Time for some fledgling and nestling photos

June 1st was a banner day for birding. Heidi and I not only visited Shoreline in Mountain View, but we also visited Palo Alto Baylands. And the best part about visiting on the first of June was the number of "baby" birds that were roaming around. Here are a few of the photos I took of the "youngsters" at the Baylands.

Above is a fairly young American Avocet walking around on its own. Mama or Papa was probably watching closely. I think the parent was no more than twenty feet away. Below is another American Avocet with its chick in the mudflats. I would assume the chick was in no danger. Can you imagine how muddy this little one was? I'm glad it wasn't one of my own!

This babe is a black-necked stilt. Again, a parent wasn't too far off.

And here is another parent with its chick. This one didn't really look like it was ready yet to go into the water. These little chicks are so fluffy, and they don't stay that way for long. I'm glad we got to see these little offspring. That was quite a treat.

And here are a couple of cliff swallow nestlings. I'm sure by now they are no longer nestlings or fledglings. I'm fairly certain they are flying around with their folks all over the Baylands.

And, of course, we had to get at least one photo of a mother mallard and her darling little ducklings. This mama had nine ducklings following her.

I have more photos to post from this outing, although these were the only "baby" photos I had. Hopefully, I will post the next set of photos sooner than it took me to post this one!

Another visit to Palo Alto Baylands - part 2

As mentioned in my previous post, this little trip to the Palo Alto Baylands took place in early October. The previous post showed all the scenic landscape in the area and around the Bay Area. This post is strictly the photos I have of the birds Red and I saw. Red will be posting her photos very soon, and you will want to visit her blog since she has better quality photos.

Typical of what one would see at the Baylands, especially around the Duck Pond, are Canada Geese, mallards, even hybrid mallards, and lots of coots and gulls. Above is my one shot of the all too "common" Canada Goose. Below are some hybrid geese found near the snowy egrets. If you look closely you can also see a male mallard in this hybrid geese photo.

(Don't forget to click on the images)
This shot of the male mallard and American coot was also taken at the Duck Pond. This area is well visited and many of these birds are looking for a handout from the clueless folks who visit. There are signs posted all over asking people to not feed the animals, but nobody pays attention to the signs.

This pair of male mallards was taken along the trail, away from the Duck Pond. I so love seeing their bright green heads and dark curly "tails."

I felt like this snowy egret was sitting there posing for me.

Farther down the trail Red and I saw several different water birds. This photo has a mixture of American Avocets in their winter plumage and marbled godwits.

All marbled godwits here except for the one American Avocet. This was taken just about twenty feet away from the previous photo.

And then we saw Northern Shovelers, and I think the other birds are western sandpipers. If any experts out there can tell me differently, I would welcome the correction.

Here's another shot of Northern shovelers found on the opposite side of the trail.

Here are a couple of long-billed curlews offset by more American Avocets.

I would certainly say we had a very varied birdy experience for being there for just a few hours. Along with the beautiful sunsets and alpenglow of the hills around the Bay and seeing a good variety of bird species we "done good!"

From Lodi to Alturas

Tuesday morning (Jul 10th) we headed out for Alturas and Modoc NWR from Lodi. We took I-80 east to Reno to catch US 395 to head north. Shortly after re-entering California on US 395 we saw several raptors at various locations. It was difficult to identify them from a distance, but I would make an educated guess that we had seen a couple of Swainson's Hawks, and a couple of red-tailed hawks. They are such fascinating birds to watch as they soar up over the drafts. Before we reached the Modoc overlook we also had seen a great egret and later saw a small flock of snowy egrets.

At the Modoc overlook I came across this wildflower. Sorry, don't know the name of it. Maybe someone
reading this can help me identify it.
Looking out in the distance we could see something white farther out on a tiny "island." At first glance I thought they were egrets, but then realized they looked "heavier" or "fatter" than an egret -- oh, they were American white pelicans. As we approached Modoc's "auto tour," we also saw many mallards, mostly mamas with their chicks. We also saw several shorebirds - but they were difficult to identify.
When we approached one of the drier areas, we saw two raptors perched on this "foot bridge." But by the time I got my camera focused only one of them was perched. Not sure, but I think they were both juvie red-tails. Photos were hard to take with only a 10x zoom. Most birds and waterfowl were quite "shy" of human presence. My husband and I had to chuckle that every time we stopped and I tried to get out of the car for a picture, the birds would take off, or at best would move farther away. I think you can click on the photo to see a larger picture.
In the course of the day, we managed to see (and able to identify) Calif Quail, more Am White Pelicans, swallows (I think they were cliff swallows), egrets (mostly great egrets), black neck stilts, red-winged blackbirds, white-faced ibises, double-breasted cormorant, American avocets, black-crowned night heron, and even a robin or two.
In the water, I also saw a couple of muskrats. Isn't this one cute?



Below, a silhouette of a red-tailed hawk. At least we thought it was a red-tail.



Wednesday's photos (Jul 11th) will follow in another post.