Wordless Wednesday: Abbott’s Laggon (Point Reyes)
Today was my first field trip with the Field Ornithology class I’m taking, and it wound up being a great outing with numerous interesting birds and tons of information.
We were a large’ish group of about 15 people including Joe Morlan, our instructor, and an assistant. First we walked the shoreline of Lake Merritt, seeing many ducks, grebes and geese, then we birded around the botanical garden, with some localized success (apparently this time of year it’s common for arboreal birds to cluster together, so you either see very few, or many).
Among many useful tips on IDing birds, I can now sort of, almost, separate Greater & Lesser Scaup (if they’re close enough), and learned a lot about how to tell a gull’s age.
Since this was a trip for education, I left my SLR camera at home, and thus don’t have any photos to share, alas! I may have to return on my own, as the waterfowl in particular were very approachable – we had Horned & Eared Grebes just a stone’s toss away numerous times, not to mention a female Redhead that followed us around for a while, countless Scaup, several Glaucous-winged Gulls, one California Gull, and the usual swarm of Ring-billed and Western Gulls that appear whenever human food may be provided.
The list du jour, 42 species, numerous year birds, and 2 (count ’em!) life birds was:
– American Coot
– American Crow
+ American Robin
(American White Pelican)
– Anna’s Hummingbird
+ Black-crowned Night Heron
– Black Phoebe
– Bufflehead
+ California Gull
+ California Towhee
– Canada Goose
– Canvasback
+ Common Goldeneye
(Domestic Goose)
– Double-crested Cormorant
+ Downy Woodpecker
– Eared Grebe
(Egyptian Goose)
+ Glaucous-winged Gull
– Golden-crowned Sparrow
– Great Blue Heron
– Great Egret
– Greater Scaup
* Hermit Thrush
– Horned Grebe
– House Sparrow
– Lesser Scaup
– Mallard
(Muscovy Duck)
+ Pied-billed Grebe
* Redhead
– Ring-billed Gull
+ Ring-necked Duck
– Rock Pigeon
+ Ruby-crowned Kinglet
– Ruddy Duck
– Snowy Egret
– Turkey Vulture
– Western Gull
– Western Scrub Jay
– White-crowned Sparrow
– Yellow-rumped Warbler
* = life bird, + = year bird, () = domestic/released bird
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What an amazing list of birds that you listed here! Will miss your stunning photos but understand that you were there for learning! I hope you are able to return and get some of those great shots of these great birds!
Thanks, Tom! I’m always amazed at how many species I see when I’m out with really experienced birders vs. when I’m alone! Of course I’m less patient myself, so I’m sure I walk right by numerous interesting birds regularly!
I’ll definitely return w/my camera in the near’ish future, as this is a gem of a location, with pretty cooperative birds!
Best,
-Adam