Food I'm Eating: Excellent Lunch at Terrapin Creek Café, Bodega Bay

Had a very good lunch at Terrapin Creek Café yesterday. Hadn't tried this place before, but glad I did. Had a very tasty summer squash soup with a mint and pistachio pesto, crab cakes that were done perfectly and actually tasted like crab, and an excellent cassoulet. Simple, yet delicious. Open for lunch and dinner Thursday through Sunday. A very nice change from the many seafood places along the coast that (while not bad) have nothing special to offer--which is ironic given the proximity to the sea and easy access to sophisticated diners in the area. Highly recommended. At 1580 Eastshore Road (just to the right after you turn left to go down toward Spud Point Marina and Bodega Head from the main highway. Phone: (707) 875-2700. Having said that, I like eating lunch at the Tides when in Bodega because of the excellent view over the bay.

Birds seen during the day at the bay included: Belted kingfisher (three--or the same guy in three locations), common loon, pacific loon, White pelican, common tern, Western gull, ring-billed gull, turkey vulture, willet, marbled godwit, scrub jay, double-crested cormorant, pelagic cormorant, black oyster catcher, Clark's grebe, and Western grebe. Actually, as usual, I'm just guessing about the tern. I can never get close enough to tell which one it is. According to online information from the Madrone Audubon Society (which is our local chapter), elegant terns, Forster's terns, and Caspian terns are all possibilities. They are hard to tell apart at a distance.

Birds I'm Watching: Bodega Bay

Drove briefly out to Bodega Bay yesterday, not having really planned to do so, but I had nothing better to do. Didn't see a lot new, but did get a clear look at a group of grebes and saw the difference between the Clark's grebe and the Western grebe well enough that I now can say I've seen both, so I add the Clark's grebe to my life list. The latter is a bit paler, especially on its back, and the black on the head stays above the eye. The black on the head of the Western grebe surrounds the eye. In my book Birds of Sonoma County California (Bolander and Parmeter), there is no historical sighting of this bird in the county in August. The book was published in 2000 (revised edition). It probably has been sighted, but, if not, there you go. I'm 100% certain about this one.

Out at Bodega Head I saw a group of birds that I believe were Pacific loons in their winter plumage. Nothing else makes any sense. So, tentatively, I add the Pacific loon to my life list. I also saw what I think were mew gulls, but I'm not certain. Otherwise, I saw the usual on a drive in Sonoma County that includes the ocean: Double-crested cormorants, Western gulls, turkey vultures, scrub jays, Canada geese, black oyster catchers, willets, sandpipers, great egrets, brown pelicans, white pelicans, marbled godwits, and common terns.