February 15, 2005
Another Brit abroad
Through the colleague of a friend of a friend of mine, I was put in touch with Owen, a fellow Brit visiting California for the first time, and keen to see as many birds as possible in his short stay. Naturally, Joan and I were happy to have any excuse to get out birding, and along with Katharina, the four of us got off to a good start with a local pair of Burrowing Owls. A whistle-stop tour of the UCD Arboretum yielded good looks at a Green Heron, several Anna's Hummingbirds, a fine male Nuttall's Woodpecker and my first House Wren of the year, while White-throated Swifts trilled overhead. After a brief (and successful) look for a Prairie Falcon, we headed to the City of Davis Wetlands where we connected with two rare grebes, the long-staying Red-necked...
... and this newly-arrived Horned.
Driving the loop around the Yolo Wildlife Area yielded great views of American Bittern, a flock of Cackling Geese (year tick), and the chance for a close-up study of the local race of Horned Lark - I'd never noticed how reddish-toned our local birds were!
A brief spot of rain on the way out stopped this Cooper's Hawk from flying around.
This White-tailed Kite was digibinned from the back of the car as it made short work of an unlucky vole.
We ended the day in style with Wilson's Snipe, a lone Cedar Waxwing and prolonged views of two of the urban Merlins, sitting across the street from each other!