Birds I'm Watching: The Ninth St. Rookery, Santa Rosa

My son's clarinet lesson happens to be near what is locally known as the "Ninth St. Rookery," a spot in the middle of Santa Rosa that herons and egrets have used as a nesting place for many years. I had heard about it, but never been there. Today, while waiting for my son to finish, I drove by.

It's remarkable. In three or four large trees in the median on Ninth St. (between Stony Point Rd. and Dutton Ave., but closer to Stony Point) there are three large trees that now have about 100 nests in progress. I saw snowy egrets, great egrets, cattle egrets, and black-crowned night herons (photo) in the trees or flying around, bringing in nesting material. Of all the suitable trees in the area, why do they choose to use these that are right next to a busy street? Who knows?

The birds made the strangest noises. I'm not aware of any of these species ordinarily vocalizing much, but there was a constant undertone of bizarre sounds that at first reminded me of Pokémon, but Pokémon wasn't quite right. Still, there was something very familiar about the noises. After some thought, it finally hit me: It was one of the ringtones built in to the iPhone. Turn on your iPhone. Go to Sounds. Choose Ringtones, and then go to "Robot." That's what these birds sound like.