The Lost Vagrant: February 2014

Hello all readers! Sorry for this late post. The last few weeks were hectic with all the annoyances of public high school combined with a sucky junior year. I did go birding however, on February 15th in the Baylands during the late afternoon.

Upon arrival, like always, I looked through the gulls on Duck Pond in attempt to find my last 2 common larids of the area: Bonaparte's (Usually they would be out on the mudflats but some reports were from here. On another note, I still can't believe that I don't have this bird for the year) and Thayer's. Of course, none of these 2 showed up. Or maybe a Thayer's gull was in there, cleverly and annoyingly disguising itself as a herring gull... I eagerly await for the day a Thayer's gull that shows obvious and exaggerated Thayer's gull features like a (super bright) purple orbital ring, rounded head with small bill, and an easily seen "string of pearls" on the edges of the open wings will come waltzing into my life. That day better happen and it better happen soon. :( Anyways, enough with my ranting and on with the report. Or actually first, some pictures!

The setting

Lovely little ring-billed gull

Relaxing ring-billed gull

Close-up ring-billed gull

Ring-billed gull trying to look like a mew gull

Ravenous ring-billed gulls with other assorted beggars. Ok enough with the ring-billed gulls let's now go to the rare and unusual birds of the day.

Swan goose going under railing. Such a rare bird. Too bad it doesn't count for my list because of ~~its domesticated status and as it is clearly an escapee or release by some local person~~ its extreme rarity.

Cute little pigeon

The bird every birder covets for their life lists: the mallard

A super-rare American coot. It even came with the bonus of sparkly water.

Basically, nothing was of much interest at Duck Pond. I then cycled into the park, passing by lovely saltmarsh brimming with the sounds of springtime - courting song sparrows, conversing rails, and yellowthroat chips. I stopped by an area by the airstrip running parallel to the trail in attempt to find the swamp sparrow that I had seen last November. According to reports, it was still around and there were apparently two. Unfortunately, all of the sparrows that came out of the thick vegetation and allowed me to actually see them were song sparrows. Oh well.

American avocet starting to show the orange head present in breeding plumage

Northern harrier on her afternoon hunt

Black-crowned night heron hiding out in the cordgrass

Common yellowthroat poking out his head nearby

Anna's hummingbird perch

If only I shot this a few fractions of a second later for the Northern shoveler's wings to be fully outstreched...

Song sparrow preparing to sing

Soon afterwards, I noticed some strange and erratic movement occurring around 50 feet away from me. Looking through my binoculars, I witnessed a most horrifying sight: a glaucous-winged gull killing a green-winged teal. This was quite similar to this video I watched a few years ago which had a giant Southern petrel eating a king penguin alive, starting from tearing out the innards from behind while the penguin was running, though it was far less gruesome. Still, the sight of one of my favorite ducks being pecked and getting its neck caught by the gull while flailing loose and running away just to get caught again was sad. Unfortunately, this is nature and nature does have its ugly side. It does seem strange though that an opportunistic feeder like a gull would choose to attack a duck that is fit enough to run away and struggle loose from grip.

Running away in vain

I then continued to bike forward. As it was around 4:30 pm, the sky was starting to darken. I stopped at the San Francisquito Creek Delta before heading home. The mudflats exposed by low tide coupled with hundreds of shorebirds, ducks, and gulls and setting sun background made a stunning view. Additionally, as I left, a lovely photogenic snowy egret made an appearance, giving me semi-good pictures.

I don't crop out power lines and I'm proud of it.

Bay Bridge views

Should have gotten more of the reflection. Oops.

Awkward wingtip reflection

I then finished off by biking past the Palo Alto golf course as I went towards Geng Road. On the golf course, I got my 2 county birds of the day: 3 greater white-fronted geese (also year birds) and 3 cackling geese. Both of these were hanging around with the golf course's numerous Canada geese and were quite distinctive, even in the dwindling light.

2 of the 3 greater white-fronted geese with a Canada goose for comparison. As I readied myself to get shots of the cackling geese, my camera just happened to run out of juice. Great.

Yesterday (2/23/14) I went to San Francisco for the Pacific Orchid Exposition. It was amazing show (just like every year) and one of my plants that I entered got several awards. Anyways, as I left the pavilion, my friends and I noticed a California sea lion swimming about the water, a first sighting of that mammal for this year. Additionally, I got a life bird at a most unexpected time! I saw a cormorant flying around 100 feet away. Looking through binoculars, I noticed the bird's slender profile and more importantly, white patches around the tail, revealing its identity as a PELAGIC CORMORANT, bringing my year list up to 136 species. I will likely not be able to bird for a while, as I am currently doing not very well in many classes. I now feel like the duck being killed by the gull, especially in math, where I for some reason just got failing grades for the last 2 tests. To make everything even worse, I'm breaking out again... My first world problems really suck. Hopefully that dream I had the other day of me birding in the Baylands, looking up, and seeing a magnificent frigatebird soaring overhead is foreshadowing some heavy positive change in the near future. I really wouldn't mind if it was a literal foreshadowing either. Anyways, until next time, enjoy life and appreciate nature!

Diving away

This morning I went searching for the recently reported bald eagles at Vasona Lake County Park while on a family outing. Biking through the area however did not lead to sightings of any bald eagles, or any birds of prey for that matter (excluding vultures). Oh well... The park did have a nice feeling of springtime, with birds starting to court and early spring flowers in full bloom. I did get a year bird: the extremely rare, not-ubiquitous-at-all Steller's jay.

My favorite weather :)

Ants I mean Coots

Cute, little killdeer

Did not expect to find a mew gull here. The dainty, dove-like Larid was found on the pier on the lake's west side.

Acorn woodpecker

Pretty little pied-billed grebe

Bewick's wren singing his heart out.

Yes, those are daisies

Fresh, spring growth of California sycamores

California buckeye sprouts stimulated by rain

Black-crowned Night Heron

American goldfinch

Following the bald eagle attempt, I biked up the beautiful Los Gatos Creek Trail to the not-so-beautiful ponds on Oka Road. Beside the trail in the creek, I got my only lifer for the day: the COMMON MERGANSER (seriously though, that took way too long...). A male/female pair were swimming together in some rapids, how appropriate for Valentine's Day. Additionally, a pair of hooded mergansers swam close by. At the Oka Ponds, I got my third year bird for the day: ring-billed ducks. Nothing else was too unusual.

Who can't love hooded mergansers?

Male common merganser incoming. Look at how streamlined these diving ducks are...

Female incoming

Reunited! No clue why they were at different ends of the stream though...

One happy couple.

A lovely golden carpet of fallen flowers

More pretty, pretty flowers

Ring-necked Duck

No ducks or cormorants seemed to care about the rules

Later during the day, my family went down to the Palo Alto Foothills Park. Unfortunately, I did not see anything of interest other than some pretty views. However, a chorus of life was singing as we arrived, including my first county WRENTIT. Also, I heard many "ribits" coming from moist meadows suggesting increased amphibian activity from the recent rains.