[SBB] around the bay (6/1)

[Chuq Von Rospach <[[email protected]]>]

I took an extended trip around the bay today, just because I could....

Started out at Shoreline, near the sailboard launching area after  
coming in the main entrance. No sign of the eagle (sigh). Lots of  
canada geese (of course), but otherwise the lake was pretty quiet. I  
did see the scoters again, a few forster's terns, and the non- 
breeding plumage loon. Again no sign of the breeding plumage loon; I  
saw it saturday, but not monday, and again not today, and I haven't  
seen any other reports here of it being seen -- it seems to have  
moved on, or hidden well.

moved on to terminal avenue, and walked into shoreline up to the  
pumphouse, to try for better pictures of the moorhen and chicks. I  
think I succeeded, and I'll post them tomorrow. I was able to get a  
definite count -- there are five. As I was taking pictures, they  
suddenly shot for the reeds and disappeared. I looked up, to see a  
very large raptor floating across the sky above us. There was a  
second one of the same type, but smaller, also within view, and they  
seemed to be loosely hunting together.

They wheeled around the area for about 10 minutes. I was able to get  
some good shots of the bigger one -- this was a large bird, turkey  
vulture sized or larger. One of the shots is here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuqui/158516467/

To me, it looks like a Ferruginous, but I'd love confirmation from  
the experts (large size, lack of banding on the tail, general wing  
and tail shape, dark tip on the beak and general face shape....). I  
ruled out a younger red-tail for a couple of reasons -- the darker  
color on the tip of the beak (which isn't as noticeable on this photo  
as on some I haven't cleaned up yet), and the size. Coincidentally,  
about two minutes after these two birds soared off to the north, a  
THIRD raptor flew into view -- and the red tail was clearly visible  
in the binoculars, and it was significantly smaller than either of  
these two birds. it was also being harrassed by a number of  
blackbirds, so it didn't stay long...

Anyway, after shooting the moorhens and looking around a bit, I got  
back in the car and drove up to Palo Alto Baylands; very low tide,  
not much going on. from there, I drove across the dumbarton; on the  
south side, the pods were fully drained and dry, only a few gulls. On  
the north side, a few avocets an d a couple of cormorants out in the  
channel under the bridge, but not  much else. Finished the loop by  
driving south and over to Alviso and stopped by the marina, which was  
also really quiet, but my rib also started acting up, so I didn't do  
much walking around to look, either...



-- 
Chuq Von Rospach, Architech
[[email protected]] -- http://chuqui.typepad.com/

The first rule of holes: If you are in one, stop digging.



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