Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve
near Lucy Evans Interpretive Center
1 March 2008
Palo Alto, CA
| This week I met my friend Mark in the parking lot near the Lucy Evans Interpretive Center at another section of the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve. This section includes the "Duck Pond," picnic areas, and a sailing area as well as some boardwalks and a defunct Sea Scouts center. Mark is more of a photography buff than I am, but I'm more of a birder than he is. We're both nature enthusiasts, so we make good hiking, watching, photographing partners. In the past, we've spent weeks camping together (with other friends) across the west (see other links on the "Travels" page). |
Before Mark arrived, I spotted a Ring-Necked Pheasant (a non-native species)
perched on a drinking fountain.
He decided it was time to do a little crowing...
...but it seems to have taken a bit out of him.
OK. It seems to have taken a LOT out of him.
He's such a GUY!
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Again, the day started out with variable cloud cover, so it was a little on the dark side
for clear, sparkling pictures, but I need the practice. I'm still shaky of hand and leg
(chemo after-effects still wearing off) and my new "long" zoom lens (to 300 mm)
is very unforgiving of shake (despite the Vibration Reduction), so I really need the
practice!
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This sort of squat building it the Lucy Evans Interpretive Center. It won't open till hours after we planned to be gone, but I may want to come back one day when it's actually open. It's hard to see here, but the building is on piers for when we get storm-surge ultra-high tides. There is also a boardwalk leading off the back out into the tidal marsh. they tell us that there are Clapper Rails living out there, but we didn't actually get to see any.
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Like it says...
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As expected, we came across American Avocets. This male is starting to don his "breeding" plumage -- where his head feathers are starting to come in with that rusty coloring.
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Ever see the movie, "The Birds"? Well, seems like every time we turned around there'd be a gathering of female Red Winged Blackbirds all perched in the top of some shrub, like this Baccharis pilularis (I think).
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Last week and the week before I saw Western Grebes. This week it's Clark's Grebe! Man! but these guys are a challenge to tell apart. It has mostly to do with how far down on his head the black reaches. Does it stop above or below the eye? Then there's the bill color. Is the yellow closer to green or closer to orange?
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Once again, if you've been following these adventures, I openly and freely admit that I just suck at identifying all the zillions of sparrows. (I really must put a good sparrow book on my wish list!) But the local interpretive signs (and my ears) have helped me out with this little guy. According to the signs, he's a Salt Marsh Song Sparrow. How that differs from the Alameda Song Sparrow, I haven't a clue, but that's the other guy I found when looking around on the web. (And you wonder why I'm confused by the sparrows.)
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OK. Not the best of pictures. Like I said, I need the practice. But I did manage to catch this Northern Harrier in mid-approach for landing on that branch.
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There aren't many things blooming as yet, but this was one of the few. And, no, I haven't a clue what it it... other than pretty.
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Two sides of the same sign-post at a "crossroads" at the parking lot where we started. If you look at the lower part of the left-hand post, you'll see that this is part of the "San Francisco Bay Trail." If you live in the area, you should look it up on the web. The idea is to have a continuous hiking/biking loop all the way 'round the bay.
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I wasn't sure what this pair was till I got home and looked them up in my field guide. So that's what an American Wigeon looks like! (The way I'm all whiney about too many kinds of sparrows, Mark's all whiney about too many kinds of ducks.)
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Last week I was sad because I could never get the light quite right on the male Green-Winged Teal to catch the bright green patch on his rusty-colored head. Today I got him!
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I'm pretty pleased with this shot of a flock of Willets coming in for a landing.
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Remember what I said about "The Birds?"
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If you've ever seen a bird in the pose of the bird on the left, you've been looking at a Cormorant. If you've seen whole flocks of these while crossing San Francisco Bay, you've been seeing the Double-Crested Cormorant. That's the same guy on the right with his wings folded down. The deal here is that cormorants don't have oily feathers because oily feathers would be buoyant and would interfere with his ability to "swim" underwater where he finds his dinner. When he comes out of the water he has to spend time preening -- wringing the water out of his feathers -- then "hanging his feathers out to dry" before he gets too cold. Dry feathers help keep him warm.
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Remember what I said about sparrows? Well, here's another one. No clue who he is.
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This place seems slightly overrun with jack rabbits. We saw easily a half-dozen at a time.
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I had no idea there were so many different kinds of Godwits. These are Marbled Godwits.
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I'm not entirely sure, but I believe this plain little wader is a Willet, the same guy as that flock of black-and-white-winged birds coming in for a landing above.
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This is a mixed flock of at least a half-dozen different kinds of wading birds. They've all finished eating and preening, and now they're settling down for a one-legged nap.
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Snowy Egrets seem to keep presenting themselves to give ma yet another opportunity to get it right. (Snowy Egret has a black bill.)
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I spotted this Great Egret when he was up in the reeds. And he was posing quite nicely, stepping toward the water, turning this way and that, stepping into the water, craning his neck this way and that. Then he got that look in his eye and... SNACK! He shot the tip of his bill into the water and came up with some little tasty swimmer-thing!
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All right, here we go again. Semipalmated Sandpiper? Dunlin? Sanderling? Got me.
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Again with the sparrows I can't figure out! Yes, this is different than any above.
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Ah ha! A sparrow I can ID! This is a White Crowned Sparrow. OK, so it's pretty obvious why it's called what it is. At least I know this one. AND there are even two races. This is Gambel's form. (Yellow bill and the white eye stripe goes all the way to the bill.)
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The trail goes past the Palo Alto Duck Pond. In addition to the opportunistic wildland waterfowl, there are also a variety of domesticated waterfowl -- like these geese.
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I've been seeing plenty of Greater Scaup on my various hikes, but this guy came up to the side of the duck pond and posed for me. Pretty, ain't he?
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Same sort of thing with this Northern Shoveler. He was just hanging out waiting for me.
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Again, I came across a mixed flock of wading birds. These guys have recently finished dining and were preening all the mud and gunk off their feathers before they settle down to their nap to digest. If you look off to the right, you'll see a Ruddy Duck floating in the estuary with his little tail cocked up at a distinctive angle. |
