Field Trip Leader: Mackenzie Hollender, sacaudubonyoungbirders@gmail.com
Supervisor: Kevin Hollender 

This is a Young Birders Club field trip. Participation is limited to members of the Sacramento Valley Young Birders Club. Register via Slack to join the Sacramento Valley Young Birders Club on this trip. Please go to www.sacramentoaudubon.org/young-birders-club to become a member. 

Join us as we venture into a bustling heron and egret rookery at a suburban pond. On this trip, we will get to watch nesting Snowy Egrets, Western Cattle-Egret, and Black-crowned Night Heron raise young by viewing their plentiful nests through scopes. At this point in the nesting season, many of the nests will have young. We could observe fascinating nesting behaviors such as parents feeding young and pair bonding exercises. This unique field trip will provide an in-depth look at the nesting cycle of these herons and egrets. In addition to nest watching, we will be keeping an eye out for Ring-necked Pheasant, Western Kingbird, fledgling Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Pied-billed Grebe, American White Pelican, and other common birds exhibiting nesting behaviors. This field trip is a good opportunity to contribute to the California Breeding Bird Atlas as we will be paying special attention to breeding behaviors of birds. 

Black-crowned Night Heron on nest © Mary Forrestal