Amazingly I’ve been walking around Santa Rosa’s Spring Lake for nearly 17 years now, longer than I’ve been birding. I’ve always enjoyed walking, enjoyed being out in nature. But birding has made it even more enjoyable. No matter what time of year we visit there are interesting birds here, year-long-residents and constantly-changing migratory birds.
This is one of the few places where I can count on seeing a Snowy Egret,
perhaps my favorite member of the “heron” family, if that’s the family it belongs to. I’m glad to know that I’m not the only person who has trouble deciding what is or is not a heron as Wikipedia notes, “The distinction between a heron and an egret is rather vague, and depends more on appearance than biology.”
I started seeing Green Herons when I was there last Spring, but I saw several Green Herons both days I’ve walked on this trip. This mature Green Heron was the first bird to greet me as I walked out of the parking lot,
And I spotted this immature Green Heron later at Spring Lake.
There were also lots of songbirds like this Black Phoebe,
which seem to be common in California, but one I never see at home.
It was a special treat seeing a small flock of California Quail.
It wouldn’t be Summer, though, without the ever-present dragonflies.
Despite the huge number of people I see walking around the two lakes, I see relatively few birders, which is really a shame considering how many birds that can be seen.