A Funny Thing Happened on the Way Home from Birding

Taking advantage of a beautiful winter afternoon I dragged Patrick out of the house with me and we headed for the Huichica Creek marsh at the Napa River Marshlands. The sun was out and the wind was up a bit but it was really good to be out of the house and getting our feet muddy. There is a developed pond area near the parking lot that is heavily choked with cattails but has some open areas as well. We walked along the edge of this hoping to see the American Bittern that I had seen there previously. We continued out into the open fields beyond seeing where it would take us and eventually found ourselves cut-off by the marsh. Pat spotted a Short-eared Owl on the ground just before he took off and we saw several others. At one point we investigated a bush that had clearly been used by these owls for roosting finding guano, feathers, and even some owl pellets. We walked around the entire developed pond on the way back in and found some really good exposed parts where some patience will probably bring Soras and Virginia Rails into view.  For this day we heard them calling in there but did not actually see any. When we left to make our way back home we went west on Las Amigas to Duhig and along Duhig we were astounded to find a Ferruginous Hawk. To my recollection I have only seen this bird one other time and it was in Mike Morris's backyard in Blue Lake, CA many years ago. To my regret I did not have a camera with me but both Pat and I had good looks and a chance to comment on the various field marks and convince ourselves.  I posted this sighting on the Northbay birdlist and was quickly questioned about it's veracity. Being somewhat miffed about that I went back at about the same time the next day in hopes of finding it again and getting a few photos. Don't think I was wrong.