January 30, 2005
The early bird...
... catches the Black Hawk! Following on from last weekend's incredible bad luck, Marcel, Joan and I fared much better this weekend. Our prime target was the ever-elusive Common Black Hawk wintering in Stockton for its second year. I persuaded Marcel that we should leave town horribly early to get there for first light - a wise decision indeed, as we (plus one other chap) were the only people to see the bird, as it flew from its roost site to the lake at 7am!
After treating ourselves to a celebratory cooked breakfast, we returned to the Black Hawk site and waited in the cold and fog until 11:30, with no sign of the bird. However, we had fun catching up with birding friends in the assembled crowd. Joan started chatting to a guy named Jim White, who casually dropped into the conversation that while looking for Short-eared Owls near the Yolo landfill he'd come across a Red-necked Grebe. Joan's eyes went as wide as saucers - this would be only the third county record and a new county bird for all of us! Not long afterwards, we raced back to Road 29 to find the bird still sitting there in the middle of the lake!
After returning home to spread the word on this county mega, Joan and I re-grouped to search for Mountain Plovers in the now-glorious sunshine. No luck with these, but we did see a Ferruginous Hawk devouring an unfortunate Ground Squirrel, and best of all, this pretty female Mountain Bluebird.
I was frankly amazed that these flight shots came out - note the amazing electric blue colour to the wings and tail.
With sunset approaching, we raced back to take one more peek at the Red-necked Grebe, during which time I was able to grab these blurry but atmospheric shots in the low light.
With one life bird, one county bird and one Central Valley Big Year bird in the bag, a highly successful day!
Posted by rjhall at January 30, 2005 3:52 AMSounds like a good day. Lovely photos as usual.
Posted by: Dawn at February 2, 2005 6:23 PM