
On 17 October I hosted Ron and Jane Miller from Milwaukee, WI for four hours of birding. We spent the whole morning at the Arcata Marsh as Ron had wanted to try and get looks at Virginia Rail and Sora, which he had never seen along with some easy to find species like White-tailed Kite. There were also possibilities of seeing some recently found rarities like Painted Bunting and Brewer's Sparrow in the area. The weather was perfect with clear skies, cool temps in the morning, becoming warmer by the end of the morning and little wind the whole time, making for a very pleasant and productive morning of birding. With a leisurely and relaxed pace we ended up tallying 76 species!