Five souls joined me this morning for a better-than-expected bird survey. Despite keeping everyone out for eight hours, all said that they had a great time. Birding was decent despite the winds constantly thrashing the vegetation, the butterflies were good and we saw some interesting mammals, too. Here’s the summary.
date and time: 17 May 2025, from 04:40 to 13:55
weather: WINDY all survey- SE winds 5-10 until about 07:30, then switching to SW, increasing after about 10:00 to 10-15 mph; cloudy to start, mostly cloudy 07:30 to 09:45, then mostly sunny; temperatures 52-76 degrees F.
route: drove from the gate to the pad, where we consolidated into two vehicles; drove first to the Love Shack to work that area, then to the south end of the east side road, then walked the spur out to the Accidental Forest (AF); walked north between the AF and the levee to the river overlook at the logjam site, then back to the vehicles along the east side road; reconvened at the pad and then walked down Wood Duck Slough, crossing the berm at the tower pump; took the north loop to the southeastern Tall Forest, then out the east side to a view of the bald eagle nest; retraced our steps to the tower pump, then up the west side road back to the pad, stopping only at the Tall Forest Giant. Then back to the gate, where I let everyone out before covering the flooded rice fields (almost nothing on them) and Johnson’s pastures (again, almost nothing).
party of six
birds:
Canada goose- 6
wood duck- 12
mallard- 35
duck sp.- 8
California quail- 2
ring-necked pheasant- 1
pied-billed grebe- 1
Eurasian collared-dove- 2
mourning dove- 15
hummingbird sp.- 1
green heron- 1
black-crowned night-heron- 2
great egret- 10
great blue heron- 5
killdeer- 5
turkey vulture- 12
bald eagle- 2
Cooper’s hawk- 1
red-shouldered hawk- 3
Swainson’s hawk- 3
red-tailed hawk- 2
American barn owl- 1
great horned owl- 1
belted kingfisher- 2
acorn woodpecker- 2
downy woodpecker- 6
Nuttall’s woodpecker- 10
northern flicker- 1
western kingbird- 15 (good number for this survey and date)
ash-throated flycatcher- 12
western wood-pewee- 10
willow flycatcher- 1
western flycatcher- 1
black phoebe- 15
Hutton’s vireo- 1
warbling vireo- 1
California scrub-jay- 6 (low)
American crow- 18
common raven- 2
oak titmouse- 7 (low)
barn swallow- 2
tree swallow- 50
bushtit- 35
wrentit- 8
ruby-crowned kinglet- 1 (late)
white-breasted nuthatch- 10
Bewick’s wren- 20
northern house wren- 25
marsh wren- 1
European starling- 3
northern mockingbird- 2
western bluebird- 5
Swainson’s thrush- 6
American robin- 10
house finch- 35
lesser goldfinch- 8
American goldfinch- 10
song sparrow- 18
California towhee- 4
spotted towhee- 25
Bullock’s oriole- 18
western meadowlark- 2
red-winged blackbird- 90
brown-headed cowbird- 25
Brewer’s blackbird- 6
Nashville warbler- 1 (late?)
common yellowthroat- 12
yellow warbler- 6
Audubon’s warbler- 1
Townsend’s warbler- 2
Wilson’s warbler- 9
western tanager- 5
black-headed grosbeak- 30
Butterflies included these species: western tiger swallowtail, anise swallowtail, mourning cloak (9!), Lorquin’s admiral, red admiral, mylitta crescent, lady sp., buckeye, gray hairstreak, eastern tailed blue, purplish copper, orange skipper sp., mournful duskywing, umber skipper, common checkered skipper.
Mammals included two opossums, a raccoon, and a river otter.
I feared today was going to be dreadfully slow going. That is what most of spring migration has been like this year. Thankfully I was quite wrong.
Best,
John