• Home
  • Birding
  • Hiking
  • Wildflowers
  • Bicycling

Adam Paul

Nature & Travel Photography and Narratives

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Finally, a nice day!
Merhaba Istanbul’de! »

Palo Alto Baylands

6 April, 2006 by Adam R. Paul

Another nice late afternoon found me at the Palo Alto Baylands again, this time with plenty of light for a change! I didn’t see anything exotic, but it was fun to watch the Herons & Egrets doing their nesting activities.

There were several other photogs at the rookery by the Duck Pond when I arrived, and I talked with them for a bit while photographing the coming and going GREAT EGRETS. There were one or two SNOWY EGRETS, and perhaps a half-dozen BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERONS (BCNH) in the palm trees, with a dozen or two more BCNH in the trees near the ranger’s residence.

A domestic duck with what appeared to be a lot of MUSCOVY DUCK lineage was by the parking lot – although “mutt ducks” abound here, this was the first I’ve seen that looked muscovy-like. Otherwise around the pond was mostly SCAUP, RUDDY DUCK, BREWER’S BLACKBIRD, BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD (who were singing up a storm!), HOUSE SPARROWS and RING-BILLED GULLS. As has been the case often, an ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD was on the west side of the Duck Pond.

I walked over to the mudflats on the other side of the entrance road and struck up a conversation with another photographer, who had found the best spot for getting fligbt photos of BCNH returning from their stick-gathering activities. I hung around there for a while – Ron was very helpful and had some good suggestions for improving my birds-in-flight technique (which frankly could stand a lot of improvement!). A large’ish flock of BONAPARTE’S GULLS were on the flats too, but far away, and as the evening wore on, they flew off to parts unknown. GREEN-WINGED TEAL and NORTHERN SHOVELER were abundant with the usual AMERICAN AVOCETS and BLACK-NECKED STILTS, and a few LONG-BILLED CURLEW and MARBLED GODWIT(MARGO) flew by to boot.

Returning to the car we decided to loop around the fennel patch by the ranger’s residence. Over a dozen BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER were in the waterway by the interpretive center, many actually with black bellies, and numerous PEEPS, AVOCETS, STILTS, DOWITCHERS and MARGOs were foraging in the mud.

All in all a nice day out – I got some pretty good BCNH flight photos, which I’ll post to my bird gallery later.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Birding |

  • About Adam


    I am an avid nature lover and amateur photographer, living in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury. On this blog, you will find photos and narratives from birdwatching outings, hikes, as well as any other random travels. For more information, see here.
  • If you enjoy the photography on this blog, check out my Photography Site, were I sell prints of selected works and maintain a photo blog.
  • Copyright

    All words and images on this blog are Copyright (c) Adam R. Paul, and may not be used without permission.
  • Categories

    Architecture Art Bicycling Birding Books Hiking Misc Music Nature Photography Travel Uncategorized Urban Wildflowers Wordless Wednesday
  • Search this blog

  • Trip Reports

    • Oregon Coast Road Trip
    • Patagonia & Buenos Aires
    • Joshua Tree & SoCal
    • Prague
    • Upcoming:
    • Gold Lakes Basin
    • Washington, D.C.
    • Lassen Volcanic National Park
  • Recent Posts

    • Wordless Wednesday: Calaveras Big Trees State Park’s North Grove
    • Wordless Wednesday: Ferry Building Farmer’s Market
    • Wordless Wednesday: Mission San Miguel Arcangel
    • Wordless Wednesday: Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival
    • Hiking the PCT from Ebbett’s Pass to Nobel Lake
    • Wordless Wednesday: Calaveras Big Trees North Grove Hike
    • Wordless Wednesday: Abbott’s Laggon (Point Reyes)
    • Presidio Habitat hike
    • Dad O’Rourke’s Bench
    • Wildflowers at Calaveras Big Trees’ Bradley Grove
  • Top Posts

    • Oregon Road Trip - Day 6 - Pacific City, OR to Florence, OR
  • Flickr Photos

    IMG_5257IMG_5258IMG_5259IMG_5253IMG_5255IMG_5246IMG_5251IMG_5228
    More Photos
  • Blog Stats

    • 203,929 hits
  • Nature Blog Network
    PhotographySites
    Nature Images
    Outdoor Blogs - Blog Catalog Blog Directory
    NetworkedBlogs
    Blog:
    Adam's Nature Blog
    Topics:
    birds, nature, photography
     
    Follow my blog
    Fatbirder's Top 500 Birding Websites

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Adam Paul
    • Join 41 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Adam Paul
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: