Sunday, February 14, 2010

February 13 2010 - Shoreline Park


An amazing day of walking and bird watching and photography. Tom was working on the house, so I walked at Mountain View Shoreline Park with my 400mm and a tripod. Just as it was 2 weeks ago, there are so many birds that are displaying for each other. I did not walk far because I was carrying so much, but even so I saw so many different species and it was truly a magical time.

Along Adobe Creek there were a dozen mostly hidden juvenile and adult Black Crowned Night Herons. A Double Crested Cormorant was sunning himself . Many pairs of Cinnamon Teal were sleeping, but one pair was swimming around and for the first time I saw the male Cinnamon Teal fluff out his feathers and show what an incredible tapestry he is - so many colors. He is my featured animal here today.

Further down the creek there were the usual large numbers of Northern Shovelers. Today the males were doing a lot of chasing and fighting with one another and displaying for the females. They have these huge flat bills ( their "shovels") and they look very comical when they bite at one another, almost like a cartoon.

Along the banks I was looking for the Meadowlarks and Savannah Sparrows. Previously I have been able to get a few good shots of the Meadowlarks, but not of this sparrow. I found loads of the Savannah Sparrows to shoot, and one Meadowlark that posed for me for a matter of minutes - lots of wing stretching and preening. These sparrows look like miniature versions of the Meadowlark, and all of these birds blend so perfectly with the pickle weed, especially the drier browner bits.

Along with all of the usual Coots, Mallards, Canadian Geese, and Ruddy Ducks, the Common Moorhen showed up, and a handful of Canvasbacks and Green Winged Teal.

Moved along towards Shoreline Lake then, and along the marsh area was another Moorhen, many Snowy and Great Egrets, many more Black Crowned Night Herons, and a nice surprise - the White Faced Ibis. He was again backlit for me and very difficult to get a photo that shows his beautiful green and burgundy feathers, but very nice to observe. While watching him many of the herons flew in and walked about, and a snowy egret caught a nice fish and ate it. Eventually the Ibis was chased off by a Great Egret.

At Shoreline Lake, the Common Goldeneyes were displaying again. I have posted a few new pictures of this behavior, which is one of the most delightful things to watch in the bird kingdom. The pair of Goldeneyes swim away from each other and then come back together terribly excited to see one another. The male throws his head back as far as you can imagine it would go, bill to the sky, and calls out at the same time, as if to say "oh helloooooooo" to the female. She responds by ducking down flat against the water. A very suggestive and submissive pose. I could watch them do this behavior all day.

While there, a Great Egret that had been wading in the lake saw something that caught his eye on the shore and stalked his way cautiously but quite quickly and boom, nabbed a lizard. After throwing the lizard around a bit and finally swallowing it, he then wiggled his head and throat for quite a while. You could imagine that it was quite an effort to get this lizard to go down that long throat.

It was such a great day of shooting that I created a new set for some of the shots at http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkperson/sets/72157623308225071/


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