Diane McCoy

Byxbee Park and Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (Winter): Waterfowl and Migrant Birding at an Artsy Palo Alto Baylands Preserve

Byxbee Park and Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (Winter):  Waterfowl and Migrant Birding at an Artsy Palo Alto Baylands Preserve

Byxbee Park, in the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Reserve, features a hill with a 360-degree vista, grasslands studded with conceptual art, marshy sloughs, a creek and tree-lined paths, throughout which you can find wintering waterfowl, migrating passerines, soaring raptors and a variety of gulls.

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Stevens Creek County Park (Fall/Winter): The Early Bird Catches the Worm, Acorn, and Toyon Berry!

Stevens Creek County Park (Fall/Winter): The Early Bird Catches the Worm, Acorn, and Toyon Berry!

If Stevens Creek County Park were to have a bird mascot, it would have to be the Acorn Woodpecker. Like the first peoples who inhabited these foothills, the Ohlone, the Acorn Woodpecker makes good use of the plentiful acorns from the Coast Live Oaks. Along with the Acorn Woodpecker, the fall and winter seasons bring even more bird species to be discovered in this Cupertino hills park.


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Foothills Nature Preserve in Palo Alto (Year-round)

Foothills Nature Preserve in Palo Alto (Year-round)

A lake for winter ducks and summer swallows, a panoramic vista for soaring hawks and cruising vultures, redwoods and oaks for woodpeckers, juncos, and bluebirds, and chaparral for towhees, wrens and jays! Foothills Nature Preserve in Palo Alto, newly opened to the public, has it all, all year round for everyone!


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Palo Alto Baylands (Spring/Summer): Swallow Central and Pond Loop Trail

Palo Alto Baylands (Spring/Summer):  Swallow Central and Pond Loop Trail

Just as the Ohlone people greeted the sun each morning at dawn for hundreds of years, so the swallows begin their daily swooping flights over the ponds, creeks, sloughs, and marshes of the Palo Alto Baylands. Though late spring and summer is thought of as a "quieter" time for birds, at the Palo Alto Baylands there continues to be a variety of avian species that are fascinating, interesting and entertaining to observe and enjoy.

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Stanford’s Arizona Garden and Mausoleum (Spring): Cacophony Amongst the Cacti

Stanford’s Arizona Garden and Mausoleum (Spring): Cacophony Amongst the Cacti

Tweet, chirp, chatter, shriek, drum-drum-drum: a cacophony of bird sounds and songs will greet you upon your first step onto the oak and eucalyptus tree-lined paved path to Stanford’s Arizona Garden and Mausoleum. The Stanford campus hosts over 125 bird species, many of which can be spotted in this one small area.

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McClellan Groundwater Recharge Ponds (Winter): Mergansers! Buffleheads! Ring-necked Ducks!

McClellan Groundwater Recharge Ponds (Winter): Mergansers! Buffleheads! Ring-necked Ducks!

The McClellan Groundwater Recharge Pond (also known as Bubb Road Percolation Pond) in Cupertino is a treasure of a spot in the winter months, full of migrating winter ducks that especially prefer ponds. Think Mergansers! Buffleheads! and Ring-necked Ducks!

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Estanques de recarga de agua subterránea McClellan (invierno): ¡Mergos, Patos Mojas, Patos de Pico anillado!

Estanques de recarga de agua subterránea McClellan (invierno):  ¡Mergos, Patos Mojas, Patos de Pico anillado!

Los estanques de recarga de agua subterránea McClellan (también conocido como el estanque de percolación de Bubb Road) en Cupertino es un tesoro en los meses de invierno, lleno de patos que emigran en invierno y que prefieren especialmente los estanques. Estamos hablando de Mergos (Mergansers), Patos Monja (Buffleheads) y Patos de Pico Anillado (Ring-necked Ducks).

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