[SBB] recent birds

[michael mammoser <[[email protected]]>]

On Tuesday, 19 Sep 06, I started out at the Guadalupe River just south of Montague Xway. A ditch has been dredged into the overflow channel, and is full of water, so getting to the riparian strip looks to be a swimming event now. I declined to bird from the levee and headed out.

 

I arrived at the Sunnyvale Baylands Park and looked over the cottonwoods and eucalyptus trees, finding 20+ YELLOW WARBLERS and 8 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS. A walk along the fence by the seasonal wetlands produced a calling VIRGINIA RAIL and a dozen or so SAVANNAH SPARROWS, whose winter numbers are beginning to build here.

 

After a lunch appointment I stopped outside SFBBO and found 2 BANK SWALLOWS on the wires. They disappeared just before Kathy Parker showed up and told me of the gulls that were seen at the Sunnyvale sewage ponds. So, I headed over there.

 

I walked all the way out to the end of the center channel before seeing the SABINE'S GULL foraging over the water of the West Pond back towards the radar station and close in to the channel levee. So, I walked back and crossed over the channel with a birder named Al (sorry, forgot the last name) and Dean Manley, who had just shown up. Presently, Al Eisner and eventually Peggy Don came by and we all had excellent views of this beautiful gull feeding as close as 20 feet from us. No sight of the Franklin's Gull at this time, but I found a BLACK TERN foraging well out on the West Pond.

 

After arriving back home, I had a phone message from Steve Rottenborn concerning the White-winged Dove down in Morgan Hill, and made a end-of-the-day stab at finding it. No luck.

 

So on Wednesday morning, 20 Sep 06, I was back at the Morabito Farm at 7:40 or so and eventually found the WHITE-WINGED DOVE sitting in one of the dead willows next to the pond. I had the scope on it when Mike Rogers arrived and we enjoyed close views of this bird until nearly 9:00 am.

 

I then drove back to the Sunnyvale sewage ponds, where the FRANKLIN'S GULL was sitting pretty in the channel right at the pump station in front of the radar installation.

 

Some further checking for swallows and ruffs was unsuccessful.

 

Michael Mammoser

 

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