1. White pelican
2. Great blue heron
3. Great egret
4. Canada goose
5. Cackling goose
6. Common merganser
7. Turkey vulture
8. Northern harrier
9. Red-tailed hawk
10. Bald eagle
11. American coot
12. Dunlin

13. Gull, unidentified
14. Eurasian collared doves
    (on wires on Royal Ave.)
15. Mourning dove
16. Anna’s hummingbird (at woodpecker stop)
17. Acorn woodpecker
18. Northern flicker
19. American crow
20. Marsh wren
21. European starling
22. Song sparrow
23. Dark-eyed junco (at woodpecker stop)
24. Red-winged blackbird

The day started out with rain showers moving off to the northeast. The sky would soon clear to broken clouds and large patches of blue sky overhead with dark threatening clouds to the south and west. On the way to Fern Ridge, while passing Meadowlark Prairie, we were escorted by a Belted Kingfisher which kept pace with us on the north side of Royal Ave. for a couple of hundred yards.

A majority of the approximately two dozen people in attendance met us at the parking lot. There was a notable absence of song birds in the brushy area near the parking lot. We saw a Mourning Dove and also a sparrow on the Royal Ave. extension but it was too far away for a positive ID. The same for a hawk that was roosting in a snag to the north but some felt that it looked like a Red-shouldered.

We soon saw both male and female Harriers flying low over the marshy areas to the north. The dearth of nearby birds continued as we approached the viewing platform. There were a few American Coots in the first pond and near the viewing platform we briefly saw a female Common Merganser. There were a number of hunters active in the area and the decoys far outnumbered the real waterfowl. Marsh Wrens could be heard but not seen in the grasses and several Red-winged Blackbirds of both sexes came by.

Great Egrets could be seen in the far distance and a flock of Dunlin were observed putting on a show in the mud flats near the Purple Martin nest boxes. Two groups of White Pelicans could also be seen flying in the far distance.

As we proceeded along the dike to the south of the viewing platform a large flock of Canada Geese, both Westerns and Cackling, took off from the fields near Fisher Butte. An immature Bald Eagle was soon observed flying through the geese, closely followed by a Great Egret which made close passes at the eagle several times. Several people remarked that they'd never seen an egret behave that way.

A Great Blue Heron was observed on the edge of one of the islands and a couple of Marsh Wrens appeared to be having a very vocal dispute in the grass next to the path but we could only get quick glances at them as they flew away. As we returned to the parking lot a Red-tailed Hawk and the Harriers were seen in the distance.

We stopped briefly at the tree on Royal Ave. where a pair of Lewis Woodpeckers were seen recently but the only birds there appeared to be Starlings. We stopped again at the oak grove with the colony of Acorn Woodpeckers and a few of them were observed far back in the trees. There were also Northern Flickers and Dark-eyed Juncos on both sides of the road.

1. Pied-billed grebe
2. Double-crested cormorant
3. Great blue heron
4. Great egret
5. Canada goose
6. Wood duck
7. Mallard
8. Green-winged teal
9. Gadwall
10. American wigeon
11. Northern shoveler
12. Ring-necked duck
13. Bufflehead
14. Red-tailed hawk
15. Bald eagle
16. American coot
17. Gull, unidentified

18. Belted kingfisher
19. Northern flicker
20. California scrub-jay
21. American crow
22. Black-capped chickadee
23. Bewick’s wren (heard)
24. Ruby-crowned kinglet
25. American robin
26. European starling
27. Yellow-rumped warbler
28. Song sparrow
29. Lincoln sparrow
30. Fox sparrow
31. Golden-crowned sparrow
32. Dark-eyed junco
33. Pine siskin