Wild Birds Unlimited Bird Walk
Thornton Delta Area, CA Central Valley
Leader: Chuck Groff
We had a nice outing. There were 14 folks in 7 vehicles.
Weather was foggy and chilly but it didn't interfere with our
activities.
We saw several small groups (20-50) of cranes along
Guard road, then we went on to Woodridge road. The first
half of W. road , up to the turnoff, was very
disappointing----not one crane ! At the turnoff,where we
parked, we saw much stuff, including a large flock of
cranes come in for a close landing. We also saw 5 Snipes
which is unusual. It's been years since I have seen one.
The back half of W road was loaded with cranes on both
sides of the road. Also swans an geese and several
kingfishers. Another new bird was the Horned Lark.
When we got back to the turnoff it was after 1130 so we
ended the trip.
Overall, I would say the large birds were abundant and the
smaller birds were less than normal.
-- C. Groff
Total species: 41
American Coot
American Crow
American Kestrel
American Wigeon
Belted Kingfisher
Black Phoebe
Black-necked Stilt
Brewer's Blackbird
Canada Goose
Common Raven
Double-crested Cormorant
Eurasian Wigeon
European Starling
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Greater White-fronted Goose
Green-winged Teal
House Finch
Horned Lark
Killdeer
Lesser Goldfinch
Lesser Yellowlegs
Mallard
Mourning Dove
Northern Harrier
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-winged Blackbird
Rock Dove
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Ruddy Duck
Sandhill Crane
Snowy Egret
Song Sparrow
Tundra Swan
Turkey Vulture
Western Meadowlark
White-crowned Sparrow
Wilson's Snipe
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Sandhill Cranes and ducks
Sandhill Cranes in flight
