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Whelan Lake Sanctuary  and  Guajome County Park

October 10, 2017 – 48 species

 

Pied-billed Grebe  (at both WL and G)

Eared Grebe  (WL and G)

Western Grebe – 1  (G)

Double-crested Cormorant  (WL and G)

Greater White-fronted Goose  (WL)

Mallard  (WL)

Ruddy Duck  (WL)

Ring-necked Duck – 1  (WL)

Northern Shoveler  (G)

American Coot  (WL and G)

Common Gallinule  (G)

American White Pelican  (WL)

Great Egret  (WL and G)

Snowy Egret  (WL and G)

Green Heron  (WL and G)

White-faced Ibis – 1  (WL)

Killdeer  (WL)

Spotted Sandpiper - 1  (WL)

Least Sandpiper  (WL)

Northern Harrier – 1  (WL)

Cooper’s Hawk – 1  (WL)

Red-tailed Hawk  (WL and G)

Great Horned Owl – 1  (WL)

Belted Kingfisher  (WL)

Mourning Dove  (WL)

Eurasian Collared-Dove  (WL)

Anna’s Hummingbird  (WL and G)

Allen’s Hummingbird  (WL)

Black-chinned Hummingbird – 1 (WL)

Nuttall’s Woodpecker  (WL)

Downy Woodpecker – 1  (WL)

Cassin’s Kingbird  (WL and G)

Black Phoebe  (WL)

Say’s Phoebe  (WL)

Crow  (WL)

Bushtit  (WL)

Northern Mockingbird  (WL)

Yellow-rumped Warbler  (WL)

Common Yellowthroat  (WL and G)

Orange-crowned Warbler  (WL)

Great-tailed Grackle – 1  (G)

Red-winged Blackbird  (WL and G)

White-crowned Sparrow  (WL)

Song Sparrow  (WL)

Savannah Sparrow – 1  (WL)

California Towhee  (WL)

House Finch  (WL)

Lesser Goldfinch  (WL and G)

 

            The weather for this birding excursion was ideal, with clear skies and calm air early that made the surface of Whelan Lake look like a sheet of glass, to increasing delightful ocean breezes as the temperature gradually climbed from the upper 50s to the upper 70s.  The highlights of the day were watching a flock of about 15 White Pelicans on Whelan Lake and a half-dozen Greater White-fronted Geese (for many of us, a new species on our “life list”) that flew in and landed on Whelan Lake.  There were lots of Ruddy Ducks on Whelan Lake and Northern Shovelers on Guajome park’s lake, plus a few Pied-billed and Eared Grebes on both lakes.  We heard lots of the recently arrived migratory White-crowned Sparrows sweetly singing from shrubby thickets near Whelan Lake.  We also enjoyed a close-up view of a Green Heron hunting for food along the cattail-fringed lakeshore in Guajome park.  All of us were especially pleased to enjoy such a successful birding excursion.

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