date and time:  01 February 2026, from 06:25 to 11:55

weather:  low, dense fog (sometimes low enough to see blue sky above early on) until about 10:30, then clear, essentially calm all morning, temperatures 36- 54 degrees F.

route: standard Trochet

solo survey

birds:

snow goose-  720 (including two blue morphs)

greater white-fronted goose-  1080

Canada goose-  2

blue-winged teal-  5

cinnamon teal-  24

northern shoveler-  220

gadwall-  140

American wigeon-  80

mallard-  60

northern pintail-  480

green-winged teal-  340

green-winged x common teal-  1 (male with both a broad horizontal white stripe in the scapulars and a broad vertical white stripe on the anterior sides)

ring-necked duck-  16

bufflehead-  87

common goldeneye-  5

ruddy duck-  2

duck sp.-  40

eared grebe-  2

rock pigeon-  1

sandhill crane-  13

Virginia rail-  4

American coot-  330

black-necked stilt-  80

killdeer-  10

dunlin-  12

least sandpiper-  31

long-billed dowitcher-  80

Wilson’s snipe-  1

greater yellowlegs-  30

gull sp.-  1

double-crested cormorant-  3

black-crowned night-heron-  1

snowy egret-  1

great egret-  9

great blue heron-  1

turkey vulture-  5

white-tailed kite-  2

bald eagle-  1

northern harrier-  4

Accipiter/Astur sp.-  1

red-tailed hawk-  5

great horned owl-  1 (on nest)

Nuttall’s woodpecker-  4

northern flicker-  5

American kestrel-  1

black phoebe-  31

Say’s phoebe-  2

California scrub-jay-  4

American crow-  18

common raven-  1

oak titmouse-  4

tree swallow-  3

bushtit-  8 (one of these by itself, so winter flocks are breaking up for the breeding season already)

wrentit-  1

ruby-crowned kinglet-  25

Bewick’s wren-  11

house wren-  1

marsh wren-  40

western bluebird-  6

hermit thrush-  4

American robin-  4

American pipit-  18

house finch-  45

lesser goldfinch-  1

white-crowned sparrow (uncertain subspecies)-  1

pugetensis white-crowned sparrow-  1

golden-crowned sparrow-  22

white-throated sparrow-  1 (tan-striped morph)

Savannah sparrow-  35

song sparrow-  35

Lincoln’s sparrow-  4

sparrow sp.-  4

spotted towhee-  17

western meadowlark-  22

red-winged blackbird-  130

Brewer’s blackbird-  4

orange-crowned warbler-  4

common yellowthroat-  3

yellow warbler-  1

Audubon’s warbler-  60

Audubon’s warbler x myrtle warbler-  1

yellow-rumped warbler ssp.-  10

I saw what may well have been the smallest legal set of antlers on a buck I’ve ever seen, with two spikes that could not have been even three inches tall.  The right one had a small fork.  I’ve seen lots of dogs that looked bigger than this animal.  He was one of 14 deer today, a good number for this route.

After the survey I looked through just under 3000 white geese on the north side of Desmond Road.  I found, with a lot of work, only about 20 Ross’s geese among them, and 12 blue snows.

Best, John