Greetings,

Today I had the good fortune of heading to one of our offsites (Pine Gulch) which is located on Bolinas Lagoon. Overall we had a fairly busy day with a total of 18 birds captured in our mist nets. Captured species included Downy Woodpecker, Allen’s Hummingbird, Yellow-rumped “Myrtle” Warbler, American Goldfinch, and Song, White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows. Nearly half of the birds were recaptures. Pictures of the Second Year male American Goldfinch and Second Year male Downy Woodpecker will follow at the end of the post.

Of course one of the best things about banding on the lagoon is its close proximity to dozens of waterbirds. Unfortunately, we did not have a scope in tow, but we managed to pick out several good species such as Osprey, Western Sandpiper, Caspian Tern, and Greater Scaup. However the best show was the passerines today. We had a good showing of finches with many individuals of American Goldfinch, and House and Purple Finches present. Other songbirds of note included many singing Common Yellowthroats and a single Hutton’s Vireo. Not surprisingly however, the best bird of the day was a First-of-the-season (FOS) Black-headed Grosbeak. First detected by its calls, a quick search soon revealed a gorgeous adult male foraging away at the tops of several tall alder trees.

All in all a good day to be out on the Lagoon. Enjoy the pictures and see you all next time.

~Chad (4/20/2006)