Alviso and Don Edwards

        Winter is ending, and it's time for me to finish getting the common shorebirds, ducks, and gulls. For this, I had planned out one weekend at the beginning of March - Saturday 3/8 an Sunday 3/9. On Saturday, I would walk a slough trail by Salt Ponds A12 and A11, and then the Mallard Slough Trail in Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge, looking for any birds that I had missed on my trips to Shoreline, as well as some specialty birds of the area (Red-breasted Merganser, Blue-winged Teal, Redhead). As mentioned in Birding at the Bottom of the Bay, Alviso and Don Edwards truly are the "bottom of the bay"!

       My mom, brother, and I set out early (though not as early as I would have liked) for Alviso. We arrived at about 9:15, and set off on the famous boardwalk trail in Alviso Marina County Park. There were several photogenic Song Sparrows, a shy male Common Yellowthroats, and chattering coming from the reeds that I thought to be Marsh Wrens.

Song Sparrow on railing

Song Sparrow

A view of Salt Pond A12 opened up, with lots of waterfowl (awesome!):

Alviso Marina County Park

Salt Pond A12

       On the edge of the pond, there were several flocks of Least Sandpipers and a lone Greater Yellowlegs. Birds on the pond were mostly Northern Shovelers, but also some Eared Grebes, and American Avocets.

Least Sandpiper

       My brother began to want to eat, so he and my mom turned back, leaving me to walk alone. Moving down the slough trail, there were several islands in the pond. They had mostly Ring-billed Gulls, with a few Herring Gulls (FOY) and California Gulls mixed in, together with more shovelers and avocets. If anyone can find a Thayer's Gull in these Herrings, please let me know. ;)

Ring-billed and Herring Gulls

Herring Gulls

       Birds in the reeds were Savannah Sparrows, a Black Phoebe, and a Northern Harrier that cruised by several times, hunting rodents in the grass. On Pond A12, there were at least 20 far-away scaups that I left unidentified. There were also Buffleheads and Common Goldeneyes, and to my surprise, I also found a female Barrow's Goldeneye quite close to the shore of the pond. I'd already seen this one at Shoreline Lake in January, but, so far, its the rarest bird I've found myself without knowing where to look. The all-yellow bill gave this one away in the field as a county Code 4 Barrow's:

Barrow's Goldeneye

       So far, my trip was not going as well as planned, with only one FOY - Herring Gull. Luckily, upon coming to a corner of Salt Pond A12, there was a pipe pumping water into the pond, around which lots of shorebirds clustered. The first ones I identified were the largest: Willets, and Greater Yellowlegs. However, I soon noticed some big peeps with long, downcurved bills - Dunlins - a lifer! Also, near them, were several Western Sandpipers, FOYs, providing for good comparison photos.

The group of birds

Greater Yellowlegs

Willet and two Greater Yellowlegs

Two Dunlins (top), with a Western Sandpiper (bottom), not size and bill length difference

Dunlins (right), with Least Sandpiper (left), note size, leg color, and bill length difference

       With this favorable turn of events, I looked into Salt Pond A11. Luck must have been on my side that day, because the first bird I put my binoculars on was a Red-breasted Merganser! In fact, there were at least two males swimming in Pond A11. This was a lifer, and my California #200! In fact, I said (rather loudly) "Yes! California number two hundred!", only to turn around a minute later and see a young couple staring at me as if I were crazy! I really hope they were too far away to hear what I said... ;) Photos of California number 200:

Red-breasted Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

        I then fast-walked my way back to the parking lot, and met up with my mom and brother. Part One, Alviso, had been a success even though I'd missed some target birds like the Redhead. We then drove to the Environmental Education Center - the headquarters of Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge. In Mallard Slough, I found the two common teal species: Green-winged and Cinnamon, but no sign of the more elusive, county Code 4 Blue-winged Teal.

Green-winged and Cinnamon Teals

      Beyond Mallard Slough, and in one of the salt ponds, there were many Herring Gulls, as well as some juvenile Glaucous-winged Gulls and a few Western Gulls, both of which were FOYs.

Gulls (juvenile GW on the right)

Western (right) and Herring Gulls

Juvenile Glaucous-winged Gull

        Other than that, birds in Mallard Slough included Northern Shovelers, unidentified dowitchers, Least Sandpipers, Gadwalls, an American Wigeon, and a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron. A Great Egret was hunting in one of the salt ponds.

Northern Shoveler and dowitchers

Northern Shoveler pair feeding in tandem

Great Egret

I'll finish off my trip report with a photo of California's State Flower, the California Poppy:

California Poppy

       Next up: on Sunday, I joined another young birder, Jasen Liu, on a walk around Shoreline. It was great! On Sunday, 3/23, I'll try to make a trip to Sanborn County Park (John Nicholas Trail and Lake Ranch Reservoir) to look for birds like Varied Thrush, Brown Creeper, and Pileated Woodpecker. I'll post trip reports on these trips as soon as I can.

Summary:
Birds seen: 48
New birds: 6
Big Year count: 122

Good birding,

Sergey