I spent much of the day trying not to be distracted as I did cleaning and maintenance of my nest box trail along northeast shore from the yacht club north to the area across Big Walnut Creek?from Area N?but my discipline was severely tested. Like chocolate, bet you can't have just one. The rain from last night and a day or so back have raised the water level and much of the previously exposed mudflat is again under a shallow cover of water. Although this decreased the number and variety of shorebirds, there was still an interesting array to distract me. I could not locate the 2 Marbled Godwits I saw earlier in the week, but I did have a new arrival, a lone American Golden Plover. With its stubby bill and chubby body it stood out among the Lesser Yellowlegs it was mixed in with at a shallow pool. There was also a small group of 4 Dunlin, a Long-billed Dowitcher and numerous Killdeer.



In the water near Pelican Island there were 17 Northern Shovelers feeding near the Great Blue Herons that seemed to line the shore everywhere.



In the brushy areas along the shore there were numerous Winter Wrens, a few Carolina Wrens, and the last of the migrant warblers straggling through. I found mostly Black-throated Green's and 2 Wilson's. There were?2 adult Bald Eagles in a tall dead tree near Pelican Island. Not a horn of plenty?by any means but just enough to break up the task of cleaning and repairing nest boxes.



A final comment about the nest boxes. Today I found a second nest box with a flying squirrel and 14 nest boxes with clusters of Deer Mice. The way they pop out when I open the boxes I need a fencing mask or a tennis racket.



Charlie Bombaci

Hoover Nature Preserve



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