Queen Sonia arrived safely in Arcata, CA late this afternoon! I had by this point completed what birding I was going to be able to do today. We spent the evening hanging out, catching up, and enjoying dinner at Oriental Buffet. Who said romance is dead! It will be great to have her around for the next week or so. Although we both feel we have handled the separation well, we both agree it has not been easy. Luckily, we will see more of each other in the next few months as I transit through Southern California where Sonia is temporarily residing.
Reunited!
With my hosts from last night, Robin and Roger
Birding-wise today was really, really nice. Today was technically an off-day as I did not make any distance along the route. I did bike a leisurely 30 miles around Arcata in search of Red-breasted sapsucker and Pacific golden-plover. In the morning I took a ride along a very quiet road that wound its way through mixed coniferous and deciduous woodlands. I was hoping to find a sapsucker but was unsuccessful. I did find Song, White-crowned, Fox, Lincoln's, Chipping, and Golden-crowned sparrow for year bird #549! Although this is a bird I certainly would have found in the next week, it felt good to tick this bird today. I have been a 5-day year-bird drought, and this bird snapped that streak! While I didn't break out the camera to photograph this species I am sure to see again, I did grab a quick habitat photo to help set the scene for you.
Sparrow habitat along West End Road
In the afternoon I birded the Arcata Marsh. There were hundreds of Marbled godwits, Willets, Western sandpipers, and Black-bellied plovers. I scanned through the Black-bellies looking for golden-plovers, but as far as I could discern, there weren't any present. It was a nice afternoon out nonetheless.
I am going to keep this short since I want to spend time with Sonia. Tomorrow I am going to take another crack at the sapsucker outside of Arcata. I will likely move down the road to Fortuna tomorrow night, but we'll see what happens as the day unfolds.
24 miles + 6 that I had to map on another map for 30 total
Glad you two are back together again. I have a sneaking suspicion that a haircut is in your very near future. Tell her you need to keep it long to fit-in down in Southern California
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