Buena Vista Lagoon August

Last Saturday was the bird count at the Buena Vista Lagoon. The sky was clear, the water level was high, and it was very hot. Unfortunately, we didn't see a single raptor. However, we still managed to see more species than we did last month. Below are six views around the lagoon.

We saw several Pied-billed Grebes around the lagoon, including a couple of young ones with stripy faces. Below are two photos of the Pied-billed Grebes (the one in the second photo is a juvenile).

Pied-billed Grebes

Pied-billed Grebe

There were quite a few Red-winged Blackbirds around, flying through the reeds and eating at bird feeders. Below is a male sitting on a telephone wire.

Red-winged Blackbird

There were a few young Western Fence-Lizards sunning themselves in front of the nature center. They were very small with large heads. Below is one of them blending into a wooden railing.

Western Fence-Lizard

There were a few Mourning Doves here and there. Below is one sitting high up in a tree.

Mourning Dove

There were several Cassin's Kingbirds sitting up on the tops of trees. Their colors were very vivid in the bright sunlight. Below is one perched on top of a sycamore tree.

Cassin's Kingbird

There were a lot of different dragonflies zipping around. Below is a blue dasher dragonfly resting on a bush. Most of the dragonflies were probably blue dashers; they seem to be the most common species around.

Blue Dasher

As usual, there were quite a few American Crows around. Below is one of them perched on a lamppost.

American Crow

There didn't seem to be as many gulls around as usual, but there were a few here and there, mainly California and Western Gulls. Below is a California gull standing on a streetlight.

California Gull

There were a couple of Caspian Terns that flew in squawking. They flew around together and dove into the water after fish. Below are three photos of the Caspian Terns diving and flying around over the lagoon.

Caspian Tern

Caspian Tern

Caspian Tern

We saw a few herons and egrets around. A couple of Great Blue Herons stood very still in the reeds by the water. Below is one of them.

Great Blue Heron

There were a few Mallards around, though not as many as we'd recently been seeing. Below is a female standing on a pipe.

Mallard

The biggest surprise of the day was another duck. As we were standing by the lagoon, looking out over the water, a large flock of ducks flew in and around the lagoon in a wide arc. Their plumage looked a lot like female Mallards, but they weren't behaving like Mallards. They landed on the water and swam in a cluster, and as we looked through our binoculars, we saw that they were all female Northern Shovelers. Shovelers and other migratory ducks (or any migratory birds) usually don't arrive until late September or October. I've never seen birds arrive as early as August before, and I'm not sure why they're here now. Other birds have started arriving early, as well, not just the shovelers. Below is a photo of the flock of shovelers on the lagoon (there are also a few Ruddy Ducks at the edges).

Northern Shovelers