September 16 , 2005 – out for the count

Once again it's time for the annual Migratory Bird Census. Teams visit several sites around the slough to count birds, including this group at North Marsh, left to right: veteran birder Shirley Murphy, Reserve Research Coordinator Kerstin Wasson, and maximum volunteer Leonard Davis.

The count for the North Marsh: 1 loon, 2 pelicans, 18 herons and egrets, 11 waterfowl, 729 shorebirds, and 4 gulls.

We also do a count at Estrada Marsh and discover that a new cohort of birds are now foraging there, including hundreds of sandpipers...

...and phalaropes.


What's new (for me) this year is tagging along on the boat leg of the count. Left to right: yours truly filling out a data sheet (while the "real" birders call out the numbers and species), Jim Harvey and Bernadette Ramer (both ace birders), and Shirley Murphy (she can't get enough of that birding stuff). Not pictured (because he is shooting this photo) is Jerry Burke. Thanks for the photo, Jerry.


Hundreds of Brown Pelicans line the shores – a typical scene at this time of year.

Here's one offering a particularly nice pose.

Hundreds of cormorants are on hand as well – this one gives us a nice fly-by. (Click here for an even better fly-by.)

A group of Forsters Terns is not interested.

This one has us puzzled for a while, because Dowichers should no longer be wearing their mating plumage – the rest we see are dull grey.

Among the hundreds of Willets and Marbled Godwits, we count a few dozen Black-bellied Plovers.

Some birds cooperate by making themselves eminently countable, like this Ring-billed gull.

Others, like this mixed flock of Least and Western Sandpipers, are not so helpful.

The real highlight of the trip is getting great looks at a pair of Black Skimmers, which are rather infrequent visitors to the slough. Click here to see them for yourself.

The count for the Main Channel: 4 loons and grebes, 586 pelicans, 129 cormorants, 49 herons and egrets, 2 waterfowl, 11,750 shorebirds [!], 300 gulls, 39 terns.