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First of Season blog sighting, Wilson's Warbler

3/31/2016

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Also starting to see a pair of black-headed grosbeaks at my suet feeders in the morning, no photo yet!
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Male Wilson's warbler, Jack London state park, Glen Ellen
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Wild hyacinth? Jack London state park.
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This could be wild buttercup, Jack London State Park
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California quail, at the entrance to Tolay Lake Regional Park
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A pair of cinnamon teals on one of the sloughs, Tolay Lake
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Male Tree Swallow portrait, Tolay Lake
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Female Western Bluebird, Tolay Lake
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Male Ruddy duck, Shollenberger Park, Petaluma
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Male gadwall, Shollenberger
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All the park's nest boxes still had the tree swallows' interest.
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Female house finch with some nesting material? Shollenberger Park.
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A group of gadwalls (I think) in flight
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American Avocets were more active in the park
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A lone Lesser Yellowlegs, Shollenberger Park, Petaluma
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Tomales Bay and Abbott's Lagoon, Point Reyes

3/24/2016

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Surf scoters in the relative calm of Tomales Bay
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Greater Scaup, breeding male? Tomales Bay
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Least sandpiper foraging along the shore, Abbott's Lagoon
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Odd sparrow, looks like a cross between a white-crowned sparrow and a white-throated.
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Scout quail acting as lookout for a smaller flock on the ground.
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Small bunny on the path, Abbott's Lagoon
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Much of the dunes are fenced off for the snowy plover nesting, Abbott's Lagoon at the ocean.
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Abbott's Lagoon - a mix of fresh and salt water, bordering the coastal beachfront with large sand dune areas.
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Marbled godwits on the way home, along Tomales Bay at Inverness
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Blue-eyed grass blooming at one of the Tomales Bay beaches.
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California poppies also in full bloom.
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A couple of black phoebe's called to each other as they hunted insects along the sandy shore.
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Wild irises were blooming along the trail.
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Checked out by red-tailed hawk.
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Male white-crowned sparrow belts out his spring song - note the banded legs.
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Tolay Lake tops off, fills up with ducks and swans

3/19/2016

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Mute swan, Tolay Lake Regional Park
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American wigeons, Tolay Lake
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Male ring-necked duck
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Ducks on Tolay Lake
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Cinnamon Teal, Tolay Lake
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Golden-crowned sparrow
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Mature white-crowned sparrow with two juveniles, Tolay Lake
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Great-horned owl, Tolay Lake
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Great-horned owl, leaping towards me as I crept closer with the camera!
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Great-horned owl makes a sharp left turn to circle away from my approach.
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New perch for the owl, hoping to avoid any further surprises!
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Tree swallow on one of the nest boxes, Tolay Lake Regional Park
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European starling perched on one of the traffic signs on the road out of the park
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Shollenberger Park after two weeks of rain

3/16/2016

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Female Northern Harrier, Shollenberger
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Male Ruddy duck, Shollenberger
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Female Lesser goldfinch in the rosemary bordering the park
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This could be a juvenile Barrow's Goldeneye in one of the sloughs in the park
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A small flock of snowy egrets prowled the banks of the river foraging.
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A flock of scaup were on the river itself.
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Female Avocet near the mudflats
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Black-necked stilts also searching the mudflat area.
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A male Anna's hummer flashing its iridescent colors.
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The Say's Phoebe after having just caught and eaten a cricket.
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The white-faced ibis flock still at the neighboring Ellis Creek Facility.
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New round of "el nino" storms - everyone hunkered down, even the birds!

3/10/2016

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Song sparrow at the very flooded Laguna, between storms
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Trail through the Laguna under water, with 4 to 7 inches more on the way!
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Male Anna's hummer at the Laguna.
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Wildflowers at the Laguna blooming with all the rain (I believe this could be Western Hounds Tongue)
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A small group of cormorants flew over
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One of several pied-billed grebes in the Laguna waterway
Back at Camp Meeker
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Red-breasted nuthatch sits for a long time at one of the suet feeders, loading up.
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I must have one of the few functioning hummer feeders in the area as there are as many as six or seven hummers using it - both Anna's and Allen's. Refilling sometimes twice a day.
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Prairie Falcon, Tolay Lake Regional Park

3/6/2016

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Sunday hike through the park, between the latest round of el nino rain storms...
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Prairie Falcon in flight, Tolay Lake Regional Park, Petaluma
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Prairie Falcon, first seen on a fence post
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The falcon jumped into the air at my approach
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Possibly a female Nuttall's Woodpecker, Tolay Lake
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Golden-crowned sparrow in the park
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Small flock of long-billed curlews still "grazing" in the park
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Low pass flyover by a juvenile red-tailed hawk, Tolay Lake
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Another view, juvenile red-tailed hawk
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With recent rains, Tolay Lake begins to fill up
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Killdeer on the path ahead of me
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Red-winged blackbird in the park
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This is the time of year for the male Western meadowlark to pour out its song from any high perch, and several were doing so during my walk
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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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