[EBB Sightings] April 13-14, 2007-Richmond to Martinez and the Suisun Marsh on Amtrak

GGAS American River Trail Bicycle Birding trip April 13-14, 2007
On Friday April 13 eight bicyclists rode the Capitol Corridor Amtrak
Train #524 to Sacramento and returned the next day on Train #741. There
are wonderful views of the bay between Richmond and Martinez and the
Suisun Marsh is rich in bird life which is easily seen from the train
but not from the highway.
Location:     Richmond to Martinez and Suisun Marsh on the Capitol
Corridor Train
Observation dates:     4/13&14/2007
Number of species:     13
Western Grebe
American White Pelican
Northern Shoveler
Greater Scaup
Osprey
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Sandpiper sp.
Western Gull
Dowitcher sp.
Mute Swan

Continue for the American River Portion of the trip:
On Friday we arrived into Sacramento about 20 minutes late because of
freight traffic on the line ahead of us. We rode our bikes through Old
Town Sacramento, passing the Railroad Museum before getting on the
trail around 10:30. After riding along the Sacramento River for about 2
miles, we joined The American River Trail at Discovery Park. The
weather was beautiful and we found ourselves stopping frequently to
observe the bird life. We rode about 30 miles in all, ending in Folsom
around 3:30. The trail is paved and slopes gently up with only a few
steep climbs. Our best sighting of the day was just south of Cal Expo
where we saw four Wood Ducks, three males and one female, which we were
able to observe while they swam in the river for quite a while. Our
lunch spot gave us the House Wren. West of Goethe Park we saw a pair of
Red-shouldered Hawks, and at the park we saw a Nuttall?s Woodpecker and
Wild Turkeys. On the north shore of Lake Natoma is a rookery with Great
Egrets and Double-crested Cormorants. Deer, a muskrat and a coyote were
also seen on the trail.
Location:     American River Parkway
Observation date:     4/13/2007
Number of species:     54
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Wood Duck
Canada Goose
Mallard
Common Merganser
Turkey Vulture
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Wild Turkey
California Quail
American Coot
Killdeer	
Spotted Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher 
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Acorn Woodpecker
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Black Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
N. Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Western Scrub-Jay	
Yellow-billed Magpie
American Crow
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
House Wren 
Western Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler,
Spotted Towhee
California Towhee
Golden-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Saturday brought the threat of rain. Four hardy cyclists rode their
bikes from Folsom to Sacramento and the other four rode the light rail
and went to the Crocker Museum to see the exhibit _Yosemite 1938: On
the Trail with Ansel Adams and Georgia O'Keeffe_ which closes May 6,
2007, and _Betye Saar: Extending the Frozen Moment_ which closes April
29, 2007. The Ansel Adams exhibit has stunning photographs and the
Betty Saar exhibit is a piercing comment on the black experience in
America. The four museum-goers rode a few blocks in the rain and met
the soggy trail riders at the Amtrak station for the return trip.



kathy jarrett
kathy_jarrett at yahoo.com

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