Don Edwards San Francisco Bay Wildlife Refuge
17 February 2008
Near Alviso, California
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Today I hiked for about three and a half hours (a little more than 3 miles) with
my friend Chris at Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
The terrain was quite flat except right around the Environmental Education Center.
This place is run by the Fish and Wildlife Service and was founded in 1974. It serves to preserve wildlife habitat, protect threatened and endangered species, protect migratory birds, and offer opportunities for nature study... as well as a chance for me to get out in the fresh air, get some exercise, and take some pictures! Much of the place is under restoration efforts and they are striving to build some habitat-specific gardens around the Education Center -- songbirds, butterflies, etc. |
Other than the ubiquitous seagulls and sparrows, one of the first birds I noticed on our walk was a Black Crowned Night Heron. I'd only ever seen one before, so I was rather excited to see this guy hunkered down on the opposite bank of the slough we were following. |
Then I started noticing more, and more and more and more and... The joint was overrun with them! Then I peered over the top of the opposite embankment and across the next slough over and they were there, too, even more densely packed! |
Along our walk I noticed a bird-form hunkered down on a railing, too far away to determine exactly what it was, but at first it looked like an owl. But an owl would be under better cover during the day and, when I zoomed in on the photo till it pixellated, the beak on this guy was more protruding like a hawk's. Still don't know who he is, but that's a seagull sharing his rail. |
Here's a quick, shy, little guy called a Common Yellowthroat despite looking more like El Zorro. This is the male. Females and juveniles don't sport the mask. Very challenging photographic subject because of his zippy, darting, shy behavior (not to mention the gray, overcast, low-light condition). |
Along our walk we encountered this small flock of American While Pelicans preening. Some times of the year (a couple of weeks each in the spring and fall) the lagoons and ponds around the bay are cheek-by-jowl with these guys. Where the Brown Pelicans fly over the water and dive or scoop fish in their bills, these guys work in concert to surround and corral their meals. |
Another bird I've only ever seen once before is the Cinnamon Teal. Here we have Mr. and Mrs. Teal (reading left-to-right) paddling through the slough. (The blur through the middle of the picture is a rush on the near bank that I'm trying to shout through. This is the clearest, out-in-the-openest picture I got of this pair!) |
OK. I openly and freely admit that I suck at identifying all the small sandpipers, peeps, plovers, etc. But I think this guy is a Semipalmated Sandpiper. Being small, shy, darting little guys makes them challenging to photograph, but I got a few pictures that were good enough to hold my bird book next to for identification... and still I'm not 100% sure. |
Way up ahead I spied a Great Blue Heron perched on an old pier piling(?), but he spooked and flew off before we got close. (I'm thinking that's a Northern Shoveler in the background.) |
After Mr. Heron left his piling perch he landed on this wacky framework farther out in the lagoon. Don't know what he was keeping an eye on, but it probably wasn't all the Northern Shovelers gathered 'round. |
Fairly early on in our hike we spotted a Great Egret far ahead, just off the trail. I stopped and shot a series of long-distance, flat-grey-light pictures of him, but a mountain biker came whipping through and scared him off. Oh, well. At least I got something. But, as we were nearing the end of the hike, after the sun had finally burned off the fog, he reappeared at the side of the trail. He was just standing there, tall and straight, soaking up the sun. |
Then he noticed something and turned to look... |
and got ready to strike... |
and struck! If you look very closely, you can make out the ripples in the water where he struck. |
Mmmmm! Yummy! as he swallows whatever it was. |
I don't know whatever bunnies live in the area, but we found this guy hunkered down under a shrub near the Environmental Education Center in the Butterfly Garden. |
Here's a nice tongue-twister for you: Sisyrinchium bellum. It's less accurate, but easier to say "Blue-Eyed Grass." It's not actually a grass, of course, because grasses put on "flowers" that most folks wouldn't recognize as flowers. This guy is actually a member of the lily family. This flower is maybe a half-inch across and the plant was by the walkway at the Environmental Education Center. |
Also along the same walkway we found several shrubs called "Fuschia Flowered Gooseberry" (Ribes speciosum), a California native. We have many ribes species in California. Some are called "Currant" and some are called "Gooseberry." The difference is in the thorns. (Just look at the ones here!) The currants are thornless. BTW- the hummingbirds love this guy for the red, tubular flowers. |
And speaking of red, tubular flowers the hummingbirds love, is it any wonder this Salvia spathacea is called "Hummingbird Sage?" If you bruise the leaves of this plant, you can smell the sage. |
And, of course, the floral collection wouldn't be complete without the California Poppy. Looking for another tongue-twister? How about "Eschscholzia californica?"
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