Surveyed by John Trochet

In advance of meeting up with Jim’s River Walk survey, I started at the TNC Barn ponds at 5AM.  It was a bit darker than I expected, but I had a couple of American barn owls right away, and a singing western kingbird was audible at the gate.  So were a few shorebirds west of the gate.  It was a warm 58 degrees.  I suppose that the least expectable bird was a singing western wood-pewee in the southeast.  Such a song coming from a smallish clump of trees would be no surprise in the Southwest, but in the Central Valley this species is associated with nice, big blocks of riparian woodland.  Three ponds had some water, birds being concentrated in the wet pond at the far northwest.  These included a decent mix of waterfowl for July and almost all of the several shorebird species encountered today.  Here’s the summary.

date and time:  12 July 2025, from 05:00 to 06:50; also around 09:55 during my return to my car and the drive out.

weather:  clear, westerly breeze 5-8 mph, 58 degrees F.

route:  standard Trochet with a detour to include the far northwest, whence I could hear stilts and yellowlegs.  I don’t usually go that far north on the western side of the ponds array.

solo survey

birds:

Canada goose-  11

wood duck-  2

cinnamon teal-  3

cinnamon/blue-winged teal-  8

mallard-  18

northern pintail-  3

green-winged teal-  1

duck sp.-  15

California quail-  1

mourning dove-  4

black-crowned night-heron-  1

great egret-  3

great blue heron-  1

black-necked stilt-  29

killdeer-  14

least sandpiper-  25

western sandpiper-  3

peep sp.-  12

long-billed dowitcher-  1 (vocal)

greater yellowlegs-  18

red-shouldered hawk-  4

Swainson’s hawk-  3

red-tailed hawk-  4

American barn owl-  4

western kingbird-  14

ash-throated flycatcher-  1

black phoebe-  4

California scrub-jay-  1

American crow-  6

tree swallow-  15

cliff swallow-  5

bushtit-  1

Bewick’s wren-  1

northern house wren-  5

marsh wren-  1

northern mockingbird-  1

western bluebird-  4

American robin-  1

house finch-  20

lesser goldfinch-  2

American goldfinch-  10

song sparrow-  16

California towhee-  1

spotted towhee-  3

Bullock’s oriole-  1

western meadowlark-  2

red-winged blackbird-  70

brown-headed cowbird-  9

Brewer’s blackbird-  100

blackbird sp.-  250

common yellowthroat-  3