Birds I'm Watching: Bodega

Spent a very productive day birding at Bodega with a group from the Madrone Audubon Society, the first time I've ever been out with a group of people who know the area well. Usually I go out on my own. Saw a total of 35 species, six of which were first sightings for me--Vaux's swift, long-billed dowitcher, short-billed dowitcher, Wilson's warbler, semi-palmated plover, and pied-billed grebe. Other birds sighted were an immature red-tailed hawk, crow, American goldfinch, turkey vulture, scrub jay, song sparrow, Osprey, Western grebe, Western gull, whimbrel, willet, Western sandpiper, black turnstone, ruddy turnstone, black oystercatcher, brown pelican, white pelican, great blue heron, great egret, Brandt's cormorant, pelagic cormorant, double-crested cormorant, common murre, common loon, pacific loon, brandt, barn swallow, violet-green swallow, and black-bellied plover.

Birds I'm Watching: Whimbrels and Willets at Bodega

Haven't felt much like writing in the past week, but had a fruitful day of bird watching yesterday out at Bodega. Near the Tides Restaurant (from the parking lot, actually) saw Western sandpipers (I think), a whimbrel and a Willet. Later spent some time looking at seagulls, which usually go in one eye and out the other, so to speak. Saw Western gulls, Heermann's Gull, and ring-billed gull. The latter two I've certainly seen before, but this is the first time I've actually stopped to figure out what any of them were, so I count these as first sightings. Same for the Western sandpipers, if that's what they were. First sighting also for the whimbrel and the willet. While at the parking lot an Osprey flew over carrying a trout-sized fish. Down closer to Bodega head, on the road that leads out to Campbell Cove, past Spud Point Marina, saw many other birds. Saw these birds on the day:

Osprey, *Whimbrel, *Willet, *Western sandpiper, Western gull, *Ring-billed gull, *Heermann's gull, Black oystercatcher, Snowy egret, Great egret, Marbled godwit, Brown Pelican, White Pelican, Turkey vulture, American Goldfinch, Mourning dove, Western grebe, Great Blue Heron. Birds with asterisks are ones that I've definitively identified for the first time as an adult--not that I've necessarily never seen them before. All in all, a productive day--18 species, four first sightings.

Places I'm Visiting: Bodega Head

Drove up to Bodega Head yesterday to see if the yellow bush lupines were in bloom. They were. Hundreds of them. The wind was so strong, their honeyed fragrance was impossible to detect without getting close. The wind was so strong, it was hard to stand in some places. Down below the bluffs, Western grebes, brandts, and common terns on the water.