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The attendees were: David, Don, Pat, David and Andrea S., June, and myself.
I have three avid birding friends which is completely coincidental - they have never met one another. I met David S. and Don at Santa Rosa CC several years ago. David is the birder and Don and Pat were not birders. My other two birder friends could not make it that day. Hopefully, we can do this again in the spring.
June and I were first-time, and hopefully not last-time, visitors at Cypress Point on Tomales Bay where David works as a professional Ornithologist (Birder).
Here is a link to a list of all of the birds (at eBird.org) that were identified by David that day. Click the Bird Name to see magnificent pictures of the bird and learn more.
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| Just walking onto the grounds, there were many small newts on the path, daring us to step on them. |
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This pic of a newt is not in
focus but much more interesting than the other pictures that I
took.
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| Cypress Point used to be
a hunting lodge with these being cabins for the hunters. Now they
are offices. |
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| Just to the right of the
previous picture is this entrance to the perfect spot for viewing
waterfowl on Tomales Bay. Thanks to June for this and the next photo. |
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Looking west, the opposite shore
is Point Reyes about 1 mile away as the Snowy Egret flies. |
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In the water is an
orgy of Cormorants,
Gulls
and other waterfowl feasting on Herring spawning. On the hillside are a few Snowy Egrets observing to see if the spawn gets close enough to shore for them to effectively hunt. |
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| Several different ducks here: The 4 mostly white bodied ducks with a white helmet head is the Male Bufflehead The 1 by the males with a spot of white near the eyes is a Female Bufflehead. The 2 brownish ducks with white cheeks are Male Male Common Goldeneye. The 3 greyish ducks in the foreground with brown heads are Female Common Goldeneye. |
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From the viewing
platform we made our way north across this bridge and looped
around to the right. |
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Looking back toward the offices |
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Near the top of a
Cypress tree, a Great
Blue Heron |
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I turned my head as David identifies a Caspian Tern flying by. But apparently this shot is probably a young Western Gull flying by at the same time. |
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An Osprey carrying nesting material |
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American Kestral that David spotted on a
power line about 500 yds away |
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Fortunately he
brought along this powerful telescope for us to enjoy the birds |
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Walking back from
a beautiful and fun day enjoying wildlife. Thanks David! |
