Yesterday was cleanup time for California landbirds I still need for the year. After the Allen’s Hummingbird we ventured out and soon had Tricolored Blackbird at the Ormond Beach Wetlands Restoration Project. Actually there’s a gentleman there named Walter Fuller of the Ormond Beach Taskforce, kind of an unofficial caretaker who throws out bird seed. There were two Tricoloreds in with the Red-winged Blackbirds and cowbirds.
Tricolored Blackbird at Ormon Beach (Photo by Don Desjardin)
Next we worked California Thrasher habitat and had little trouble turning up several thrashers. The entire afternoon was spent trying to find a Nuttall’s Woodpecker; we finally located one on Canada Larga Rd. Along the way we found my first amphibian of the year, a California Slender Salamander.
Today it’s down to LA for Spotted Dove and California Gnatcatcher.
California Thrasher (Photo by Don Desjardin)
California Slender Salamander, Ventura CA (Photo by Don Desjardin)
John,
how did you see the salamander? Did you turn over logs or rocks? Or was it just crawling around?
Jim
It was actually under a rug mat used by homeless people. We scouted it last year and expected to find it under one of the 5 mats.