Birds I'm Watching: Bodega Bay (Oct. 3, 2009)

After pressing the Zinfandel this morning, I went out to Bodega Bay to look at birds. The wind was fierce, but saw quite a lot--28 species, including Red-winged Blackbird, Brown Pelican, White Pelican, Turkey Vulture, Scrub-jay, Elegant Tern, Forster's Tern, California Gull, Western Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Willet, Marbled Godwit, Semipalmated Plover, Western Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Sanderlings, Snowy Egret, Great Egret, Double-crested Cormorant, Ruddy Turnstone, Black Turnstone, Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, Surf Scoter, Black Oystercatcher, an unidentified murrelet (looking most like a Xantus's murrelet, but possibly an ancient murrelet--all black back, white up to the chin), and Eurasian Collared Dove. The Forster's Tern was a first sighting for me--as was the Murrelet, although I'm not counting that, as I can't decide what it was.

[Update: I wrote this when I first started birding in Sonoma County. I've learned a lot since then—six years ago now. As evidence, see my website Sonoma County Bird Watching Spots.]