We began the morning with a flicker in excellent light perched on dead branches in the cottonwood canopy. Many flickers were active in the preserve this morning, most likely a family with recent fledglings. At this point in the season, fledglings are seemingly everywhere, with families feeding and caring for young birds. Other fledglings from this morning’s outing include yellow warblers, spotted sandpipers, robins, chickadees, house sparrows, and mallards. We also saw a juvenile great blue heron hunting in the upper end of the main lake, just off the trail. It was fascinating to watch this heron catch prey a couple of times as it stalked the shallows and the grassy shore. An attentive adult spotted sandpiper with a chick nearby called continuously in response to the heron. An osprey perched in a dead snag to eat a large trout; the scope gave us great views of this process. Ducks roosted and preened at the shore across the lake. Other highlights included watching ruby-crowned kinglets foraging by hovering at the tips of branches, nesting violet-green swallows at a woodpecker hole, and a Lewis’s woodpecker over distant treetops. Join us tomorrow for a Birding and Conversation field trip at Toklat with Jody Cardamone, ACES founding director.