 650-329-9639 Presidio Bird Hike & Quail Watch This trip is designed especially fix Saturday 21'1 Elkhorn Slough, Moss Landing, Mon­ beginners and families. Ask lots of terey Bay Area Burrowing Owls, Mountain View questions. Learn about birding and Sunday, April 13, 9:00AM July conservation. We have binoculars to Weekend 11 111 -14 111 share. Walking is easy on well developed Join us on this docent lead field trip to an flat trails. Directions: Take I Iwy I 0 I to area that is a bird "magnet". This area is a Audubon - Kern River Preserve the Whipple Ave.