My American Birding Adventure, Part 6

Our stop in Arcada, CA, was a brief two days. But we still managed to squeeze in a couple of birding excursions, and the one to Arcada Marsh was by far the most memorable.

Wilson's Warbler

That morning we got up early, full of ambition and excitement, and headed off to the marsh. The marsh was quite large, so we had plenty of foot trails to choose from. The path we decided on was the loop trail, which goes around the whole marsh. Our first stop was at a big body of water, where we saw a crown of Belted Kingfishers loudly chasing each other around. Dad noticed some things in the water which turned out to be river otters, occasionally seen in the area. They were simply adorable, diving into the water and emerging with a shrimp-like creature, happily munching on it.

American Bittern

Besides the cute mammals, we also saw plenty of birds, including Long-billed Dowitchers, whose whole underbody is rufous colored and has a long, straight bill. We continued into a meadow, where we saw a juvenile Black-headed Grosbeak, with a white supercilium and white malar. We also saw a bouquet of Wilson’s Warblers, chattering away, and another charm of American Goldfinches, stunningly beautiful. But the most memorable thing came a lot later.

American Bittern, eyes trained on a potential breakfast

After we arrived at the exit, there was still one small trail that we hadn’t gone on yet, so we decided to try it out. We ventured onto a boardwalk, which led to a little opening and a secretive-looking marsh appeared before our eyes. This small marsh didn’t yield much, but suddenly I noticed a figure saunter out of the reeds. It was an American Bittern, the first I ever saw so close! I quickly got out my camera, and started to snap pictures. The bittern was very cooperative, standing ever so still.

~Article and photos by Isaac Lang

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