Snowy Plover running along the sand, Doran Beach

Snowy Plover, Doran Beach

Size perspective: here's a snowy plover in front of resting group of sanderlings, Doran Beach

Snowy Plover digging in the sand

Different view, snowy plover

Sanderlings feeding, mudflat area Doran Beach

Willets land among a large resting flock of marbled godwits, mudflats, Doran Beach

Black Turnstones join the other birds on the mudflats

Male Hooded Merganser, Shiloh Ranch Regional Park, Windsor

Two males zoom past me

Male Hooded Merganser with immature male following, Windsor

Immature male similar to female, except yellow eyes and darker brown coloring.

Female Hooded Merganser, Windsor

Two males on the pond

Male Hooded Merganser

Female Hooded Merganser in flight

Green Heron, Shiloh Ranch Regional Park, Windsor

At my arrival, the green heron stretches and relocates

Green Heron

Male American kestrel, Shiloh Ranch Park, Windsor

Red-tailed hawk, perched, Coleman Valley Road between Occidental and the coast

Great Blue Heron, Bodega Bay, begins to swallow a fish

Great Blue Heron, Bodega Bay, first catch

Female western bluebird, the Laguna

Male bluebird, the Laguna

Male and female Northern Shovelers in the Laguna pond

Song sparrow in a blackberry bush, the Laguna

Loggerhead shrike, Tolay Lake Regional Park

The shrike seems to wear a very cool Zorro mask

Northern Harrier with the Tolay Park wilderness behind it

Usually cruising low over the open lands

Female Northern Harrier in flight, Tolay Lake Regional Park

One of the Tolay Lake coyotes seen again, only closer

One of the small burrowing owls, very near first sighting on another hike, Tolay Lake Regional Park

Female American kestrel on a fence post, Tolay Lake

Meadow Lark on a fence wire, Tolay Lake

Red house finch, Tolay Lake

Brewer's blackbird in the park

Chestnut-backed chickadee fluffed up against the cold, camp meeker

Townsend warbler at the suet feeder, front deck

Another look, the Townsend warbler visiting my feeders

Male Anna's hummingbird, front deck

Pygmy nuthatches still coming to the feeders, especially the suet

Curious fawn near the house, camp meeker

Juvenile red-tailed hawk on fence, Tolay Lake Regional Park

Same juvenile red-tail, from a closer position, Tolay Lake

Same hawk in flight, where its coloring identifies it as a juvenile

Large flock of long-billed curlews at Tolay Lake park, where they graze in the grasslands

Vesper sparrow, Tolay Lake Regional Park - this is an unusual bird for the area as reported on local birding websites

Male Hairy woodpecker - similar to the smaller downy, but larger and with a longer beak. Tolay Lake

Male Northern Harrier - Tolay Lake Regional park. Also known as "grey ghosts" - they seem less common than the brown female counterparts.

The Great-horned owl at Tolay Lake - looking a little harrassed since I had already disturbed him, so I quietly backed off

Killdeer in flight, Tolay Lake