I went for a walk with the dogs today by the bay. We started at Sunnyvale Water Treatment plant, and took the Bay Trail north. The first pond we passed was full of interesting critters.
Carp - a detrimental invasive species.
Cinnamon teal - not the most common of duck species (that would be the mallard!)
A great blue heron - I saw one catch and eat a ground squirrel once, it was AWESOME!
Canada geese - on the hillside of the landfill. Someone who should have known better once told me they're called "Canada" not "Canadian" because they're named after someone called Mr. Canada. FALSE.
A male Northern Harrier - a very common raptor of wetlands and grasslands.
Muskrat - at first I thought it was a baby beaver, until I saw the tail.
I was quite surprised to see him swimming about in broad daylight (it was around noon) - I would have expected this species to be crepuscular or nocturnal.
Pied-billed grebe - adorbz.
Red-eared slider, another introduced species. This pest species is now found worldwide thanks to the pet trade, and unscrupulous pet owners dumping them once they stop being so tiny and cute.
Nuttall's woodpecker - from the back patio! I'm always excited to see woodpeckers.
He caught something!
No comments:
Post a Comment