Willow Creek Road begins in Jenner, directly beside the Russian House #1 restaurant along Highway 1 (click here for a Google Map). Driving in, the road parallels the Russian River before winding through the hills to follow the riparian area of Willow Creek. We stopped by this week to check out the birds.
A marsh lies just past a small bridge that crosses the creek as it flows into the river.
This area offers expansive views of the hills, and can be a nice spot for raptors, particularly during fall and winter. Though it’s still summer, we spotted a Bald Eagle, two Red-tailed Hawks, a couple Turkey Vultures, and two Ospreys.
One Osprey performed a “sky dance” routine of big, up-and-down, U-shaped flight displays while screaming loudly, as the second circled nearby chirping. We’ve seen this “sky dance” before during spring courtship season, and it was interesting to see it this late in summer. Listen below to the pair.
We observed lots of bird activity within the bulrush.
This harsh chatter emanated from some nearby coyote brush, so we kept our eyes peeled for a gray-brown bird with a long, cocked-up tail and unnervingly light eyes.
After some time, out popped the source – this Wrentit! What a treat to see this skulky bird in all its glory!
As we crept slowly down the road in the car, we were inundated with a flood of bird sounds. An effervescent cloud of Willy Warbs and Warby Vees flitted about – many young following closely behind adults, shaking their wings and begging for food.
Listen below to hear the begging calls of a Warbling Vireo.
As summer is the time to see bird broods, it was no surprise when a family of California Quail crossed in front of our car. Listen to the whole gang here.
A lovely grove of alders lines the road farther in.
Another bridge with a colorful mural crosses the creek near the alders. Just as we turned around to head back, we heard the staccato “keek!“-s of a hidden Virginia Rail.
Standing among the alders, listening to the rail, we remarked for the millionth time how lucky we are to live among such beauty.
Thanks for another wonderful edition!
Thanks for reading and saying hello, Anne!
This entry brought back a lovely memory of watching a large quail family indulging themselves in a dust bath alongside Willow Creek Rd with the male “watch-quail” keeping a protective close eye on everything from his nearby perch. Thank you
We love hearing your stories, Hollis, thank you for sharing them! We are happy that this post brought back some fond memories =)
Beautiful;-) Most of my memories of Willow Creek are of doing Christmas Counts with Deyea Harper…sometimes in the pouring rain, sometimes with frost on the road at 3 in the afternoon. Lovely to see it in the middle of summer with the summertime birds. Thanks, as always, for sharing.
Ahhh, CBC memories…they always seem to involve the cold, the wet or both! Excited to see you up at the headlands while counting raptors soon!
Beautiful photos!
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing these precious moments.
Kind regards
Erica
Aww, thank you, Erica. We hope to see you, Manhattan, and the Boat-billed Heron (among all the others!) sometime soon.