We dodged rain and managed to get to Bodega Bay on our last day in Santa Rosa. It seemed a little bit busier than usual because of how much rain they had recently. Unfortunately, that meant there were less birds than usual, or at least fewer than I have been lucky enough to see in recent visits.
Still, I’m never one to complain about a sunny day at the beach, no matter how few birds I might see. This Willet was the only large bird I saw on the beach, and he insisted on running every time a walker came by.
We saw far more birds in the wetlands across from the beach than we did on the beach itself, possibly because there were few birders than beach walkers.
There were several Red-Breasted Mergansers, but this immature male was the only one who stuck around long enough to get his picture taken.
There were several Great Egrets, and they were as indifferent to people as Great Blue Herons are.
The last photo of our trip to Santa Rosa was this Snow Egret on the docks by the restaurant where we stopped for lunch.
Love the teenage Merganser! He looks like a punk rocker wanna-be.