settling in…

Posting has been sparse. The new gig has been a huge grin to start, but I’ve waded in and just been really busy trying to do things like find the bathroom and set things up while taking on a number of projects and doing some planning for things moving forward, and stuffing all that information into my brain as fast as I can has left me feeling a bit worn out in the evening, and wanting more to sit and think things through instead of write.

That first burst of activty is starting to settle down a bit and I’m feeling more comfortable about life, and that’s made doing a bit of writing interesting.

With the weather being what it’s been around here (needed rain!), not a lot of outdoor activity recently. I have wandered the new neighborhood a bit, and the office is in a nice place — lots of mature oak pine and eucalyptus, along with some flowering plums and pears, all larger, older trees without that heavily manicured “campus” look. The trees are currently full of yellow-rumped warblers and dark-eyes juncos, most mornings I’m hearing well over a dozen of the butter-butts. It gives me hope there are other, more unusual birds in the neighborhood, but I haven’t taken the time to go walking and exploring too much.

Another nice aspect of the office is that it’s close to a bunch of good birding areas; about ten minutes to Don Edwards EEC and the Sunnyvale WPCP on Carribean, and probably 10-15 minutes to Shoreline and Baylands. Given I’m no longer putting in hour-long commutes, I can actually back off a bit and go out and do a little lunch birding and get some walking in.

I did that today, deciding I had a bit of slack time and wanted a walk, so I hustled out to EEC for a quick visit. I finally saw one of the burrowing owls near Jubilee, so I can now state that they do in fact exist and don’t hate me… (later visitors noted four)

I couldn’t see anything in the owl box today, but they sometimes hide in the corners. (later word from someone at EEC noted that one of the barn owls has been seen, but no partner yet)

Highlight birds on the path down to the pond and on the pond:

Female Yellow Warbler in the willows just past the last of the big trees along the path next to the slough. Someone I talked to there said she’d been there about a week that he knew.

A Western Grebe had arrived shortly before I did. It had a very yellow bill and pointed bill, but solid black on the back of the neck and black over the eyes. A bird to make you look twice, but even so, that seems to be unusual for the area. Also a couple of eared grebes fishing.

One Glaucous-Winged gull out on the island in the pond with all of the others (not found by me), as well as a Western in among the gulls. I admit the gulls just aren’t my first choice for spending time trying to tell the difference between a 2nd cycle western and a third cycle ring-billed, but I saw a later report of a total of eight species being seen there today, including Mew and a continuing Glaucous gull.

Lots of chattering marsh wrens and a couple of singing song sparrows.I didn’t see, but someone else reported, a savannah sparrow and a small flock of white-crowned.

But for me, it was just nice to get out and walk a bit…but taht yellow warbler looks to be very photogenic and accessible. Maybe this weekend…

—— Forwarded Message
From: <do-not-reply@ebird.org>
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:37:03 -0500 (EST)
To: <chuqui@me.com>
Subject: eBird Report – Don Edwards NWR (Santa Clara Co.) , 2/24/09

Location: Don Edwards NWR (Santa Clara Co.)
Observation date: 2/24/09
Number of species: 24

Canada Goose 6
Gadwall X
American Wigeon X
Mallard X
Northern Shoveler X
Ruddy Duck X
Eared Grebe 2
Western Grebe 1
American White Pelican 15
Double-crested Cormorant X
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 1
Snowy Egret 2
Black-crowned Night-Heron 2
Red-tailed Hawk 1
American Coot X
Western Gull 1
Glaucous-winged Gull 1
gull sp. X
Burrowing Owl 1
American Crow X
Marsh Wren X
Yellow Warbler 1
Song Sparrow 2

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

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