Radio Road Birding

Tuesday, 16 June 2009:

I swung by the Radio Road ponds after work,  ummm, 2.5 months ago (what? me behind on photos?  nahh!), hopeful to see a reported Caspian Tern fledgling.

Northern Pintail / Anas acuta

There were, as usual, many Forster’s Terns, flying around noisily.

Forster’s Terns / Sterna forsteri

Also typical for the time of year, a family of Mallards floated by.

Mallard / Anas platyrhynchos family

Atypically, they were the only family I saw.  Other early summer visits here have turned up literally dozens of ducks with young ‘uns.

Black Skimmer / Rynchops niger

A lone Black Skimmer shared a narrow island-let with several American Avocet, and stayed there throughout my visit – too bad, as they’re fun birds to watch when they’re foraging, with their long, jutting mandible and colorful bills.

American Avocet / Recurvirostra americana

To my collection of thousands of American Avocet photographs, I added a few more.  They’re extremely common year-round here, but I never get tired of them, especially when they’re in alternate plumage (ie. buffy-headed), as they are in early summer.

Caspian Tern / Sterna caspia with food

I saw a Caspian Tern dive and come up with a fish, which it brought to an island, but no young ‘un emerged to eat it.  The adult seemed agitated, and I wondered if its offspring had become heron food.  Most likely so, as the pen-bird email list reported many attempted sightings of the chick, but none successful.

American Avocets / Recurvirostra americana

Sure, more Avocets.  Why not?

Gadwall / Anas strepera

Somewhat less common was a solitary Gadwall, unremarkable save for its black derierre.

Marbled Godwit / Limosa fedoa

Amid the numerous Avocets was a Marbled Godwit, doing a very poor job of blending in.

Forster’s Terns / Sterna forsteri

The Forster’s flock took off noisily, did a few laps around the ponds, and then settled back down onto their island.

Ruddy Duck / Oxyura jamaicensis

A male Ruddy Duck in spiffy alternate plumage and a baby-blue bill hung out by a levee, and then it was about time for me to head homeward.

Common Raven / Corvus corax

But I couldn’t resist one last stop to photograph a Raven that pecked by the side of the road.

This was a nice short outing (not even really an outing, as I stayed in my car as I drove along the ponds, since that startles birds less than walking around does), which is exactly what Radio Road is best suited for.  That I picked up a few year birds is testament to the fact that I haven’t been birding very much on the SF peninsula lately, rather than the rarity of anything I saw.

Location:     Redwood Shores
Observation date:     6/16/09
Number of species:     18

Canada Goose - Branta canadensis     5
Gadwall - Anas strepera     3
Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos     10
+ Northern Pintail - Anas acuta     2
Ruddy Duck - Oxyura jamaicensis     6
Snowy Egret - Egretta thula     5
Black-crowned Night-Heron - Nycticorax nycticorax     5
Killdeer - Charadrius vociferus     2
Black-necked Stilt - Himantopus mexicanus     4
American Avocet - Recurvirostra americana     20
Willet - Tringa semipalmata     5
Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis     7
Caspian Tern - Hydroprogne caspia     2
+ Forster's Tern - Sterna forsteri     20
+ Black Skimmer - Rynchops niger     1
American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos     5
Song Sparrow - Melospiza melodia     1
Brewer's Blackbird - Euphagus cyanocephalus     10

+ = year bird

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