June 21, 2005
Lucky streak part 2
After yesterday's excitement, I was just settling back into work when the email arrived - 2 LEAST TERNS at the City of Davis Wetlands - the second county record! In record time I met up with Roger Adamson, and along with Jon King, we relocated the birds in less than an hour, as well as year-ticking an early (or late?) Wilson's Phalarope. Since distance and heat shimmer made photography practically impossible, I returned to the site later that evening with Joan (who had driven 3 hours from Santa Cruz to see the birds). The birds were still quite distant, but this shot is at least enough to document the record.
It was fun to see 3 tern species in the same scope view in Yolo County!
There were a number of duck species on the spit, including Redhead, Blue-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup and Bufflehead. Among them was this intriguing bird. It matched Lesser Scaup in mantle colour and size, but had a large, deep yellow eye and rusty tinge to the head (reminiscent of female Goldeneye), as well as a very distinct ring around the neck. The best we could come up with was hybrid Ring-necked Duck x Lesser Scaup - any feedback on this bird welcome!
Other highlights included single Red-necked Phalarope, Long-billed Curlew, Clark's and Eared Grebes, and a rather large Gopher Snake.
