Folks
In my quick e-mail from yesterday’s SFBBO
gull workshop results, I omitted several things. One was that some of us saw a
Yellow Warbler at the headquarters of the EEC in Alviso. Another was at least
one Violet-green Swallow in the flock of Tree Swallows at the EEC in Milpitas. I should add
that the female Eurasian Wigeon was identified by the lack of a black hairline
mark at the base of the bill, it was also acting as if it was paired with the
Eurasian Wigeon male. A Sanderling was sitting on one of the islands in the
EEC, which I thought was noteworthy. A female Red-breasted Merganser flew by as
we were heading to lunch at the EEC, a species I don’t associate with
salt pond in the south bay, but maybe it is more common than I think (I don’t
get out much to the EEC any more).
The other bird of note was that at Hidden
Lake Park
in Milpitas
there was an interesting and pale first cycle gull, which structurally looked
like a Thayer’s Gull. The primaries were not white, but palest buff, and
the tertials where off white with just a subterminal dark bar. It was not too
close and I did not get any photos of that bird. It certainly is one of these
troublesome birds which in the east would likely go down as a Kumlien’s
Iceland Gull, but here it is much more difficult to decide exactly what it is. If
someone gets a good photo of that bird, that would help in assessing what it
is. Also many hybrid gulls were seen, with some great looking “Olympic
Gulls” the hybrids of Western x Glaucous-winged gull at various occasions.
Good birding
Al
Alvaro Jaramillo
Biologist
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory
(SFBBO)
524 Valley Way,
Milpitas, CA 95035
www.sfbbo.org
[[email protected]]