Veteran's Day Adventures

    On Veteran's Day I decided to go birding, my first "regular" trip since September.
    I started my day at 7 am and did my usual path to Shoreline. At Adobe Creek, I noticed a large number of dead carp floating around. These mortalities likely resulted from the recent mud removal from the waterway that caused extremely low water levels and probably low food supplies. I always wondered how the giant carp survived here in average water depths of something around 2 feet at most or how they got here in the first place. Biking past that area, I briefly stopped and listened to the eucalyptus and arundo-dominated wetland around the biker underpass. Yellow-rumped warblers were back in their normal winter levels but I did not have time to check for the Myrtle subspecies amid the usual Audubon's.
    A little bit further up the trail, the shorebirds of Charleston Slough greeted me in the morning light, with flocks of several species. In the Coast Casey Forebay, the gull flock yielded 6 species, with California, herring, mew, glaucous-winged, ring-billed, and Western gulls. My 7th gull species came just a few minutes later as the first of many Bonaparte's gulls I would see this day flew overhead with its graceful flight pattern.

Morning shorebirds

Classic comparison shot of a Western and least sandpiper (2 birds in the middle, with the Western being the larger bird in the back with dark legs and the least the smaller front bird with legs that should be yellow but were covered in mud).

Adult Mew Gull. What a cutie with its smaller profile and short bill.

Western Gull with its dark back and super heavy bill.

Red-tailed Hawk by Shoreline Lake

    As I continued my journey, I saw that the diving birds had returned to Salt Pond A1 and A2W. Tons of ruddies and scaup sp. (mostly if not all lesser scaups; didn't have much time to check for greaters) in addition to several eared and Western grebes mingling with the ducks.

Diving gang of lesser scaups and eared grebes. A few gadwalls are also swimming near the upper right.

Cooperate Grey plover at A2E

Adult California Gull in flight.

Multicultural pelicans

Brown Pelicans. Winter-plumaged adult on left and immature on left.

Must be a great year for fish in A2E this year, with so many fish eaters around.

    As I passed A2E, I stopped at Moffett Field to find some open field overwinterers such as horned lark. Although I did not see that species, I got a great and unexpected consolation prize in the form of a beautifully-marked adult lark sparrow, my first for the year. I even managed some blurry shots through the fence.

My, what pretty facial markings you have

These lovely little birds have quite interesting songs. This fella gave me a small sample while aggressively interacting with some Zonotrichias.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/lark_sparrow/sounds

Female Common Goldeneyes at Salt Pond A3W, my first sighting of this species for the season

Always a delight seeing Soras swimming. They look so adorable while doing so!

The elusive bird immediately ran into the dense vegetation after it got out of the water. Like most rails, Soras are rather shy.

    Finally, at around 10 am I arrived at Alviso Marina County Park. My primary goal was to find the pelagic cormorant which I had unsuccessfully looked for twice last year when (presumably the same bird) it was in the area. Both times last year I realized that a scope was probably necessary due to the bird's distance from the trail. For some reason, I decided that it would be ok this year. And, surprisingly, it was. At the levee between ponds A10 and A11, I scanned through the cormorant flock and with some persistence, found one bird that was noticeably smaller. Focusing on it more, it showed a slimmer profile and even in cloudy weather, a slight greenish tinge.

Bird on edge of levee on the right side.

Preening

As per usual, the salt ponds were filled with many overwintering birds. For example, this Clark's grebe with its topsmelt prey.

What a lovely bird with its simple color scheme and elegant shape.

Going back for more.

Bonaparte's gulls numbers were high all around today for some reason. Previously, essentially the only places where I saw them in the area were in the Palo Alto Baylands and Charleston Slough. Today, I saw the species in numbers nearly everywhere I went.

Not going to complain though, as this is a very lovely gull species.

If only I was better at flight shots...

Another flyer, a lovely Hellula rogatalis, or cabbage webworm moth.

    Soon, it was time to return and I bid the bird-filled Alviso goodbye. I need to go back sometime soon as I did not have time to go to look for shorebirds in the other ponds. Additionally, I would really like to see a short-eared owl in the marshland sometime as those are also reported sporadically. 

Northern Flicker at the Sunnyvale Baylands. While I passed through, I saw my first spotted towhee of that area, a somewhat unusual species for the location.

First winter Herring Gull at Pond A4. 

Red-shouldered Hawk at the Sunnyvale WPCP.

Wilson's Snipe roosting in the Sunnyvale WPCP marsh. Or should I say what remains of it. That day, the marsh was being dredged again for mosquito control. A shame that valuable habitat for birds, muskrats, and Western pond turtles is being destroyed.

Lovely little Killdeer. Fall nights in California are not complete without the ringing calls of this bird from nearby fields.

This individual is showing a bit of its orange rump. In flight, that area is quite shockingly bright.

Stunningly great picture of a Say's Phoebe at Moffett Field. Unfortunately, the Lark Sparrow wasn't around on the return trip for another attempt to get nice pictures.

As I walked back to my bike from looking at the phoebe, a lovely little moth caught my eye.

Spoladea recurvalis, or the Hawaiian beet webworm moth. Not sure how it got its common name, as according to some internet searches, the moth has pretty much a worldwide distribution. Not sure if it's distribution is due to introduction or if the moth is actually naturally occurring in all those locations as no source seemed to address that issue. 

Just a short distance away, another surprise: a Hooded Merganser! This female was my first spotting of this species in the area and of the season.

 

Comparison shot of Horned and Eared Grebes, respectively, taken at Pond A2E. 

Coot surveying dead carp at Adobe Creek

Digging in.

    And that concludes that trip. On an unrelated note, happy one year anniversary to my blog! Until next time, enjoy life and love nature!

How To Properly Use a First Period Prep

   As I started this new school year with a first period prep, I wondered what I should do with it. Should I sleep in, do homework, grade papers, the questions were endless. However, recently I have discovered the answer, the definitive best way to use this time. And here it is.

    Sunday evening on 9/21 I was in a car on the way home. I checked my email and an ebird rare bird alert popped up. What was in it: a Sabine's gull. "Oh great" I thought to myself, thinking that the bird would leave soon. However, it defied my negative predictions and on both Monday and Tuesday people were reporting it, some even with mouthwateringly beautiful pictures of the mouthwateringly beautiful bird. I had to go see it. So, I planned a secret operation and hoped for the best. I apologize beforehand for the severe lack of photos as I was time-rushed and didn't have much time to take many.

Palo Alto, CA

0540 hours

    After a really sleepless night of waking up every several hours and being unable to get back to sleep, I woke up and hurriedly but quietly packed up my supplies. I was out of the house in 2 minutes and went to get my bike, facing my first challenge. The garage door in my house slides opens from the side, with one half being opened by the convenient pressing of a button and the other being opened manually. However, the convenient button pressing leads to a very noisy opening while the manual method is much quieter. Because of that, I manually slid open that half and walked in to get my bike. As my garage is filled with tons and tons and TONS of junk, I had to lift my bike over my head to get it out through the thin corridor through said junk to reach the opening I made on the other side. However, everything ended well and I managed to escape the house without waking anyone.

Mountain View, CA

0600 hours

    I biked through the darkness and reached Shoreline. My meager bikelight did just enough to brighten up the trail in front of me. The area was not pitch black as cities from across the Bay waters created a shimmering nightlight on the horizon and Shoreline Amphitheater had these blinding stadium lights which lit up certain areas. 

The pump house from beside Coast Casey Forebay.

If only blogger could have a more elegant way of putting in "extra-large" sized photos...

    My first seen birds of the day were several flyover black-crowned night herons and my first seen mammals of the day were some humans which were also out and actively exercising on the trails.

Mountain View, CA

0620 hours

    I had gotten to Salt Pond A2E and the sky was this gorgeous dark purple color that was actually surprisingly well-captured by my little point-and-shoot. I didn't bring the DSLR as the absence of that camera would likely be too suspicious.

A lone American White Pelican

Mountain View, CA

0640 hours

    The sun finally rose and it was quite lovely seeing the foggy mountains to the West being illuminated by the rays from the East. 

Sunnyvale, CA

0650 hours

    As I biked by the marsh adjacent to the Sunnyvale Water Pollution Control Plant, I saw a large organism swimming towards me. As it got closer, it turned out to be a muskrat! I had no idea that these guys lived so close to the Bay! Unfortunately, as soon as I stopped to take a picture, it swiftly dove below the surface and was never seen again. It probably resurfaced in its nest, which I was also unable to find. Despite its brevity, this sighting was one of the highlights of the day.

Sunnyvale, CA

0700 hours

    I was finally at where the Sabine's gull was reported: a few hundred feet north of the radar station at the WPCP. Although I did not see the bird, I noticed that the ducks were already filling up the place. In winter, there are usually thousands of ducks here with over over 10 species.

Sunnyvale, CA

0710 hours

    By this point, it was panic attack time. Did the Sabine's gull just happen to leave this morning before the sun came up? Was I just a terrible birder who couldn't notice the obviously different Sabine's amidst only a dozen other ring-billed gulls? 

Sunnyvale, CA

0730 hours

    I decided to turn back now. However, a few minutes later I thought to myself "You know what? Maybe the bird is just messing with me. Maybe it thinks I'll have left and it's now in that location laughing at my failure." So, I then decided to turn back from turning back. Amazingly, I think I was right.... The bird literally flew into its exact position where it was previously reported from God knows where as soon as I arrived there for the second time............... I think several previous conundrums in my life have been solved...

    In flight, the Sabine's gull is practically unmistakable. In both juvenile and adult plumages, the birds have black outer primaries which enclose white M-shaped patches on both wings. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the bird flying as it looked stunning. It then spent the rest of the time sitting on the water and picking out unknown food items from around 40 feet away. 

It's interesting to see how small this gull is, being dwarfed by the Northern Shovelers.

Although the bird was quite close and I got stunning binocular views, my camera did not have enough zoom for killer shots.

I was still very satisfied as the Sabine's gull is one of my favorite gull species. In both juvenile (here) and adult plumage (see previous blog post), it is a lovely bird.

Sunnyvale, CA

0745 hours

    It was now time to actually head back. As I left the WPCP, several other birders were just coming in to see the Sabine's. I tried searching for a bank swallow that was recently reported but had no luck, seeing only violet-greens (over 150 staging in this area before their migration) and a few barns. There were also around 10 Vaux's swifts flying around, a fairly large number for this late in the season.

Mountain View, CA

0820 hours

    As I exited Salt Pond A2E and headed towards Shoreline, I saw a golden eagle flying above. It was headed north which I thought was a bit strange as I didn't expect large raptors to be crossing the Bay. 

Palo Alto, CA

0940 hours

    I finally got to school and had 20 minutes to go and buy snacks for third period! Life is great.

Mission accomplished. End of report.

    Sorry for the recent complete lack of posts. I've been really busy but hopefully I will get more time soon. Until next time, enjoy life and love nature!