08 January 2012

Lazy Sunday

Ash and I took a spin to some local areas today.  We first birded at Cosumnes River Preserve in southern Sacramento County.  We then checked a field or two on Staten Island in San Joaquin County.  We finished up at Stone Lakes NWR just to the SW of where we live in Elk Grove.

We spent about 4 hours out and tallied 91 species:

Greater White-fronted Goose
Snow/Ross's goose
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Mallard
Gadwall
Green-winged Teal
American Wigeon
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Cinnamon Teal
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Ruddy Duck
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Sora
Virginia Rail
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
Greater Yellowlegs
Long-billed Curlew
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Black Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Oak Titmouse
Bushtit
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Wrentit
Western Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Western Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Purple Finch
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

As the day list winded down, I realized there were several species we missed that I might have expected.  Things like White-breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, Common Raven, Cattle Egret, Yellow-billed Magpie, Lesser Goldfinch, and Loggerhead Shrike.

Here are some pictures from the day.  First up, a NORTHERN SHOVELER at Cosumnes:

GREEN-WINGED TEAL:


I really like this photo of a GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW, mainly for the debris up in the air from the kicking action:

I took a picture of a SONG SPARROW and didn't realize until making this blog that it was banded.  I'll have to do some digging to figure out what's the story with this guy:

I don't see HERMIT THRUSHES every day.  This one was at Cosumnes as well.

I had just finished complaining how I thought we were going to miss WRENTIT today.  Soon after, we heard the little "pig grunts"coming from the nearby brush: