[SBB] Charleston Slough: a plethora of riches this morning

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At around 9:15AM this morning (Monday) I arrived at Charleston Slough and 
walked out to the part of the Forebay with water in it.  On the other side of the 
Forebay, at very low tide,  stood seven GREAT EGRETS and one GREAT BLUE 
HERON, all within a few feet of each other and with their heads all reaching toward 
the sky .  That was quite a sight!  Next to them were two SNOWY EGRETS, one 
of them doing its shuffle dance and gobbling up goodies on a regular basis.  
There were also BLACK-NECKED STILTS, one BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON and a mature  
FORSTER'S TERN with a begging chick that was as big as it was.  The chick got 
ignored.  
I then turned my attention back to the Forebay where I was lucky enough to 
see a WILSON'S SNIPE swimming toward the reeds, away from two (LONG-BILLED?) 
Dowitchers, and a number of non-breeding MALLARDS, (It looked like there were 2 
male Mallards in eclipse plummage.)   Further watching produced three MOORHEN 
chicks and then an adult.  I also saw a small bird with a long neck.  Frank Van
slager came up just then and confirmed the Snipe sighting.  I asked him if he 
had seen any phalaropes around and he said, "No", looked in his scope, and 
then said, "not until now."  There was my RED-NECKED PHALAROPE swimming near the 
MOORHENS.  He thought the Dowitchers were Long-bills also - very humped back 
and thick neck.  Too far away for me to see feather details with only my 
binoculars.   More Snowy Egrets, a GADWALL, and a GREATER YELLOWLEGS rounded out 
what was to be seen in the forty minutes I had alloted for this little excursion. 
 I was so glad, though, that I had stopped, even for such a short time.
I will be teaching Birding Basics at the Palo Alto Adult School starting in 
September.  If you know of people who might be interested in this very basic 
beginning class, please let them know.
Thanks in advance,
Anne Creevy<BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> Get a sneak 
peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour</HTML>

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