Yesterday by the large pond at Emily Renzel Wetlands on E. Bayshore Rd.,
one turnout north of the Matadero Creek turnout, there was an Aleutian Cackling
Goose with a group of Canada Geese. There was also a swimming Common Moorhen.
In the flooded area by the Palo Alto Yacht Harbor,
close to the Nature Center parking lot, a Clark’s
Grebe was swimming with a Western Grebe, two of the half dozen or more Aechmophorus
grebes I saw scattered around the Palo Alto Baylands. Near the old Yacht
Club building was a Caspian Tern hanging out with a growing flock of 15 or more
Bonaparte’s Gulls, some already black-hooded. There were many
hundreds of Marbled Godwits in the surrounding mudflats and pickleweed. Scattered
among them were smaller flocks of dowitchers. I scoped one flock of Short-Billed
Dowitchers, and saw a few already in their colorful breeding plumage. I heard
a couple of their distinctive tu-tu-tu calls as other birds joined them. In
a tower near the Yacht
Harbor mouth, Common
Ravens were nesting again this year, and a Long-billed Curlew called from a
nearby mudflat. I didn’t find the Cattle Egret at the Palo
Alto Duck pond.
Happy birding!
Donna Heim