date and time: 27 July 2025, from 05:15 to 11:20
weather: partly cloudy until just after 9AM (coastal stratus blown in oon the Delta Breeze), winds 3-8 mph out of the west and sustained all morning, temperatures 54-72 degrees F.
route: minimally modified Conard, as noted above.
solo survey
birds:
Canada goose- small (?) flock heard early
wood duck- 1 (hen heard only)
California quail- 2
Eurasian collared-dove- 1
mourning dove- 7
Anna’s hummingbird- 2
great egret- 7
great blue heron- 2
killdeer- 3
turkey vulture- 12
white-tailed kite- 2
bald eagle- 1 (an adult or near adult before sunrise)
Cooper’s hawk- 4 (2-3 fledglings followed me around for a while in the southwestern forest block, putting a major dent in other bird activity)
red-shouldered hawk- 5
Swainson’s hawk- 3
red-tailed hawk- 3
great horned owl- 1
belted kingfisher- 1
acorn woodpecker- 2 (neither in the usual spot)
downy woodpecker- 7
Nuttall’s woodpecker- 24
northern flicker- 6
American kestrel- 2
western kingbird- 0
ash-throated flycatcher- 35 (!)
western wood-pewee- 16
western flycatcher- 2 (one in the old river channel near the large live oak, the other just as I was entering the southwestern forest block)
black phoebe- 5
Hutton’s vireo- 3
California scrub-jay- 12
yellow-billed magpie- 42 (41 in a flock about 180 meters east of the stile on Moyer Slough, the singleton near the blue grosbeak spot)
American crow- 4
common raven- 2
oak titmouse- 18
barn swallow- 3
bushtit- 40
wrentit- 7
white-breasted nuthatch- 22
Bewick’s wren- 19
northern house wren- 25
northern mockingbird- 6
western bluebird- 4
American robin- 30
house finch- 20
lesser goldfinch- 15
American goldfinch- 40
lark sparrow- 1
song sparrow- 16
California towhee- 3
spotted towhee- 50
Bullock’s oriole- 3
western meadowlark- 1 (a heard only bird before sunrise)
red-winged blackbird- 1 (!) (drinking at the large pond at Cougar Wetland)
brown-headed cowbird- 8
common yellowthroat- 4
Wilson’s warbler- 2 (at the orange-crowned warbler nesting spot)
western tanager- 1 ( ” ” ” ” “)
black-headed grosbeak- 4
blue grosbeak- 1
Mammals were okay, too: California vole, desert cottontail, California ground squirrel, red fox squirrel, coyote, river otter, striped skunk, unidentified bat, black-tailed (mule) deer. Butterflies were poor, but I did see a monarch just east of LeighAnn and David’s place. That’s my first this year, I think. I picked up an unseasonal tick, but, slathered in DEET, I was unbothered by mosquitoes.
I had a couple of interesting things get away from me unidentified. The first was at the river, where a large moth (I think) crossed to the far side. I suspect that it was a polyphemus based on size and overall color, but I didn’t see the hind wing eyespots. The second was a bird silhouette at the top of a dead snag near the end of the traverse of the southwestern forest block. It was a good 150 meters out, but perched quite vertically, with a relatively big head and short tail, it could have been an olive-sided flycatcher. When I tried to get closer, it disappeared.