Rancho San Rafael Regional Park

Rancho San Rafael Regional Park is a wonderful 580-acre park adjacent to the University of Nevada, Reno. Among many other features, the park hosts The Wilbur D. May Arboretum and Botanical Garden.

We recently spent a morning exploring the arboretum and the bio-rich Herman’s Pond. As we set off, we spied this adorable bun in the gardens.

In the trees approaching Herman’s Pond, a Western Wood-Pewee perched out in the open, on the lookout for flying insects.

Red-winged Blackbirds and their young utilized the coverage of the reeds surrounding the pond.

Listen to the male above make a series of calls plus one bar of song mixed in.

This Black-crowned Night-Heron flew past above the pond – our only sighting of one for the day.

A hungry Double-crested Cormorant foraged in the pond. We marveled at the cormorant’s hunting prowess as it caught fish after fish.

On the pathway, an American Coot parent watched over two very young chicks. We took a front-row seat on a bench and watched the candy-colored babies clumsily run around!

We captured a short video of the chicks below. Look at those adorable, teeny-tiny wing-nubs!

It’s now time for an Odonate Interlude!

Dragonflies and damselflies abounded around the pond. Here’s a selection of those that stayed still long enough to photograph. All identifications are our best guesses – please feel free to discuss any IDs in the comments below.

Lastly, behold our new favorite dragonfly – the Western Pondhawk. The bright green face, those incredible blue eyes, and the matte, powder-blue body – what a combo!

We now return to our regularly scheduled bird programming with… another pond baby! Here’s a young Pied-billed Grebe with its parent.

Listen here to the young grebe begging.

We caught the neat shape of a Pied-billed Grebe rearing up to dive.

What picturesque park pond would be complete without a tame Mallard looking for handouts?

Less expected, however, was a lone pair of Ruddy Ducks swimming around the perimeter.

We’d been sitting at the pond for a half-hour before finally noticing this tucked-away Osprey.

We kept an eye on it, and in due time it treated us to a show. As the Osprey flew out to hunt, a Red-winged Blackbird immediately joined in mobbing pursuit.

The blackbird eventually gave up, and the Osprey continued circling directly above us.

After a plunge into the pond, the Osprey emerged empty-taloned and repositioned itself on a skinny branch to watch the water again.

As we stood enthralled with the Osprey’s show, we noticed an American Coot puttering around the edge of the reeds. Startled by the coot’s intrusion into its hiding spot, a Virginia Rail suddenly exploded out of the reeds and flew directly at us! The rail came within two feet of us before veering off to the left and landing on a nearby chainlink fence. Fun!

Back in the arboretum, we encountered this vocalizing Lesser Goldfinch male.

Under a shady bush, a Mountain Chickadee juvenile begged while its parent bopped around foraging.

Listen below to the sounds of the juvenile and parent, including a feeding around 0:35 seconds.

Nearby, a Warbling Vireo’s song rang out.

On our walk back to the parking lot, a loud sound caught our ear. Listen to the insistent call of a young, begging American Robin (with a House Wren prominently singing in the background).

We followed our ears and discovered this nest, complete with baby’s head poking out.

An older robin juvenile pecked at the ground on its own, occassionally calling out to its close-by parent.

Listen to the older juvenile’s vocalizations below – a little different from the tiny nestling’s calls.

The rewards of birding in summertime are these special encounters with a new crop of youngsters learning how to navigate the great, big world around them, looking awkward and adorable as they go. We hope your summer birding has been filled with baby birds galore!