date and time: 19 July 2025, from 05:00 to 12:40
weather: cloudy early (coastal stratus blown in on the stiff Delta Breeze!), clearing about 06:30, SW wind 5-15 mph, temperatures 54-75 degrees F.
route: except for the visits to the different shorebird fields, pretty standard: Johnson’s pastures, the Love Shack, the floodplain northeast of the Tall Forest, the Accidental Forest; then after parking at Oak Island, we made the loop along the west side road to the equipment pad, down Wood Duck Slough, across the berm into the southern Tall Forest proper, took the northerly track (now the only one passable) to the river at the southeastern extreme of the forest block, back to the berm and back to Oak Island via the west side road again.
party of two
birds:
Canada goose- 70
wood duck- 6
cinnamon teal- 1
mallard- 60
duck sp.- 15
California quail- 5
wild turkey- 1
mourning dove- 6
double-crested cormorant- 1
green heron- 2
great egret- 80
great blue heron- 5
black-necked stilt- 11
killdeer- 30
semipalmated plover- 1 (FOS)
least sandpiper- 85
western sandpiper- 22
peep sp.- 40
long-billed dowitcher- 110
greater yellowlegs- 77
turkey vulture- 18
bald eagle- 1
red-shouldered hawk- 6
Swainson’s hawk- 10
red-tailed hawk- 4
belted kingfisher- 5
acorn woodpecker- 2
downy woodpecker- 8
Nuttall’s woodpecker- 15
northern flicker- 5
western kingbird- 4
ash-throated flycatcher- 25 (lots of fledglings)
western wood-pewee- 15
black phoebe- 12
Hutton’s vireo- 5
California scrub-jay- 18
American crow- 7
oak titmouse- 20
bank swallow- 1 (FOS)
barn swallow- 1
tree swallow- 25
cliff swallow- 15
swallow sp.- 40
bushtit- 30
wrentit- 12
white-breasted nuthatch- 15
Bewick’s wren- 18
northern house wren- 30
marsh wren- 1
northern mockingbird- 6
European starling- 2
western bluebird- 7
American robin- 25
house finch- 25
lesser goldfinch- 4
American goldfinch- 12
lark sparrow- 1
song sparrow- 30
California towhee- 6
spotted towhee- 40
Bullock’s oriole- 2
red-winged blackbird- 150
brown-headed cowbird- 2
Brewer’s blackbird- 35
blackbird sp.- 60
orange-crowned warbler- 1 (a HY bird, like yesterday’s)
common yellowthroat- 15
yellow warbler- 1
western tanager- 1 (FOS)
black-headed grosbeak- 20
Mammals, aside from cottontails and fox squirrels, entirely escaped notice. Butterflies were relatively few, though alfalfas, which have been really scarce for me this year, put in a few appearances.