Today we have some photos by UC Davis ecologist Susan Harrison. Susan’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge her photos by clicking on them.
A windy day at the coast
Looking back for any 2024 photos not sent to WEIT yet, I came across these ones from a couple of days in mid-October. The tides were at their monthly low, and several of us inland-dwelling Californian birders drove out to Bodega Bay hoping to see mobs of shorebirds on the exposed mudflats. Alas, the winds were gusting at 30 mph or more, and the birds were mostly either huddled in sheltered spots or blowing wildly past us across the bay. We even saw a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) sitting on the ground in a salt marsh, just waiting out the storm – too far away for a good photo, alas.
Last time we went to Bodega and encountered high winds, as some readers may remember, I gave up on real birds and did a photo essay on Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” and its filming locations. This time we toughed it out and tried to photograph the huddling and swirling flocks. Here are a few scenes.
Marbled Godwits (Limosa fedoa) hunkering down at the north end of the bay:
Godwit gang:
Marbled Godwits and Willets (Tringa semipalmata; black-and-white wings) billowing by:
Western Sandpipers (Calidris mauri) mixed with a Willet or two:
Black-bellied Plovers (Pluvialis squatarola) with their distinctive black armpits:
American Coots (Fulica americana), sheltering at a marina and then deciding the humans were too close:
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) having a bad feather day:
Great Egret (Ardea alba), catching a rodent and then being pursued by another egret:
North American River Otters (Lontra canadensis), which despite their name are often seen in saltwater:
So that’s a coot!
Thank you as always, Susan. Even a gusty day on the coast is interesting as the birds still need to make a living everyday. We passed just north of the Bodega area as we went through Jenner on a drive from Sonoma on River Rd and then up the coast road to Timber Cove many years ago. Simply spectacular scenery.
What great photos! I love the Coots running on water to escape.
Thanks for all the wonderful photos.
Smmhhhhh—
AHHHHHHH
Nice!
I love Bodega Bay and its U.C. marine laboratory, which I frequently visited during my grad school days at U.C. Davis. Thanks for bringing back wonderful memories of this special place.
…needed to put my parker on for that set 😁 the area supports a lot of bird life. Happy new year!
Nice set. Thanks.
Very enjoyable! Thank you for sharing.
Lovely photos, thank you. There was a river otter who swam from Marin County to San Francisco and frequented the saltwater ruins of the Sutro Baths for a couple years. He was locally known as “Sutro Sam.”
Is the heron with bad feathers day a fluffy juvenile?
Thank you for the great pictures. It’s heartening to see so many of the birds, too.
I loved your last post about Bodega Bay and Hitchcock, and this is great too! The ocean shore is an amazing place.