Late spring has brought some interesting visitors to Huichica Creek, our local marsh area that sits on the northern edge of the Napa-Sonoma Marsh complex (click on the image to see it full size). A former teaching colleague of mine who is now retired is a very good wildlife photographer (you can see her work by clicking on this link) and occasionally posts some of her sightings and photos to the Northbay Birds list serve. She recently posted a sighting of a Yellow-headed Blackbird at Huichica Creek and another birder who was looking for that bird found a group of Least Terns there. This was too good to pass up so over the last few days I've made a few trips out there to look for these treats. On my first trip I had a really good look at a Virginia Rail that was working the edge of some cattails in a slough and but thought I had missed the Least Terns. While walking out on the levee I met another birder who's posts I also see, his name is Bob Battagin and we had a nice chat, he had seen the Terns earlier that morning. While we were talking we heard some very Tern-like calls and a pair of these very beautiful Least Terns flew in and landed on a mud island allowing us to get some really great looks at them. I checked my records and I only have two other sightings of these birds so this was really nice.
I went back out again the next day while Patrick was at his swim practice and who do I see but Christine Hansen my ex-colleague who is shooting pictures of Marsh Wrens. As we were talking I noticed a lone Phalarope in the pond opposite us and it proved to be a Red-necked Phalarope. A pretty good two days and three new county birds to add to that list.
