The Buena Vista Lagoon Again

Today was the monthly bird count at the Buena Vista Lagoon, though there were fewer people there than last time.  It was strange because today was bright and sunny, but last time it was rainy.  There was also a birdhouse auction at the nature center.  I didn't go to the auction, but I saw the birdhouses in the nature center, and they were very beautiful.

A few weeks ago there was a fire at the lagoon that burned very near the nature center.  Below is a photo in which you can see the burned cattails.  However, for the first time we could see the lagoon from the nature center and the clearer area seems to have attracted red-winged blackbirds.  There were far more blackbirds by the nature center today than I've ever seen at the lagoon before.

The rest of the lagoon was unaffected though, and very beautiful.  Below is a photo of a view of the other side of the lagoon.

We saw many birds.  I even saw a California quail, which we don't usually see at the lagoon.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get many photos of any bird because my camera ran out of memory and battery.  I did get some photos.

Below is a song sparrow.  There were many of them around.  They were all singing.

Song Sparrow

Below is an Anna's hummingbird.  There were many of these as well.

Anna's Hummingbird

There was also a surprisinly large number of great blue herons around.  Great blue herons are very common in many open spaces such as fields and marshes.  They are found throughout the United States, Mexico, and southern Canada.  They summer in the northern United States and Canada and winter in Mexico.  In the rest of the United States, they are around all year.  They eat not only fish, but small mammals, large insects, and even small birds if they can catch them.  I once saw a great blue heron catch a gopher and swallow it whole.  They are very large herons.  They are about four feet tall and blue-gray overall.  All together today I saw seven great blue herons.  Six of them were all in a row on an island in the middle of the lagoon.  Below is a photo of the one that wasn't with the other six.

Great Blue Heron

There were also many red-tailed hawks.  Altogether there were about six or seven.  Below are two photos of a few of them.  The first is of three hawks that were flying together.  The second is a hawk that was alone in a palm tree.

Red-Tailed Hawk

Red-Tailed Hawk