Natural History Wanderings

Today was the first field trip of a class I am taking through Golden Gate Audubon Called “Romance is in the Air” The  class focuses on  bird courtship, mating, nest-building, and raising young. It is taught by Eddie Bartlett and Bob Lewis.  We were fortunate in that arrangements had been made for us to go into areas that are normally fenced off to the public. Also seen were dragonflies mating.

Highlights of the day included:

• seeing four female Yellow-headed Blackbirds (Unusual for this area)
• Least Tern and Snowy Plover (which are both endangered birds),
• good looks at Black Skimmers
• many Red-necked Phalaropes.

We also saw:

• American Avocets mating
• Cliff Swallows, Marsh Wrens and Black-necked Stilts nests
• Least Terns and Black Skimmers doing courtship behaviors
• 42 total species

Bird List for Hayward Regional Shoreline May 5, 2012

Starting at the Interpretive Center (walked two miles, mostly in the locked area_

Birding Class with Bob Lewis  42 species

Canada Goose

Gadwall

American Wigeon

Mallard

Cinnamon Teal

Northern Shoveler

Northern Pintail

Canvasback

Greater Scaup

Lesser Scaup

Ruddy Duck

Eared Grebe

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Egret

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Turkey Vulture

Red-tailed Hawk

American Coot

Snowy Plover

Semipalmated Plover

Killdeer

Black-necked Stilt

American Avocet

Willet

Marbled Godwit

Western Sandpiper

Dunlin

Long-billed Dowitcher

Short-billed Dowitcher

Red-necked Phalarope

Ring-billed Gull

Least Tern

Forster’s Tern

Black Skimmer

American Crow

Barn Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Marsh Wren

Savannah Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Red-winged Blackbird

Yellow-headed Blackbird

To see a more detailed list with the number of  each species seen go to Bob Lewis’s Wingbeats site: http://www.wingbeats.org/classes/lists/12Romance.htm