Lahontan Audubon Society enjoys Damonte Ranch wetlands
Please accept my somewhat belated thanks for all your help in providing information on the Damonte Ranch wetlands for the Lahontan Audubon Society field trip in early November. Thank you so much for taking the time to gather several copies of the bird checklist and the pamphlet on the wetlands.
We had about 20 people on the field trip. Many had not visited these wetlands before and all were very impressed with the habitats that had been created, the diversity of birds, and the great opportunity that the paved walkways provide for close-up views of waterfowl and marsh birds. Thanks to you, we had enough checklists for everyone and they were a great hit – everyone used their checklist to keep track of the 31!! species that we saw that morning.
Highlights of the trip were great close-up views of several waterfowl, including green-winged teal, bufflehead, ring-necked duck, northern shoveler, northern pintail, redhead, common merganser, horned grebe, eared grebe, and of course, American coot. The northern harriers put on a great show, flying over the marsh and perching on submerged fence posts for good views. An adult and juvenile red-tailed hawk also added to the show, perching on adjacent roofs. We also got close views of marsh wrens, a great blue heron, meadowlarks, white-crowed sparrows, and a song sparrow.
Several people who attended the trip said that they planned to return on their own to bird the area. Also, we will be scheduling more LAS field trips in the spring and early summer to the wetlands.
Thanks again for all your help. I’m sure that all of your at Huffman and Carpenter are proud of the work you have done at the Damonte Ranch wetlands. Good job.
Sincerely,
Kathy Oakes
Membership Chairman
Lahontan Audubon Society
