I do California Gull and Forster's Tern colony counts for SFBBO at Shoreline Park, and this
past weekend was a count weekend.
I did have one surprise yesterday, a Least Tern which obligingly alighted next to the asphalt
path not far from the obervation platform looking over Charleston Slough. I was focused on
my task at hand and wouldn't normally have spent much time looking for other birds, but this one
was 50 feet from me so I couldn't ignore it (though everyone else passing by did). It was small,
with a white forehead, yellow bill with black tip, and shorter tail than the nearby Forster's Terns.
Otherwise in my walk out the A1 levee and back (plus close environs) I saw only the usual suspects:
California Gull
Forster's Tern
Double-crested Cormorant
American Avocet
Black-Necked Stilt
Black Skimmer
Mallard
Ruddy Duck
Green-Winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Gadwall
Scaup sp.
American Crow (taking an unsuccessful pass over the CAGU colony)
Peregrine Falcon (also passing over the colony but not getting any dinner)
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Great Blue Heron
Black-Crowned Night Heron
Cliff Swallow (many fewer this year?)
And of course I had to go take a look at the Common Loon on the lake.
No white pelicans at the gull colony this year....in years past there were always 20 to 100 of them
out on the island, but not this year. (Last year I didn't count that colony because the Shoreline
construction made access a lot more difficult.)
Laurie Bechtler
p.s. In the category of amusing encounters -- a woman walking with a man and a child
stopped me when I was using my scope and asked if it was a telescope. I told her yes but that
birders usually call it a spotting scope. She said that she wanted to buy one for her 5-year
old daughter! I showed her my binoculars, told her what they were called (she seemed not
to know) and suggested that was a better first purchase. I also directed her to the Audubon
web site and suggested that she look up local chapters for children's activities. Silicon Valley is
full of people with more money than sense!