Date: 9/24/25 5:25 pm From: Vicki Silvas-Young via groups.io <mrnngwrblr...> Subject: [southbaybirds] First Day of Fall at Lake Cunningham, 9-21-2025
Hello, Birders, On a nice Sunday, a group of about 28 attendees showed up to see what might be shakin' at Lake Cunningham. Such a big group, so Melanie Barnett, Arvind Kumar, Ashok Jethanandani, and myself cleaved them in half to make things manageable and took off to see what we could find. The "teenaged" Great-tailed Grackles were in moult, needless to say, and looked pretty amusing, but proved to be a good starting point to talk about moult. Many Pied-billed Grebes were seen, some with screaming "teenagers" in hot pursuit. A nice flock of California and Ring-billed Gulls, adults and immature, began gathering early on the lake and very close to the Marina, making identification not so hard. A group of 5 or 7 Snowy Egrets tried hiding from us, but were not successful. A Great Egret and a Great Blue Heron made a stately appearance. Throughout the trip a Yellow-rumped Warbler, Oak Titmouse, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Black Phoebe, and a group of White-crowned Sparrows added some spice. At the very end of the trip, two Green Herons greeted us at Duck Cove while a Western Grebe showed off by cruising by so attendees could get a good view. Because there were two groups, there are two ebird lists! The ebird list for Melani's group is here https://ebird.org/checklist/S274967312 And the ebird list for Vicki's group is here https://ebird.org/checklist/S274793185
Do not disclose information that identifies the location of nesting birds of any species, to minimize stress on the nesting birds and the risk of vandalism or abuse.
