Eared Grebe with bright red eye swimming in water

An Afternoon in Bodega Bay

In the recent months of the pandemic, we’ve mainly stayed close to home to do our part to curb holiday spread and then because of the regional stay-at-home order during December and January (now recently lifted). This has meant foregoing our normally frequent visits to the bird-haven that is Bodega Bay.
 
Yesterday, at long last, we headed to the harbor for the first time in four months. A lovely winter day greeted us – sunny and mild, with barely any wind.
 
In Doran Regional Park, a Peregrine Falcon sat atop a cypress tree. The bird’s overall brown and cream coloration, lack of barring on the belly, and lack of yellow facial skin indicates it’s a juvenile.
 
Did something catch its eye? We wonder what was it scoping out???

Juvenile Peregrine Falcon perched on top of cypress tree against blue background
Peregrine Falcon (juvenile)

Perhaps the Peregrine was sizing up one of the numerous Brewer’s Blackbirds in the nearby parking lot.

Brewer's Blackbird female with sandy beach in background
Brewer’s Blackbird

Or, was it checking out one of these European Starlings balanced on top of a signpost?

Three European Starlings perched on top of signpost with blue sky background
European Starlings

Or, maybe the Peregrine was simply resting since it stayed put on the cypress the entire time we observed it.

Juvenile Peregrine Falcon perched on top of cypress tree against blue background
Peregrine Falcon (juvenile)

Back on the other side of the harbor, a cavalcade of Brant streamed by in the same direction.

Small flock of Brant geese swimming going in the same direction
Brant

As the afternoon grew long, we stopped to relish the sideways sun reflecting off this Snowy Egret’s breast.

Snowy Egret perched on a rock with sunlight reflecting on its chest against blue water
Snowy Egret

We completed Grebe Bingo by spotting all six expected grebes around Bodega Harbor (Horned, Eared, Western, Clark’s, Red-necked, and Pied-billed). This Eared Grebe swam wonderfully close to us at dusk, giving us a great look at its striking red eye.

Eared Grebe with bright red eye swimming in water
Eared Grebe

As we admired the grebe, we looked up to discover a glowing orange cloud shape-shifting across the harbor – a massive flock of Marbled Godwits. Though this isn’t the clearest of photographs, hopefully it does justice in showing the impressively large number of birds. After carefully counting a portion of the tiny specks in the photo and extrapolating, we estimate around 600-700 birds – wow!

Large flock of Marbled Godwits flying together in the distance above the water with mountains in the background
Marbled Godwits on the move

To cap off our day, a pair of Spotted Sandpipers flew in and proceeded to bob their way along the rocky shoreline in front of us.

Spotted Sandpiper walking on small rocks in the water
Spotted Sandpiper

As the sky faded to a lovely pastel pink, the birds became silhouettes and we reveled in the stillness – a fine ending to a fantastic day of birding!

Pink sunset and sky above ripples in the water and trees on the distant shoreline
An idyllic scene from Bodega Harbor

10 thoughts on “An Afternoon in Bodega Bay

  1. Miles and Teresa This sounds like a perfect day at Bodega. I have not been out for ages…maybe soon. I don’t think I have ever seen a Spotty out at Bodega…and such a nice photo. Ah and wondrous Marbled Godwits! Thank you for sharing!

  2. Thank you so much for the mild weather and beautiful sightings. I wondered why this time there was no sound recordings. Cheers from South-East Québec. André

  3. You two a great resource. As for the peregrine falcon, I watched it yesterday as it sat on a rock, not far from the trail–it seemed quite comfortable being close to people. Henri

  4. I can’t thank you enough for including photo’s of all the birds you are discussing and sharing with us! I have learned so much from both of you! Thank you, Thank you both!

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