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Birding @ Bayfront Park (Menlo Park)

2008-02-1611 CommentsBirding, Nature, Photography

After work on Thursday I swung by nearby Bayfront Park for a quickie walk before the slog home on 101.  For no good reason, I’ve only birded this park a couple of times, which is silly, as it’s within sight of the office I work in on the odd days when I’m not working at home.

Ring-billed Gulls.  My office building is in the background.

I parked at the end of the access road and walked eastward along the slough.  At the park’s entrance there were many birds (which I would see later), but here the waters were pretty sparse.  A Western Grebe here, a Bufflehead there, two flying Willets, a pair of Mallards on the bank.

 
Anna’s Hummingbird (male)

 
House Finch (male)

The trail turns south by a water treatment area, and in the nearby bushes I had cooperative Anna’s Hummingbird and a few House Finches.  Not exactly uncommon, but nice to photograph anyways.

 Black-necked Stilts
Black-necked Stilts

On a structure on the middle of a water treatment pond, a few dozen Black-necked Stilts rested, a funny juxtaposition of these elegant shorebirds and inelegant rusty metal.

 
Yellow-rumped Warbler

A bright Yellow-rumped Warbler flitted about in some willows, and a Red-tailed Hawk perched on a nearby antenna, peering down at the myriad squirrels in the fields.  On my last visit, I saw a huge number of feral rabbits,  this time there were many hundreds of squirrels, no patch of grass squirrel-free!  Well, no patches except for the tracts occupied by over a hundred Canada Geese.  I quickly scanned the goose flock to see if there were any obvious minima Cackling Geese, but didn’t turn any up.

 White-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow

A flock of White-crowned Sparrows foraged in some low brush, and I took a futile look around to see if I could spot a Burrowing Owl, which had been reported here a few days earlier.  No luck, although this is a large enough area, with much good burrow habitat, that my hopes weren’t high since I didn’t have a precise description of where it was seen.

 
Northern Shovelers

I finished up my loop by going along one of the old salt ponds, where I saw American Avocets, Ring-billed Gulls, and a bunch of Northern Shovelers, then walked back east along the slough towards the car.

 
Canvasback (female)

In the slough I saw many Green-winged Teal, more Mallards, a bunch of Shovelers, a Clark’s Grebe, Snowy Egret, American Coot,  and more (the same?) Willets.  A pair of Canvasbacks treated me to a take-off display, and with that, I was done.  This was a lovely walk, and I got a number of year birds (mostly ducks), although it’s still easy for me to get year birds at this early point in the year since I haven’t been out all that much!

Location: Bayfront Park, Redwood Shores
Observation date: 2/14/08
Number of species: 23

+ Canada Goose – Branta canadensis 125
Mallard – Anas platyrhynchos 25
+ Northern Shoveler – Anas clypeata 40
+ Green-winged Teal – Anas crecca 50
+ Canvasback – Aythya valisineria 10
Greater Scaup – Aythya marila 7
Bufflehead – Bucephala albeola 1
Western Grebe – Aechmophorus occidentalis 3
Clark’s Grebe – Aechmophorus clarkii 1
Snowy Egret – Egretta thula 2
Red-tailed Hawk – Buteo jamaicensis 1
American Coot – Fulica americana 20
+ Black-necked Stilt – Himantopus mexicanus 20
+ American Avocet – Recurvirostra americana 25
+ Willet – Tringa semipalmata 4
+ Ring-billed Gull – Larus delawarensis – 50
Western Gull – Larus occidentalis 10
Rock Pigeon – Columba livia 1
Anna’s Hummingbird – Calypte anna 5
Black Phoebe – Sayornis nigricans 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler – Dendroica coronata 1
White-crowned Sparrow – Zonotrichia leucophrys 35
House Finch – Carpodacus mexicanus 7

+ = year bird

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

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11 Comments
  1. Reply
    2008-02-17 at 14:18
    mon@rch

    Great list of birds here and love the photos! The new header is great also! BRAVO

  2. Reply
    2008-02-17 at 17:57
    montucky

    You really packed a lot into a brief outing! It whet my appetite for all of the species that will be returning here in a few more weeks.

  3. Reply
    2008-02-17 at 22:44
    Sean

    Looks like a peaceful place to walk and enjoy nature.

    Sean

  4. Reply
    2008-02-18 at 06:02
    Tom A.

    Beautiful bird shots Adam. Looking our my window at the freezing cold day, I’d love to be where you took these bird images right now!

    Tom

  5. Reply
    2008-02-18 at 07:17
    Beth

    These pictures are making this winter girl long for springtime.
    Beth

  6. Reply
    2008-02-18 at 09:19
    Adam R. Paul

    Monarch: Thanks, although the header is a few months old 🙂

    Montucky: Yeah, not bad for under an hour, eh?!

    Sean: Thanks for visiting! It’s a pretty nice place, and very convenient to boot. Not as quiet as one might like, though, with Bayfront Expressway on one side, and noisy water treatment equipment on the other.

    Tom: Thanks – I guess the grass is always greener – I’m itching to get up to the mountains and see some snow 🙂

    Beth: Thank you for visiting & commenting, enjoy your winter while you can.

  7. Reply
    2008-02-22 at 03:05
    winterwoman

    Excellent bird photos, as usual! Your house finch looks so golden in that light. Lovely!

  8. Reply
    2008-02-22 at 11:18
    aullori

    Once again brilliant shots. Your Anna’s hummingbird is really cool and I love the coloring on your house finch. Very cool – it almost looks like peach. Your shovelers shot made me giggle – they are pretty intent on task. I love how you tossed up such an not so typical photo. You really are a gifted man.

  9. Reply
    2008-02-24 at 08:41
    Adam R. Paul

    Jennifer: Thank you – although they’re common here, male house finches are pretty cute birds!

    Aullori: You’re very kind. I am always unable to resist “synchronized duck diving”-type shots 🙂

  10. Reply
    2008-02-26 at 15:37
    ankush

    wow – beautiful bird shots

  11. Reply
    2008-02-26 at 15:43
    Adam R. Paul

    Thank you, Ankush!

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