It was fairly quiet in the park this morning following our very hot weekend. Lots of scum floating on the surface of both the natural and the concrete ponds. A few observations of note.
A Great Egret came in and landed on top of the gnarly oak tree just across the Ygnacio Canal on the west side of the large, mostly natural pond. A Crow did not like that and harassed the Egret for a bit, including flying at it and sitting on an adjacent branch while calling. The Egret was not phased at all and was still on top of the tree when I left the park.
A Green Heron was in the left corner at the bottom of the gravel boat ramp. It had a dragonfly, which it was working in the extreme tip of its bill. At one point it dropped it, then reached down to the water and picked it up. After a little more moving it around, gulp, down the hatch it went, followed by two sips of water. It looked like a Common Green Darner from what I see in the Tim Manolis' Dragonflies and Damselflies of California.
Two other observations were the CA Towhee with three Cowbird fledglings, and the fact that I did not hear or see a Black Phoebe. They must be around, I just missed them.
