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January 1, 2022

 

A new year.  My first bird of the new year was ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD.  (I use ALL CAPS to designate the first time I report a species for the year.)  I added SONG SPARROW, DARK-EYED JUNCO, and HOUSE FINCH right away, and then a NORTHERN FLICKER came to the suet feeder.  Soon after that, there were a couple of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD females at the seed feeder, and a STELLER'S JAY came around, too.  After that, I headed out for a day of birding, despite the snow on the ground and the temperature, which was in the mid-twenties.

 

My first stop was Marymoor Park.  There were AMERICAN CROWS around, as usual.  Snow covered the ground still, left over from the Christmas night storm.  It is the first time I can remember ever being in Marymoor Park with so few people around.  No one was even playing soccer, which is extremely unusual for a Saturday morning.  There were 40 or 50 cars in the west parking lot for the off-leash dog park, though, so others were braving the cold and snow, too.  Later I drove through the east parking lot for the dog park, and there were 20 or 30 cars there, too.  I guess dog owners are hardy people, to be out there in 25 degree weather at 9:30 on New Year's morning. I walked to the slough and there were a lot more water birds on the water than there were on Thursday when I was there.

 

Here is a female BUFFLEHEAD.

 

The Bufflehead was diving for food, as was this female COMMON GOLDENEYE.

 

I also added CANADA GOOSE, MALLARD, AMERICAN WIGEON, and AMERICAN COOT to my list.  On the bank of the slough, I got this picture of a LINCOLN'S SPARROW in the morning sunshine.

 

As there were on Thursday, there were KILLDEER along the edge of the water.  Unlike Thursday, today there were several WILSON'S SNIPE, too.  Here are a couple of pictures of Wilson's Snipe.

 

 

The AMERICAN PIPIT was still very active along the bank of the slough, and I got these pictures of it.

 

I like the frozen dew on the grass in these shots of the pipit.

 

 

There was a GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW and a RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET foraging in the grass on the bank, too.  I had places to go, though, so I moved on after that.  On the way out of the park, I saw a RED-TAILED HAWK, the first of several I saw today.  I tried for a picture because the light was so nice, but my shots were all fuzzy.  My camera had some problem.  It has happened before, and I think it might happen when the camera gets really cold.  It was still in the mid-20's, and I had been out in the cold for a half hour or so.  Later it worked again, although the problem returned off and on all day.  Maybe it is time for a new camera.

 

I drove over to the Snoqualmie Valley, which was still covered in snow, too.  Here is a shot of a couple of fields in the valley.

 

The main roads were bare of snow, but the side roads were hard-packed snow.  There were TRUMPETER SWANS on the pond along the west side of the valley and also on Sikes Lake.  I drove to the house in Carnation with feeders, and I saw some birds there.  Here is a EUROPEAN STARLING in winter plumage.

 

Here are a couple of EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES.

 

Here's a PINE SISKIN in the snow at the edge of the street.

 

I had already counted Red-winged Blackbird at home, but here's a shot that shows both male and female Red-winged Blackbirds.

 

I also spotted both CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE and BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, and then I saw one AMERICAN GOLDFINCH among the Pine Siskins at one of the feeders.  After a while, all the birds flew off, and I noticed a COOPER'S HAWK in the apple tree just across the street.  It was somewhat obscured by the branches, but here is a shot of the Cooper's Hawk.

 

I picked up a sandwich at the Carnation Market and drove up to Tokul Creek to try for a dipper.  There were a number of fishermen along the edges of the creek, but no dippers.  Here is Tokul Creek, looking upstream from the bridge.

 

Here is a downstream view.

 

I never did see a dipper, but I did add SPOTTED TOWHEE to my list.  I ate half my sandwich there and tried again, but still no dipper.  I guess I'll have to go back again, maybe on a weekday, when the fishermen are mostly at work.

 

I drove back to Carnation and ate the second half of my sandwich at the house with feeders.  The only new species I saw was a WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW.  When I gave that up, I headed back across the valley toward home.  At the pond at Chinook Bend, I stopped and got out because there were a lot of ducks in a part of the pond that wasn't frozen over.  Here is a picture of one end of the pond at Chinook Bend, with many ducks.

 

There was a surprising variety of ducks in that little part of the pond that wasn't frozen over.  I counted 8 different species, some of which I already had gotten at Marymoor.  I added RING-NECKED DUCK, and here is a picture of a pair of them.  The male is the black and white one.

 

Here is a NORTHERN SHOVELER.

 

Here's a female GREEN-WINGED TEAL.

 

Here is another picture of a male Ring-necked Duck.

 

I also added Gadwall to my list there.  Across the road from the old Carnation dairy, there were CACKLING GEESE in a field.  As I approached Sikes Lake, a bird flew up on the left and landed again.  I thought it was a pheasant, so I got out and looked.  Sure enough, it was a female RING-NECKED PHEASANT, and I got these next two pictures of her.

 

 

She was almost certainly captive-bred and released for hunters, and as such, was not officially countable by the "rules", but I count pheasants when I see them in the wild, and since it is my list, my rules hold sway.

 

As I drove across the valley, I added AMERICAN KESTREL and BALD EAGLE to my January list, but they were both two distant for a picture.  I actually tried for the kestrel, but my camera was having one of its bad times, and the pictures were very blurry.  A little later, coming across the Sammamish Slough valley, several dozen FERAL PIGEONS were sitting on wires, where they usually are.  Here at home, I saw a FOX SPAROW on the walkway by our back porch where we scatter seed for the birds, and that was my last new bird of the day.

 

By the time I got home, the temperature had risen to above freezing, and now it is supposed to stay above freezing for the next week, even overnight.  That will be a nice change from the last week, when we never got above freezing for six days in a row.  We are supposed to get 0.9 inch of rain tomorrow, with the temperature getting up to 40, so I expect most of the snow to be gone by Monday.

 

For January, I got 41 species today, to start my monthly list.  28 of those were what I call repeaters, which actually just means they are ones I consider it likely to get in each month of the year.  I have a list of 70 species that I am calling repeaters this year, and each month I plan to see how many of those 70 I can see or hear.  2022 is here, and the birding has begun.

 

 

Saturday, January 8, 2022

 

We had 4 1/2 inches of rain in the first seven days of 2022, and I didn't go out birding until today.  I saw AMERICAN ROBINS and a DOWNY WOODPECKER here in the yard during the week, so they went on my list.  Today I went up to the Edmonds area, about a half hour northwest of home, on Puget Sound.  I stopped at the house in Lake Forest Park where I used to see Band-tailed Pigeons, but nothing there today.

 

My next stop was my quail site in the town of Woodway.  I didn't see or hear anything until I was ready to leave.  I already had my seat belt fastened, ready to leave, when a CALIFORNIA QUAIL scurried across the lawn from the area where there are feeders.  I guess it had been feeding there, out of my sight.

 

I moved on to Kayu Kayu Ac Park in Richmond Beach.  I got HORNED GREBE and BLACK SCOTER there.  Next I stopped at Deer Creek Park in Woodway.  I managed to call up a PACIFIC WREN, but I couldn't get a Brown Creeper.

 

Next I drove to Sunset Avenue in Edmonds, just north of the ferry terminal.  I got all three local cormorant species, on pilings at the ferry terminal, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT, PELAGIC CORMORANT, and BRANT'S CORMORANT.  I also saw SURF SCOTERS, RED-NECKED GREBES, RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, and BRANT there.  I moved up the street a half block and added SHORT-BILLED GULL, WESTERN GREBE (way out there), HARLEQUIN DUCK, and a LESSER SCAUP.

 

That was it for my day, and no pictures, sorry to say.  Now I have 58 species in January and 35 of them are repeaters.

 

 

Sunday, January 9, 2022

 

We had a great weather forecast for today, and I headed north to Skagit county, with the intention of going around to Whidbey Island.  My first stop was Wylie Slough.  Approaching the reserve, I added GREAT BLUE HERON and NORTHERN HARRIER to my list.  In the reserve, I soon found a changing cast of about a half dozen birders who were obviously looking for the rarity reported there yesterday.  I parked and soon added CEDAR WAXWING to my January list.  What I really wanted was the rarity, a BOHEMIAN WAXWING that was hanging out with its cousins.  I soon found it, assisted by another birder.  It kept flying around, catching flying insects, but I got this picture of the Bohemian Waxwing, a rarity on this side of the Cascade range.

 

It looks very much like a Cedar Waxwing, but the colors are somewhat different.  The best marking is the reddish color under the tail.  You can't see it in this picture, but I got a great look at it with binoculars a little later.  I didn't see any Black Phoebes there today, but the Bohemian Waxwing was a much better bird, so I was happy.

 

I headed for Whidbey Island, but on the way I stopped at the house on the corner of Valentine Road that has feeders, and I saw several MOURNING DOVES on the wires there.  Here is one of them after it flew to the ground.

 

I also added HOUSE SPARROW to my lists there.

 

My next stop was the RV Park behind the Swinomish Casino, at the south end of Padilla Bay.  I was looking for the rare goose that has been seen there in recent days.  I saw it last month, and now I wanted it for January.  I saw a group of birders on the bank to the northwest of the casino, and I got my scope and walked toward them.  I stopped shot of where they were and looked around.  I quite quickly spotted the rare EMPEROR GOOSE I was looking for.  Here is a picture that shows a couple of birders who were closer than I was.  The goose is the bird with the white head on the water.

 

I could have walked quite a bit closer, for better pictures, but I had a lot of places to go today, and I moved on.  Here is another shot of the Emperor Goose, much too distant for my little camera.

 

Tonight on the local birding listserve, Tweeters, someone posted a message reminding people that it is considered trespassing to cross the railroad tracks there, and asking people not to do so.  I didn't actually cross the tracks today, but I wouldn't have hesitated to do so if I had felt I had the time.  I guess it is technically trespassing, but I couldn't begin to count all the times I have crossed railroad tracks or walked on them in my life.  I wouldn't go into someone's yard or driveway, but somehow walking across railroad tracks in the middle of nowhere just doesn't feel like the same thing to me.  It takes all kinds to make a world, though, I guess.  A lot of birders got a lot of pleasure out of trespassing there today, I guess.  The ones that got the closest followed a well worn path to the water's edge.  I didn't see any No Trespassing signs.

 

Next I drove on to Whidbey Island, across the Deception Pass bridge.  At Deception Pass State Park, I saw a group of RUDDY DUCKS on Cranberry Lake, as I drove to West Beach overlook.  There were BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS on the rock, as I hoped there would be.  Here is a Black Oystercatcher.

 

Here is the rock, just offshore at higher tides, with gulls and oystercatchers roosting there, waiting for the tide to go lower so they can go back to feeding.

 

When the tide is low enough, you can walk to the rock, but the birds are off elsewhere feeding when the tide is that low.  There were a number of RED-THROATED LOONS and PIGEON GUILLEMOTS out on the water, so they went on my list, too.

 

My next stop was the beach pullout at Joseph Whidbey State Park.  I picked up LONG-TAILED DUCK and WHITE-WINGED SCOTER there.  I didn't add anything else at West Beach county park, but at the Hastie Lake Road access, I added COMMON LOON and PACIFIC LOON.  I wasn't able to add anything else at Libbey Beach, and I headed back toward home.  I ate my lunch as I drove.  I had brought my own lunch from home because I wasn’t willing to take the covid risk of going in to a Subway to get a sandwich.  I'm trying to be extremely careful about covid this month, as omicron peaks.  Ironically, tonight I feel the way I feel when I am coming down with a cold, so it will be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow.

 

Back on the Skagit Flats, I stopped again at the feeder house on the corner of Valentine Road and Dodge Valley Road, and this time I saw a Downy Woodpecker on a feeder.  I had that one already, but then a HAIRY WOODPECKER flew in and displaced the smaller Downy Woodpecker.  Here is the Hairy Woodpecker.

 

Back on Fir Island, I detoured on to Rawlins Road, hoping to find swans.  I found a group of swans right away and I got out my scope to scan through the flock.  I found a TUNDRA SWAN, which was the one I needed, along with a lot of Trumpeter Swans, which I already had.  For a bonus, there were American Wigeons (a duck species I already had) among the swans, and I found a EURASIAN WIGEON, a vagrant that ought to be in Asia now.

 

I made another stop at Wylie Slough, trying for Black Phoebe again, but again dipped on it.  I didn't get anything else for my list, although there were still two birders there, in the spot where I had seen the waxwings this morning.  I got this picture of an immature Bald Eagle in the afternoon sun.

 

I never saw any Snow Geese today, which is unusual for the places I went.  I headed for home, but I stopped one more time, as I drove through Marysville.  At the Everett sewage ponds, I added NORTHERN PINTAIL and GREATER SCAUP to my list.  The white pelican that had been hanging around for a couple of months wasn't there.  I see that the last report on eBird was for December 23.  At what I call the falcon tree, the usual PEREGRINE FALCON was sitting out in the sun.

 

That was it for today.  I was out there for about seven hours, although it was almost an hour each way up to Skagit county.  I added 21 species to my January list, and now I have 79 species this year.  10 of those were what I call repeaters, ones I hope to see every month this year.  Now I have 45 of those 70 species that I think are likely every month.  Now we have a couple more days of rain in the forecast.  The mountains have several feet of snow, and the passes over the Cascades have been closed for several days.  It is shaping up to be quite a winter.

 

 

Saturday, January 15, 2022

 

I didn't do any birding this week until today, due to weather and things I had to take care of at home.  We are suffering a rat invasion in our attic, and I was researching pest control companies and getting inspections and bids to solve the problem.  Christina also got a new computer last week, and I spent a lot of time setting it up.  Today I drove up to the Everett/Marysville area, which is about a half hour north of home.  My first stop was the 10th St boat launch in Everett, looking for gulls.  It was foggy, but there were gulls in the parking lot, so I looked through them.  I added GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL, CALIFORNIA GULL, and RING-BILLED GULL to my list.  Here is a Ring-billed Gull.

 

Those three species are pretty common there, but I also found a more uncommon HERRING GULL.  The yellow eye, along with the pink legs and the size are the field marks for this gull.

 

Here is a close up of the head, showing the yellow eye, with the orange orbital ring around the eye.

 

I like this next shot because of the different perspective on the bird.

 

After that, I stopped at the Everett sewage treatment ponds.  The Merlin wasn't around, and I couldn't find a Canvasback, either.  I did see a BONAPARTE'S GULL, but it was too distant for pictures.  There were also some DUNLIN way across the big pond.

 

Next I drove to Jennings Memorial Park in Marysville, to look for California Scrub-Jay, but I only saw Steller's Jay, which I already had.  I saw a small raptor fly into a tree, but I think it was only a male Cooper's Hawk, which I already had.  Here is a picture of it.

 

I gave up on the scrub-jay and moved on to Tulalip Bay.  I was hoping for shorebirds on the log boom around the marina, but it was too foggy to even see the log boom, so that didn't work out.

 

I ended up adding 6 species to my January list today, to bring me to 85 species now.  Four of those were repeaters, and now I have 49 of the 70 possible repeaters.

 

 

Saturday, January 22, 2022

 

I had another week of almost no birding, due to a combination of weather and other things I had to do.  I did see BEWICK'S WREN in our yard a couple of times for my list, but nothing else.  Today I went down to Juanita Bay Park, which is my local park.  I walked the fire station road, but I got nothing.  I couldn't even call up a Virginia Rail, let alone a Marsh Wren.  Across the road at the main parking lot for the park, I was able to call up GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, BROWN CREEPER, and RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, but with the heavy overcast, there wasn't enough light to get any pictures.

 

I walked out on the east boardwalk and found dozens of PIED-BILLED GREBES way out on the bay, too distant for pictures.  There were also WOOD DUCKS around, as usual.  Here is a male Wood Duck in breeding plumage.

 

Here is a pair of Wood Ducks, showing the striking difference between male and female.

 

A Bald Eagle flew over the bay and caught a fish, which it took to the Osprey platform to eat.

 

A crow came around, interested in the fish.

 

The crow sat there and watched the eagle eat.

 

The eagle was quite aware of the crow, and kept the crow at bay.

 

After a while, the eagle flew down to a log in the water and drank.

 

 

Once the eagle left the platform, the crow moved in and cleaned up the leftovers.

 

There were four Trumpeter Swans fairly nearby, too.  Here's one of them.

 

I saw a pair of COMMON MERGANSERS, but they were both too distant for pictures.  There was a pair of Mallards very close to the end of the boardwalk, so I took their pictures, too.  Here is the male Mallard, showing his blue wing patch.

 

Here is the female Mallard.

 

Here is the pair of Mallards together.

 

That was it for me today.  Just a simple visit to my local park.  I added 6 more species to my year list there today, and along with the Bewick's Wren I saw at home this week, I now have 92 species this month.  All 7 of those species were repeaters, and now I have 56 of the 70 possible repeaters this month.

 

The weather is supposed to be dry all week now, and I don't have many other things to take care of, so we'll see if I feel like getting out there birding.  It has been a very slow month of birding so far, and I don't feel very motivated.

 

 

Monday, January 24, 2022

 

It was foggy yesterday morning, and I decided to stay home.  It was foggy today again, but I went out to the Snoqualmie Valley on a quest  for American Dipper.  I stopped at the Redmond Watershed Preserve to look for Hooded Merganser, but all I saw on the pond was two female Buffleheads.  Here is one of them.

 

For comparison, here is a picture of a male Bufflehead that I took later in the day.

 

Out in the Snoqualmie Valley, I stopped and called up a Fox Sparrow.  I thought I still needed that one, but when I got home I realized I already had it this month.  Here is a picture of the Fox Sparrow, anyway.

 

I also had a female American Kestrel as I drove across the valley.

 

I didn't get anything else until I got to the house with feeders in Carnation.  There weren't any birds around at all, and then I spotted a juvenile Cooper's Hawk, which explained why the birds were all laying low.

 

I picked up a sandwich from the deli in the Carnation Market and drove down the west side of the river toward Fall City.  On the pond toward the south end of that road, I got HOODED MERGANSER for my January list.  Here is a male Hooded Merganser.

 

Here's a female Hooded Merganser.

 

I drove through Fall City to Tokul Creek, in my quest for the dipper.  There were at least a half dozen fishermen on the creek, upstream from the bridge, so I didn't have much hope of seeing a dipper.  I looked downstream, though, and a cute little AMERICAN DIPPER was just standing on a rock looking around.

 

 

That was my second trip to Tokul Creek this month, and I had my monthly dipper.  I've gotten American Dipper every month since I started keeping monthly lists - 37 months in a row now.  A large majority of those have been seen at Tokul Creek, since they aren't very common anywhere else.

 

I drove back down to the valley, toward Carnation.  I went up dead-end Neal Road to look for a couple of species I needed still.  On the way, I saw a couple of juvenile Common Mergansers, a species I already had this month.  Here are the two juvenile Common Mergansers.

 

Here's another shot of one of them.

 

At the end of Neal Road, I got out my scope and looked across the river to the trees at the dairy there.  There were tons of birds coming and going to the leafless trees there.  Most of them were starlings and Red-winged Blackbirds, but there were a few BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS, and I finally found a couple of male BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS.  (Reminder - when I use ALL CAPS for a species, it means it is the first time I have seen it this year.)

 

I drove on in to Carnation and stopped again at the house with feeders.  The hawk had moved on, and there were a few birds around, but nothing I needed.  I did get a picture of a Red-breasted Nuthatch, though.

 

I ate my sandwich there, and then drove back across the valley toward home.  I detoured to Marymoor Park, but I didn't see anything I needed there.  There was a large flock of Cackling Geese on one of the soccer fields, though, so I took pictures.

 

 

Cackling Goose is a compact little goose with a short stubby bill and a short neck.  They are much smaller than their cousins, Canada Geese.

 

That was it for today.  I added 4 more species to my January list, to bring it to 96 species.  All 4 of those species were what I call repeaters, and now I have 60 of the possible 70 repeaters this month.  I used to use the term "repeater" to mean something else, but this year it simply means it is one of the 70 species I have listed that I'm likely to find every month, and each month I try to find as many of those 70 species as I can.

 

I haven't done very much birding this month, and my total is going to be somewhat lower than past January's, but I hope to get out 2 or 3 more times this month. Maybe I can get somewhere between 105 and 110 species, but that will take some doing.  The last four January's have been between 118 and 133 species.

 

 

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

 

It was foggy again today, so I skipped visiting some sites around Everett, where the fog was pretty heavy, and I drove up to Skagit county instead.  I stopped at Wylie Slough, in the hopes of seeing a Black Phoebe, but it was not to be.  I did see a couple of very early BARN SWALLOWS, though.  They were swooping over the slough, back and forth, sometimes picking insects off the surface.  Here is a rather distant picture of one of the Barn Swallows, an uncommon sighting around here in January.

 

I drove on from there, across Fir Island, and I found a huge flock of SNOW GEESE, a species I had really wanted to get today.  Here is a Snow Goose.

 

That was a mature bird.  Here is a juvenile Snow Goose.

 

Here are two more adult Snow Geese.

 

I skipped Hayton Reserve and moved on to the end of Rawlins Road, at what birders call the North Fork Access.  Up on the dike, I spotted a perched female Northern Harrier, and I took a couple of pictures.

 

 

I played MARSH WREN songs and attracted one for brief looks.  It didn't stick around for pictures, though.  Back on Rawlins Road, I saw another female Northern Harrier in a field and took this picture.

 

After that, I stopped by the house on the corner of Dodge Valley Road and Valentine Road, but there were very few birds around, and no Purple Finches.  At Rancho Valentine, on Valentine Road, there were birds, but nothing I needed. 

 

As I drove north on Farm-to-Market Road, there was a Peregrine Falcon perched in a tree, right over the road.  I turned back and got this picture.

 

I drove to the East 90 on the Samish Flats and looked for Western Meadowlark, but there were none of those around.  I did find a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK on the road to the West 90.  Here is a picture.

 

I needed one other species that is pretty common around there, and finally I found a couple of COMMON RAVENS on a pole.

 

One of the ravens was grooming the other one.

 

I watched them for several minutes.

 

After that, I headed for home, looking for birds along the way.  I didn't get anything else, although I stopped at all the same places I had stopped at in the morning.

 

I added 5 more species to my January list, and now I have 101 species this month.  Two of the species today were repeaters, and now I have 62 of the 70 species on that list of birds that I could see every month in the year.  The fog in the morning is supposed to continue, but I'll see if I can get out there and find something, anyway.

 

 

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

 

It seemed a little less foggy this morning, at least around here.  I ventured out locally this morning, to see what I could find.  I tried the house in Lake Forest Park that used to have a feeding station that attracted Band-tailed Pigeons, but they seem to have put a little shed in the place where the feeding station used to be.  I haven't had much luck there, lately.  I didn't see any pigeons around, so I moved on.  As I left, I scanned the nearby trees, though, and I spotted a distant bird at the top of a tree.  I couldn't tell what it was with binoculars, but I took out my trusty camera and took a couple of pictures.  Here is my very distant shot of a BAND-TAILED PIGEON at the top of a tree.

 

So, with that success under my belt, I moved on.  One of my best sites for Canvasbacks is Log Boom Park in Kenmore.  Unfortunately, they are doing some major work on the park, and the parking lot has been closed for months.  I think you can walk in, but it is farther than I wanted to walk wth my scope.  Instead, I pulled into a parking lot up on Lake City Way that overlooks the park.  I was able to use my scope to find 4 or 5 CANVASBACKS with some other duck species.

 

Next, I drove to the fire station road at Juanita Bay Park.  I walked up and down the short road and managed to get a response to the VIRGINIA RAIL calls I played on my phone.  It was lunch time by then, so I went home, with 3 species added to my list.

 

I had another place I wanted to go, the fishing pier at Edmonds.  The birds I was looking for feed on the breakwater when the tide is low enough.  This afternoon the tide was right and the fog was gone, so I drove up there and walked out onto the pier.  As I started onto the pier, a guy with binoculars noticed my scope, binoculars, and camera and told me that the birds I was looking for just ahead.  Sure enough, there were SURFBIRDS and BLACK TURNSTONES feeding on the rocks, right where the pier meets the breakwater.  The light was difficult and they were almost right under me, but I took pictures.

 

Here is a Surfbird.

 

Here's a Black Turnstone.

 

Surfbird:

 

Black Turnstone:

 

There were 4 or 5 Surfbirds and about 3 Black Turnstones, I think.  Here are two more Surfbird pictures.

 

 

Here is another Black Turnstone shot.

 

One more Surfbird picture:

 

And, I'll finish up with a last Black Turnstone photo.

 

Okay, that's a lot of pictures of two species that are very similar, but that's all I have today.  I went back to my car and drove up to Sunset Avenue, but I didn't see anything else I needed.  Likewise at Ocean Avenue.

 

I added 5 species to my January list today, and now I have 106 species this month.  I have hopes for 2 or 3 more, and there are still 2 or 3 days before the rain returns, so I'll see what I can do.  Two of the species today were ones on my 70 species "repeater" list, and now I have 64 of the 70 species from that list this month.  My numbers are poor this month, but I had a lot of other things going on, and the weather was uncooperative for much of the month.