I'm guessing today is going to be a bit out of the ordinary here (just a hunch) as everyone is here for real for the first time. For those who've been over to beta a few times, it will be familiar enough (might even go faster/smoother now that it's a full-blown site). For those who haven't tried the beta site, most of it will fall into place pretty easily. It might be a little harder to find this diary, for that matter (better post on time this morning).
So howzabout a semi-casual diary this morning so we can just prod and poke around our new home and see what turns up?
That avocet, by the way, is from the Palo Alto Baylands last Sunday. We were kinda thinking the south bay would be a good spot for birding, and when Silence mentioned the white-faced ibis who's been hanging out, that just sealed the plans.
Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler, White-faced Ibis
We did see the ibis, who was most obliging - hanging out at the edge of a pond right near the visitor center. It was so cooperative that we missed it at first, and walked all the way to the end of the trail before seeing it on our return jaunt. It really helps to start actively looking for things as right away, rather than chatting and getting distracted by the sunny weather. The weather also made it hard to get a photo... the ibis was on the far side of a pond, but was well within range for decent digiscoping. But there was enough heat shimmer out there that we just left the scopes behind and stuck with a regular camera. (well, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.)
As they used to sing on Sesame Street "one of these things is not like the others" We'd probably have found the ibis almost immediately if we'd been paying attention. Now that I think of it, that's right at the same spot where we were watching the avocets - on the other side of the trail.
Same exact scene, slightly different look. I'm sure it's some sort of allegory for the site changeover.
After we left Baylands, we headed south to Shoreline Park to look for the skimmers who live there. Alas, we timed it pretty much as exactly wrong as it's possible to do, tide-wise, so they were nowhere to be seen. The consolation prize was a young red shoulder sitting in a spindly tree right beside the access road.
Hey... wouldn't it be a good time to practice posting photos? hint hint....
I have to head out for a few hours - have been trying to rec comments and not succeeding, so please don't think that your contributions are unappreciated. Maybe later today it will let me rec? Good luck - hope things get smoother over the next few hours.
This is a link just put in place to test something...