Date: 9/12/26 3:28 pm From: Carter Gasiorowski via groups.io <carter.gasiorowski...> Subject: [southbaybirds] Ogier Ponds Migrants
This morning, 9-12-26, I woke up to a text from Aidan Sinha saying that the Birdcast for the night was high and that there were probably a lot of migrants around. He was right!
After waking up and having a quick meal, my dad and I arrived to the Ogier Ponds around 7:30 am. Walking down to the first pond on the right after entering from Ogier Ave, there was a LEAST SANDPIPER along the muddy shore. This spot (37.1789030852024, -121.69393122547152) has good potential for rare shorebirds as the pond continues to dry up.
Walking along the pond edges, we encountered an even spread of migrant warblers, eventually totalling 14 NORTHERN YELLOW and 8 WILSON'S WARBLERS. While I was in a thicket looking at warblers, my dad spotted a HUDSONIAN WHIMBREL flying south, presumably migrating. I heard some soft "whit" calls and right on cue a WILLOW FLYCATCHER perched in a willow sapling in front of me. We eventually encountered four different Willow Flycatchers in a 3/4 mile stretch, which is the most I've personally had at one location.
There were an unusually high number of COMMON YELLOWTHROATS around the ponds, likely because both resident and migrating birds were present. While walking along a shaded path around here (37.183195993499616, -121.69653878396304), I saw a yellowthroat-shaped flash move through the bushes. I stopped to look, then was surprised to see a female-type MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER pop up just five feet in front of me! The MacGillivray's must have been just as shocked as I was, as it quickly flew off and disappeared in the brush.
As we were scanning for the Least Bittern we saw last week, a gorgeous adult BALD EAGLE made a low pass overhead before continuing to the south. In the moment, I thought the eagle was just passing through, but my photo revealed its piercing glance towards the small, ground-dwelling visitor to its domain.
It was a really nice morning out with a great variety of birds! We had 59 species in total, with a few new additions bringing my Ogier Ponds list to 151 species. This is a fantastic location that is covered far less often than other migrant traps in the county, so I can't wait to see what turns up in the future!
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.
