Fall Catchup Post

       I'm sorry, but I'm just way too far behind to be able to do good, long posts. I'll post until my Thanksgiving break in more of a diary format, with just a bit of words and more photos.

October 12th, 2014: Calero Reservoir
Reported Lewis's Woodpecker - must get! Also chance for Tricolored Blackbird.

Got it! Lifer and big year #186. Makes up for my dip over Mt Hamilton in July. In the oaks near the Los Cerritos Trail, just as reported by Pete Dunten.

Scared off its perch by a Great Blue Heron from the Los Cerritos Pond:

        Relocated:

Early morning scenery from the park:

       No luck with the Tricolored Blackbirds anywhere, but more than made up for by the Lewis's Woodpecker. Got scared by several Wilson's Snipes taking off from the reeds, though, and had FOS Red-breasted Sapsucker! Calero Reservoir's a good place - I'll come here again for sure.

Summary:
Birds seen: 39
New birds: 1
Big year count: 186

October 12th, 2014: Shoreline at Mountain View
Decided to try the same day after my Russian theater class for dowitchers at Shoreline. Read up on ID before. Nothing out of the ordinary, but a nice shot of a Greater Yellowlegs:

       After scouring the flocks in the forebay, I finally found some dowitchers with profoundly flat backs during feeding, making them Short-billed! This was actually a lifer for me, because I had never identified one, despite most likely having seen one (but not recognizing it). Also, it was my second yearbird of the day and #187. Only 13 till the grand 200!

Summary:
Birds seen: 33
New birds: 1
Big year count: 187

November 2nd, 2014: Calero Reservoir and Coyote Valley
After not being able to get out for a long time, we finally made it out on a chilly November morning to Calero Reservoir with my dad and brother. We were hoping for Tricolored Blackbird, Merlin, and a recently reported Clark's Grebe on the reservoir.

Started out early at Calero. Highlights included a female Hooded Merganser, a Wilson's Snipe, and the Clark's Grebe (yearbird #188 and a lifer!). No Tricolored Blackbirds anywhere.

       We crossed the hills via Bailey Road and started walking down Laguna Ave in Coyote Valley. Little did I know what lay in store. First, three Ferruginous Hawks (we got to observe the three points of light on their backs) flying over the street. There was also a big flock of Rock Pigeons and Brewer's Blackbirds near the farm, but no Tricoloreds in there.

        Several birders already there alerted us to the presence of a Bald Eagle sitting on a tree in the fields, and it was soon joined by another. Never seen one here until that day!

       Biggest surprise - a flushed Burrowing Owl around the middle of the street! My dad loves owls, so this was a nice treat for him. No photo.

        End of the street - found reported Lewis's Woodpecker in the oaks, Loggerhead Shrike, and juvenile Golden Eagle. Truly amazing.

          Could it get any better? Yes, it could. We were almost back at the car when a dark shape winged over the pigeon/blackbird flock, carrying something in its talons. I knew that it was a Merlin, with the falcon-shaped wings and a larger size than a kestrel. This bird had eluded me for two years now, and now I had finally caught a glimpse of it! What a perfect way to end the day - a long- sought-after bird that became #189 of the year.

A photogenic Ferruginous Hawk on the way out of the valley:

Summary:
Birds seen: 36
New birds: 2
Big year count: 189


November 9th, 2014: Lake Cunningham
I took this Sunday morning to visit Lake Cunningham, looking for Great-tailed Grackle, American Pipit, and any rare geese. Starting off at the marina and checking out Thompson Creek, the best birds were my yearbird #190 Great-tailed Grackle on the lawn (making strange calls that I forgot from the time I saw them last year), about five Hooded Mergansers on the creek, and a Red-breasted Sapsucker in the parking lot.

Next, we drove to the opposite side of the lake, where I would search for American Pipits and geese on the lawn. The Great-tailed Grackles were concentrated on this side of the lake in a large flock. I had plenty of luck getting my 191st yearbird (the pipits were in a large flock at the end of the lawn), but no geese were to be seen. It made me really happy to see the puddles on the lawn after the recent rains, which almost made up for the absence of a Cackling, Snow, or Ross' Goose.

Summary:
Birds seen: 36
New birds: 2
Big year count: 191



November 11th, 2014: Sanborn County Park - John Nicholas Trail
I was really lucky to get a Tuesday off the eleventh of November, and decided to use it to my advantage. My dad and I made a trip to the John Nicholas Trail in Sanborn County Park. Main target: Varied Thrush, but also any other birds that could be potentially found up there (Pileated Woodpecker, Red-breasted or Pygmy Nuthatches, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Pine Siskin).

Started at 7:15. Again, it was a cold morning. Heard some Varied Thrushes:

       Began perfectly with several Varied Thrushes seen. One of my favorite birds ever, with their bright colors and buzzy calls. Unfortunately, other than that, the trail to the lake was rather quiet, with the only standout birds being several Brown Creepers, both Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, and a heard only Wrentit. There were plenty of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, but we failed to find a Golden-crowned among them. The fall scenery was beautiful, though.

       Upon arriving at Lake Ranch Reservoir, we found that it was half dried-up. The best birds there included FOS Fox Sparrow and Ring-necked Duck, and American Kestrel on a snag in the lake, and some more Varied Thrushes. Probably the biggest highlight was the scenery.

Brown Creeper on the way back:

Overall, I had wished for a better trip, but I still had a great time watching Varied Thrushes for the first time this year, and enjoying the beautiful nature.

Summary:
Birds seen: 36
New birds: 1
Big year count: 192

November 23rd, 2014: Shoreline at Mountain View
After my Russian theater class on November 23rd, I decided to take time off and visit Shoreline at Mountain View. There was nothing new there (except for one bird), but the highlights included Brown Pelicans on A1, high numbers of Northern Shovelers, a Golden Eagle, around 30 White-throated Swifts, and some nice shots.

The awesome surprise came at the very end: the American Bittern was there in Terminal Creek! I had searched in the creek every time I had walked past, but never found this interesting bird until today. I love the way it blends almost perfectly into the reeds. A very fitting way to end the day - with yearbird #193.

Summary:
Birds seen: 40
New birds: 1
Big year count: 193


Good birding,
Sergey Pavlov

(still on November on New Year's Eve) :)

A Big Day

        My month of September was going pretty poorly bird-wise until the couple last days. On the 28th, I got two code fives (Sabine's Gull and Parasitic Jaeger) at the Sunnyvale WPCP. The week from September 29th to October 6th, I had fall break. My dad stayed home from work on Tuesday, so we went birding together. I tried to hit all the spots (especially those by the bay) that could get me a lot of yearbirds.

       We started off at the Sunnyvale Baylands at 7:25 AM, trying to find Western Wood-Pewee and Swainson's Thrush for the last time. I told myself that if I missed them that day, then I would miss them for the rest of the year - the chance of them appearing in our county was simply too low. Unfortunately, we had no luck in the test garden, Baylands Grove, or the cottonwood row with either of the birds, despite scouring all three of them. We did find Pacific-slope Flycatchers, Hermit Thrushes, and Yellow Warblers, and got some good photos of the thrushes.

         Next, we headed to Alviso/Don Edward National Wildlife Refuge. I'd met Gena Zolotar at the test garden, and she told me that a continuing juvenile Ruff was still being seen in the eastern corner of salt pond A12. I also needed to see Lesser Yellowlegs, and a good place to try was the part of New Chicago Marsh off the corner of Gold and Elizabeth Streets

       We arrived there at 9:15, and I immediately got out of the car to scan the islands in the marsh for yellowlegs. The Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs may seem quite similar at first, but size and bill length can be used to effectively differentiate between them. Luckily, there were eight or so yellowlegs on on of the islands. Even from a distance, I could make out the short bills and small size of three of them. Lessers - yearbird #184 and an (overdue) lifer! (fourth bird from the left)

       I was optimistic about the Ruff being where it was supposed to - it had been seen continuously for about half a month now, and had been seen yesterday. We parked at Alviso Marina and walked down the boardwalk through the marsh, where there were many Song Sparrows singing, and even a Marsh Wren. Upon reaching the levee, we turned right and began closely scrutinizing the shore to our left.

       Turns out we didn't need to pay all that much attention - the Ruff stood out like a sore thumb from the much smaller Least Sandpipers surrounding it. We could see that it was a juvenile because of the scalloped back and the uni-colored bill, and it didn't look like any shorebird I'd seen before. It was my second lifer in twenty minutes, and a code five! It cooperated for some photos:

       Unfortunately, after this stellar start, I found nothing of interest at the Environmental Education Center except returning Cinnamon Teals, and a Herring Gull with trash. However, I was far from disheartened by this - who would get disheartened after seeing two lifers? I couldn't have asked for more from Don Edwards that day! Besides, we were now going to drive to Coyote Valley to see if we could find one of my year nemeses: the Tricolored Blackbird.

       Upon arriving in Coyote Valley, we checked both Laguna Street and Palm Street. The highlight on Laguna was my first-of-fall Say's Phoebe, but no Tricolored Blackbirds were present - only Brewer's and a single Brown-headed Cowbird.

       The end of Palm Ave. turned out to be somewhat more interesting, with both a juvenile and an adult Golden Eagle, and a trio of an American Kestrel, Yellow-billed Magpies, and an accipiter chasing each other around. I never got to identify the accipiter 100% because the lighting was so bad, but it was still intriguing to watch it getting chase by the long-tailed, squawking magpies.

        To end our productive big day, we looked into Calero County Park for five minutes for Tricolored Blackbirds, but to no avail. We finished the day with a grand total of 68 species - only three short of my big day record! Within these 68 species, there were two lifers and several first-of-seasons, making this day one of the best of my big year, and leaving me with only 15 birds till 200.

Summary:
Birds seen: 68
New birds: 2
Big year count: 185

Good birding,
Sergey Pavlov

Two Code 5's in One Day!

        Oh, great. I'm really, really behind on posts now. Sorry, but I'll have to post the months of October and November quite briefly despite all the good birds I got to see. Now, I still have to finish up several days in September...

       On Sunday, September 28th, I tried again for the Sabine's Gull at the Sunnyvale WPCP (water pollution control plant) after my theater class. At 1:15, we parked under one of the pepper trees there. My mom decided to stay in the car and sleep, so I set out all on my own, promising to be back in about 45 minutes.

       I followed the same trail as yesterday. When I was at the first right turn, I met a birder who told me some of the best news I would undoubtedly hear this year - a jaeger had been found on Pond A4, which was very close by! I thanked him, but decided to go for the Sabine's first, and then try my luck with the jaeger, which he said was probably a Parasitic.

        It turned out to be a beautiful day as I walked toward the radar station - not too hot, not too cold, and wispy clouds filled the azure sky. I met three birders who, as I neared the channel between the two ponds, told me that they had successfully found the Sabine's Gull... some fifty feet past the start of the channel! I enthusiastically thanked them and set off to find my first yearbird since September 1st.

       I wasn't disappointed. Right near the first fountain in the channel, I spotted a tiny gull (much smaller than I had thought) paddling around. Sure enough, with those scalloped, gray upperparts and small, black beak, it was an immature Sabine's - a code five! It was very cooperative, and posed nicely for photos:

       It even did something I hadn't noticed until I looked back over the photos in the car:

       Having never been on a pelagic, I've never seen this pelagic gull, which apparently isn't all that rare inland, but rare enough to merit a code five. My only regret is that I didn't get to see the famous M-pattern on its wings...

       Heading back to the car, I caught up with the three birder's I'd met earlier. We chatted a bit, and it turned out that two of the ladies were visiting from Ohio, and one lived here. I also found out that they were going to try for the Parasitic Jaeger on A4, so I went to the car to ask my mom for some more time.

       As I walked to A4, I kept a sharp eye out for Tricolored or the rarer Yellow-headed Blackbirds among the Red-wings, and Virginia or Ridgeway's Rails, in the the reeds to my left. I did hear a Sora for the first time ever, though. However, I had no luck with the other rails or blackbirds. Upon arriving at A4, I thought the jaeger would be waiting for us on the island (on the left in the photo). How wrong I was... The clouds created some breathtaking scenery, and I also saw American White Pelicans, an Eared Grebe (FOS), Forster's Terns, and a Greater Yellowlegs on or near the pond.

      Luckily, my birder-companions had a scope with them. Even with that, it took us about thirty seconds to locate the jaeger sitting far out on the water. Even with 200x zoom on our optics, we couldn't make out sufficient details to ID it 100% - we could only say it was a juvenile. We observed it and took some photos. Parasitic is the most common inland, so we suspected it was probably one.

       Suddenly, we realized that the jaeger wasn't there anymore. We then hear something calling from over the water, and saw the jaeger mobbing a Forster's Tern. We watched in awe through our binoculars as it made the poor tern drop its fish, and then snatched it up when it almost hit the water! I got some shots of the jaeger as it was landing back near its preferred place on the pond.

       The bird didn't look very bulky to me, and seemed pretty good for a Parasitic with the well-defined edge to the primaries. When I got back home, expert opinions by county birders using Steve Tracey's great photos confirmed the jaeger as being a juvenile light-morph Parasitic, giving me my second code five of the day!

        As I was walking back to the car, I found a Sora in the reeds, but it escaped deep into them as soon as it detected me. Overall, it was a very successful day, being the first (and probably only) time I got two code fives the entire year in one day, with both of them being lifers!

Summary:
Birds seen: 37
New birds: 2
Big year count: 183

P.S: On September 29th, I visited Edenvale Garden Park, where I was greeted by a Pacific-slope Flycatcher, two Townsend's Warblers, and a Black-throated Gray Warbler! Definitely an underrated birding spot...

Good birding,
Sergey Pavlov

Sunnyvale Baylands!

       Sunnyvale Baylands is a great park for birding in the fall. Each year, many warblers, flycatchers, and vireos come through, and there is always a chance of finding a rarity that will cause birders from all over the county to flock to the park, staring either high up in the eucalyptus trees or cottonwoods, or into the depths of the the test garden. I've never had the experience of seeing a true rarity here, and that's not really what I came for on September 21st (though that certainly would have been a nice bonus).

         I came to get two birds I'd missed in spring migration: Western Wood-Pewee (shameful, I know) and Swainson's Thrush (not as shameful). Also, I really wanted to see the Willow Flycatcher, another migrant which is often found in Sunnyvale Baylands in September.

       We arrived at 10:35, and began birding the test garden, which is the best place to see the Willow Flycatcher. My dad, brother, and I slowly walked around the perimeter of the garden, and then walked the path through the middle of the garden. The best birds here were a Townsend's Warbler (my first of fall) in a flock of Chestnut-backed Chickadees and about five White-crowned Sparrows singing near the picnic area (also my first of fall). There was no trace of a Swainson's Thrush, even when I looked in the same Pistache trees in which I had found them in last September.

       Slightly disappointed, we moved on to Baylands Grove. Here, we found many more good birds. For the first fifteen minutes we were there, it seemed to be as uneventful as last time. Then, I noticed a small, green-gray bird flicking its tail on one of the branches. I lifted my binoculars up to check for an eyering - no meant Willow or Western-Wood Pewee (they don't usually flick their tails, though, but I didn't know that then), and yes meant Pacific-slope. Turns out that there was an eyering, and short primary projections and a noticeable yellowish tinge to clinch the ID of Pacific-slope Flycatcher. In a space of about ten minutes, I found three more of these flycatchers in the grove (all with eyerings), but no Willows.

         I then noticed movement in one of the trees, and it turned out to be an Orange-crowned Warbler. A nice, year-round bird, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Suddenly, I noticed a medium-size bird fly into one of the trees in the grove. Immediately putting my binoculars on it, I saw the spotting on its light breast, and its darker back. A thrush! Closer inspection showed that there was a reddish tinge on the sides of its tail, a good eyering, the spots on its breast were dark, and no buffy spectacles - a textbook Hermit Thrush. This was my first Hermit Thrush of the latter half of the year for me, and a rather early one at that. I wasn't entirely surprised because one had been reported here earlier during the week. The thrush decided to annoy me by taking flight as soon as I focused my camera, so I didn't get a single photo.

        The remaining highlights of the day were a very Loggerhead Shrike sitting on a pole in the marsh (awesome surprise), Downy Woodpeckers in the eucalyptus trees near the test garden, and a Warbling Vireo in the test garden on the way back to our car. No luck with Western Wood-Pewee, Swainson's Thrush, or Willow Flycatcher... As we were walking out of the park, I thought to myself: Let's be honest - I'm trying again.

Summary:
Birds seen: 29
New birds: 0
Big year count: 181

* * *

       I did try again - next Saturday, September 27th. This time, I got there much earlier - at 7:40. Once more, there was no shortage of good birds. We started out in the test garden again. One of the first birds I saw was a thrush, and I got very excited, because Swainson's Thrushes had been recently reported from the park. I followed that thrush around for the next five minutes, and found that there were actually two. They were moving around between the pine trees and the test garden, and I managed to take a couple of photos of one with a berry in its beak. In the field, I was almost sure it was a Swainson's, but on the photographs it looks like a Hermit with the red on its tail and the eyering. Foiled again!

       Next, we headed to Baylands Grove. Here, I heard a familiar winter sound - the "chek" call of a Yellow-rumped Warbler. It took me a while to realize what it was, having not heard any at all over the summer. The first sign of the day that winter is coming. Also in the grove were House Finches, Western Bluebirds, and several Pacific-slope Flycatchers.

        By the cottonwoods near the entrance booth, there was a flock of about 10 Golden-crowned Sparrows - another sign of the imminent winter. At about 8:30, we got to the cottonwood row. There were already three birders there. One of them told me that a Western Wood-Pewee had been seen in one of the trees in the row earlier this morning! I couldn't believe my luck! My dad and I spent about thirty minutes staring at the treetop. We found some good birds: several Pacific-slope Flycatchers, three or so Yellow Warblers, and two Warbling Vireos. Both birds moved around so much that we couldn't take a photo. No Western Wood-Pewee was to be found.

       I decided to spread out my search a bit, and walked over the the playground surrounded by eucalyptus trees. There, I found my FOS Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Lincoln Sparrow, a Downy Woodpecker, and a Townsend's Warbler, which was photogenic, as was the morning view across the lawn.

       No matter how hard we searched for that Western Wood Pewee, we just couldn't find any trace of it. We had to be at my brother's soccer match at 10:00, so we ended our search, and visited the Sunnyvale WPCP for about 20 minutes, where a Sabine's Gull (super rare!) and a Bank Swallow had been reported this week. My first visit there went unsuccessfully, though I met a woman who had seen the Sabine's Gull fly off and land in a channel, but hadn't been able to relocate it. I also familiarized myself with the place, in case I had the chance to go there again tomorrow. The scenery here was also beautiful in the morning:

Summary:
Birds seen: 28
New birds: 0
Big year count: 181

Good birding,
Sergey Pavlov