Reflections of May

    Four words to describe my feelings about school right now: I. Am. So. Done. May sucked with finals and other assorted annoying, unnecessarily stressful events. Anyways, now I have more time to do the things that I care about: tend my plants, go birding, sleep ample amounts, etc. In this past month, I often took walks as study breaks, taking my camera along with them.

Some of the last times that the 2 young ones would be together in this small nest

House finch visiting

Male hooded oriole turning into a golden arrow as it flies. Such a lovely bird.

5/10/14 trip to the Baylands. A yearbird just had to be seen, mocking the fact that I couldn't add it to my green list on the one trip here in forever that I took by car. 

Already the goslings are leaving their adorable looks as babies and starting to enter the teenage awkward period.

I present to you the bird of that fated hour: the red-necked phalarope. This bird is fairly unusual for this area, generally not being found in saltmarsh.

Of all the shorebirds, the phalaropes are by far my favorites. They are so weird and wonderful relative to the rest of their sandpiper relatives. First of all, they swim rather than wade, often spending parts of their lives in the ocean (for red-necked and red at least; Wilson's do not generally venture to pelagic areas) Secondly, they are polyandrous, meaning that females mate with several males rather than vice versa. Additionally, the females are more brightly colored. In this case, the bird was female. 

Annoyingly enough, as I made a quick trip by bike to the area a few days later, the bird was gone. Then again, what was I to expect? These birds are just passing through, heading north to breeding grounds in tundra lakes. 

Meanwhile, the avocets and stilts nearby were already breeding.

The ravens were also breeding. This nest was seen from windsail dock

Same with the swallows. Both barn and cliff swallows were seen flying underneath the windsail dock. This lovely fella is a barn swallow.

Late pair of American wigeons in the phalarope area

Hovering Forster's tern. 

This graceful bird made several dives but I could not react fast enough to capture them.

Black-necked stilt

    The following day on the 11th, my mom and I went to Foothills Park as a "mother's day gift". 

Before we left, I noticed that one of the chicks had left the nest. How inappropriate to leave on Mother's Day. Then again, it probably relieved a lot of stress on the mother.

This guy however took his sweet time leaving the nest. Preening.

Now scratching his face. I bid both of these 2 young ones good luck as they set off. Only something like 1/4 of them will survive past the first year in this cruel world. 

First yearbird was seen as soon as I stepped out of the car. In the picnic area, 2 ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERs were flitting around, a nice start to the day.

Chalcedon Checkerspot

Lorquin's Admiral

Common Ringlet

Chalcedon Checkerspot nectaring on coyote mint

Castilleja sp. in the chaparral

Pale swallowtail on manzanita

Didn't get a chance to open its wings very wide before flying off

California whiptail. What. A. Beauty.

Such beautiful coloration and patterning.

Mournful duskywing on its lookout post.

Weird blue-eyed grass flower on the left in contrast with the normal one on the right.

House finch and lesser goldfinch. Flying above were a large number of swallows. Mixed in with these swallows was my second yearbird of the year: the VAUX'S SWIFT.

At Boranda Lake, I saw this baby American coot (on the left with the bright red bill) with its parent close by.

Additionally there was a baby pied-billed grebe. I love the patterning on the heads of very young grebes like this one.

Cardinal meadowhawk

As I stepped into my shoes another day, I felt a sudden sharp pain. Quickly taking my foot out, I saw this little green guy jump out: a (European?) mantis nymph. 

Acmon blue seen at Ohlone elementary school with popsickle stick as size comparison.

Blackbirds enjoying a nice meal at the Michael's Restaurant of Shoreline Park

    Went for another short walk at the Foothills on the 24th. Mostly the usual wildlife seen with nothing out of the ordinary.

Common buckeye is greatly appreciated by the checkerspots and bees. Speaking of which, there was a bee colony on one of the trails, an interesting sight to see.

Mountain mahogany. I love the crazy-looking fruits of cercocarpi with their long tails, sometimes curved in other species. Surprisingly, these are in the rose family.

Chaparral clematis fruiting bodies

Start of summer with the California buckeyes losing their leaves to save water.

Two golden eagles provided a nice surprise as they flew over Wildhorse Valley.

Blue dasher by Boranda Lake

By the lake, a cooperative Hutton's vireo dropped in for a picture.

Western fence lizard showing beautiful turquoise scales

Freshly-emerged damselfly that has yet to color up.

American robin eating a succulent worm

Western tiger swallowtail seen on a walk. This species has a special place in my heart for fond memories with it as a child.

My final photographed cedar waxwings of this spring (be awkward if some more showed up later). Hope they have a safe passage north and I will be eagerly waiting for them to show up in fall!

An Anna's hummingbird that decided I was not dangerous and allowed close shots.

Who is this beauty?

Lovely red admiral seen at Seale Park. According to the novel Mariposa Road, this butterfly's name should be the red admirable, a fitting epithet.

Sprinkler rainbow

So sparkly

Nesting mourning dove seen at a friend's house. The bird didn't seem to mind my presence.

Snowy egret in breeding plumage at Matadero Creek

    On 5/30, the day right after school ended, I went on a green big day which yielded lots of time lost in the middle of nowhere, amazing experiences, too much physical exertion going uphill, and a mere 2 year birds. I woke up at 5:30 and immediately biked to Shoreline, arriving just a few minutes before the sun poked out from behind the mountains. Surprisingly, joggers were already present, exercising in the morning air. People are so interesting.

As I waited for the sun to appear, this strange California gull with black on the breast was seen on the trail. Probably not a hybrid and more likely some mutant. On second thought, probably just mud haha

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba!!!!!

Sithi uhm ingonyama!!

Oh the glorious circle of life. There is truly more to see than can ever be seen but I hope to see as much as I can.

Pelican swimming along the awakening bay's surface

As I biked to Shoreline Lake I saw skimmers skimming for the first time. Due to their rapid speed and the poor lighting, my pictures were all very subpar.

The sight was amazing. Their lower beaks, much longer than the tops, are very sharp and thin, allowing them to slice through the surface to catch fish. These birds usually only perform this behavior in the very early morning or very late afternoon.

So beautiful.

This scene was one of the highlights of the trip and I will definitely come back to see this awesome behavior again.

Gull frenzy at Salt Pond A1

As I enjoyed my breakfast at A2E, the glassy water of the seasonal pool nearby was too mouthwatering to resist a photo. No snowy plovers were seen though.

Late-ish lesser scaup at eastern edge of Salt Pond A2E. As I left this pond and went towards A3W, I saw a loggerhead shrike perched in Moffett Field. It was in plain sight with no obstructions and for some reason I forgot to take a picture. Oops. Anyways, this might be our bird that killed the snake in my very first post here: http://insertcreativetitleheregkoprs.blogspot.com/2013/11/november-23rd-2013.html

Look at that fancy knob on the bill. Apparently that is an attractive feature in the pelican world. A few minutes later, I got my first yearbird of the day, with a beautiful Caspian tern flying by.

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Black-necked Stilt incubating eggs I believe at the marsh at Sunnyvale WPCP

More gulls by Sunnyvale WPCP. Wonder what they're eating in this dry hill that's normally blackbird land.

Turtle by the marsh. Looks like our native Western pond turtle.

Green heron

Breeding plumage great egret seen on the way to Sunnyvale Baylands

When I first saw this photograph after taking it, I was horrified as I thought something terrible happened to the mother duck's head. Then I realized that it was just scratching itself.

Guess what those black dots are. You guessed it. They're flies. At Alviso, the salt ponds were completely covered by these brine flies. Additionally, they covered the trails so thoroughly to the point that when I biked forward, the ground kind of split open and flew to the side. Gulls loved this and ran around with their mouths opened.

At Alviso, there is often tons of foam at the edge of water, probably conglomerating of proteins by air bubbles driven to the shores from wave action, similar to how a protein skimmer filter of a saltwater aquarium works. This particular piece was blowing in the wind.

Within the town of Alviso, the most abundant birds by far were non-native established species: European starlings, Eurasian collared-doves (pictured here), house sparrows, and rock doves.

This beautiful feral cat probably loves that local abundance. Again, it is very unfortunate to see feral cats as they can seriously harm declining populations of native birds.

    Several hours and many miles of being lost later, I arrived at Ed Levin. Or should I say, I arrived at the bottom of the gigantic climb up. As I climbed up slowly and dyingly, I ran out of water. It's great to live life on the edge. At the park, no year birds were seen but I added quite a few species to my green list.

Great blue heron stalking the grassland. Probably hunting lizards and small rodents.

My only falcon of the day: the humble American kestrel.

Tree swallow nest

One of the parents

Feel the burn, feel the burn.

Unexpected Caspian tern at Sandy Wool Lake. I also saw a Forster's tern fly over earlier. I guess the lakes around here have plenty of fish for these hunters.

Could not identify this bird

It took me till this point to realize that the high-pitched sound I thought to be an elusive bird I heard throughout the day was made by the ground squirrels...

Family of pied-billed grebes at Sandy Wool

Beautiful male Bullock's oriole

Western fence lizard with short tail that is likely a new one growing out after the old one was snatched up by some predator. As I climbed up Ed Levin, the birding was slow due to the winds but I did get a life butterfly: the Calippe fritillary. No pictures were taken as the insect did not stop. Strange, considering the fact that I did not see a single violet, the butterfly's host plant, during the day.

Black phoebe nest with a lovely dead chick hanging out of the side. Seriously though, can't the parents learn basic hygiene...

Western kingbird enjoying some cattle company

Western bluebirds

Quite possibly the highlight of the day: a bobcat. Seen as I made an effortless trip back down the steep mountain and decided to stop. The beautiful creature turned back to look my way before vanishing back into the forest. I wonder why it grins.

I also wonder how tall this sycamore can grow. If I cut it down, I guess I'll never know.

Random purple castor bean plant seen on the roadside.

As I continued my journey, I biked on Piedmont Road, where I saw a raven being mobbed by several kingbirds. The bright flycatchers also chased away an accipiter.

In total, I saw 14 kingbirds in this short stretch of bone-dry roadside.

As I stopped for lunch at the first park I encountered, Flickinger Park, I was joined by my first and only downy woodpeckers of the day.

In downtown San Jose by Guadalupe Creek, I saw this lingering female common merganser.

Shaking around its wonderful hairdoo

I then stopped by a fellow birder's (Brooke M.) house. In her little courtyard in downtown San Jose, a tiny feeder managed to attract a pair of BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRDs that have sticked around for a while. This is a female Anna's.

The star of the show. Thanks Brooke!

    The end of the day drew to a close with a mere 77 species and over 40 miles biked. Ugh. I need to attempt this again with better planning and less getting completely lost. Oh well at least the parts where I was in places with birds were very fun and a great way to kick off my summer. 

    The following day on the 31st, I went to Pearson-Arastradero for a short hike. The weather was nice but we went a bit late and the heat started to muffle bird song. Additionally, there were many people present.

FINALLY. This HOUSE WREN took way too long to get on my life list. Watch as it now becomes seen in almost all of my checklists. Oh well I won't mind that either.

Violet-green swallow nest.

Beard lichens never fail to impress me with their intricacies.

California dancer by Arastradero Lake

Common whitetail also by Arastradero Lake

Asclepias fascicularis, the narrow-leaf milkweed. Such a beautiful plant and the number of insects attracted by the flowers was quite substantial.

House wren carrying morsel to chick

Out for more.

Tailed copper

California rose with some sweat bee species inside

Ash-throated flycatcher

Cooperative violet-green swallow

What a beautiful and adorable bird

    Yes I know. This was one way-too-long post but hey, May was a long month. I am super excited for the summer and all the birds that will hopefully come my way along with everything else I see. Until next time, enjoy life and love nature!