Hi Everyone,
We had a fantastic field trip this morning. Thirty-nine eager birders showed-up and we found 73 bird species. We initially birded in two groups around the parking lot and the oak riparian areas, but later joined together as one after we drove to the fishing pier and on further to the boat dock. The weather was perfect. The best bird of the day has to be the Zone-tailed Hawk. This bird flew frequently overhead (high & low) for over an hour near the boat dock. It even perched briefly. Everybody got really good looks at the bird and the identifying features were easily seen. A life bird for many in our group! Here’s our list:

Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Ruddy Duck
California Quail
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
Western Grebe
Clark’s Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Zone-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
American Coot
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
Spotted Sandpiper
Sandpiper sp.
Long-billed Dowitcher
Ring-billed Gull
Western Gull
Gull sp.
Forster’s Tern
Mourning Dove
Vaux’s Swift
Anna’s Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Acorn Woodpecker
Nuttall’s Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Say’s Phoebe
Cassin’s Kingbird
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Violet-green Swallow
Barn Swallow
Bushtit
White-breasted Nuthatch
Bewick’s Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Western Bluebird
Wrentit
Northern Mockingbird
California Thrasher
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Townsend’s Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Spotted Towhee
California Towhee
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch

JIM BECKMAN