May 14, 2004
Down time
Here in Davis, migration is slowly trickling to a halt. This comes as something of a relief, as getting up to do 2-3 hours' birding every day before work was starting to take its toll! Ironically, on my two birding trips this week, I've encountered several species which we missed on the Big Day! Tuesday, Joan and I birded the east side of the county for migrants: the best we could muster was an Olive-sided Flycatcher and a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher. The pond adjacent to the Port of Sacramento (I forget its name) had a couple of lingering Goldeneye, while this White Pelican was showing well:
We finished up at Woodland Wastewater Ponds, where we saw a handful of Black Terns without having to resort to standing on the car roof!
Wednesday evening, Marcel and I drove back towards the Capay Valley. On Road 78A we connected with a fine male Lawrence's Goldfinch drinking at a stream, and had yet another flyover Phainopepla. The drive up Rayhouse Road produced another Olive-sided Flycatcher, untickable views of a Mountain Quail and my first county Rufous Hummingbird. The highlight of the visit was two Common Poorwills illuminated in the car headlights as they sat in the road. County listing is set to become much trickier now - in my remaining 18 months here I'll be lucky to add another 30 species!
Today I left the confines of the office to help map the distribution of hybrid cordgrass seedlings at Roberts Landing, San Francisco Bay. This exhausting task involved wading through thick mud for the best part of 7 hours, which at least allowed closer than usual views of Semipalmated Plovers and Long-billed Curlews. Just as we were due to leave, I was fortunate enough to spot my life Clapper Rail at the edge of a channel.
This weekend sees me jetting up to Seattle, where I'll no doubt be attempting to string Northwestern Crow...
Posted by rjhall at May 14, 2004 5:23 AM