Yesterday we enjoyed a runaround in Bodega Bay. The skies were gray most of the morning, but free of raindrops. We rounded the road into the Bodega Head parking lot only to discover we were the only folks around! It was just us and the Brewer’s Blackbirds.
The large offshore rocks housed the usual suspects: Brandt’s Cormorants, Pelagic Cormorants, and Western Gulls. Two Pigeon Guillemots bobbed in the waves in full alternate plumage, as 16 Surf Scoters flew north in a tidy line. A Savannah Sparrow sang from the bluff, while three Black Turnstones puttered around a steep rock-face, and this lone Black Oystercatcher contemplated his existence while standing at the edge of the great ocean void. That, or he was just resting.
As we exited the parking lot, we noticed this Savannah Sparrow sitting prominently on a post.
We stopped and watched quietly from the car as he fluffed up, preened himself, fluffed again, then let loose with a few rounds of his lovely tune.
The road to Bodega Head has been very birdy for us in the past, so we got out and walked around. White-crowned and Song Sparrows sang left and right, but a familiar ultra-high-pitched sound stuck out. We noticed the source, a Brown-headed Cowbird, perched atop a bush displaying his iridescent sheen.
The lack of road noise and wind made for one of our cleanest audio recordings to date. Check out his crazy-sounding song below.
As we stood listening to the Cowbird, something tiny moved in some nearby brush – an appropriate location for a Brush Rabbit to be hiding!
Farther down the road, we heard some Bewick’s Wren calls and discovered a pair of birds, each bringing nesting material to a crevice within this gnarled root.
A group of deer browsed nearby, and this beauty paused to acknowledge our presence before returning to its meal.
We birded the remainder of the morning, stopping often around the harbor. A large group of Short-billed Dowitchers flew in to the shoreline and provided us the wonderful opportunity to sit and observe them as they foraged.
The sound is muted in the video above due to loud passing cars, but click on the audio below to hear what the group sounded like while foraging. Towards the end of the recording, you can hear their classic “tu-tu-tu” call as something spooked a nearby Marbled Godwit and the whole gang flushed.
Another wonderful day of birding in Sonoma County – we never tire of the vibrant life all around us!
Lovely!
Thanks, Ellie!!
The recordings were fabulous.
Love your gratitude for all the blessings around us.
Thanks for listening, Steve – we have so much fun recording the local birds! We really do feel lucky to live in Sonoma County – so much abundance. =)