At least one pair of Avocets nested along the far trail last two years, south end of Shollenberger, their tiny, maybe 3" babies running helter-skelter around the walking path while mom and pop cry pitifully and fly almost in your face as you pass, trying in vain to ward off some baby bird catastrophe that just keeps happening. PEOPLE. I try and convince them I'm not the bad guy, don't want baby bird for dinner, and the daddy (I think) allows himself to walk along next to me for awhile before flying back to the babes and mom. How amazing they are above me in the air. Long, spindly black legs jutting out behind white and black feathers that form a heart shape when folded, their heads a bright rusty-orange. Lovely creatures I only just understood to be a different species from the brown and white Long-billed Curlews who have a similar beak and are also fascinating to watch.

Brilliant sun hits my eyes, drawing my vision across a wide band of gold up over the park to the hills beyond. Can't even make out the freeway from this south view, just sun, water, birds, vegetation. Open space opens me up, too.

But there was this swan, my most impressive bird encounter in Shollenberger walking history, my personal history, that is. I was walking solo, something I used to dread, but now, feeling part of the bird community, I've discovered solo walking to be a perfect opportunity to learn bird calls and sing my heart out in preparation for Open Mic at the Moose or just for the joy of singing. The birds don't seem to mind; they like it when you get the notes of their song right.

So there was this swan. HUGE when right in you face, s/he had an orangy neck, surprisingly, and a huge thick neck it was with that black black mask atop it. Kind of scary, really, so big. And it didn't want to budge from the trail I was on, just staring at me silently as I approached. Sigh. Would s/he bite? Chase? Caw? Cackle? Run away? Smaller birds, sometimes you get recognition of a song well executed. Or a nod or look, not like a tame bird looking for a snack, though you get that all the time at tamer bird places like our Luchessi Park pond, those birds who live for snacks. Here you don't feed and the birds don't beg. So what exactly CAN you do with these birds? Admire them, absorb the beauty of their flight, mating dances. Ever seen swans do synchronized swim in circles around each other? Lovely white ethereal mini-gods of the bird world.

So really nothing happened. S/he let me pass, looking straight at me with a lack of expression indicating I was less than a threat, just not much of anything really. This week s/he is down along the ridge where so many birds nest but I haven't seen the expected cygnets yet.

Caught White Pelicans and Swan Dance on video - but can't get it to load through Yahoo so need help-.help! At home there is an aqua glass swan, 4"? filled with Cecile Brunner roses just a few months old. Swan holds its feathers up like a basket - photos I took are the same-see photos.

Long walk short, what I envision for Shollenberger's future is something like what we thought years ago - thousands of Audubon visitors will come, many staying overnight at the Sheraton overlooking the Marina at the park's edge. Lots of those kinds of great nature-lover tourists! And even more locals than walk the park nowadays (it's our most used walking park, so already busy times and slow times). Petaluma's investment in peace, beauty and a more balanced lifestyle protected.

Or we could allow a Dutra Asphalt Plant, not asking them to build elsewhere, a different plant, one not known for noise and air pollution as at it's San Rafael location and at its new, "high tech" center in LA - we may watch many many birds fly away, though we walk through noise and air pollution and maybe keep our habits of walking Shollenberger - maybe not. Maybe too much air and noise pollution for people to feel safe in the park let alone encourage wild birds to settle so we may encounter them up close in nature here better than any place I've ever seen in San Francisco, in Berkeley, in Chicago, in Mexico. But then I haven't been around the world seeking bird sanctuaries. Shollenberger is just the greatest bird sanctuary in several counties and a few states. Let's protect that.