Two of the first birds I saw were sora rails, which I haven't seen in a long while. Soras are found in most of the United States and southern Canada in the summer, and the southern United States down into Central and northern South America in the winter. Their backs and sides are brown speckled with white, their chests and the sides of their heads are gray, and they have black faces and yellow bills. They are quite small. There were two at the lagoon; an adult and immature one. Below are photos of them. The first is the adult, and the second two are the young one.
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| Sora |
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| Sora |
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| Sora |
Close by the soras was an immature green heron, probably the same one I saw a while ago. At first it kept running away from me into the bushes, but then it came out into the open so everyone could see it. Below is a photo of it.
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| Green Heron |
There were a lot of egrets at the lagoon; flocks and flocks of both snowy and great egrets. Below are four photos of egrets. In the second photo, the small bird is a red-winged blackbird. All of the white dots along the shore in the fourth photo are egrets (both snowy and great).
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| Egrets |
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| Egrets and Red-winged Blackbird |
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| Snowy Egret |
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| Egrets |
The white-crowned sparrows have arrived. There were a couple of them at the lagoon. Below is one of them sitting on top of a bush.
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| White-crowned Sparrow |
We saw a few of the Muscovy ducks. One of them swam over hoping for a handout. Below is the duck.
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| Muscovy Duck |
The mystery sandpiper from last month was revealed to be a nonbreeding spotted sandpiper. Spotted sandpipers are found throughout the United States and Canada up through Alaska in the summer, and in the southern United States down through Central America and most of South America in the winter. They have plain backs, heads, and chests with white bellies. They have dark eyestripes, and, in breeding season, have black spots and bright orange bills. They teeter as they walk. Below are four photos of two spotted sandpipers.
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| Spotted Sandpiper |
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| Spotted Sandpiper |
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| Spotted Sandpiper |
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| Spotted Sandpiper |
A merlin came swooping in out of nowhere at the empty lot overlooking the lagoon. It soared around for a little while, then dove low over the water and chased around a large flock of phalaropes. It was incredibly fast; it was like a tiny peregrine falcon. Below is a photo of it soaring.
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| Merlin |
There were a few flocks of American crows hanging around; one flock was chasing a couple of ravens. One crow sat in a tree above us as we tallied the birds at the end, making strange noises. Below are two photos of crows.
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| American Crow |
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| American Crow |
We went down to the beach. It was bright and clear with rather large waves when we got there. Below is the beach.
There was a pied billed grebe with a baby. The baby was covered in stripes and bobbled around in the water, sometimes swimming off with American coots, though it always returned to its mother. Below are the mother and baby.
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| Pied-billed Grebes |
Down near the beach were a few northern mockingbirds singing and chasing each other through the bushes. Below are two photos of them.
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| Northern Mockingbird |
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| Northern Mockingbird |
There were a few killdeer there as well, walking around at the edge of the water and making their "killdeer" calls. Below are two photos of them.
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| Killdeer |
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| Killdeer |
There were several willets around, walking by the water and running away when the waves came in. They came pretty close to us. Below are two photos of one of them.
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| Willet |
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| Willet |
There was a belted kingfsher, which we haven't seen at the lagoon in quite a long while. It sat on a telephone wire, but didn't stay for very long. Below is a photo of it.
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| Belted Kingfisher |
We saw a few whimbrels. They didn't come very close, but I managed to take one photo of one. Below is the whimbrel.
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| Whimbrel |
