The sunrise greeted us with the promise of a wonderful day at Shollenberger Park for October’s Petaluma Wetlands Alliance (PWA) survey.
There’s something magical about standing quietly under dawn’s dimly lit sky as it grows brighter by the minute. We scanned the skies for birds relocating from their morning roost, and watched a small flock of geese flap by in a loose “V” shape.
We listened to the birds warm up their syrinxes as the sky lightened. A small group of Red-winged Blackbirds let out a variety of whistles, beeps, and squeaks.
The morning’s winner of “King of the Light Pole” was this beautiful adult Red-shouldered Hawk.
A bird is colored and patterned the way it is for a reason. Often, it’s to blend in to its surroundings as well as possible, to avoid detection by predators. The streaky, muted American Pipit disappears into its preferred winter habitat of grasslands and mudflats.
Greater Yellowlegs often announce their arrival via piping, whistled “tew-tew-tew” calls. Below, you can hear two birds calling as they circled overhead before landing in the main pond.
A nice surprise of the count was a lone White-faced Ibis foraging in shallow water. Wonder if this was the same solitary White-faced Ibis we observed at Ellis Creek a week prior?
The soft morning light and still water made for some neat reflection shots.
Along the stretch of trail extending southwest from Point Blue, multiple Virginia Rails called and we recorded this Sora whinnying.
This Great Egret and Snowy Egret gave us a nice side-by-side comparison view. The photo also captures their distinctly different foraging styles: the Great Egret is upright, standing stock still, while the Snowy Egret is hunched over, on-the-move, stirring up the water.
We encountered a Marsh Wren in plain view on the withering fennel.
Who’s this cutie peering over the grass?
It’s a Savannah Sparrow! As we observed quietly, this typically shy sparrow eventually hopped close while foraging, just feet from us in the dry grass.
A female Northern Harrier (formerly known as a Marsh Hawk) hunted appropriately above the marshy grass as we passed by on the trail.
This Snowy Egret gave us nice looks at its extended legs and retracted “S”-shaped neck.
The group came across a fresh, dead fish on the trail – wonder which bird dropped it?!
This White-crowned Sparrow drooped its wings, exposing its plain-brown lower back and rump – quite a contrast from the heavily streaked upper back.
Towards the end of the loop, a patch of dried grass and fennel teemed with chattering American Goldfinches and White-crowned Sparrows, as an American Pipit flew overhead. It’s hard to tell who is making each sound in this bubbly recording.
By the end of the morning, the team had tallied 71 species for PWA’s October 2019 survey.
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.
Love your blog. Sunday we saw a hatch of flying insects, perhaps termites. It was followed by a snowstorm of wings drifting down. We also had our sprinkler running. Whatever the reason, we were treated to a lot of Townsend’s warblers hawking. Much excitement for us.
How exciting! We love it when, for whatever reason, the elements combine to create an extra special birding experience. You just never know what you’re going to encounter from day-to-day! Thanks for reading. =)
Wonderful to experience the Dawn Chorus with you two;-)
Wish you’d been there in person! =) We had some great dawn chorus experiences in Armstrong Woods this past spring and we’re itching to go back to see what it’s like on a winter morning.
Today we had 6 inches of snow in Quebec. It is good to hear bird song from birds, like the pipit, that have passed through a month or so ago. Soon even the scaup, golden-eye and scoters will be gone and we’ll be left with our winter birds…and you blog! Thanks for posting.
Aww, thanks for saying hi again, Robert. We enjoy your updates on the Quebec weather and birds. We’ve yet to see our first goldeneye for the year, but are looking forward to it.