My Favorite Place in Santa Rosa

Doug and  Mary introduced me to Spring Lake many years ago, long before I took up birding.  I don’t think I’ve ever returned to Santa Rosa again without visiting it, often more than once.  Now days, the main attraction is the birds, particularly the Acorn Woodpecker

which I never see in Washington.   On this trip I discovered that the acorn is not the woodpecker’s source of food, something I’d never seen before.

Since I haven’t seen a Green Heron for over a year, I was looking hard in all the places where I’ve seen them in the past.  Instead, I had to settle for a female Wood Duck and her nine ducklings, who positively refused to sit for a group portrait

and the largest turtle I’ve ever seen at the lake.

No wonder Lake Ralphine and Spring Lake are beloved, and visited, by so many people.