[EBB Sightings] Hooded orioles at Mission Nursery and other stories

A male and a female hooded oriole were flying from palm to palm in and near the parking lot by the adobe at Mission Nursery on Niles Blvd. at noon today, vocalizing all the while. A rufous hummingbird was buzzing around the red bottlebrush.  A female kestrel was dive-bombing one of the resident red-shouldered hawks - lots of screaming going on on both sides.  A fledgling lesser goldfinch hopped from branch to branch begging from its parent.

At Don Edwards NWR later today, six Forster's terns were flying and splashing into the water to feed, half of them at the pond along Thornton Avenue and the other half by the Learning Center. I counted 61 mostly breeding-plumed eared grebes in two or three tight, swirling rafts in the tidal ponds along Marshlands Road. A pair of black-bellied plovers were feeding on swarms of black flies on the shoreline, as were dozens of least and western sandpipers and at least one sanderling.

I stopped to herd a young gosling off busy Marshlands Road, but the baby was confused by the tall grass and couldn't figure out how to get back to the calling parent bird. I picked it up and passed it across to the flat grass a few feet in front of its parent.  Last thing I saw as I leaned over to set down the baby was the parent bird rising to its full height, wings fully extended, neck stretched out towards me, and bill wide open as it emitted a loud protest and stormed towards me!  I ducked, threw my hands over my head, and made a mad dash back to the car, which I'd left stopped in the middle of the road. Note to self: Canada goose with singleton baby may not grasp that you are helping when you pick up her kid.

Stephanie Floyd
Fremont