Birding Tubbs Island, San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge
Tried birding a new spot this morning, hoping for lots of ducks and waders. Definitely a lot of wader, pretty much nil on the ducks. I guess the winter migrants haven't reached that spot just yet, b/c all we saw was one Ruddy, Western and Clark's Grebes, 2 female Canvasbacks, a float of scoters, a float of scaup, and 2 females that were probably Green-winged Teal. That's actually a pretty poor list for the Bay.
Nevertheless, we saw lots of other birds, and took the time to ID some peeps. Feel much better about distinguishing Dunlins for Western and Least Sandpipers now (larger, downcurved bill / black legs / light legs). Also saw a bunch of American Pipits, which was pretty neat, not to mention some very handsome little lycaenids.
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One of the things I like about birding is that I usually put my camera away and just ... look at stuff. It makes me realize how much of my time I often spend thinking about images and not the subjects of those images: what they look like now, in front of my eyes, how they're reacting, moving, changing. In many ways the camera helps me slow down and look closer at the world, but I find it important to remember how it can also distract me from the world.
Of course, it's not like I go birding cameraless! Perish the thought. While Sarah and I were sorting out our peeps and lamenting the paucity of ducks around Tubbs Island (San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge), we found a ton of these tiny lycaenids. Pretty!
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Amerikansk Styltlöpare (Himantopus mexicanus)Observatör
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Vitnackad Svärta (Melanitta perspicillata)Observatör
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Kärrsnäppa (Calidris alpina)Observatör
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Down-turned bill. This is the key. Also bigger than the Western and Least sandpipers, though that's pretty hard to see unless you have them side by side.
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Gulbrynad Grässparv (Passerculus sandwichensis)Observatör
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Släkte AythyaObservatör
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They were scaup. God knows which one.
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