Summer Bird Count -- Stanford University

Hey something about campus! More 50% on brand posts. And a same day post, what the what?!?

A dry Lake Lagunitas in the morning

Christian and I headed out to the Stanford campus for the annual Audubon Society Summer Bird Count. The trip was lead by Rob Furrow, a most gracious teacher and gifted birder. We were also joined by Jason and Alexander, two Stanford students.

We met up at the somewhat redundantly named Lake Lagunitas at 6:30am. Oh, but its also not a lake, at least not this year. Wasn't really even a vernal pond. Sadly it didn't hold water like last Winter. No toad SUPERBLOOMS. However, it didn't get mowed this year leaving lots of great seeding plants for birds to feed on.

Jacket weather lasted about 20 minutes. We could tell it was going to be a hot one early. It turned into a scorcher reaching 90°F by noon. We ended the day with 62 species and about 6 hours and 10 miles of birding by bike.

I have done other Christmas Bird Counts and Summer Bird Counts on campus, but this was the first time I brought my camera. Even so I didn't really spend much time taking pictures. Our goal was not only to count birds, but to observe any evidence of breeding success. We saw quite a bit of that. Fledgling Western Bluebirds, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Oak Titmouses (Titmice?), Song Sparrows, and the rusty chest of 3 White-tailed Kites were abundant at Lake Lagunitas. Young Mallards were swimming in San Fransquito Creek. White-breasted and Pygmy Nuthatches were seen feeding fledglings in the riparian habitat along the creek. Even cooler was a greedy little Brown Creeper getting fed by two adults in an oak tree. We saw Acorn Woodpeckers feeding young and a young Nutall's Woodpecker sticking his head out of a nest cavity. The most abundant birds of the day were House Finches, many of whom were also feeding fledglings.

The early light and leisurely pace was good for some Western Bluebird photography in the dry lakebed.

An adult male Western Bluebird looking regal as all hell





And one of the fledglings waiting for mom or dad to come back with breakfast.











This fairly rough looking Red-tailed Hawk was on the ground in the Arboretum doing a pretty piss poor job of looking like a tree trunk.

Peek-a-boo

I got 4 new campus birds today, breaking 100 for a total of 102. A flyover Double-crested Cormorant was actually bird #100 (pretty lame #100 if you ask me). I didn't realize that I was missing Kestrel, otherwise I would have been more excited as it flew over my head (and only my head, the other guys were looking for a group of 30 wild turkeys reported to us by some golfers with robot caddies that followed them like a puppy. Oh Silicon Valley).

One of the two Hoover Tower Peregrine Falcons was present for a brief glimpse, but quickly flew off to figure out a way to give more tax cuts to rich people and start another war in the Middle East.

Western Fence lizards were out in full force, but it was a snakeless day. I thought for sure we'd stir up a Yellow-bellied racer or a Gopher snake in the dry lakebed.

Full ebird list can be found here.

50% Dipping at Devil's Slide

The other day Christian and I met up quick at Devil's Slide to look for the wayward Northern Gannet. I had seen it once almost a year to the date at Maverick's beach in Half Moon Bay, and once very poorly on a pelagic with Alvaro's Adventures, but Christian had yet to get a glimpse worth counting. With reliable reports for a couple of days running we headed over in the afternoon. Turns out morning would have been better. Or any of the next 5 days. We dipped hard.

But we did get a chance to see the Rock Wren family at the Egg Rock overlook and snapped a few pictures before my camera battery died. The damn birds don't hold still long and some long grass was between them and my lens so while none of these qualify as a crushing it was nice to get out for a bit and try my hand at some photography again. Its been awhile.

Here is Egg Rock, where the Gannet likes to hang out, but just a bunch of murres and cormorants occupying during our visit.

Decent Birding!

Face Off

The Hummer isn't quite in focus, but I'll take it from a camera trap.
Same spot as the glorious bathing spotted towhee
Mariposa County: April 2015

Why Hello There

Damn it has been forever since we posted. I don't have the time for a long eloquent post so this post-bath spotted towhee will have to suffice for now. Wish the flash had fired.

Camera trapped at non-natural puddle in the Sierras last weekend. Birds gotta drink and bathe somewhere during this epic drought. Many more birds at this same puddle to follow.

Story of a Death Foretold

The Codger has a post up on a Tracking Whodunnit that is getting some good comments.

I have actually had this post in the draft box for a few days so it seemed like a great time to get it finished and posted. I was not intending it to be a quiz post, because I think this one is much easier than the Codge's.

This was a carcass we found in the Mono Basin earlier this Fall. Habitat was on the edge of a wetland. The likely predator should be about as easy as the prey.















I will say this. Birding is much easier when you get one of the little bastards in hand. Maybe that is why I like herping so much. You can get them in hand and take the time to key them out. My brain might not process fast enough for birds. No wonder the early guys orinthologists birded with shotguns.

Just a couple of birds

The Aplodontia set didn't only get rodents large and small. No, unfortunately not mustelids, but it did get a few birds.

I present them with little commentary for your viewing pleasure.

Swainson's Thrush, Catharus ustulatus. First time on camera trap for CTC

House Wren, Troglodytes aedon. Also first time on camera trap for CTC

Crop of above image. This is where the lack of a good angle on the bill led me astray. I thought I saw a lack of yellow on the base of the lower bill which caused me to prematurely eliminate House Wren. But after Seagull Steve corrected me I can now see that this bird has House Wren jizz written all over it. 

The trouble with IDing birds by camera trap is that you might get only one image and be lacking angles to key features used to properly ID the bird. The nice thing about IDing birds by camera trap is that they cannot fly away while you are trying to ID them. I have also found that it is a way to get images of some of the shyer species that like to stay deep in the brush. I have never made a set specifically for passerines, but it might be something to try in the future.

Thanks as always to Seagull Steve for ID confirmations and corrections.

Now all you Americans, be good and go VOTE!

Water Runs Dry

No, I'm not talking about Boyz II Men ballads (though feel free to go on an early 90s junior high dance jamz youtube spiral with that link).

The focus here instead will be on Marble Hot Springs, a gem of a birding spot in the Sierra Valley. Apparently there used to be a hot springs resort here, but it is long gone and now the area is only visited by some cool birds, unfenced cattle and on the roads, the occasional birders and local tweakers.



For CTC it has become tradition that with each journey to the High Country for the Codger's workshop, a pilgrimage is made to observe the great bounty of birdlife at Marble Hot Springs.

Previous years' visits have yielded many a life bird and those birds being present in high numbers.

White-faced Ibis (Plegadis chihi)

Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis)

Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus)

shy Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus)

Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica, with something in his beak 

Cliff Swallow, Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, in Nest.

This summer, when my companions came up a month early in June to pre-set cams for the workshop, they viewed nearly a hundred Ibis, a score of Sandhill Cranes, Horned Larks and insanely, a Little Blue Heron! A true winged treat for us Yay Area-ers.


The July visit was a whole 'nother tale. Nearly the entire Marble Springs area was dried up, with large swaths of land looking like

bonus Valley Gartersnake (Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi)

Cattle ran, well ok, stood and ate and shat, all over the damn place. Water only existed in irrigation ditches and small pools.

However, amid this dryness a few treasures were awaiting us:

American Bittern (Botaurus lentiginosus). Shake it but don't break it.

gulping down a bullfrog!

Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata)

Random Truth splendidly covered the time we got to spend with these two. Check it out.

Finally, we were able to add two new lifers to the list: Virginia Rails and Soras, both of which had youngin's with them.

Waterfowl at YLR

It was a beautiful morning Thursday at Younger Lagoon with a wide variety of waterfowl and other birds out and about.

A pair of white tail kites were harassing a marsh hawk then perched on the a wire fence and coyote bush.

Mallards

Male Green-wing Teal

His female traveling partner

A pair of Spoonies

Lesser-Scaup?

A male heavy group of Ring-neck ducks

Close-up of piece of Garter Snake

I found this piece of garter snake on the trail.  It had been eaten up by something.