[SBB] Common Moorhen families in Sunnyvale and Mountain View

["Garrett Lau" <[[email protected]]>]

I spent this morning at the Sunnyvale Water Pollution Control Plant.
When I arrived, Matthew Dodder told me that had seen the Franklin's
Gull in the channel by the pump station. However, when I got to the
channel, the Franklin's Gull was not among the gulls in the channel or
on the western levee. There were some gulls sitting on the eastern
levee, but before I could get close enough to scrutinize them, I saw a
Common Moorhen swimming around and heard another one in the reeds. I
soon located the second one in a nest, along with two chicks. While I
was photographing the nest, some joggers caused the gulls to disperse.
If there was a Franklin's Gull in that flock, I missed it, but at
least I got some good moorhen photos. After that, I found moorhens in
other clusters of reeds, for a total of ten adults, one juvenile, and
two nestlings. I also photographed the four different species of
swallows around the pump station: Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow, Tree
Swallow, and Northern Rough-winged Swallow.

On Friday evening, August 3, I went to Charleston Slough and Shoreline
Lake in Mountain View. There were all the usual shorebirds in
Charleston Slough, including over 1000 Western Sandpipers. This is a
conservative estimate, as this photo only shows about one fourth of
the flock:
http://www.pbase.com/garrettlau/image/83327510

In the little pond in the forebay between Charleston Slough and
Shoreline Lake, there were three juvenile Common Moorhens and one
adult. These are probably the same individuals that I photographed as
babies on May 3.

At Shoreline Lake, I did not see the Common Loon. The last time I saw
it was July 27. There was one Caspian Tern flying among all the
Forster's Terns. I took several photos of it, although I almost missed
it catching a fish because I was watching some American White Pelicans
fly over the lake. These were separate from the large flock of
pelicans (approximately 80) that I saw in Adobe Creek a few minutes
before. Another species present in unusually large numbers was Snowy
Egret. There were 34 (mostly juveniles) in the section of the forebay
next to the lake, plus a few more at the lake. A Green Heron landed on
the western shore of the lake just before sunset.

I haven't posted my photos from today, but photos taken up to yesterday are at:
http://www.pbase.com/garrettlau/recentbirds

Garrett Lau

_______________________________________________
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
South-Bay-Birds mailing list      ([[email protected]])
Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
http://plaidworks.org/mailman/listinfo/south-bay-birds_plaidworks.org