Date: 12/21/25 7:50 pm From: Vicki Silvas-Young via groups.io <mrnngwrblr...> Subject: [southbaybirds] First Day of Winter at Lake Cunningham, 12-21-2025
Good evening, SBBers,
Such a nice day today! Not cold, not rainy, not foggy, just right for birding. John Harshman and I met with about 21 birders at Lake Cunningham in San Jose this morning to do some exploring. Raucous Great-tailed Grackles greeted us, looking for food and left disappointed. Pied-billed and Eared Grebes dove and popped up to the water's surface, except for the snoozing Western Grebe. A Bald Eagle swiftly flew southeast without a look back! A small raft of Ring-necked Ducks secreted an Eared Grebe, Northern Shoveler, and a lone female Bufflehead. Always closely check out those small flocks of birds! Some Snowy Egrets and a Great Egret hung out on the rocks among the American White Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants with a lone Great Blue Heron holding its own. Only one Green Heron was seen, but heard a lot near the Native Garden. Yellow-rumped warblers chipped all day long. In the Native Garden a Hermit Thrush was heard a long with a Northern Flicker and Nuttall's Woodpecker. A large family of Bushtits cruised around the garden with a couple of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and some Chestnut-backed Chickadees. After the Native Garden we ended up near "Wood Duck" cove, to exclaim and marvel at the feet of the American Coots and the tails of Ruddy Ducks. And out on the lake was a w h o l e b i g bunch of Ring-billed Gulls digesting their breakfast. A good finish to a very nice day at the lake.
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.
