December 16, 2005
OVENBIRD!!! And other Yolo goodies
All my good intentions of spending a long day at work were shattered, when Tobias Rohmer called me saying he and Claire Gallagher had just spotted an OVENBIRD at the Mace Boulevard bridge over Putah Creek! I pedalled over as fast as I could, but for at least the next hour we could not relocate the bird. Around midday I finally spotted the bird, and Roger Adamson, John Sterling and I were able to get phenomenal views of it foraging in the leaf litter. Here are the best shots I managed through the scope:
The bird was particularly remarkable in being the second Yolo County and first Solano County record (though it seemed happy to stay in Solano throughout my visit). Equally remarkable was the fact that it was in exactly the spot where we observed the Eastern Phoebe last weekend - amazing to think that 27 of us missed this bird even though it was right under our noses! In a return visit later in the day, we saw a Golden-crowned Kinglet (very scarce this winter) and more spawning Salmon.
A couple of days before, Joan Humphrey and I birded the county in search of surprises. The best we found was this adorable Snowy Plover, which appears to be wintering at the Davis WWTP...
... as does this Western Sandpiper.
Bonaparte's Gulls were present in about as high numbers as I've ever seen in the county.
We ended the day with a customary visit to the North Davis Merlins.
Richard,
You managed to get off a couple of excellent shots! Nice work. Thanks for these and all the other photos you have so gererously shared with everyone.
Terry
SO glad you were able to refind the ovenbird. The rest of ouy day was really nice with vesper sparrows [thanks for the tip], 4+ Lewis' Woodpeckers, breeding displaying (and calling) COGO and BAGO's, a nice round of short-eareds, barn and great-horned owl flight comparisons rounding out for 96 species. Was a nice celebration birding day for completing Q1. Cheers!
Posted by: Tobias Rohmer at December 16, 2005 10:35 AM