Another visit to Palo Alto Baylands - part 1

Early in October Red and I went to Palo Alto Baylands to see what was there and what we would find interesting enough to photograph. I found that I had so many photos to post I decided to split this trip in two parts. This will be the "scenic" part, and part 2 will be the birds we saw.

One of the most common wildflowers seen around here in riparian and scrub brush areas.
(Don't forget to click on the images if you want to see a larger photo.)
With daylight savings time still in effect Red and I went in the afternoon around 3 p.m. and stayed until just after sunset (around 6 p.m.). The photo above was looking toward the East Bay; and the photo below was looking north with the Dumbarton Bridge in the distance, one of the two bridges that connects the East Bay with the Peninsula. The Peninsula (more or less) consists of cities north of San Jose, such as Mountain View, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City, and San Mateo.

The history behind this great birding place is quite interesting. Red and I met a gentleman photographer while we were there and he mentioned to us that the history behind this place was that it once was a boat launch and yacht club. So I checked on the web to see if I could find historical info on it and found two good resources. The first one regarding the history is found here. Here is an excerpt from that web page: "Byxbee envisioned the development of the Baylands as a park and recreation center and in January 1921, the Board of Public Works recommended the initial purchase of 40 acres of marshland. Nine years later, Byxbee submitted a plan that included a municipal airport, a salt-water swimming pool, a yacht harbor -- yachting was his main recreation -- and clubhouse, a basin for seaplanes, and areas for playgrounds, picnic grounds, golf course, and a game reserve. The cost was estimated at 2.2 million dollars."

The second resource I found is here. Both resources are excellent reading about Palo Alto and about the Baylands in particular.

Photo above is looking south toward Mountain View with the Moffett Field hangars in the near distance. The U.S. Navy used to own this property, and then closed in the mid-1990s. These hangars were used to store blimps/dirigibles and have been landmarks to spot the cities of Sunnyvale and Mountain View. I do believe that the property now belongs to NASA. Here is a link to the history of Moffett Field.

Photo above is Mount Hamilton, located on the east side of Santa Clara valley. Atop Mt. Hamilton is the Lick Observatory, run by the University of California. Here is a link to its history.

Again, I'm looking across to the East Bay foothills. Notice the alpenglow. It was such a beautiful day there at the Baylands.

And here (above) is a shot of the sun setting in the west (of course!). And below another shot a few minutes later of the alpenglow.

This alpenglow shot was looking east, just south of Mt. Hamilton. I hope you enjoyed the scenery. Next post will be the birds Red and I saw along the trail of the bay and at the duck pond.

Birding at Shoreline Lake in Mountain View

Back in early December, Sunday the 2nd to be exact, my birding buddy and I met at Palo Alto Baylands. I had not been there since June and I wanted to see what birds were there this time of year. Unfortunately, this was an extremely windy day which made it difficult and almost impossible to see many birds. So my friend suggested we could try Shoreline in Mountain View. So that's where we went. Wind was quite strong there, too. But there were a couple of spots around the lake where we could find a little protection standing next to some trees and tall shrubs. Below is a photo of Mount Hamilton in the distance from Shoreline Lake. I can't remember what birds were on the lake and flying around in this picture, but I thought this was a good shot as an overview of the area.

Here in a marshy area is a fairly good shot of a male mallard.
This photo shows a Clark's grebe and a surf scoter. I'm not positive about the grebe being a Clark's. The color of its bill says it's a Clark's, but the black on the top of its head seems to be below the eye, which would identify it as a Western grebe. But for now I'll call it a Clark's grebe. Seeing surf scoters on the lake was quite exciting. I had never seen one before - lifer! I can't seem to ID those other "ducks" in the background. You can click on any of the pix to get a larger view.
Here is another lifer - a common goldeneye. Isn't he a beauty? Take note of the choppy waters.
And here is a cutie-"pie." A pied-billed grebe. I think they are some of the cutest of all waterfowl. I think my favorite is the American Wigeon, and the pied-billed grebe is second.
Here is another shot of the pied-billed grebe with (I think) a lesser scaup in the background.
And here is one that is difficult (for me) to identify. The quality of the photo isn't very good, but looking in my guide it seems to look like a ruddy duck, yet its bill has the look of a norther shoveler. Maybe someone can help me identify this one.
Here is another shot of the surf scoter. Is that a female surf scoter next to the male?
Anyway, even though the wind was strong and it more or less shortened our birding time, I think we still had a fruitful afternoon. Other birds we saw were black-crowned night herons and snowy egrets back in the marsh. And we also saw a couple of double-crested cormorants and a few American coots.