Buena Vista Lagoon October

Last Saturday was the bird count at the Buena Vista Lagoon.  It was very, very foggy and hard to see very far, as seen in the photos below at the first two stops.

I was walking along a path when I noticed that some of the reeds seemed to be moving on the other side of the water.  I watched, and saw that I little island of reeds was drifting down the middle of the water.  Below is the island, which is slightly redder in color than the reeds behind it.

The white-crowned sparrows have arrived for winter, and they are everywhere.  There were tons of them at the lagoon.  They have a very pleasant song.  Below is an adult white-crowned sparrow sitting on top of a lemonade-berry bush.  An immature one is sitting in the bottom left of the photo.  (By the way, lemonade-berry bushes have little red berries covered in a sappy-looking substance.  The substance is edible and tastes like lemonade.)

White-crowned Sparrow

For some reason, the water at the lagoon was incredibly still.  It looked just like a mirror.  Below a photo I that shows the reeds and how clear their reflections are.

We saw a black-throated gray warbler.  It was a new bird for most of us.  Black-throated gray warblers are found in the western United States in the summer, and Mexico and South America in the winter.  Unlike most warblers, they are entirely black, gray, and white except for two yellow dots between their eyes.  They are dark gray on their backs, white below, and have black and white streaked sides and faces.  They are found high up in trees in woodlands.  Below are two photos of the black-throated gray warbler.

Black-throated Gray Warbler

Black-throated Gray Warbler

There used to not be that many northern mockingbirds at the lagoon, but now there seem to be tons of them.  Below is one that was singing on top of a bush.

Northern Mockingbird

Below is a black phoebe on a lamp post.  It looks very tiny sitting on top.

Black Phoebe

As we were driving, we saw a great egret standing in the middle of five swimming mallards.  It looked kind of funny to see such a tall, white bird among them.  It didn't quite fit in.  Below is a photo of the egret and ducks.

Great Egret and Mallards

There was a female northern harrier flying back and forth through the fog.  Below is a photo of it.

Northern Harrier

Below is a male common yellowthroat.  Usually they're hard to photograph (like most warblers) but this one came quite close to us.

Common Yellowthroat

There were tons of bushtits flying around, so I just took a ton of photos of groups of them, hoping at least one of the bushtits ended up in focus.  One of them did, and below is its photo.  It is a male (black eyes).

Bushtit

Below is another great egret standing on the edge of some reeds.

Great Egret

Below is another photo showing how calm and still the lagoon was.  There is a very tiny white dot on the edge of the reeds toward the right.  It's the great egret.

A red-tailed hawk was also flying around in the fog.  Below is a photo of it.

Red-tailed Hawk

Castor bean plants seem to be taking over everywhere.  They're incredibly invasive and poisonous, too, so please try to avoid letting them into your backyard.  Below is a photo of one of the plants.  They're very common near the lagoon, and grow very, very quickly.

Castor Bean Plant

The yellow-rumped warblers have returned in large numbers.  Below is one of them half hidden behind a dead plant.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Oddly, the fog was very thick, then the sky almost cleared up, then the fog came right back just as thick as before.  Below are two photos of the lagoon where is was foggy, and when it was almost clear.

Cattail caterpillars are, as their name suggests, caterpillars that eat cattails.  They are very large, orange, black, and white caterpillars.  They turned into lovely, furry, white moths.  They are eating the cattails at the lagoon, which is a good thing, because the cattails are very much overgrown.  They are eating the reeds quite slowly, though.  Below is a photo of one of the caterpillars.

Cattail Caterpillar

There weren't that many western grebes at the lagoon, which was a bit strange.  Below is one the grebes.

Western Grebe

Below is an eared grebe.  When compared to the photo of the western grebe above, they look very similar.  Eared grebes are much smaller and grayer in the winter, though, and in breeding plumage, they are very, very different.

Eared Grebe