Natural History Wanderings

A pair of Clark’s Grebes bobbing and doing their side-by-side walking on the water dance in a bonding ritual was the highlight of  today’s trip. I birded the Albany Mudflats Ecological Reserve. The water birds were on the bay. It was the first time this season I saw larger numbers of Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon and Greater Scaup. Shorebirds feeding included American Avocet, Willet, Marbled Godwit, Least Sandpipers,Wimbrel, a Semi-palmated Plover and one Great Yellowlegs. Many White Crown Sparows were singing in the shrubs. I was able to identify twenty-six species. See full list at Albany Mudflats Bird Lists 10/6/14.   .

I deliberately did only minimal cropping on some of the mudflats to you could get a feel for what they are like. An hour and 45 minutes after high tide seems to be a productive time for this area. Butterflies were limited to Monarchs and Cabbage Whites.

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