Wordless Wednesday – Birding @ Coyote Point

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Wordless Wednesday – Birding @ Coyote Point

27 May, 2009 by Adam R. Paul

Tuesday, 26 May @ Coyote Point, San Mateo, California:

Dark-eyed Junco feeding its "baby" Brown-headed Cowbird by you.

Notice anything “funny” about the pictures above?

Whimbrel by you.

Whimbrel

Semipalmated Plovers by you.

Semipalmated Plovers

Forster's Terns by you.

Forster’s Terns

Killdeer by you.

Killdeer

Snowy Egret by you.

A showy Snowy

Black-bellied Plover by you.

Black-bellied Plover

Western Grebe by you.

Western Grebe

Clark's Grebe by you.

Clark’s Grebe

Lufthansa approaching SFO by you.

Bird of a different feather

House Finch by you.

House Finch

Location:     Coyote Point County Park
Observation date:     5/26/09
Number of species:     20

Canada Goose - Branta canadensis     7
Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos     5
Western Grebe - Aechmophorus occidentalis     3
Clark's Grebe - Aechmophorus clarkii     1
Double-crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritus     1
Snowy Egret - Egretta thula     1
Black-bellied Plover - Pluvialis squatarola     15
Semipalmated Plover - Charadrius semipalmatus     5
Killdeer - Charadrius vociferus     5
Whimbrel (American) - Numenius phaeopus hudsonius     1
Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher - Limnodromus griseus/scolopaceus     1
Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis     12
Forster's Tern - Sterna forsteri     10
Mourning Dove - Zenaida macroura     4
Anna's Hummingbird - Calypte anna     1
American Robin - Turdus migratorius     3
California Towhee - Pipilo crissalis     3
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) - Junco hyemalis [oreganus Group]     1
Brewer's Blackbird - Euphagus cyanocephalus     9
House Finch - Carpodacus mexicanus     1

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

Posted in Birding, Photography, Wordless Wednesday | 22 Comments

22 Responses

on 27 May, 2009 at 19:56 | Reply scienceguy288

Is that egret doing a little dance? Or perhaps modelling? Great shots.
- on 29 May, 2009 at 07:14 | Reply Adam R. Paul
  
  Yep, he’s struttin’ his stuff, sno ’nuff!
on 28 May, 2009 at 19:11 | Reply Red

Ha ha, that sweet little Junco loves it’s little Cowbird baby… looks quite familiar.

Great photos as always Adam. I’m surprised how small your bird list is. Must have been the wrong time of day or something.
- on 29 May, 2009 at 07:15 | Reply Adam R. Paul
  
  Perhaps – this was also only my 2nd time to Coyote Point, so I’m not overly familiar with where the best birding there is. I”d also forgotten about the $5 entrance fee :-/
on 28 May, 2009 at 21:48 | Reply Thomas

Fantastic action images. It look like a foster parent is feeding this juvenile. Beautifully captured.
- on 29 May, 2009 at 07:16 | Reply Adam R. Paul
  
  Thanks! As Red noted, it’s a Dark-eyed Junco feeding a juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird, an obligate nest parasite.
on 29 May, 2009 at 08:21 | Reply Mary Carlson

Adam, as soon as I saw the first photo I realized it looked familiar (as Red/Heidi) had noted. Last year we both saw a junco in our back yard feeding a “youngster” that was bigger than the parent. We’ve seen a couple of cowbirds this year, too, but haven’t seen any juncos feeding the youngster cowbirds yet. We’re hoping that won’t happen again, but that’s unlikely. I love your grebe pix – both show a significant difference between the two species.
- on 1 June, 2009 at 06:54 | Reply Adam R. Paul
  
  Yeah, cowbirds are tough to love, aren’t they! They can’t help the fact that they are unable to build a nest, though, and it’s our fault that they have expanded beyond their native region of the US south-east.
  
  This time of year Clark’s & Western Grebes are easy to separate. In winter, not so much!
on 31 May, 2009 at 20:06 | Reply Vivienne

Love your showy Snowy! I saw a group pushing and shoving each other around at Redwood Shores the other day. They can really puff up those feathers.

I was out a Radio Road and saw a tern that looked twice the size of the Forster’s. After looking at my Peterson’s guide, I’m guessin a Caspians–have you seen them in this area?

Thanks!
- on 1 June, 2009 at 06:55 | Reply Adam R. Paul
  
  Thanks, Vivienne!
  
  After Forster’s Terns, Caspian Terns are the ones I see most often around here in spring/summer, so it’s totally possible that you saw one @ Radio Road. They are indeed a good deal larger than Forster’s, and have a much shorter forked tail, and a much heavier & redder bill.
on 3 June, 2009 at 13:08 | Reply imhkki

beautiful photo
- on 4 June, 2009 at 12:52 | Reply Adam R. Paul
  
  Thansk, Imhkki!
on 3 June, 2009 at 21:50 | Reply Vivienne

Thanks, Adam!

I would swear that I was looking at a Jurassic Tern, as it was so much bigger than the Forster’s. I’ve also had some sightings of Black Skimmers–exciting!
- on 4 June, 2009 at 12:53 | Reply Adam R. Paul
  
  Black Skimmers are a treat to watch! The only places I’ve seen them in the Bay Area are Radio Road & near Charleston Slough in Mountain View!
on 7 June, 2009 at 10:25 | Reply mon@rch

adorable . . . . . I always love seeing your bird (gas hawk) photos!
- on 8 June, 2009 at 10:28 | Reply Adam R. Paul
  
  Hah, “gas hawk” – love it!
on 15 June, 2009 at 11:10 | Reply Vivienne

Someone from the Sequoia Audubon Society had a little bird outing at Radio Road this weekend, and he confirmed that the “Jurassic” tern I’ve been seeing is a Caspian. But more exciting, he showed us that there is a Caspian chick on that little island. Evidently only the second mating pair seen in San Mateo county.
- on 15 June, 2009 at 22:14 | Reply Adam R. Paul
  
  Yes, I’ve been reading about that breeding pair on the pen-bird email list – very cool that you were able to see the chick!
on 26 June, 2009 at 11:29 | Reply ankush

haha, cool shots
- on 26 June, 2009 at 12:27 | Reply Adam R. Paul
  
  thx!
on 9 July, 2010 at 13:18 | Reply larry

hello
- on 19 July, 2010 at 13:33 | Reply Adam R. Paul
  
  Um, hi?