Bear River

["Carol Gwynn" <cgwynn at earthlink dot net>]

Glen and Donna Thorum, Mary Anne Thorum, and I decided to join the fun at
Bear River today.   On the north side of Forest St., a couple of blocks off
the freeway, there were at least 12 Curlews in a field.  Also on the way in,
we observed a half-dozen Eastern Kingbirds along a fence line.   As many
observers have reported, there were thousands of shorebirds present in the
main pond on the refuge.   We did not scope all of them in the 100+ degree
temperatures, but there were a lot of Western Sandpipers, many Least
Sandpipers, loads of Wilson's Phalaropes, as well as dowitchers, yellowlegs,
and the other usual suspects.   There was a juvenile Curlew along the east
side of the auto tour loop.  We did not see the bittern, but did see two
juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons in the same general area where the
Bittern was reported.  Pink Floyd was playing hide-and-seek; we did not see
him this afternoon.  

Now for the really cool stuff:  On the north side of the auto tour loop, we
watched a Sora and two Virginia Rails for a while.  At times, they were all
even in the same scope view!  Along the east side of the tour loop, we were
surprised to see a breeding plumage Dunlin, and we counted 28 Snowy Plovers
- 19 adults and 9 fuzzy babies.  Definitely worth the trip!  

Carol Gwynn

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