Latest News From Petaluma Wetlands Alliance
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Will the Herons Return to Nest?
By Linda Sheppard For many years, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets and Double Crested Cormorants have been nesting in three eucalyptus trees at the Ellis Creek Water Recycling Plant. The nesting area...
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Shollenberger’s Cliff Swallows under Adobe Creek Bridge
Cliff Swallow Image by Len Nelson By Mary Kadri Working my way through my bird monitoring education with PWA researcher, Len Nelson, I put aside my new fear of spiders to join him in counting cliff...
read moreTribute to Andy LaCasse
In Memory of Beloved PWA Member Andy LaCasse (1942-2022) by Len Nelson, Research Chair Without the inspiration, insights and education I absorbed from Andy Lacasse, I would not be doing the research...
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Riding with the Researcher
One of the first things Len Nelson, lead bird researcher, will tell you if you ask to go along on one of his birding trips, is “I hope you don’t have a time limit.” Take my word for it, clear your...
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ECWRF Owl Box with Camera
We cleaned out the large owl box on the dead eucalyptus tree and collected over 11 pounds of debris. Len and team will be pulling out all the pellets and analyzing the contents. John Shribbs is up...
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Barn Owl Fledglings at ECWRF
Len Nelson went to view the owl box at Ellis Creek Water Recycling Facility with the owl cam at dusk and observed two young owlets poking their heads out of the owl box hole. He had to use very low...
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Great Blue Heron
Len Nelson sent me recent pictures of a Great Blue Heron preparing and then launching into flight. See series of pics below. Enjoying the Scenery. Get Ready. Preparing. Spread Wings. One last...
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Green Heron Chicks
From Len Nelson: On the bird survey of Shollenberger of June 25th, a Green Heron nest was sited. Deb Sheppard got an image of 3 chicks in the nest and a hint of a 4th. I went back a few times to...
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Midges surrounding turkey vulture
From Len Nelson: When I took an image of a Turkey Vulture (TV) on 6-22-18 in Ellis Creek, I only did so because it was nicely backlit on a post with its wings open. But, when I proceeded the...
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