The first three days of high school went great - except that
they hadn't finished the building we were going to be in yet, so we went
on a series of trips called "fun/educational week" - to colleges like
Stanford and Berkeley, and to San Francisco. I made several friends, but
I can see that there will be a lot of homework at BASIS. I'm not sure how I'm going to find time to bird over the weekends!
On Sunday, the 24th, after my theater class, I made my customary visit to Shoreline at Mountain View Park. This time, I had a more specific purpose than usual: Elegant Terns had been reported around Shoreline Lake and Pond A1, and it was a convenient place and time to get this county lifer. Any other nice birds would also be a welcome addition.
As usual, we parked on Terminal/San Antonio Ave, and I took the small dirt trail running parallel to the parking lot, along Coast Casey Forebay, where Jasen Liu and I had (unsuccessfully) looked for Soras in February (we then found two in Terminal Creek). Where there had been water earlier in the year, all there was now was dry, parched land. In fact, the main part of the forebay was almost dried up, too. The drought's effects:
In the forebay were resting around 30 Mallards, a Gadwall with its white patch, about 15 Killdeers, and several California Gulls and Snowy Egrets. Above me, and perching near the pumphouse, there were Barn Swallows. I got to the viewpoint into Adobe Creek, where I noticed a Common Gallinule, with its bright red "forehead shield" swimming across the creek about a hundred feet away.
The tide was high in Charleston Slough, and there were many American Avocets (my estimate of the ones I saw was around 200) wading in the water, along with California Gulls. Over the water, I saw a flock of about ten Caspian Terns foraging, or migrating, together. They were closely associated with each other, and were constantly interacting - I'd never seen anything like it before. I kept an eye out for the longer, more orange bill of an Elegant, but saw only Caspians.
As I surveyed the island (in the above picture) for the occasional Black Skimmer found there, I saw several birds with long, downcurved bills, along with some Willets. I thought they were Long-billed Curlews for a second, until I saw their dark crown stripes. Whimbrels! This was a county yearbird for me, and a code 3. Now I remembered somebody reporting these shorebirds a couple of days before! I really hadn't expected to find these here today (they're usually found at the Palo Alto Baylands), so it was a really nice surprise. There were maybe nine or ten Whimbrels on the island, which is a pretty high count:
Looking into the part of the forebay near the pumphouse again, I saw many peeps flocking on the mudflats. I definitely identified around five Leasts, but couldn't pinpoint the others for sure - they were probably mostly Leasts, too. I also noticed several dowitchers that I couldn't identify, and a female (Blue-winged or Cinnamon) Teal. I'm actually leaning Blue-winged because of the seemingly dark sides, rather long bill, and facial pattern. Any ideas?
On Pond A1, I successfully found my main target bird: the Elegant Tern. There were five on the boardwalk, mixed with California Gulls, nonbreeding-plumage Forster's Terns, and Black-necked Stilts. This was another county lifer for me - I hadn't even thought about seeing it until August, when I learned that they migrated through our inland county, not only on the coast, where I see them in large numbers. Now, I was getting great looks at them in our county!
Suddenly, I noticed a bird that looked like a small gull fly over me in the direction of Coast Casey Forebay. Bonaparte's Gull! I thought, but I needed better confirmation. Doubling back to the forebay, I indeed found a Bonaparte's Gull swimming together with California Gulls! This was not only a county yearbird (my third of the day), but also an ABA yearbird - it was the first time since May of 2013 that I had seen one. Unfortunately, the photos I got were pretty bad, but they do show a nice comparison, and the nonbreeding features of the gull.
On the lake, I found the three oversummering Surf Scoters and two more Elegant Terns. Also, the lake contained a huge flock of Forster's Terns (about 50 birds!). I tried to look for a Common Tern mixed in somewhere, but without luck. All that I saw appeared to be Forster's, but I was not 100% sure of several.
It had been a very successful day - three yearbirds in 45 minutes, with photos and good looks at each one, putting me only 21 birds away from my target of 200. Now, time to finish up August and start September!
Summary:
New birds: 3
Birds seen: 30
Big year count: 180
Good birding,
Sergey Pavlov
On Sunday, the 24th, after my theater class, I made my customary visit to Shoreline at Mountain View Park. This time, I had a more specific purpose than usual: Elegant Terns had been reported around Shoreline Lake and Pond A1, and it was a convenient place and time to get this county lifer. Any other nice birds would also be a welcome addition.
As usual, we parked on Terminal/San Antonio Ave, and I took the small dirt trail running parallel to the parking lot, along Coast Casey Forebay, where Jasen Liu and I had (unsuccessfully) looked for Soras in February (we then found two in Terminal Creek). Where there had been water earlier in the year, all there was now was dry, parched land. In fact, the main part of the forebay was almost dried up, too. The drought's effects:
In the forebay were resting around 30 Mallards, a Gadwall with its white patch, about 15 Killdeers, and several California Gulls and Snowy Egrets. Above me, and perching near the pumphouse, there were Barn Swallows. I got to the viewpoint into Adobe Creek, where I noticed a Common Gallinule, with its bright red "forehead shield" swimming across the creek about a hundred feet away.
The tide was high in Charleston Slough, and there were many American Avocets (my estimate of the ones I saw was around 200) wading in the water, along with California Gulls. Over the water, I saw a flock of about ten Caspian Terns foraging, or migrating, together. They were closely associated with each other, and were constantly interacting - I'd never seen anything like it before. I kept an eye out for the longer, more orange bill of an Elegant, but saw only Caspians.
As I surveyed the island (in the above picture) for the occasional Black Skimmer found there, I saw several birds with long, downcurved bills, along with some Willets. I thought they were Long-billed Curlews for a second, until I saw their dark crown stripes. Whimbrels! This was a county yearbird for me, and a code 3. Now I remembered somebody reporting these shorebirds a couple of days before! I really hadn't expected to find these here today (they're usually found at the Palo Alto Baylands), so it was a really nice surprise. There were maybe nine or ten Whimbrels on the island, which is a pretty high count:
Looking into the part of the forebay near the pumphouse again, I saw many peeps flocking on the mudflats. I definitely identified around five Leasts, but couldn't pinpoint the others for sure - they were probably mostly Leasts, too. I also noticed several dowitchers that I couldn't identify, and a female (Blue-winged or Cinnamon) Teal. I'm actually leaning Blue-winged because of the seemingly dark sides, rather long bill, and facial pattern. Any ideas?
On Pond A1, I successfully found my main target bird: the Elegant Tern. There were five on the boardwalk, mixed with California Gulls, nonbreeding-plumage Forster's Terns, and Black-necked Stilts. This was another county lifer for me - I hadn't even thought about seeing it until August, when I learned that they migrated through our inland county, not only on the coast, where I see them in large numbers. Now, I was getting great looks at them in our county!
Suddenly, I noticed a bird that looked like a small gull fly over me in the direction of Coast Casey Forebay. Bonaparte's Gull! I thought, but I needed better confirmation. Doubling back to the forebay, I indeed found a Bonaparte's Gull swimming together with California Gulls! This was not only a county yearbird (my third of the day), but also an ABA yearbird - it was the first time since May of 2013 that I had seen one. Unfortunately, the photos I got were pretty bad, but they do show a nice comparison, and the nonbreeding features of the gull.
On the lake, I found the three oversummering Surf Scoters and two more Elegant Terns. Also, the lake contained a huge flock of Forster's Terns (about 50 birds!). I tried to look for a Common Tern mixed in somewhere, but without luck. All that I saw appeared to be Forster's, but I was not 100% sure of several.
It had been a very successful day - three yearbirds in 45 minutes, with photos and good looks at each one, putting me only 21 birds away from my target of 200. Now, time to finish up August and start September!
Summary:
New birds: 3
Birds seen: 30
Big year count: 180
Good birding,
Sergey Pavlov
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