Whelan Lake Sanctuary

May 12, 2017 – 41 species

 

Pied-billed Grebe

Eared Grebe

Clark’s Grebe

Mallard

Wood Duck

Ruddy Duck

American Coot

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Red-tailed Hawk**

Cooper’s Hawk

American Kestrel

Barn Owl - (at least 4)

Mourning Dove

Anna’s Hummingbird

Allen's Hummingbird

Nuttall’s Woodpecker

Cassin’s Kingbird

Black Phoebe

White-throated Swift

Tree Swallow

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Crow

Raven

Bushtit

House Wren

California Thrasher

Bell’s Vireo (heard only)

Yellow Warbler

Common Yellowthroat (heard only)

Yellow-breasted Chat

Red-winged Blackbird

Hooded Oriole

Song Sparrow

Spotted Towhee

California Towhee

Black-headed Grosbeak

House Finch

Lesser Goldfinch

 

            The weather for our group’s birding at Whelan Lake Bird Sanctuary provided temperatures in the 60s with low coastal overcast that persisted through the morning, until the sun finally broke through in the early afternoon.  The red-letter bird of the day was the Barn Owl, two of which we watched sitting in plain sight and facing us near the top of a shrubby tree.  Two others were perched in the darkness of the property’s dilapidated old barn.  What may have been a fifth owl was standing atop the barn before flying into a nearby tree.

    Among the other species we identified were many trilling House Wrens and Spotted Towhees; musical singing of numerous Song Sparrows, Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroats and a distant Black-headed Grosbeak; and the distinctive repertoire of loud, repeated hoots, croaks, squawks and whistles of a number of Yellow-breasted Chats, the largest member of the Warbler Family. Chats are typically difficult to see, but we were able to watch several of them.

            On and around the edges of the lake, we saw a few pairs of Wood Ducks, one of which shepherded a flock of fuzzy little ducklings.  Snowy and Great Egrets and Black-crowned Night-Herons occasionally glided over the lake.  Of the raptors were a Cooper’s Hawk, an American Kestrel and a close-up view of a busily preening Red-tailed Hawk.  A White-throated Swift and lots of swallows – tree, northern rough-winged and cliff were catching bugs on the wing.  We were puzzled by the lack of orioles, but just before two of us were about to leave the sanctuary, a female Hooded Oriole suddenly appeared near the sanctuary’s office.