A Late March Flurry of Annoyances

    Sorry for the recent lack of posts. Anyways the last few weeks were very hectic with several intermittent visits to various places. As a picture is worth a thousand words, here are over 50,000 words. 

Blue skies at San Francisquito Delta.

Ok I'm seriously pissed. The Boardwalk at the Palo Alto Baylands is one of the most beautiful places in our little town and they're closing it? They say that it will begin reconstruction sometime this fall but judging from many other projects here like the libraries which were supposed to take one, maybe two but have taken 5 or more years and are still not done, that will likely not happen. So there goes the best place to find clapper rails in the Bay Area. I guess I'm really lucky that I saw them earlier this year....

Butterflies came out of nowhere after the heat wave-ish of the week of 3/10. During the 17th, I saw several of these anise swallowtails, along with my first checkered skippers of the year.

Nectaring on Prince of Madeira outside of the Baylands. The weird colors are caused by my phone hating on the direct sunlight.

On the same day I got my first monarch, seeing 3 of them in the same area as the swallowtails.

Honeybee on a Prunus flower

Byxbee Park late afternoon

On the 22nd I visited Eleanor Pardee Park again as I went over to a friend's house to work on a group project. At the park, I saw this pile of feathers so a hawk has likely had a nice, hearty meal. Additionally, my first gulf fritillary of the year was flying around the test garden. The highlight of that trip was discovering 2 pygmy nuthatches, a county lifer. Although this bird was literally the second bird I saw during this year, as I woke up January 1st in the Sierras, seeing these in SC County, especially so far down from the mountains and in an area practically devoid of pine trees is fairly rare. The 2 adorable individuals were entering holes in a tall date palm, perhaps a breeding pair? 

A Himalayan blackberry infested area of the Matadero Creek next to the Bay Trail. This plant smothers native vegetation and chokes out the land like this. I think it has fairly good value for birds due to thick growth and plenty of spines for protection but native plants are likely better habitat. Near here, I got lifer and yearbird #146 the BULLOCK'S ORIOLE. This bird is another code 1 for the area that I somehow managed to miss last summer despite its quite flashy coloration.

Boxelder also at Matadero Creek. Not sure if this is part of the California subspecies or a planted tree.

Some walnut species. 

Great blue heron trying to hide at the Emily Renzel Wetlands. In these cattails, I again experienced the phenomenon where after I get a lifer / seen lifer, it will suddenly become common. In this case, after actually seeing my first elusive and shy (at least I thought so) marsh wren in Shoreline on the 9th this month after ~6 months since I started ebird, 2 marsh wrens were in plain view not even minding my presence. Then again it could be because it's breeding season. Oh well, I should not be complaining

Random mushroom to spice up your day

Palo Alto Flood Control Basin with a soul unfortunate enough to get captured within the photo.

Guess that's the end of the path...

Pretty, pretty rainbow on the way back. The chorus of marsh wrens and song sparrows was quite amazing with the combination of this scene.

Highlights of the Flood Control Basin: First of year Violet-green and Northern rough-winged swallows and a female common pheasant flushed from cattails

Canada goose with mustards at Mayfield Slough

    On Friday, 3/28, my mentor was not there as I arrived at lab. I then checked my texts and I realized that he told me earlier. Oops. However, I took this excellent opportunity to go exploring, going to Lake Lagunita and then the Dish. On that day, as I brought a small point-and-shoot camera to get pictures of my balloon project, I got some pictures of things not within 3 feet of me. Speaking of Stanford, the prior Friday to that, I had a major discovery of my life. As I was observing a dove high up in a eucalyptus via binoculars on the way home from lab, I noticed small, blurry objects zipping in the background. I then refocused and realized that they were swallows! As I removed my binoculars, I could not make them out at all. The birds were flying so high that I could not see them with the naked eye! Later, I decided to test this out again and there they were again. As I crossed Embarcadero and got into Palo Alto High School, I again tested this method and what did I see? A bunch of swallows flying high above me. As an added bonus, it was then that I added my first of year white-throated swifts as several of them were joining their swallow friends. Anyways, mind = blown.

This baby squirrel was by Lake Lagunita and was quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen. However, no adult squirrels were to be found and I really hope that it wasn't abandoned or injured as it is a nice bite-sized snack for almost anything. Additionally on this tree was a lovely pair of Bullock's orioles.

Things this cute should not exist. Good luck!!!

Lake Lagunita and rainclouds. A great blue heron is somewhere in those grasses.

Lovely blue oak starting to leaf out.

Where's the bird in this picture?

Hidden mourning dove. Two of these were in this grassy plain, perhaps nesting nearby.

A nice meadow in Frenchman's Park, where I unsuccessfully searched for a recently reported Pacific-slope flycatcher by the streambed willows.

Overexposed picture of part of the Dish Trail. The hills were great but the winds were heavy. I tried searching for a recently reported grasshopper sparrow which was heard only at the summit.

Hey ground squirrel I am literally 3 feet ABOVE you. I really hope you don't think you're invisible. At least stop eating!

Gotta love the panorama sweep on my point-and-shoot. Too bad it looks really awk on this blog.

Western bluebird enjoying the fence to himself

Artsy dead tree

Unfortunately in the great winds of the summit, no grasshopper sparrow called. Oh well. As I descended the hills, I got my only first of year: 2 California quails. Sad to say, they were also a county lifer.... I don't usually go into mountainous regions.

    On the 29th, I went on a birding expedition with my team of 1 person during a break in the inclement weather. Being prepared, I wore waterproof ski pants over sweat pants and 2 layers of jackets. Additionally, I had a plastic bag to store electronic equipment if the rain got too bad. You go Jasen. You go. On the trip, I biked through Shoreline, along Salt Ponds A1, A2W, A2E, A3W to the Sunnyvale Water Treatment Pollution Control Plant and then came back. 

If you zoom in a ton on this picture right above the tree, you will notice a darker area. That was a giant swarm of gnats. I biked through something like 5 giant swarms so perhaps the rain caused them to emerge.

Lovely road (of invasive plants) beside Salt Pond A3W. Taken while biking. Do not do as I do.

Nice view of mustards.

My only year bird of the day also turned out to be a lifer: the RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. The last of the 3 mergansers in the world to be seen woohoo. This horrid picture was pseudo-digiscoped, as there was a convenient scope, telescope whatever thingie for public use at the place and I used my point-and-shoot to attempt getting the shot. 4 of these quite interesting looking diving ducks were present in Salt Pond A3W. It's only a matter of time before they along with many other ducks migrate to their northern breeding grounds.

These migratory birds on the other hand are moving in from the south for the summer. Hundreds of swallows (barn, cliff, Northern rough-winged, and violet-green - not too sure about tree) were flocking everywhere that day. Also some white-throated swifts were joining them in flight.

The marsh near the Sunnyvale WPCP had several marsh wren nests. The dark blob in the middle is it. Such a cute little housing container. As I used binoculars to scan this area, I noticed an odd shaped lump which turned out to be a Western pond turtle!

As I looked back on my return trip from the WPCP, I gasped in horror and awe as I saw this terrifying yet beautiful scene of pouring rainclouds directly on the trail.

As I got to Salt Pond A3W, it starting drizzling as shown above. As I got to Salt Pond A2E, it started pouring. The rain got so torrential that it got misty all around and visibility was severely lowered. As the trail here was basically a levee surrounded on both sides by water with no tall features to take shelter under, it was almost scary. I just hoped that I wouldn't get struck my lightning which thankfully did not happen. I'll try to post a video soon. The most amazing thing was that the birds did not care at all. The Forster's terns which have returned for the summer were still happily fishing and flying about, songbirds were still singing, and swallows were still filling the sky above me. Additionally, as the rain got so heavy I had to bike looking down-ish, I noticed that from the side, a large flock of sandpipers with at least a hundred members materialized from the misty rain and split as they flew around me, flying in to feast in the Crittenden Marsh. It was beautiful.

    I then biked through the windy downpour and "roosted" for several minutes in the shelter of the Shoreline Lakeside Cafe's eaves. There, I checked my electronics, which were thankfully fine despite my completely soaked clothing. I then slipped them into a plastic bag, got my mind ready, and then continued on the journey home through the precipitation. Because of my preparations earlier, I was very dry after removing my outermost layer of clothing. Next time I'll bring something to make sure my shoes don't get soaked. Speaking of next time, would I do this again? YES. 

    On Sunday, 3/30, I again went to Shoreline, this time armed with the normal digital camera and this time without rain. According to weather reports, this would be one of the few days during my week long spring break without rain so I made sure to make the most of this trip. 

Colorful Bullock's oriole. Yep I was blind last year.

House finch taking over an old swallow's nest. The returning barn swallows also seem to be nesting, building new homes nearby.

Skimmers enjoying their day basking on the island with other shorebirds.

Flight of the shorebirds with avocets, marbled godwits, and peeps

A lovely red-tailed hawk with some missing tail feathers.

For those who have problems with differentiating between Forster's terns (or any other terns) and planes, here is a comparison shot. Note the squared off primaries on the plane.

Lifer #195 and Year bird # 151 the EURASIAN WIGEON! All winter I have been searching for this bird everywhere. Oh god now that I look at the photo again it looks like a hybrid. Oh god.

Yeah it looks like a hybrid with that head patterning........ About as trollsome as a bird can get... THIS ISN'T FUNNY. WHY MUST YOU MATE WITH A DIFFERENT SPECIES. JUST WHY. Oh well at least hybrid ducks are always "interesting". I wonder how common / rare hybrids are in this county.

At the kite-flying area I got my "other" lifer of the day. There were 2 WESTERN KINGBIRDs flitting about in coyotebushes near the white picket fence on the left side of the area from the entrance

Such a pretty bird. All of my pictures were terrible but with binoculars I saw clear white feathers on the edge of the tail, eliminating the rarer Cassin's kingbird and the beak was not long enough to be the tropical kingbird. Too bad these guys couldn't be as photogenic as the tropical kingbird from November last year.

What a fine looking savannah sparrow.

I hoped that the overwintering Northern waterthrush would finally make an appearance in the cloudy weather as I searched the marsh for maybe the 5th time since fall of last year. Oh well the birds may have moved on already. At least there were these mallards. Great consolation prize.

Another picture taken while biking

American avocets in Charleston Slough feeding

Contrary to what you may think, these are terns rather than planes (note the primaries)

Well that wigeon conundrum certainly was one huge pain. And this was one gigantic post. Anyways, until next time enjoy life and love nature!