More from Doran

I was so busy getting close-ups of the Marbled Godwits that I almost overlooked this Whimbrel.

As I later discovered, there was actually two Whimbrels

that were feeding quite aways apart.

About a half-mile further down the beach we saw this Willet with a shell that looked like a clam, 

but it seemed unable to crack the puzzle of how to eat it and gave up.

These Surf Scoters, on the other hand,  have huge beaks they use to eat shellfish.

I’ll have to admit that this is the first time I’ve ever seen Surf Scoters surfing. I’ve always seen them feeding on the piers in the Puget Sound or floating casually far off from shore.  I finally know how they must have gotten their name.

When we walked as far down the beach as we were going, I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk sitting on the ledge above us.  

I wonder if he saw more than I did.

Birding Doran Regional Park

The day after we visited Spring Lake we drove to Bodega Bay and stopped at Doran Regional Park, a very busy beach though we got there early enough to beat the crowds.  

As we walked towards the beach we were greeted by this little guy and his friends.  I could immediately tell they were plovers, but I wasn’t sure what kind.  Judging purely from the size I speculated they were Semi-palmated Plovers, but when none of them had the strong, dark stripe around there neck and I looked at them on the computer I knew they weren’t.  

I was shocked when I finally realized they were Snowy Plovers

an endangered species that nests on the open beach.  

This one

even looked like it could be looking for a nesting site.  No wonder they are endangered if they can’t find a beach with a lot fewer people than Doran Park.  

It’s clear that the birds have had no choice but to learn to coexist with large numbers of people on this part of the coast.  The second species we saw was this beautiful Marbled Godwit.

When I see flocks of these in Westport they stay on the outside of the Marina and will fly away whenever anyone approaches.  This one continued to feed the whole time I watched it

until it caught this impressive (?) worm (?).  

Bodega Head

Bodega Bay is another place we usually try to visit when we visit Santa Rosa.  On this visit Candi and Robert Dahlstet introduced us to a hike that gave us new viewpoints of Bodega Head

on a beautiful sunny day




with more wildflowers

 than I’ve ever seen there before.

It’s hard to imagine it will ever be quite this beautiful again, but I will certainly return to find out.

Marbled Godwits at Bodega Bay

I’ll have to admit that I was really tempted to try to get closer to the Godwits when I saw them near the lagoon, but Leslie and Jeff were across the street ready to start our beach walk, so I thought better of it. As it turns out, I was glad I started the walk instead because about half way down the beach we ran across a small flock of Marbled Godwits feeding on the incoming tide.

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Although they retreated as we got closer, I managed to get even closer to them on the was back up the beach.

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While they had all been resting on the shore when I first saw them across the road, they were much more active feeding on the beach, which made it easier to get close to without scaring them off.

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I was amazed by this shot

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where you could actually see whatever it is that they eat. I’ll have to admit that the shot makes me a lot more curious about exactly what it is that they are catching. I certainly never knew there was anything like this right under the sand.

In the end, of course, what really matters is the shots you get, and who doesn’t love beautiful tail feathers?

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