True Strugz

    But seriously, that was no big deal. Yes it was terribly annoying, but this setback was definitely no match for my crazed bird addiction. After 5 minutes of brooding on my phone looking for an alternative route, I was back on the road. Calaveras Road in a rush hour Milpitas was absolutely horrifying.

At a creek I crossed, I had the chance to carefully examine this Boxelder (Acer negundo). The stems were coated in a delicate layer of pubescence, not unlike a freshly pubescent human, confirming the tree's identity as the native Californian subspecies, rather than an eastern escapee.

    I reached the border of the hills where Ed Levin was located in at around 8:15. A granola bar and half a bottle of water later, I was biking dying up the slope, slowly making my way to the birds. This stretch was interesting, with one side of the road being dry, rocky chaparral and the other side being a lush riparian forest, yielding some nice plants and decent bird diversity. 

Stately Western Kingbird

Black Sage - Salvia mellifera

Singing male Black-headed Grosbeak. 

Elegant Clarkia (Clarkia unguiculata)

Dudleya abramsii growing in decent numbers on one slope. Hopefully next year in the early spring I'll get a chance to come back and check for Sonoran Blues.

Road lined with Seep Monkeyflowers (Mimulus guttatus). Seeing a Pocket Gopher run around in the flowers was a great sight but unfortunately it didn't stick around for pictures.

Classic identification challenge concerning Wild Turkeys and Turkey Vultures. Hopefully this side by side comparison will clear things up.

Despite their ubiquity, it is always nice to see Black-crowned Night Herons, especially this close.

Pretty sad state of things at Sandy Wool "Lake"

Surprisingly, in addition to a few foraging Least Sandpiper, there were 4 late American Pipits on the mudflats. They were entering alternate plumage, a nice sight in California.

Pyrausta subsequalis

California Pyrausta (Pyrausta californicalis) on invasive Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium), what I presume it's hosting on.

    Hoping for some nice grassland birds, I parked my bike and hiked up the trail by the dog park. To make a long and disappointing story short, the only real grassland specialty I saw was a Grasshopper Sparrow, and only for a few seconds. The real highlights were a beautiful California Kingsnake that also only gave me a fleeting look before it slithered away and some horse dung covered in many species of shiny flies.

Male Western Fence Lizard with just a glimpse of the side of his stunningly blue belly.

Secondary Screwworm (Cochliomyia macellaria) and some big Sarcophaga sp. that will likely never get identified to species. Also present on this crap were several greenbottles and bluebottles. 

Nice view of the bay

Not sure if holding on for dear life or enjoying said view

A fresh Alfalfa Looper (Autographa californica)

    A bit more exploration and a quick lunch later, I decided it was time to leave the hills and return down to my low elevation home.

Male and female Western Fence Lizards. So much sexual tension.

Mating Tule Bluets. So much sexual tension.

One of the probable pair of Rock Wren seen and heard while going down the mountain. So much sexual tension.

    With all the tension behind me, I stopped by a suburban park to rest as I simultaneously tried to find the way back to the Bay Trail. While removing my backpack...

...Pacific Coast Tick, first tick of the year! 

    I then took a walk through the empty park, leaving my belongings, including my camera, in the field. And of course something really picture perfect happened, as I observed a Black Phoebe swoop over some grass and pluck up a Painted Lady. The butterfly managed to escape a few times but ultimately, the bird won. It was really stunning to watch.

    Continuing my path home, I witnessed Google Maps screw me over as it led me to the freeway entrance. Surrounded by fast moving cars in the middle of nowhere, I asked myself again: "Why the hell do I bird?". Eh I think I'll get back to that question later. But after some more frantic searching on my phone, I found an alternate route. The route took me through a few shady back parking lots where I tried to ignore the weird glances I got in addition to basically the entirety of Cisco Campus but at least before I eventually made it back to Alviso. 

Unidentified snakeskin. I was somewhat tempted to pick it up but also there was the possibility of the snake being a rattler and still being in that area. I was not about to die after what I went through earlier.

Babby Black-necked Stilt. Cute and all, but the real question is: how is it formed?

From these eggs perhaps? idk

Western Gull looking quite intimidating

Crappy product of 15 minutes trying to get this Valley Carpenter Bee in flight.

Not the most educational picture ever, but a side-by-side shot of Western (left) and Least (right) Sandpipers. There were a ton of both peeps on the exposed mud of Mallard Slough in addition to my only Semipalmated Plovers of the day.

Flying Dunlin. One of these days I plan on following these birds north to their Arctic nesting grounds. Hopefully by the time I get to do that, there will still be tundra left.

Mourning Dove nest found while poking around the Environmental Education Center.

Lovely Western Meadowlark

    I then left the Alviso area and continued the trip home. As I stopped to use the bathroom at the Sunnyvale Baylands, I hid my bike on the backside of that building and found this little beauty.

At first when I saw it, I thought it was some species of skipper but after more careful observation, found out it was a very freshly-emerged Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba) holding its wings up in a strange fashion.

    Continuing on to the series of salt ponds before Shoreline, the winds started to really pick up. By the time I was at A3W, the waves were almost like those of the ocean. With the full force of the wind in my face and the pebbly, rough trail below, my thighs died a little with each pedal. Thanks Mother Nature for everything.

Alternate plumage Eared Grebe by A2E

First Snowy Plover of the year seen at the Crittenden Marsh. The last and rarest plover species of my 4 plover day.

Most pictures on the internet of Black Skimmer are flawless images of them skimming or at least in flight. But are there any subpar images of them bathing? Nope. And because of that, I win.

Forster's Tern at Charleston Slough. Although I see these almost every time I go birding, I am still awestruck by their simple, elegant beauty.

Fly away, fly away.

    At the end of the day, the areas by the bay where I usually frequent yielded the most species... Still, despite the traumatizing experiences, it was a great trip and I guess it also built character? Because of that huge, birdless stretch of cars and roads called Milpitas, the moral of the story is FIND A BETTER ROUTE. But until next time, enjoy life and love nature!

Was looking through my phone pictures a little while back and found this one. I actually adore this shot as it truly exemplifies my personality as I mercilessly stalk a newly emerged crane fly.