[SBB] sunnyvale water control plant

[Chuq Von Rospach <[[email protected]]>]

Having left the american robin to its devices, I headed down to the  
water control plant, hoping to maybe hit some warblers.

I did. From the parking lot entrance to where the path turns left and  
heads towards the radar dish was pretty birdy this morning; the  
typical stuff (blackbirds, song sparrows, black phoebe's (at least  
six), bush tits (never has such a commonly seen bird been such a pain  
in the neck to get a decent photo of!).

And warblers. On the way out (9:30ish), there were multiple yellow  
warblers among the rushes and in the trees. The tree right at the  
turn near the round water tank in the plant had four or five warblers  
in it when I got there. They seemed primarily young or female common  
yellowthroats, but there was one or two yellows with them. I wild  
dill right where the path makes that hard left was attracting them  
for some reason, giving moderately good looks, but they scared off  
whenever someone or something came by. Those chasing photos, that  
seems to be a good spot to stake out.

The reed area out to the radar dish was pretty dead, other than  
blackbirds and a song sparrow. The pond east of the water  
distribution area had a lot of ducks in it -- ruddy, pintails,  
shovelers caught my eye, about 40-50 white pelicans and some browns.  
Looking across the other ponds and the channel from the distirubtion  
plant didn't show me anything unusual among the gulls and mallards.

Other birds of note -- when i arrived, a little hawk (I think a  
kestrel) stooped the blackbirds in the trees next to the parking lot,  
literally as I was getting out of the car. A Northern harrier came in  
and harried the pigeons out by the distribution plant, and my warbler  
chasing was interrupted by a belted kingfisher and a green heron. The  
usual suspects were around -- a good number of snowy egrets, one  
great blue heron sitting on top of one of the power towers near the  
entrance, turkey vultures, one great egret, and a large number (over  
a dozen) pied-billed grebes. And, now that I take a first look at my  
photos, a Marsh Wren, which I wasn't sure what it was because it was  
quiet....


Chuq Von Rospach
[[email protected]]
http://chuqui.typepad.com






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