Fledglings Fall Bird-a-Thon

       September 13th, 2014 - time for the second annual Fledglings bird-a-thon! Here, a group of young birders, led by Pati Rouzer, explores some of the county's best hotspots, learning about birds,  trying to count as many as we can, to get money through pledges for the SCVAS (in the spring), and the SFBBO (in the fall). In the spring we did a survey of Ed Levin County Park. This time, we would be traveling to different locations around the bay: first to the Coyote Creek Field Banding Station, then to Ulistac Natural Area, and finally to Shoreline at Mountain View.

       Unfortunately, I had to attend a Russian theater rehearsal from 9:45 to 12:30, so I'd miss out on about half of the day. I got to sandwich the rehearsal between the field station and Shoreline. We started early - at 7:30 in the McCarthy Ranch Plaza in Milpitas. We left the parking lot at around 7:45, with a day list of around 15 with birds just from the plaza, the most interesting being Eurasian Collared-Dove (they're spreading!), and California Gull. Last year on the fall bird-a-thon, we'd spotted an Osprey sitting in one of the trees right outside the plaza, but we had no such luck this year.

       As we drove down the restricted access (don't worry - we had permission) road to the banding station, we heard a Belted Kingfisher loudly rattling its way down the creek, what I thought was a Downy Woodpecker call (I'm not good at sound ID between Downy and Hairy), Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and saw lots of late-migrating Violet-green, and several Barn, Swallows on the wires above us. By the banding station, we saw a male Downy Woodpecker, giving us the 100% bird, that wasn't heard only.

        Josh Scullen, one of the many experienced banders working at the station, first showed us a juvenile Pacific-slope Flycatcher brought in from the mist nets at the moment. I'd never seen one so close! He pointed out all the field marks, including the eyering, the wide bill, short primary projections, and buffy wingbars to make it a juvenile. Josh also told us another, sometimes more reliable way to age the bird: seeing how much its skull has ossified, or how much the two layers of bone in the skull are together - you can look at the skull right through the bird's skin! Then, he made several measurements (length, weight, fat, band number, etc.), and let it free.

        On the walk through the woods and the field, we checked the mist nets, but found nothing. Ozzie, a young birder also in 9th grade, found a calling Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in the treetops. I didn't even recognize its call at first (after all, I've heard it only twice), but it clicked immediately as soon as Ozzie called out the ID. In the field on the way back, we found several Common Yellowthroats, including a young male stuck in the mist net. Josh untangled it, put it in a bird bag, showed it to us up close at the banding station, took the needed measurements, and let it go. He then did the same with a juvenile Black Phoebe - one of my favorite birds! I definitely learned a lot that day!

       We left the Coyote Creek Field Station at around 9:00, with 30 or so bird for the day. Not that many, but our next stop was Ulistac - a good place for passerines. On the way there, I talked with Ozzie about birding this year - turns out a lot of birds are mutual nemeses for us! Unfortunately, I only got to spend five minutes at Ulistac before I had to leave for my theater class.

        At exactly 12:50, I got to rejoin my bird-a-thon team, which had just finished their walk at Shoreline, and was planning to terminate their day at 1:00. In total, they had found 66 bird species. None would have been new for me for the year, but I was disappointed to not have been able to bird for an extra three hours. On the plus side, I got to bird for an extra hour with Ozzie around Charleston Slough and Coast Casey Forebay.

       We found several new birds for the day (that already didn't count because our bird-a-thon was officially over), and some other goodies: a female Green-winged Teal and a Greater Yellowlegs in the forebay, three Surf Scoters on the lake, lots of Elegant Terns (25 or so), a Whimbrel and a Semipalmated Plover in Charleston Slough, lots of dowitchers I didn't want to call for sure, and a Common Gallinule in Adobe Creek. I ended the day with only a few less species than the birdathon team, despite not going to Ulistac for long. Well, that's it for the bird-a-thons this year! I'll probably do the Christmas Bird Count in December, though, where I'll get to meet some more birders and find some nice birds!

Summary:
Birds seen: 62
New birds: 0
Big year count: 181

Good birding,

Sergey Pavlov

A September Day by the Bay

       I finished off August by heading to Almaden Quicksilver County Park two days in a row, on the evening of Saturday the 30th, and the day of Sunday the 31st. I didn't see any yearbirds, but I really enjoyed this park and its scenery and hiking trails. Photos can be found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/96975200@N08/sets/72157648204263376/ Be sure to check out the chipmunk!

        I had a three-day weekend that week (because Labor Day), so I used my Monday that I had off to do a yearbird-search by the bay with my dad. A Pectoral Sandpiper and a Pacifc Golden-Plover had been reported recently at the State and Spreckles pond in Alviso, so that was where I headed off to first.

        At around 1:00, we were there, gazing at a huge flock of American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts, maybe 400 of them, but with no rarities in sight. It was an interesting spectacle, though:

 

        Soon, though, a flock of phalaropes flew in, of which about 50 were the larger Wilson's, and around 15 or so Red-necked, all in nonbreeding plumage. At the north end of the pond, I found a Marbled Godwit on one of the islands, and my first-of-fall Northern Shovelers (still in nonbreeding plumage, too), but nothing else of note.

       We moved on to the Environmental Education Center, and I walked on the boardwalk through New Chicago Marsh. There, I found many more Black-necked Stilts, three Greater Yellowlegs, and many of the ubiquitous Least Sandpipers. I got some nice shots of one that happened to pose for me right on the boardwalk: 

       There were also about 150 unidentified dowitchers on the islands in New Chicago Marsh. I still don't have either one of the dowitchers on my yearlist (shameful!), but I know that I'll have to get them eventually - maybe go to Charleston Slough/Coast Casey Forebay and spend an hour solely on the seemingly almost impossible identification of winter dowitchers...

       On the island in Pond A16, I found about 100 American White Pelicans together with Western and California Gulls. There was a Belted Kingfisher hovering over Mallard Slough that we watched before to our car. Our next stop was Sunnyvale Baylands Park.

        There were lots of potential good birds to be found here: Willow Flycatcher, Western Wood-Pewee, rare warblers, and other migrants. In fact, a Tennessee Warbler was reported in the cottonwood row that morning!

        However, when we got there (at around 2:15), it was rather hot, and I could barely hear birds calling. Pretty much the only birds in the test garden were California Towhees - what looks like a family of about five or six. I had better luck at the Baylands Grove, though, where I found a Pacific-slope Flycatcher. It had a greenish-yellow tinge to it, no eyering, and short primary projections, sealing my ID for sure and eliminating Willow Flycatcher. In the cottonwoods by the entrance booth, I found two Downy Woodpeckers - only my second of the year (the first being in Vasona on the very first day of my big year). The woodpeckers were elusive, and gave us rather good looks, but never good photos.

  

      I met several other birders near the double cottonwood row and the eucalyptuses, and we searched in vain for the Tennessee Warbler. All we found was another Pac-slope Flycatcher way high up in the eucalyptus trees. I lost hope for the day, but I also knew that I would try again in September to see some migrants here.

        Next, we headed to Pond A2E, where I hoped to catch some possible (but very unlikely) lingering Least Terns, and some rare migrating Common Terns. Once we had parked at the end of Crittenden Lane, we found that we had to come home soon. We didn't have bikes, and walking there and back would take about forty-five minutes on its one if I stopped to bird. We resorted to desperate measures - borrowing Google bikes from the parking lot of the one of the office buildings. They didn't have hand brakes or gears, but they would do for a short ride.

       At A2E, it was very windy, and very terny. There were a lot more Forster's Terns fishing over the pond and sitting on the wooden posts than there were in July. Again, no luck finding any rarer terns among them. Carefully scanning the posts produced no results, either because of my ineptitude, or my lack of attention, or simply because there really was nothing there - I guess I'll never know. 

       However, my day didn't go without seeing a single yearbird: looking a bit down the trail, I saw a Brown Pelican repeatedly rising, kiting on the wind, and then sitting back down on the water. This was not only a county yearbird, but also a county lifer - I'd never seen them before, despite birding by the bay in the fall and winter numerous times - today was the first time.

       Crittenden "Marsh" (where I had seen the Snowy Plovers, with which I had no luck today) was completely dry, and so was the unnamed triangle pond. As we were leaving, I noticed about five other species of tern over the pond - Elegants. I had seen these at Shoreline about a week ago, but this was only my second time seeing them in the county.

       So ends my big day - riding back tro our car on borrowed Google bike on the Stevens Creek Trail, the wind blowing in our faces. The day certainly didn't live up to its full potential, but I definitely enjoyed my day off of school birding and being in nature.

Summary:

Birds seen: 38

New birds: 1

Big year count: 181

Good birding,

Sergey Pavlov

Shoreline Once More

       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

Sanborn and School

       My last trip before school started on August 20th was to Sanborn County Park. During the afternoon of August the 17th, I visited Sanborn Park for a picnic with my family. Technically, I'd already been to Sanborn this year, on the John Nicholas Trail, but this was my first time going to the main area of the park. I wanted to walk around the parking lots and bird a bit, because there was no knowing what I might find up there - from Western Wood-Pewees to warblers to Swainson's Thrushes.

       We arrived at the grassy slopes near the parking lot at about 4:30 and stationed ourselves under some trees. The only birds so far were some Band-tailed pigeons flying over, some American Crows, and Steller's Jays. There were also lots, both adults and juveniles, of Dark-eyed Juncos and American Robins on the slopes. I tried looking for Swainson's Thrushes that I could have mistaked for robins, but without luck. That day, I took my camera:

        I walked up to the highest parking lot and immediately noticed a Nuttall's Woodpecker on one of the Douglas Firs. In the trees planted in the middle of the parking lot, I heard and saw a flock of around 15 Bushits. I began the normal process of checking the fall Bushtit/chickadee flock for a migrant warbler. This time, I was in luck...

        I noticed a small, yellow bird darting between the branches together with the Bushtits. It took about a minute of stalking and following it to identify it as a Wilson's Warbler by its black cap and short tail, and white undertail (to rule out Yellow Warbler). It was definitely nice to start off my walk by seeing a pretty bird!

       I moved on to the taller trees, where I saw and heard several Chestnut-backed Chickadees. Suddenly, I saw a slightly larger, chunkier bird move through the branches. I caught a bit of it in my binoculars, and my first reaction was Cassin's Vireo! Pishing it closer, I saw that I was mistaken, and that it was just a more common, but worn, Hutton's. The green on the head was slightly faded, making my think it was a Cassin's - a bird I'd missed in the spring, and would have been very lucky, and happy, to see now.

       I then went on the trail by the campsites into the forest. Up high in the Coast Redwoods and Douglas Firs, I heard Steller's Jays, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and Common Ravens. I played the Pileated Woodpecker recording several times on the phone from the Merlin app to try to get it to call back, but eventually stopped so as not to disturb it if it had heard it. For me, the Pileated Woodpecker has achieved a mystical and unknown status that its cousin, the Ivory-billed, holds to most birders. I would be absolutely thrilled to see it this year! As I was coming out on the trail, I thought I heard the calls of a Brown Creeper somewhere on a tree trunk, but I wasn't sure. A view of the trail:
      

       And more views of the meadows:

       
Summary: 
Birds seen: 13
New birds: 0
Big year count: 177
 
   As I was walking back towards the picnic place, I thought that birding this way truly makes me happy. Number one: seeing nice birds, number two: learning more about those birds and watching them, and number three: enjoying nature. Even though I didn't get any lifers or yearbirds, I was still content.

       That's pretty much what I said in the beginning of my post "Summer Birding." In that post, I set myself a goal to enjoy the birds and learn more about them during the summer, not just count them. I think I've achieved the goal: I thought less about the yearlist (admittedly, still quite a bit), and more about the birds. I'd like to continue that trend during the final four months of my big year, attempting to cope with the homework and projects from BASIS, as well as my extracurriculars, while I push for 200. I think I can do it, and have a good time on the way.

Good birding,
Sergey Pavlov