[SBB] Varied Twitchers Big Half Day - Stilt Sandpiper, Eurasian Collared-Dove - 9/22/07

[[[email protected]] (Mike Rogers)]

All,

Yesterday 9/22/07, the Varied Twitchers (me, Ann Verdi, Pat Humphrey, Jack Cole, Janet Hanson, Earl Muramatsu, Laurie Bechtler, Jan Hintermeister, Andy Miller, Mary Miller, and Vivien Miller) scoured Alviso and the vicinity of the Mountain View Forebay on our "Big Half Day" quest to find 100 species for the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory's Fall Challenge fundraiser. Our progress was hampered somewhat by rain, but we ended up finding our 100th species in the Mountain View Forebay just after 3:00pm.

We started out at the Alviso Marina at 7:30am, searching the brush for passerine migrants and scanning salt ponds A12 and A8 for waterbirds. Sparrows have returned in numbers, and we saw many WHITE-CROWNED and LINCOLN'S SPARROWS at virtually all our stops yesterday and single GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS opposite the pond at State and Spreckles and at CCFS. YELLOW WARBLERS were also everywhere, including on telephone wires at State and Spreckles, as well as in the eucalyptus by the CCFS banding trailer. At least one HOUSE WREN was behind the cannery building in Alviso and a PEREGRINE FALCON was perched on a telephone pole in the northeast corner of Salt Pond A8. Salt Pond A12 had both CLARK'S and WESTERN GREBES, species that we have not found during the past four years of running these trips. Both SORA and VIRGINIA RAILS called from the Alviso Marina reed beds, and we later heard both species at the Mountain View Forebay and near the Lockheed ponds in Sunnyvale as well.

After birding the Alviso Marina area, we headed to the pond at State and Spreckles and the nearby EEC entrance road, hoping to bolster our shorebird numbers. We added a hatch-year STILT SANDPIPER, 66+ WILSON'S PHALAROPES, 26 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES, 6 LESSER YELLOWLEGS, and several BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS among other more expected species. Another PEREGRINE FALCON was perched on a tower along the EEC entrance road, with a RED-TAILED HAWK on the next tower over. Single VAUX'S SWIFTS and SAY'S PHOEBES at State and Spreckles were new for the day.

More species were added while walking from the closed gate at the bend in the EEC entrance road to the EEC building and back. We had scope views of a female DOWNY WOODPECKER, always unreliable on Big Days, our first YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, an OSPREY, a WESTERN TANAGER, and a FOX SPARROW. The steady rain must have pushed the Barn Owl way back into its box, because we could only pretend to catch glimpses using our best imagination. The BLACK SKIMMER pair was still escorting its fledgling on the first island in Salt Pond A16 and aggressive ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS thrilled our visitors from Wales. The drive back out the entrance road added our first AMERICAN KESTREL and LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE.

The Arzino Ranch added 3 BURROWING OWLS, 2 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS, and many TRICOLORED BLACKBIRDS in the distant blackbird flock. Seven more curlews were on the lawns of the San Jose-Santa Clara WPCP.

Most of the good birds at CCFS were near the eucalyptus tree by the trailers. We added a BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, 3 WESTERN TANAGERS, and 5+ YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, as well as the first of 7 "WESTERN" FLYCATCHERS (several calling being PACIFIC-SLOPE). A walk along the creek added 6+ SWAINSON'S THRUSHES, but only a few of us caught glimpses at these furtive birds, which were calling all around us. Three more FOX SPARROWS were found in the large sparrow flocks. Our trip north to the waterbird pond added another SAY'S PHOEBE, a heard-only BELTED KINGFISHER, and an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER. Water levels at the waterbird pond were very low, but 4 LESSER YELLOWLEGS still found it acceptable and another LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE was perched on the WPCP fence here. Scoping through the many EUROPEAN STARLINGS and 80+ BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS at the recycle plant finally added a single BREWER's BLACKBIRD.

A stop along the lower levee south of the banding trailer as we left proved fortuitous, as a EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE flew in to perch atop a snag. The bird provided scope views for ten minutes, but two minutes later was seen flying south over the creek towards Highway 237. Our first AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES (2) were with the LESSER GOLDFINCH/SPARROW flock here and four more VAUX'S SWIFTS were overhead. Near the CCFS gate we all got excellent looks at an immature COOPER'S HAWK spreading its tail while perched along the creek, our 93rd species for the day.

We regrouped back at the old cannery building in Alviso, losing four of our members at 2:30pm. The rest of us pressed onward to Terminal Ave in Mountain View. A CASPIAN TERN foraging over the Calabazas Ponds was new for the day (and was still present at the end of the day when heading back to Alviso and then home at 5:00pm). Looping around the Mountain View Forebay added 9 more mostly expected species, including the pair of SURF SCOTERS on Shoreline Lake, COMMON MOORHEN, CINNAMON and GREEN-WINGED TEAL, 4 AMERICAN WIGEON, and 3 WHITE-TAILED KITES. Jack Cole picked out a single SEMIPALMATED PLOVER on Charleston Slough for our 103rd and final species as a group. The fennel along the western edge of the Forebay added migrants, including a HOUSE WREN and scope views of some of 6+ LINCOLN'S SPARROWS.

Our group broke up at 4:00pm, but Ann, Pat, and I stopped at the Lockheed Ponds in Sunnyvale on the return to Alviso, adding the two WHITE-FACED IBIS and a GREEN HERON to the day's totals to reach 105 species in "overtime". The ibis was our 7th new species of the day for the Fall Varied Twitchers list, bringing our cumulative total seen over the past five years of trips to 140 species!

All in all a great day of birding in great company for a good cause, despite the rain!

There are still several more guided SFBBO trips if you are interested in doing a trip like this in the next few weeks (see http://www.sfbbo.org/support/fall_challenge07_trips.php for a complete list with descriptions).

Mike Rogers
Sunnyvale

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