[SBB] Sunnyvale water plant

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

Went out for my walk today behind the water plant, a wonderful day  
for birding....

In the rushes as you head out behind the plant, there were a good  
number of sparrows active today. All that I could track down were  
younger white-crowned, plus one house. No golden-crowneds found, or  
anything rarer.

As I made the turn by the bench where the path turns towards radar  
dish, I found the American Kestrel, along with a very unhappy flock  
of european starlings. This is the second time I've found the kestrel  
here, and from watching it for a while, it seems to frequent the area  
from the bench along the power lines down to the dump area, and there  
seems to be a resident population of pigeons living on the water  
plant roof that seems to be its primary interest. It would  
occasionally take off and chase either the starlings (who finally  
left) or the pigeons, then uses the utility wire to sit again. He  
finally flew off towards the dump where I lost sight of him.

On the power pole right above all of this sat a very large red-tail.  
She was there when I arrived, was still there when I left.

The rushes to the right as you walk to the radar dish were almost  
completely silent -- I heard maybe two blackbirds. Two or three  
sparrows were found, all white-crowns. No warblers noticed or heard.

In the pond on the left were pied-bill grebes and ruddy ducks. A few  
of the male ruddy's are putting on their fancy clothes, the faces  
turning very white. also coots. During this walk the belted  
kingfisher arrived to fish and put on a show. There were also some  
snowy and a couple of great egrets, and one great blue. There's also  
a small flock of escapee geese (pure white) that I've seen out there  
a couple of times, about 8-9. They watched with great interest as the  
first of two turkey vultures swooped through.

When I made the turn to the water distribution plant, I noticed a  
bird scratching in the dirt right under the locked vehicle gate. I  
watched it for a while and didn't recognize it. I spent some time  
working to get good pictures of it, which I brought home, and it  
looks to be an American Pipit. The various ponds around the water  
distribution plant and the radar dish were pretty quiet -- I found  
two Common Moorhens in among the coots, but little else. I did have a  
flock of 9 canada geese fly over, and over the 20-30 minutes I was  
out there, about 20-25 double-crested cormorants fly by.

No sign of the Bonaparte's gull that we found about 10 days ago, but  
there were few gulls near the distribution plant, and I didn't walk  
out further than that.

On the way back, an American White pelican  flew into the pond you  
circle getting out there and started feeding.

I've got some really good shots of the kingfisher fishing, as well as  
the pipit and some decent shots of the kestrel. I'll let folks know  
when they're viewable.




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

Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties
are largely ceremonial.



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