Back in early December, Sunday the 2nd to be exact, my birding buddy and I met at Palo Alto Baylands. I had not been there since June and I wanted to see what birds were there this time of year. Unfortunately, this was an extremely windy day which made it difficult and almost impossible to see many birds. So my friend suggested we could try Shoreline in Mountain View. So that's where we went. Wind was quite strong there, too. But there were a couple of spots around the lake where we could find a little protection standing next to some trees and tall shrubs. Below is a photo of Mount Hamilton in the distance from Shoreline Lake. I can't remember what birds were on the lake and flying around in this picture, but I thought this was a good shot as an overview of the area.
Here in a marshy area is a fairly good shot of a male mallard.
This photo shows a Clark's grebe and a surf scoter. I'm not positive about the grebe being a Clark's. The color of its bill says it's a Clark's, but the black on the top of its head seems to be below the eye, which would identify it as a Western grebe. But for now I'll call it a Clark's grebe. Seeing surf scoters on the lake was quite exciting. I had never seen one before - lifer! I can't seem to ID those other "ducks" in the background. You can click on any of the pix to get a larger view.
Here is another lifer - a common goldeneye. Isn't he a beauty? Take note of the choppy waters.
And here is a cutie-"pie." A pied-billed grebe. I think they are some of the cutest of all waterfowl. I think my favorite is the American Wigeon, and the pied-billed grebe is second.
Here is another shot of the pied-billed grebe with (I think) a lesser scaup in the background.
And here is one that is difficult (for me) to identify. The quality of the photo isn't very good, but looking in my guide it seems to look like a ruddy duck, yet its bill has the look of a norther shoveler. Maybe someone can help me identify this one.
Here is another shot of the surf scoter. Is that a female surf scoter next to the male?
Anyway, even though the wind was strong and it more or less shortened our birding time, I think we still had a fruitful afternoon. Other birds we saw were black-crowned night herons and snowy egrets back in the marsh. And we also saw a couple of double-crested cormorants and a few American coots. 
