January Joys Part 1

    As I went on my school's website to check the calendar one day during break, trying to be productive by planning out my final semester of high school, my heart stopped, then came back to life promptly afterwards. Rather than going back to school on the 5th, a Monday, I would be given an addition 24 hours of my euphoric break! Oh the joys!

    My parents and I decided that a nice trip to Half Moon Bay would be a nice way to spend part of the day and so we set off in the afternoon. This was my first (and so far only) birding trip made during 2015 by car rather than bike and it proved to be quite a worthwhile journey.

My first yearbird of the day - a Brant in the marsh adjacent to the parking lot. Seen out of the corner of my eye as my dad tried to explain math to me before I left the car.

Red-throated Loon

Another Brant in the harbor snacking on eelgrass. 

Another snacking bird: the universally adored Sanderling. Who doesn't love them?

Who doesn't love Sanderlings?

Shhhh they're napping...but who doesn't love Sanderlings?

Lone California Gull hanging out in the Mew Gull flock.

Lovely Great Blue Heron

As I walked the rock jetty, I got my closest ever shot of a Pelagic Cormorant! That streamlined, needle-like beak has been the last thing many a fish has seen.

Lined Shore Crab scuttling

Brown-headed Cowbird

Common Loon

Some red and white hermit crab species or perhaps an immature individual.

Exposed Aggregating Anemones, looking quite stylish with their sand and shell fragment accessories. All of these polyps are likely from a single individual.

Underwater and open Aggregating Anemone, also looking quite stylish.

Tidepool Sculpin

Lovely pair of Pelagic Cormorants

Mixed cormorant roost. In the waters further than that rock, I observed many Common Murres flying by.

Something was swimming in the harbor, dashing forward intermittently as I walked back to the car. I have a feeling that it's a Leopard Shark, as no bird would do that and a seal should have resurfaced at some point. Too bad the mystery animal never revealed itself.

California Thrasher popping up out of the vegetation.

January 10

    Ah, following the first week of second semester, I needed a break. So a nice birding trip it was. The birding was great but the lighting for pretty much the entire time was horrible for photography.

As the sun was rising, the cormorants were already gathering for another feast at Shoreline Lake

More flying in to join the caravan.

Lotsa ducks near A2E

Red-tailed Hawk a fraction of a second before excreting. It would have been a pretty cool shot if I took the picture just a bit later as the raptor performed the action.

Say's Phoebe 

Stately Western Grebe on A3W

 Why hello dere.

Male Red-breasted Merganser, my first merganser of the year.

Life bird Ross's Goose in the kite-flying area Canada Goose flock! At last after over 15 failed attempts the bird shows itself...

Great Egret at the feeding frenzy growing out breeding plumage.

Belted Kingfisher after snacking at the Shoreline Lake feeding frenzy.

January 18th

    On the 18th, I went for a very brief morning trip to the Baylands. I had somehow read the tide tables wrong and as I arrived at the San Francisquito Creek delta, hoping to find an expanse of mudflat covered with shorebirds to look through, I was greeted by pretty much full high tide, with not a shorebird in sight. To add onto that, I again did not get to see the Swamp Sparrow... The highlight of the day was actually quite unusual for the area: a male Common Merganser flying over. The bird flew over very quickly, giving me no chance to get pictures but enough time to see its fully white belly as opposed to the reddish-breasted underside of the Red-breasted Merganser, a more expected merganser species at the brackish water location.

Singing California Thrasher at first light

January 19th

    Ah, another Monday off... And what to do other than go birding? The prior week, Mike Rogers had discovered an Ovenbird near the Charleston Road marsh and I intended to see it. Like on the 10th, birding was great and lighting was atrocious. 

Biking through Shoreline, I saw this Merlin enjoying a nice breakfast of what looks like a Zonotrichia sparrow.

Black-throated Grey Warbler foraging in the ashes seen as soon as I arrived at the Ovenbird site. This rare (for the winter) bird was also found here by Mike Rogers. Picture brightened to allow for actual visibility of the bird.

    An hour of waiting later, I decided to look around in the marsh to take a break from staring at nothing. 

Undertail coverts of female / immature Purple Finch. Note the streaking in that area which would usually be absent in the Eastern subspecies of this lovely bird. 

Chowing on Cotoneaster fruit and exhibiting its alluring greenish back not found in House Finches or the Eastern variety.

First life bird of the day with an adorable Red-breasted Nuthatch!

The adorable bird was foraging in the ash tree...

...in almost every orientation.

It even called a few times, saying "yank yank" in a nasally voice. Nothing about this bird is not completely adorable. Now if only the light were more cooperative...

And my second life bird of the day just a few minutes later... a Northern Waterthrush! Sort of like the Ovenbird, the waterthrushes are oddball warblers, being relatively dull as far as warblers go, walking rather than hopping, and always bobbing their tails. I love these situations where in the span of 10 minutes, my luck turns around completely.

However, my luck didn't stay as afterwards the Ovenbird still did not show up for me. Pressed for time, I started biking home and took a standard picture of a standard picturesque Great Blue Heron when all of a sudden...

...this Virginia Opossum popped up in the shrubbery! Although these fascinating marsupials are not at all rare here, they are quite elusive in daylight and the last one I had seen was a dead one stinking up the backyard smack dab in the middle of my orchids quite a few years back.

Why hello again Ross's Goose. I wonder what it feels like, hanging out with Canada Geese all day.

Such a cute and pretty little goose.

Coast Casey Forebay scenery

    And that concludes probably my best birding in January (other than the first day). But who knows, maybe this weekend will be equally great? Until next time, enjoy life and love nature! 

Epilogue

    Unsatisfied with my Ovenbird chase, the following day after school I again biked over to the Charleston Road marsh. After around 10 minutes searching around the potted trees, I saw a small bird walking away from me for about a second before it flew into the hedge. Although the distinctive head and underside markings were not seen, the size of the bird, white undertail coverts, tail-bobbing behavior while walking, and olive-green-brown-ish back clearly showed that it was the Ovenbird I was looking for. Continuing to bike through the marsh, I also saw 3 beautiful Hooded Mergansers less than 20 feet away from me. Birding is always really good when you don't bring your camera.