Santa Ana NWR, 8/12/07

The conditions at Santa Ana NWR this morning could aptly be summed up by a song title from the 70's band Black Oak Arkansas ......"Hot 'n Nasty". The empids of last weekend were mostly gone and replaced by an influx of Painted Buntings. Not much else to mention.



This Silver Emperor was the first I've ever seen. With all the summer rains this may be a good butterfly year.



Mottled Duck 1
Plain Chachalaca 6
Pied-billed Grebe 4
Least Bittern 1
Great Egret 1
Snowy Egret 1
Little Blue Heron 5
Tricolored Heron 4
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 6
Harris's Hawk 1
Common Moorhen 5
American Coot 1
Killdeer 5
Black-necked Stilt 15
Lesser Yellowlegs 1
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 10
Stilt Sandpiper 10
Long-billed Dowitcher 4
White-winged Dove 70
Mourning Dove 5
Common Ground-Dove 5
White-tipped Dove 3
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 5
Groove-billed Ani 20
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 3
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 3
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 1
Alder Flycatcher 1
Brown-crested Flycatcher 3
Great Kiskadee 5
Couch's Kingbird 8
Bell's Vireo 5
Green Jay 6
Cliff Swallow 1
Cave Swallow 92
Barn Swallow 1
Black-crested Titmouse 3
Carolina Wren 6
Bewick's Wren 1
Clay-colored Robin 2
Northern Mockingbird 5
Long-billed Thrasher 12
European Starling 1
Common Yellowthroat 12
Olive Sparrow 12
Northern Cardinal 2
Painted Bunting 7
Dickcissel 1
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Great-tailed Grackle 6
Bronzed Cowbird 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 4
Orchard Oriole 1
House Sparrow 5

I checked out the Llano Grande flood channel south of the state park this evening. Water levels are finally dropping a bit and might be good in a few days. Twenty five Wood Storks flew in as I was leaving. There were also 12 Roseate Spoonbills and two Fulvous Whistling Ducks were among the 160 Black-bellies. Shorebirds are still way down from previous years. Most noteworthy were a pair of Northern Bobwhite. These are hard to find in the southern part of the county.