We saw over forty species of birds, so I won't put a list; it would be too long with the photos I included. Some neat birds we saw that aren't shown below are a ruby-crowned kinglet, a northern harrier, some marsh wrens, some Say's phoebes, some black-crowned night-herons, and a green heron.
Below is an American white pelican. Usually they travel in flocks, but this one was alone. White pelicans are very large birds, and are the larger of the two species in the United States. The other kind, the brown pelicans, are typically found by the ocean, while white pelicans are found on freshwater lakes and lagoons.
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| American White Pelican |
Below is a huge mass of northern shovelers, with a few American widgeons behind them. The shovelers are all feeding in a giant moving blob of ducks. They look sort of like a little island.
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| Northern Shovelers and American Widgeons |
Here is a common yellowthroat. They are common little warblers that live near water and the males wear a black mask, as seen below.
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| Common Yellowthroat |
Below is a greater roadrunner. When I first saw it, it was plain, brown, and drab. Then, as I got closer to it, it got nervous and tried to scare me away by fluffing itself up. However, it didn't try this for very long and hurried away. They're fairly big birds. I always forget how big they are. They look smaller in photographs.
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| Greater Roadrunner |
Below is a female phainopepla. The males are much more impressive with black plumage and taller crests. However, both the males and females are very nice-looking birds.
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| Phainopepla |
Here is a northern flicker. Flickers are supposed to be common, but often I have a very hard time finding them around here. However, today I saw about five of them flicking around. On the west coast, the birds have red under their wings, while birds on the east coast have yellow underneath. They also have slightly different face patterns.
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| Northern Flicker |
Here is a red-tailed hawk. It's very common, but this was a pretty good photo of one in flight.
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| Red-Tailed Hawk |
Below is a great-tailed grackle. They're common birds in wetlands and in the trees in shopping center parking lots. They're often found with blackbirds, but are much larger. Males, like the one below, are pretty birds.
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| Great-Tailed Grackle |
Below is a red-winged blackbird. This one is pretty drab. When they're in good plumage, they are very black with bright red and yellow shoulder patches. The patch is a little visible in this photo.
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| Red-Winged Blackbird |
Here is a photo of a large group of American coots feeding in a field. Only a small portion of the group is visible in the photo. When walking around on land, they look somewhat chicken-like. However, their toes are green and much longer than a chicken's. In water, they look like ducks, and they behave a lot like ducks. However, they are neither chickens nor ducks; they're rails.
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| American Coots |
Below is another member of the rail family, the common moorhen. Unlike the coot, the moorhen does not form large groups or walk very far from the reeds or water. Though they are common, they are often solitary and are shyer than coots. They are also smaller and more colorful. The common moorhen has recently been renamed the common gallinule, but I will just call it a moorhen.
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| Common Moorhen |
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