[SBB] Birding EEC

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

I decided I wanted to practice chasing small birds today, so I  
grabbed my gear and headed out to EEC, where I figured I could chase  
warblers in the rushes. Spent about an hour and a half along the  
channel to the east of the parking lot in the early afternoon.

It was a rather fruitful (if frustrating...) afternoon.

There were blackbirds all over the place, both adult and juvenile. A  
couple of nice shots are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuqui/266617506/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuqui/266618008/

One of two warblers that day -- I can't for the life of me ID it,  
though.... help? (my best guess is chestnut-sided, but I don't think  
that's correct)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuqui/266617779/

The ubuiquitous Black Phoebe was there:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuqui/266617403/

So was another bird taht I initially thought might be a phobe, or an  
eastern kingbird, but it's clearly not. Been beating my head against  
the wall on this for a couple of hours, and my best guess is -- juvie  
tricolor blackbird?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuqui/266618242/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuqui/266618157/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuqui/266617897/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuqui/266617591/

Sparrows were fairly plentiful:

Here's one I'm not sure how to ID -- Clay-Colored, perhaps?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuqui/266617704/

White-crowned were all over the place:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuqui/266617272/

And a rather nice looking "sooty" Fox Sparrow.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuqui/266617150/

Also seen but not photographed were a California Towhee, and a  
probable Orange-Crowned Warbler (which I got decent looks at the head  
twice, only to have the crows wander in and start making noise each  
time). Also two hummingbirds chasing each other, who were so busy  
fighting they almost took off an ear -- I doubt they saw me.

Other stuff seen: a quick jaunt out behind the EEC to the ponds  
showed white pelicans, double-crested cormorants, gulls, coots in  
fairly large numbers, lots of peeps out on the algae fields, northern  
shovelers, mallards, one great egret and a number of snowy egrets,  
avocets, the usual suspects. I didn't see anything weird.

Also in the area, to my frustration, was a group of crows that  
decided to take interest in what I was doing; whenever I was trying  
to be quiet, it seemed they felt the need to wander over and start  
yelling. After a while, they got bored and went off to go trash cars  
or something....

More amusing was watching four turkey vultures in the area. At one  
point, they all converged on the gulls on the levees in the ponds on  
the far (eastern) side of the channel I was birding, and I got to  
watch as they started systematically annoying the gulls -- they would  
drop so they were about 1 foot above the top of the levee, and fly up  
the length of it very slowly, in a way to force all of the gulls  
sitting on it to scatter. Eventually, all four of the vultures landed  
and stood on the levee within about 3" of each other, having chased a  
few dozen gulls out of the way. That lasted about 5 minutes, then a  
couple of them took off, flew about 100 yards east to where the gulls  
had regrouped, and proceeded to do it again. This all went down over  
about a 20 minute period, and then they seemed to get bored with  
messing with the gulls and they all took off and soared off in  
different directions. They were clearly NOT hunting the gulls, nor  
were the gulls overly concerned -- they were annoying the gulls,  
because it seemed to amuse them, and because, well, they could.

On the drive in and out of EEC were avocets, willets and black-necked  
stilts, especially a lot of younger ones still growing out of the  
down. Stopping at State and Spreckels showed lots of peeps (LOTS of  
peeps) and avocets and stilts, and a few shovelers. Driving in, I saw  
the lump in the tree that Al reported as the Osprey, but I didn't go  
back to get a better look, and when I left, it was gone. I keep  
missing the woodpeckers over there (ohwell).

Since I'm not at Apple any more, I don't get up to Steven's Creek Dam  
regularly now (my former "hiding place for sanity"); I made a trip up  
there Saturday just to see how it was doing -- it was hot and dusty,  
the water down about 10', and as far as I could tell, it was  
completely empty of birds. Not even a cormorant, and where I would  
normally see sparrows or scrub jays in the brush on the hill across  
the street, it was completely still and silent. (here's hoping  
wherever I get my next gig is within easy reach of good birding...)


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

Someday, we'll look back on this, laugh
nervously and change the subject.



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