Category: Spring Lake

What a Difference a Few Days Can Make When Birding

We returned to Lake Ralphine after Jeff and Debbie arrived in Santa Rosa and saw more birds than we had on our earlier visit, although still not as many as I’m accustomed to seeing there on previous visits. Perhaps there were more birds simply because it was a weekday, not a weekend, and there weren’t as many people walking around.

I’ll have to admit that I was excited to get a picture of this Green Heron,

A heron perched among dense green foliage, showcasing its distinctive coloring and features.

even if it insisted on hiding in the foliage. I used to see them regularly at Spring Lake, but I haven’t spotted one there for years, or anywhere else for that matter.

It’s hard to miss the Swans at Lake Ralphine, though I’m used to seeing several, not a single one.

A white swan gracefully swimming in a calm lake, reflecting its image in the water.

We also managed to spot two Acorn Woodpeckers, though their granary looked remarkably sparse compared to ones we’ve seen in the past.

A perched bird on a twisted, weathered tree branch with another bird flying in the background against a clear sky.

One of the problems with building your granary in a popular park is that it tends to be removed when it appears to pose a hazard to park visitors. We’ve seen several trees being removed at the park in recent years.

The surprise sighting of the day, though, was a small flock of Great-tailed Grackles, a bird I’ve never seen except in Arizona and Colorado.

Two Great-tailed Grackles standing on a surface, showcasing their glossy black feathers and upright postures.

Santa Rosa is supposed to be outside their normal range, though they are found in Southern California, too.

What seemed like a successful day of birding was capped off by this little Oak Titmouse leading us almost directly back to our car.

A close-up image of a small bird standing on the ground with a blurred background, showcasing its round body and distinctive crest.

Just One Good Bird

When I started birding many, many years ago with Ruth, after a day seeing too few birds, she would say, “All we need is one good bird.”

Of course, it was just a positive way of saying it sucks to be skunked, but, as a photographer, there is some truth to the statement. When you’ve been taking bird photos as long as I have, I rarely capture even a single picture that I end up keeping because I already have better pictures.

Birding at Lake Ralphine/Spring Lake was slow during our recent visit. I didn’t see hardly any of the birds that I usually see there — no Mergansers, no Night Herons, no Acorn Woodpeckers, etc. By the time we arrived at Spring Lake and saw a few more birds, my camera battery had run out of power, and the backup I had picked up on the way out the door turned out to be empty as well.

Needless to say, though I enjoyed the walk after driving all day the previous two days, I was disappointed by the lack of photos.

It was only when I downloaded the photos that I found a shot that I really liked:

A snowy white egret perched on a wooden post, displaying its elegant plumage against a dark background.

You Choose a Favorite

Hopefully visitors to this site realize that all they’re seeing is highlights of our birding expeditions.  I’m sparing the visitor from having to see all the bad shots that have to be taken before I can get a shot worth showing to others. On the other hand, sometimes the visitor doesn’t get to see excellent shots that were arbitrarily deleted by the writer/editor/ proofreader/me.

Taking the photos is the fun part of this job; sorting through them, deciding which to delete and which to keep, and fine-tuning those chosen for publication is the hard part of the job.

Sometimes deciding which photo to use can be the hardest part of all, particularly when I like all the photos in a sequence. For instance, I took 22 shots of the Snowy Egret that landed right in front of me on the swimming hole at Spring Lake as I waited for Leslie. Unfortunately, I loved all of them.  Not a really bad shot in the whole group, but I’m certainly not going to polish all of them up. So,  here are six of my favorites from that sequence.

A Return Visit to Lake Ralphine/Spring Lake

On our second visit to Lake Ralphine/Spring Lake, I took a longer lens, hoping to get better shots of the Acorn Woodpeckers we had seen on our first visit.  I should have known that would jinx us because the flock of woodpeckers we had seen defending their larder days earlier were reduced to two woodpeckers standing guard.

Two Acorn Woodpeckers

All was not lost, though, as we saw a lot more birds on the second visit than we did on the first.  It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen a juvenile Pied-Billed Grebe, but the fading black and white pattern on the neck indicates that’s what this was.

Juvenile Pied Grebe

I thought this bird was some kind of flycatcher, but I was a little surprised when Merlin identified it as a Black Phoebe since all the Black Phoebes I’ve ever seen have been much blacker, not brown.

Black Phoebe

I know this is a juvenile swallow, but Merlin wasn’t a lot of help identifying what kind of juvenile swallow it is — suggesting it is either a Tree Swallow, a Violet-Green Swallow, or a Northern Rough-winged Swallow.

Juvenile Swallow

We didn’t see the pair of Swans that nested at Lake Ralphine in previous years, but we did see a single Mute Swan on Spring Lake.

Mute Swan

The highlight of the day, though, was this close-up of a Black-crowned Night Heron from the back. I was amazed I could get this close without spooking it.

Black-Crowned Night Heron

I prefer the shot from this angle, but I am sure the heron would have flown away if the green foliage hadn’t been between us.  

Black-Crowned Night Heron