New Places in San Jose

On Saturday November 12th my wife and I visited some new places in Santa Clara county. The first stop was to try for a stake-out bird, a Clay-colored Sparrow, feeding on some tall grasses at the Foothill College Sunnyvale Center. We found the bird very quickly and it was quite cooperative.

Clay-colored Sparrow

Our next stop was at Ed Levin County Park in Milpitas. We had been munching on a snack while watching Acorn woodpeckers when a couple came along and delivered my target bird - Red-breasted sapsucker on a plate. The bird was on the main trunk of the tree in front of us! 

Red-breasted Sapsucker

Lincoln's Sparrow

After walking around the small lake we then drove into the hills seeing two Golden eagles en route to the Calavaras Reservoir. We found Sandy Wool Lake on the way back but there was nothing too exciting there.

After lunch we headed to Alviso Marina County Park and wandered out onto the slough trail. Things were coming in to roost and we saw at least a hundred Black-necked Stilts, at least thirty American Avocets and a dozen Dunlins, but gulls were the highlight with many Ring-billeds plus Herring Gulls, Western Gulls and Thayer's Gulls in a loose group on a sandbar.

Thayer's Gull