November 22, 2003 – bird census II

Once again we are off to the north marsh to count birds, and the joint is jumping.


Definitely jumping.


The crew this time: Research Coordinator Kerstin Wasson with the data sheets; John Haskins, our water-quality guy; Shirley Murphy, seasoned volunteer and first-rate birder; Susie Fork, our entomologist; and Becky Christensen, Reserve Manager – a veritable brain trust!


But how are we going to count the birds if they won't sit still?

That's more like it – a group of dowichers make for an easy count.

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Behind us is the railway levee. We are beginning to worry about its condition – water leaks through it at high tide, and at very high tides the rails are actually under water.

Another view of the tidegates, this time at a much higher tide.

A group of Night-herons also sits still for the count – the juvenile at right blends well with the pickleweed.

The final tally for the day: 15 Pied-billed Grebes, 19 White Pelicans, 22 Brown Pelicans, 2 Double-crested Cormorants, 6 Great Blue Herons, 15 Black-crowned Night Herons, 90 Great Egrets, 50 Snowy Egrets, 6 Mallards, 2 Northern Pintails, 15 Green-winged Teals, 21 Northern Shovelers, 6 American Wigeons, 1 Bufflehead, 19 Black-bellied Plovers, 11 Black-necked Stilts, 140 American Avocets, 10 Willets, 124 Western Sandpipers, 70 Least Sandpipers, 74 Sandpipers (sp.), 1 Long-billed Curlew, 82 Marbled Godwits, 86 Dunlins, 394 Dowichers (sp.), 2 Bonaparte’s Gulls, 215 Ring-billed Gulls, 80 Gulls (sp.), 50 Forster’s Terns – a rather differnt mix from the previous tally.