[SBB] lots of ibis

[Mike Rogers <[[email protected]]>]

All,

Late this morning 5/8/07, I got a message from Bob Reiling that a Black 
Tern was perched on wood pilings in Salt Pond A16 (north of the EEC in 
Alviso), so I headed out there for an early lunch, bumping into Mike 
Mammoser by the railroad tracks crossing. We headed out to Salt Pond 
A16, seeing 2 male GREAT-TAILED GRACKLES flying north along the slough 
north of the EEC as we went. Careful scoping of Salt Pond A16 failed to 
turn up any Black Terns, although we did find 2 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES. 
Turning the other way and scoping Salt Pond A18, I picked up on a very 
large group of about 58 dark ibis (presumably WHITE-FACED IBIS) flying 
low to the south over the northeast corner of A18. These birds gained 
altitude over the San Jose-Santa Clara WPCP and eventually disappeared 
behind the landfill hill near the bend in Zanker Road.

We next checked out the warblers in the cottonwoods, finding 4+ 
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS (including a singing adult male MYRTLE, a female 
MYRTLE, and 2 female AUDUBON'S), 2 WILSON'S WARBLERS, a singing YELLOW 
WARBLER, and a WESTERN KINGBIRD. A female BULLOCK'S ORIOLE was building 
a nest and 2 first-summer males were chasing each other around on the 
A16 levee. A USGS employee who had been driving the dikes drove out and 
mentioned an alternate-plumaged Black Tern by the third island (and 
three there yesterday), so we went back out to the pond and walked the 
southern levee to the fourth island. Still no Black Tern, but we added 1 
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, 2 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, 13 WESTERN SANDPIPERS, 4 
DUNLIN, and 2 alternate-plumaged SPOTTED SANDPIPERS. Also good numbers 
of lingering GREBES (4 species), and dabbling ducks (including AMERICAN 
WIGEON, NORTHERN SHOVELER, and NORTHERN PINTAIL). A leucistic AMERICAN 
COOT was an oddity.

A quick check of Arzino Ranch turned up the two CATTLE EGRETS and 2 
BURROWING OWLS.

Driving back west across highway 237, I saw a group of about 26 
WHITE-FACED IBIS flying south low across the highway at Sunnyvale 
Baylands Park, just east of Caribbean Drive. These birds circled around 
somewhere near Calabazas Creek and Tasman Drive and looked like they 
might have been heading back toward the bay, but I had to move on.

Mike Rogers
Sunnyvale

P.S. Bob Reiling also mentioned a second-hand report of a Wandering 
Tattler "near the rocks" on Salt Pond A2W (also seen by USGS personnel?).

-- 

Opinions expressed are my own and not those of NASA.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael M. Rogers, Ph.D.
Mail Stop T27B-1
NASA Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, CA 94035
650-604-4732

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