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Snowy Plovers, Doran Beach

1/28/2016

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A fellow Nikon photographer at Doran Beach kindly told me where to look for the Snowy Plovers - a small shorebird that winters in this area.
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Snowy Plover running along the sand, Doran Beach
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Snowy Plover, Doran Beach
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Size perspective: here's a snowy plover in front of resting group of sanderlings, Doran Beach
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Snowy Plover digging in the sand
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Different view, snowy plover
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Sanderlings feeding, mudflat area Doran Beach
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Willets land among a large resting flock of marbled godwits, mudflats, Doran Beach
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Black Turnstones join the other birds on the mudflats
Back at home, a red-shafted flicker shows up at the feeders, and deck railing seeds.
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Hooded Mergansers, Shiloh Ranch Regional Park, Windsor

1/21/2016

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Last year I saw these ducks in this same pond at the top of the creekside trail in this park - so when there was a recent report that they had been seen again, I didn't wait to hike in for some photos because they are such trippy looking birds.
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Male Hooded Merganser, Shiloh Ranch Regional Park, Windsor
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Two males zoom past me
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Male Hooded Merganser with immature male following, Windsor
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Immature male similar to female, except yellow eyes and darker brown coloring.
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Female Hooded Merganser, Windsor
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Two males on the pond
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Male Hooded Merganser
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Female Hooded Merganser in flight
There was also a small Green Heron on the pond
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Green Heron, Shiloh Ranch Regional Park, Windsor
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At my arrival, the green heron stretches and relocates
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Green Heron
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Male American kestrel, Shiloh Ranch Park, Windsor
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Red-tailed hawk, perched, Coleman Valley Road between Occidental and the coast
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Grey days between El Nino storms...

1/18/2016

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No sun at the coast due to winter weather, but there was at the time, a very low tide, which had exposed much of the bay mudflats, making easy pickings for the egrets and herons.
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Great Blue Heron, Bodega Bay, begins to swallow a fish
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Great Blue Heron, Bodega Bay, first catch
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Male kingfisher, Bodega Bay
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Same kingfisher, hovering in flight over the bay
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Female western bluebird, the Laguna
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Male bluebird, the Laguna
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Male and female Northern Shovelers in the Laguna pond
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Song sparrow in a blackberry bush, the Laguna
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Loggerhead Shrike, Tolay Lake Regional Park

1/10/2016

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Beautiful Loggerhead shrike landed on a fence post close to one of the main trails in the park.  The shrike is a songbird with the hunting and feeding habits of a raptor, which accounts for its aggressive looking beak.
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Loggerhead shrike, Tolay Lake Regional Park
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The shrike seems to wear a very cool Zorro mask
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Northern Harrier with the Tolay Park wilderness behind it
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Usually cruising low over the open lands
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Female Northern Harrier in flight, Tolay Lake Regional Park
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Sparrows near the entrance to the park - this is the white-crowned sparrow
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Golden-crowned sparrow, Tolay Lake
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One of the Tolay Lake coyotes seen again, only closer
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One of the small burrowing owls, very near first sighting on another hike, Tolay Lake Regional Park
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Female American kestrel on a fence post, Tolay Lake
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Meadow Lark on a fence wire, Tolay Lake
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Red house finch, Tolay Lake
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Brewer's blackbird in the park
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A week of colder than usual temps

1/3/2016

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Little chestnut-backed chickadee on my deck railing, fluffing up against the outside cold - might be a first year or late summer fledgling, going through its first winter.  I put some seed and nuts on the deck railing, and it quickly flew over and grabbed a peanut!
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Chestnut-backed chickadee fluffed up against the cold, camp meeker
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Townsend warbler at the suet feeder, front deck
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Another look, the Townsend warbler visiting my feeders
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Male Anna's hummingbird, front deck
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Pygmy nuthatches still coming to the feeders, especially the suet
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Curious fawn near the house, camp meeker
Two different hikes through Tolay Lake Regional Park, Petaluma.  A great park for raptors.
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Juvenile red-tailed hawk on fence, Tolay Lake Regional Park
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Same juvenile red-tail, from a closer position, Tolay Lake
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Same hawk in flight, where its coloring identifies it as a juvenile
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Large flock of long-billed curlews at Tolay Lake park, where they graze in the grasslands
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Brown creeper, Tolay Lake park
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White-breasted nuthatch in same tree
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Vesper sparrow, Tolay Lake Regional Park - this is an unusual bird for the area as reported on local birding websites
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Male Hairy woodpecker - similar to the smaller downy, but larger and with a longer beak. Tolay Lake
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Male Northern Harrier - Tolay Lake Regional park. Also known as "grey ghosts" - they seem less common than the brown female counterparts.
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The Great-horned owl at Tolay Lake - looking a little harrassed since I had already disturbed him, so I quietly backed off
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Killdeer in flight, Tolay Lake
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    Author

    Walking through
    California coastal parks and redwoods, and sometimes beyond, with a Nikon DSLR & telephoto lens (completely amateur)



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