Tuesday, August 20, was the bimonthly bird survey at Shollenberger Park for the Petaluma Wetlands Alliance (PWA). The team set out at 7 AM into a cool and cloudy morning.
One of the first birds spotted was this Common Gallinule with its brightly colored shield, bill, and legs. Though this species is easier to see than most others in the Rallidae family – in typical rail fashion, the bird slinked back towards the vegetation as we approached.
Black-necked Stilts and Snowy Egrets were abundant this August survey. We spied a stilt attempting to infiltrate a group of Snowies.
Having many pairs of eyes ensures no bird goes uncounted – we’ve got all directions covered!
After making a raucous landing with a few of its brethren, this Killdeer carefully inspected the shoreline.
Our group counted 102 Black-necked Stilts, including several juveniles like this one below. Juveniles typically have faint scalloping on their upper parts and less vibrantly colored legs.
Black-necked Stilts are often one of the more vocal birds of Shollenberger. Listen to their persistent, squeaky “pip-pip-pip!“-s below.
Peeps are back in town! Though we came upon both Least and Western Sandpipers during our count, Leasts were more abundant. Juvenile sandpipers begin to appear in large numbers throughout the county in August.
In late summer and early fall, crisp and fresh plumage (like these three birds below) is a helpful clue in aging shorebirds – as well as many other types of birds.
The Red-necked Phalarope is another member of the Scolopacidae family (sandpipers) we’ve seen a lot across the County lately – the Shollenberger ponds were no exception.
Common Yellowthroats seemed to be bopping about at every turn.
This normally skulky Marsh Wren appeared briefly to sing atop a fence post.
The trail heading south from the Point Blue Conservation Science building is a great place to look and listen for rails. Though we didn’t catch any glimpses, we did hear multiple Virginia Rails – like this one below.
This juvenile Lesser Goldfinch gave us a nice look at its back feathers as it followed its parent around.
From a small platform above the Petaluma River, we were surprised to discover a concealed Turkey Vulture among the reeds. Who startled who?!
Along the trail, count leader Andy LaCasse stopped to inspect skunk remains.
These young deer along the riverbank of Adobe Creek are just one of many creatures that call the Petaluma wetlands home. Visit PWA’s website to discover three ways you can help support our local wetlands.
Despite some noise and activity from a work crew cutting vegetation along the walking paths, our group had an excellent count day at Shollenberger. By the end of the morning, the team had tallied 66 species for PWA’s August 2019 survey – the highest August species count in 8 years!
If you have any questions about this particular count or if you’re interested in participating in future counts, please contact the coordinator/compiler for these surveys, Len Nelson, at lennelsn@comcast.net.
Looks like fun! I was wondering whether this was the day you saw the white-faced ibis!?!
Yep, it was… they were too distant for photographs though, too bad!
Well done! Sorry I was unable to be there. I am happy the white faced ibis stuck around because I saw five of them on Sunday!