Friday, April 2, 2021

Laguna Birds

 

In my last post I promised to show some of the birds that I had seen during my walk in the laguna a couple weeks ago. It was a beautiful sunny day, but as you can see in the photo above, there was still snow lying on the hills. It's always intriguing to see flowering trees and fields down here and the snow capped hills in the background.

I know that there are quite some Western Bluebirds in the laguna, but I see them only rarely. This time, however, I spotted them every time I walked here.


There were dozens of Song Sparrows in the bushes and grasses. These sparrows truly pay credit to their name - they have such a beautiful song. They may blend into their surroundings, but their singing gives their presence away.

In the trees along the laguna I spotted so many herons that I stopped to count them. One tree was solely populated by Cattle Egrets, some Green Herons were visible, but most of all I saw Black-crowned Night-Herons. The male and female look alike, but it is easy to tell the juveniles apart. There were entire families roosting in the trees.


I love these guys!

The Red-shouldered Hawks were very active that day. Before I saw them I usually heard them, they have a very unique rather high pitched call. One of them was so kind to land in the tree near where I stood watching the Black-crowned Night-Herons. 


After my walk I stopped on the other side of the laguna - I always wanted to explore the area here and I finally did it. While I was happily taking pictures of trees in water I discovered some big white birds swimming in the distance. I first thought they were swans, but when I observed them more closely I though they were behaving differently from swans. I tried to get closer where they were, and when I finally could see them much more clearly I realized that they were American White Pelicans.


I was surprised to see them here. At the ocean I have seen hundreds of Brown Pelicans and I always thought we don't have White Pelicans in Northern California. Well, I stand corrected. This seems to be the farthest North they get in the winter - seeing them North of the Golden Gate is, indeed, very rare, and I think this was an extraordinarily special treat. Once in twenty years...

This was such a wonderful day in the Laguna that was complete after I had discovered the field of mustard on my way back.






 

10 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

What a truly wonderful soul restorative day. For you, and for us. Thank you.

Iris Flavia said...

The pelicans sure are special beauties!

pam nash said...

Beautiful pictures. We see those huge white pelicans down here at the Gulf Coast - not as often as the brown ones, but I'm happy to see all of them at since they were so few for so long.

Magic Love Crow said...

Truly gorgeous! How breath taking! Thank you for the photos! Big Hugs and Happy Easter!

Jeanie said...

What wonderful sightings! Those pelican photos, especially, are magnificent. They put on such a lovely show for you.

Mae Travels said...

Bluebirds are truly delightful to see, both your western and our eastern types. I also love the pelicans.

be safe... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

Lowcarb team member said...

Wonderful sightings and fabulous photographs.
I enjoyed seeing them all, thank you.

All the best Jan

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

The "other" white birds I enjoy seeing besides swans and pelicans are snowy egrets and great egrets/ It looks like your laguna walk turned out to be a great day for viewing wildlife.

Barb said...

What a great place to walk. So many birds. I love seeing the white penguins. The shaggy tree and mustard shot is dramatic.

Terra said...

How uplifting to see the variety of birds, those white pelican photos are especially nice.