White-throated Swift
Aeronautes saxatalis

• 5/14: Desert Studies Center at Zzyzx. A few swifts were zooming around near the lake and over the parking area. This was the first time I’d managed to get even half-way decent photos.

Amphibians and Reptiles

Western Pond Turtle
Actinemys marmorata

• 3/11: Sonoma State University. Several were seen in the water, and basking on the edges of the Commencement Lake.
• 5/2: San Geronimo Creek, Marin County. This was the most exciting moment of the day. Right as we were returning to the vans to head home from Roy’s Riffles, some students found a tiny baby western pond turtle on the path. It must have just emerged from its nest, and was heading to the pond for the first time. OMG SO CUTE AND TINY! I’d forgotten just how small they are. The students who were able to see the turtle absolutely LOVED it (and so did I). I think it’s also spectacularly good news that this relatively young restoration site has nesting pond turtles. I’m not sure everyone else understood quite how exciting this is. (Although me kind of literally squealing about it might have been a clue).
• 5/20: Sonoma State Vertebrate Biology BioBlitz

Amphibians and Reptiles

Western Pond Turtle
Actinemys marmorata

• 4/15: Safari West, Sonoma, CA. Spotted at least one of these native turtles on the big lake at Safari West.
• 6/8: Boggs Lake Ecological Reserve, Lake County, CA. 
• 6/15: Jellystone Camp, Lake County, CA. Pond turtles were often seen in the little pond on site, near the Recreation Center. 
• 6/19: Boggs Lake Ecological Reserve, Lake County, CA. 
• 6/21: Boggs Lake Ecological Reserve, Lake County, CA. 
• 6/28: Boggs Lake Ecological Reserve, Lake County, CA. We found more than 35 gravid females this season, and located 36 nests or nest attempts. (The number of nests is larger than the number of females because some females made more than one attempt before successfully laying their eggs).
• 8/20: Boggs Lake Ecological Reserve, Lake County, CA. Visited the field site today to excavate a few nests, and bring the eggs back to finish incubating in our lab. 
• 8/28: Boggs Lake Ecological Reserve, Lake County, CA. Visited the field site today to excavate a few nests, and bring the eggs back to finish incubating in our lab. 
• 9/24: Boggs Lake Ecological Reserve, Lake County, CA. Field Herpetology field trip to our turtle research site. We excavated a few nests that had been located back in June, to take the eggs back and let them finish incubating in our lab, so we could determine the sex of the offspring (part of a study on temperature-dependent sex determination).
• 10/22: Boggs Lake Ecological Reserve, Lake County, CA. We excavated a known nest site, located during our June field season, and captured the hatchlings to be brought back to our lab and raised in our head-start program. 

Spotted Sandpiper
Actitis macularius 

5/14: Desert Studies Center. Saw this lone sandpiper on the fountain in the middle of the Zzyzx lake, performing the customary tail-bobbing activity.

Birds

Cooper’s Hawk
Accipiter cooperii

• ☆March 26, 1994: Indiana Dunes, Porter County, IN☆. Seen at the hawk watch site.
• December 1, 1994: J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area, Palm Beach, FL. Possible

Birds

Clark’s Grebe
Aechmophorus clarkii transitionalis

• ☆July 19: Ballona Creek and Wetlands, Los Angeles, CA☆. Lone grebe swimming in the channel. It took several minutes to verify the markings on the head for ID as Clark’s. Handsome bird.

Birds

Mallard
Anas platyrhynchos

• ☆December 19, 1992: Niles, Berrien County, MI☆. We spotted a flock of about a dozen mallards swimming on the St. Joseph River. Our most commonly seen duck, at least in developed areas, yes, I’ve seen these guys before, but this will count as my first documented sighting.