[EBB Sightings] Hooded Mergansers on Alameda Creek (Niles)

Nancy Christensen and I birded Alameda Creek just down
from Niles Community Park at sunset today.  She
quickly picked out two male and one female HOODED
MERGANSER, all with bill tucked under wing, the female
looking pixie-ish with her brownish-red feathers
seeming to form a point atop her head.  We also saw
more than half a dozen BUFFLEHEAD, mostly male but at
least two females.  We also birded the creek east of
the entry point off Chase Street in Niles.  The
coolest bird there was a small COOPER'S HAWK on a wire
by the old railroad bridge.  The sun had set, and the
light was very dim.  The Coop took off from the wire
and flew right past us, coasting low over the grass
beside the river, and then he swooped up and across
the river to perch on a pole on the other side. 


Stephanie Floyd
Fremont

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