We began driving the roads of Polk County before dawn after a night of heavy rain, with threatening skies. Our first stop was to locate a swamp sparrow. Northern Harriers, ibis, sandhill cranes and yellow rumps were already active. Pishing pulled in a Common Yellowthroat, followed by a single Swamp Sparrow. Rufous wings, buffy rufous sides and grey nape were clearly observed. Mission accomplished, we moved on to check a few more fields along the road where we saw 3 loggerhead shrikes and at least 8 palm warblers - unusual for us California birders used to seeing one at a time.