We began our morning at 6:36am, driving from farm center gate E to the old barn (now just a heap of dirt and some rubble) then N to the preserve boundary then E to the central road then S and briefly W to the Equipment Pad, stopping briefly at the Love Shack and walking a bit. 40f, overcast, no wind. Nearly all wetlands and stubble fields were at least muddy or soggy but mostly shallow-flooded. Birds detected on this stretch were:
| Snow Goose | 300 |
| Snow/Ross’s Goose | 200 |
| Greater White-fronted Goose | 4000 |
| Cackling Goose | 6 |
| Cackling Goose (Aleutian) | 2 |
| Canada Goose | 13 |
| Northern Shoveler | 20 |
| Mallard | 40 |
| Northern Pintail | 2600 |
| Green-winged Teal | 8 |
| Mourning Dove | 6 |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 3 |
| Sandhill Crane | 1700 |
| Black-necked Stilt | 48 |
| Killdeer | 6 |
| Long-billed Dowitcher | 350 |
| Wilson’s Snipe | 5 |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 4 |
| Dunlin | 70 |
| Least Sandpiper | 2 |
| American Herring Gull | 30 |
| Snowy Egret | 25 |
| Great Egret | 42 |
| Turkey Vulture | 2 |
| Northern Harrier | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 |
| Belted Kingfisher | 1 |
| Northern Flicker | 1 |
| American Kestrel | 2 |
| Black Phoebe | 2 |
| Say’s Phoebe | 1 |
| Yellow-billed Magpie | 28 |
| Oak Titmouse | 1 |
| Wrentit | 1 |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 2 |
| Northern House Wren | 1 |
| Marsh Wren | 1 |
| Bewick’s Wren | 1 |
| European Starling | 2 |
| Northern Mockingbird | 1 |
| American Robin | 1 |
| American Pipit | 32 |
| House Finch | 1 |
| Lesser Goldfinch | 38 |
| Lark Sparrow | 1 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 2 |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 16 |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow | 4 |
| Savannah Sparrow | 6 |
| Song Sparrow | 4 |
| Lincoln’s Sparrow | 1 |
| Spotted Towhee | 1 |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 160 |
| Brewer’s Blackbird | 400 |
| Common Yellowthroat | 1 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s) | 8 |
At 7:58 we arrived at the Accidental Forest, where we walked NE and SW from the road’s end. Our route ended at the log jam at one end and the side channel section on the other end. The river was flowing well but just an inch or two higher than last month. 43f, no wind, overcast. At the Accidental Forest we detected:
| Greater White-fronted Goose | 9 |
| Wood Duck | 5 |
| Northern Pintail | 4 |
| Mourning Dove | 3 |
| Sandhill Crane | 5 |
| Turkey Vulture | 8 |
| Northern Harrier | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 2 |
| Nuttall’s Woodpecker | 2 |
| Northern Flicker | 4 |
| Black Phoebe | 2 |
| Hutton’s Vireo | 2 |
| California Scrub-Jay | 1 |
| American Crow | 4 |
| Oak Titmouse | 5 |
| Bushtit | 15 |
| Wrentit | 1 |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 6 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch (Pacific) | 5 |
| Northern House Wren | 1 |
| Bewick’s Wren | 4 |
| European Starling | 6 |
| Hermit Thrush | 6 |
| American Robin | 29 |
| Lesser Goldfinch | 1 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 1 |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow | 6 |
| Song Sparrow | 4 |
| Lincoln’s Sparrow | 2 |
| Spotted Towhee | 5 |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 6 |
| Brewer’s Blackbird | 3 |
| Orange-crowned Warbler | 1 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s) | 9 |
| Townsend’s Warbler | 2 |
At 9:38 we arrived at Wood Duck Slough where we walked the Tall Forest Loop. We started at the equipment pad then walked S on the road on the W side of Wood Duck Slough, then cut west to the dirt road on the W side of the Tall Forest. We walked N on a less overgrown part of the old center road that runs through the center of the Tall Forest for a ways, unlike last month where we stayed on the main road. Overcast, 43f, no wind. 5 Fox Squirrels, 4 River Otters, and two deer. Lots of grapes left on the vines draping over most of the Valley Oaks and trailing between them, even ones that are now leafless. Birds detected here were:
| Snow Goose | 10 |
| Greater White-fronted Goose | 60 |
| Tundra Swan | 3 |
| Wood Duck | 7 |
| Northern Pintail | 120 |
| Mourning Dove | 16 |
| Sandhill Crane | 6 |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 3 |
| Great Blue Heron | 1 |
| Turkey Vulture | 6 |
| Sharp-shinned/Cooper’s Hawk | 1 |
| Northern Harrier | 1 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 2 |
| Belted Kingfisher | 2 |
| Red-breasted Sapsucker | 2 |
| Acorn Woodpecker | 4 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 4 |
| Nuttall’s Woodpecker | 5 |
| Northern Flicker | 8 |
| American Kestrel | 1 |
| Merlin | 1 |
| Black Phoebe | 7 |
| Hutton’s Vireo | 3 |
| California Scrub-Jay | 6 |
| American Crow | 6 |
| Oak Titmouse | 13 |
| Bushtit | 189 |
| Wrentit | 3 |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 19 |
| Golden-crowned Kinglet | 7 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch (Pacific) | 12 |
| Brown Creeper | 1 |
| Northern House Wren | 3 |
| Bewick’s Wren | 8 |
| European Starling | 4 |
| Northern Mockingbird | 1 |
| Western Bluebird | 16 |
| Varied Thrush | 1 |
| Hermit Thrush | 16 |
| American Robin | 90 |
| American Pipit | 1 |
| House Finch | 1 |
| Purple Finch | 1 |
| Lesser Goldfinch | 3 |
| Fox Sparrow (Sooty) | 3 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 12 |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow | 27 |
| Song Sparrow | 9 |
| California Towhee | 3 |
| Spotted Towhee | 15 |
| Orange-crowned Warbler | 8 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 5 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s) | 32 |
| Black-throated Gray Warbler | 1 |
| Townsend’s Warbler | 8 |
| Western Tanager | 1 |
We ended our day driving from the Equipment Pad on Wood Duck Slough W then N on gravel roads to Farm Center Gate, stopping occasionally to scan with binoculars but not scope. Shallow 1-4 inch water in all wetland and stubble units. Overcast, 48f, no wind. Far greater waterfowl numbers than last month. Birds we detected here were:
| Snow Goose | 120 |
| Ross’s Goose | 2 |
| Greater White-fronted Goose | 9000 |
| Cackling Goose | 1 |
| Northern Shoveler | 200 |
| Gadwall | 6 |
| American Wigeon | 360 |
| Mallard | 50 |
| Northern Pintail | 4000 |
| Green-winged Teal | 45 |
| Mourning Dove | 37 |
| American Coot | 4 |
| Sandhill Crane | 20 |
| Black-necked Stilt | 4 |
| Killdeer | 1 |
| Long-billed Dowitcher | 200 |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 6 |
| Dunlin | 1 |
| American Herring Gull | 4 |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 1 |
| Great Egret | 2 |
| Great Blue Heron | 1 |
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 |
| Sharp-shinned/Cooper’s Hawk | 1 |
| Northern Harrier | 1 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 |
| Northern Flicker | 2 |
| American Kestrel | 1 |
| Black Phoebe | 2 |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 |
| House Finch | 1 |
| Western Meadowlark | 17 |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 5000 |
| Brewer’s Blackbird | 20 |
In total we recorded 87 species of bird. Our mammal highlight was a gorgeous bobcat trotting along the road between the Equipment Pad and the gravel road leading back to Farm Center Gate. We watched him for about a minute before he ducked into a patch of willows.
Our eBird trip report is here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/441061