November at SJWS

I took my boyfriend Drew out birding with me this morning at SJWS. It was a cool, foggy morning that felt just right for November. We found plenty of ducks on the ponds - northern pintails, northern shovelers, ruddy ducks, American widgeons, gadwalls, green-wing teal and cinnamon teal. We walked around the first few ponds, then headed across the boardwalk into the back area where I have been wandering more and more recently.

There was a hermit thrush calling, and spotted a fox sparrow, one of my favorites, scraping alongside the trail. We heard a Nuttall's woodpecker calling, and when I looked up to point it out to Drew, in the same tree was a northern flicker. Although he is not officially a birder, he was impressed by the pied-billed grebe in the small creek that had caught a fish and was struggling to swallow it.

Great Marsh Evening Primrose

We walked around to the ponds farther back, where Drew pointed out a lone western grebe diving for fish. Continuing to make our way toward the front ponds, we saw a great-blue heron sitting in a cottonwood tree, the poor tree bent nearly in half under it's weight. In the pond opposite the meadow we found a large white pelican feeding. The vertical drop of the hunting Forster's terns surprised Drew. I love birding with people who don't consider themselves birders, its a treat to watch them ooh and aah over birds that we've become so accustomed to over the years. I really need to get out birding more often...

Here's a list in banding code of the species we saw:

1. PBGR
2. WEGR
3. AWPE
4. DCCO
5. GBHE
6. GREG
7. SNEG
8. BCNH
9. GADW
10. NOPI
11. AMWI
12. NOSH
13. CITE
14. GWTE
15. RUDU
16. RSHA
17. AMCO
18. SORA
19. SEPI
20. KILL
21. AMAV
22. BNST
23. SPSA
24. LBDO
25. FOTE
26. MODO
27. ANHU
28. ALHU
29. NUWO
30. NOFL
31. BLPH
32. SAPH
33. CORA
34. AMCR
35. HOWR
36. MAWR
37. RCKI
38. HETH
39. COYE
40. SPTO
41. WCSP
42. FOSP
43. SOSP
44. RWBL
45. GTGR
46. HOFI
47. AMGO