Date: 4/16/25 5:51 pm From: NANCY AND EUGENE HUNN via groups.io <enhunn323...> Subject: [northbaybirds] Petaluma Hike-n-Bike Big Day April 12
Hike-n-Bike Petaluma Big-Day Bird-a-thon for Madrone Audubon.
When: April 14, 2025, 5:40 AM until 2:30 PM; a fine, ultimately warm day.
Who: Gene Hunn, Annette and Craig Roth, with Nancy Hunn in support.
Where: In and around Petaluma.
How: Down from the top of Sonoma Mountain Road, then through town to the Lakeville/US101 bridge, then to Shollenberger Park and the Ellis Creek Polishing Ponds, then home via Brown’s Lane, the airport, Prince's Park, and the Lynch Creek Trail. Approximately 5 downhill miles in the Prius (to avoid life-threatening descent along Sonoma Mountain Road), 15 miles on bikes and three on foot.
Blow-by-Blow: At dawn with a setting gibbous moon and brilliant Venus we heard our first species: Wild Turkeys, Indian Peafowl (likely captives nearby), Great Horned and Western Screech Owls. Violet-green Swallows were early chirpers joined by Mourning Doves, Acorn Woodpeckers, Steller’s Jays, Northern House Wrens, and Western Bluebirds. Our next stop downhill added distant singing Song and Rufous-crowned Sparrows, both towhees, and a pair of Cooper’s Hawks. A bit further below at the high pond overlook: Wood Ducks and Ring-necked Ducks. A Great Blue Heron cruised in neck extended. As the sun peeked over the ridge, the oaks perked up with Oak Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches, and a distant Hairy Woodpecker. A flowering eucalyptus offered Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks, an American Kestrel, a family of Western Kingbirds, Black Phoebes, Bushtits, House Finches, Lesser Goldfinches, meadowlarks, juncos, mockingbirds, and a singing Bullock’s Oriole.
At 8 AM we regrouped at the Hunn’s house for a bite, then set off biking through the back streets of East Petaluma to Baywood. at Lakeville. Here we had a clear view of the Highway 101 bridge, home to many nesting Cliff Swallows and a few White-throated Swifts (the swifts nest in vertical drainpipes under the bridge!). Northern Rough-winged Swallows and Killdeer also nest nearby. Then along the Allman Marsh Trail beside the Petaluma River to Shollenberger Park. Here we added Willet, Long-billed Curlews, Black-necked Stilts, Greater Yellowlegs, a flock of Long-billed Dowitchers, and heard a Virginia Rail calling; also, Tree and Barn Swallows, Eurasian Collared Doves, chattering Marsh Wrens and a singing Common Yellowthroat.
Shollenberger was awash in ducks, mostly dabblers such as Northern Shovelers, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, and Gadwall, plus Buffleheads and Ruddy Ducks and two female Canvasbacks. A pair of Green Herons skulked, Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons stalked, and an American Bittern boomed right beside the trail. We counted at least 40 Mute Swans, now well established in the three county North Bay region (though still considered provisional by the California Records Committee). Avocets and Least Sandpipers were numerous. We spotted a few distant Black-bellied Plovers and checked a group of gulls still hanging around that included Western, Ring-billed, California, and a Glaucous-winged.
On to the Ellis Creek ponds hoping to pad our list. Vocal Pied-billed Grebes and Double-crested Cormorants (on nests in the eucalyptus) were easy additions. Other additions were like pulling teeth, but sharp-eyed Annette picked out a skulking Common Gallinule and a cruise-by Northern Harrier, while Craig spotted our only Common Goldeneye, our only Black-crowned Night-Heron, a migrating flock of Cackling Geese, and a soaring Swainson’s Hawk, this last a high point of the day. Hunn managed to spot a pair of Cinnamon Teal and a late Greater Scaup through the sewage treatment plant gate. A single Great-tailed Grackle squawked in the reeds; normally abundant wintering birds such as White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows were few and far between as were Yellow-rumped Warblers, but we pulled out few of each. We paused for a sandwich and an unofficial tally of the day list to that point: 99! Not counting the Mute Swans and peafowls.
The long ride back to the Hunn’s for a beer and snacks was largely uneventful but for a hair-raising half mile ride out the Lakeville racetrack to look for the scaup Gene had spotted the day before and the staked-out Hooded Orioles on Lynch Creek to wrap up the day. Final tally, 102.
