Birds I'm Watching: Lake Ralphine/Spring Lake

Took a walk around lake Ralphine and Spring Lake today, in Santa Rosa. Saw 40 bird species: Downy woodpecker, Nuttal's woodpecker, acorn woodpecker, turkey vulture, crows, lesser goldfinch, house finch, ruby-crowned kinglet, northern flicker, robin, Western meadowlark, ring-billed gull, coots (22), common moorhen (2), scrub jay, oak titmouse, chestnut-backed chickadee, yellow-rumped warbler, great egret, snowy egret, spotted towhee, California towhee, fox sparrow, golden-crowned sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, song sparrow, marsh wren, Bewick's wren, belted kingfisher, Great blue heron, Canada geese, mallards, buffleheads (10), greater scaup (6), common merganser (27 on Lake Ralphine), pied-billed grebe, a spotted sandpiper, a red-shouldered hawk, an Osprey eating a fish up in a tree, and a pair of common goldeneyes.

The photos are of a male (top) and female common merganser. These birds show striking sexual dimorphism--strictly speaking, sexual dichromatism.

Birds I'm Watching: Ellis Creek Water Treatment Ponds

Spent the day out at the Ellis Creek Water Treatment Ponds, in Petaluma. Went with a group of very serious birders--a bit too serious, it seemed to me. Had fun nevertheless. The group saw something like 70 species, of which I saw 54. I saw a number of birds for the first time. Highlights were a flying American bittern, a pair of peregrine falcons, a sora, a greater white-fronted goose, a few common goldeneyes, and some really good looks at a number of Say's phoebes.

Other birds I saw were: cedar waxwing, orange-crowned warbler (pictured), yellow-rumped warbler, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, golden-crowned sparrow, red-winged blackbirds, Western meadowlark (lots), American pipits, white pelican, pied-billed grebe, Western grebe, snowy egret, turkey vulture, mute swans, gadwall, American wigeon, mallard, cinnamon teal, northern shoveler, black phoebe, red-tailed hawk, Canada goose, long-billed dowitcher, hooded merganser, white-tailed kite, Cooper's Hawk, red-shouldered hawk, coots, killdeer, black-necked stilts, American avocet, greater yellowlegs, Wilson's snipe, Western gull, mourning dove, robins, European starling, great egret, Bonaparte's gull, kestrel, crow, scrub jay, Northern pintail, greater scaup, horned grebe, marsh wren, and brewer's blackbird.