One of the few reliable enjoyments I get on this survey in July is a feast of Himalayan blackberries.  But the recent weed control efforts there robbed me of the opportunity this year.  The sheep got to them first!  I usually tally most of my blackbirds as they fly over around sunrise.  But yesterday there were so few birds to slow my progress on the route that when sunrise came the icterid flyout was too far away to identify the birds to species.  I did enjoy the abundance of American barn owls, and the surprise bird of the day was a willet on pond 4 (where there were 82 American white pelicans on Wednesday morning but none yesterday), which I saw fly south with most of the greater yellowlegs around 06:15.  I took another look at this shorebird spot after the survey, and almost everything had left by 10:00.  Here’s the summary.

date and time– 18 July 2025, from 05:00-10:00

weather–  clear, SW wind 5-10 mph all morning, temp 56-71 degrees F.

route–  standard Trochet

solo survey

birds:

CANG-  50

WODU-  1

MALL-  12

CAQU-  4

MODO-  18

ANHU-  1

DCCO-  3

GRHE-  1

SNEG-  2

GREG-  14

GBHE-  4

KILL-  15

LESA-  45

WESA-  1

peep sp.-  20

WILL-  1

GRYE-  35

NOHA-  1

RSHA-  3

SWHA-  6

RTHA-  4

ABOW-  8 (last at 05:42)

GHOW-  1

BEKI-  1

DOWO-  4

NUWO-  13

NOFL-  5

AMKE-  1

WEKI-  5

ATFL-  15

BLPH-  10

HUVI-  1

CASJ-  12

AMCR-  10

OATI-  14

TRES-  40

CLSW-  50

swallow sp.-  50

WBNU-  7

BUSH-  20

WREN-  6

BEWR-  10

HOWR-  8

MAWR-  6

EUST-  40

WEBL-  9

AMRO-  12

HOFI-  65

LEGO-  3

AMGO-  6

SOSP-  37

SPTO-  24

BUOR-  1

WEME-  1

RWBL-  6

BHCO-  7

BRBL-  1

blackbird sp.-  1250

OCWA-  1

COYE-  5