Luther Burbank Field Trip (7/26/04) Highlights

The 15 birders tied the record for a Monday trip set just last month. We started at the north parking lot and walked up the west side in the shade where we saw most of our birds. There is a wonderful new boardwalk for part of the way. A Great Blue Heron perched in a tree and gave us very good looks thru spotting scopes.

The best highlight was two Bald Eagles perched in a snag that gave good photo opportunities. The larger female perched a few feet above the smaller male, which gave us a good comparison between the two. We saw a number of Cedar Waxwings, at least two Downy Woodpeckers which we also heard give their descending "whinnying" song.

Barn and Violet-green Swallows constantly flew back and forth. Common Yellowthroat, Brown Creepers, Red-breasted Nuthatch and Bewick's Wren gave us brief looks. There were a number of Rufous Hummingbirds feeding in the flowers. A Caspian Tern flew over at the north end near the water. Of course, young and adult American Robins were numerous.

There were 15 birders and 25 species sighted.