Bird walk

[vaneramos]

This morning I left the apartment at 7 a.m. and went for a bird walk along Lilac Way as far as the high meadow. I went for two hours counted 35 species, mostly by sight but a few by ear.

Double-crested cormorant
Canada goose
mallard
mourning dove
belted kingfisher
downy woodpecker
Eastern phoebe
Eastern kingbird
purple martin
tree swallow
cliff swallow
blue jay
American crow
black-capped chickadee
house wren
American robin
gray catbird
brown thrasher
cedar waxwing
European starling
warbling vireo
yellow warbler
Northern cardinal
chipping sparrow
savannah sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
song sparrow
red-winged blackbird
Eastern meadowlark
common grackle
brown-headed cowbird
Northern oriole
house finch
American goldfinch
house sparrow

Of particular interest were the double-crested cormorants and purple martins, which I've never seen in this location before. They're probably in migration. The martins were keeping company with the colony of cliff swallows that nests under Victoria Road bridge.

Up until last year there were only one or two mud nests under the beams. This spring there are at least nine. I like watching the swallows sit in the opening before diving out; all you can see is the triangular white forehead scanning back and forth. I can't imagine why any bird would want to nest there. Victoria Road is busy, and the bridge trembles constantly with passing transports. They have some nice, quiet limestone cliffs to choose from. Of course the bridge is situated directly over the river, with plenty of insects.

I was disappointed not to find American redstarts, which usually nest here. Hopefully they're only running late. Other local breeders of interest include the Blackburnian warbler and bobolink, but I rarely see them. I didn't see indigo buntings either, but they always seem to be a late migrant.

Comments

[ubermunkey.livejournal.com]

it's like a foriegn language coming from your mouth, but lovely none the less.

be well Van

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Hehe, I meant to put the list behind a cut, but somebody came to the door and I quickly posted it. Ya, those birds are so many beautiful bundles of colour, texture and sound.

[halation.livejournal.com]

that's an amazing number of birds! and only two hours!
wow!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

The list looks like a poem, doesn't it? :-)

It's a good number. I'm lucky to live here.

[ahira.livejournal.com]

cedar waxwings are so cool!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Did you know they're my favourite bird? Did I ever tell you I raised one and it lived in my family's sunporch for 14 years? I wrote Bandit's story in a series of three articles on Suite101. If I haven't already pointed them out, I can give you the links.

[ahira.livejournal.com]

That is so cool! Please send the link - I haven't read those. Really great little birds - nothing like the red-tail I was restraining the other day so he could be force-fed. I really like the little birds, though reading Carl Safina's book "Eye of the Albatross" and doing research on seabird bycatch opened my eyes to other birds, too. And yes, I obviously have a thing for snowy owls, and herons, too, but I digress...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Masked bandit on the wing, Part 1

The first article is just background; the story is mostly contained in parts 2 and 3. You can get to them by clicking on the "Next article" link at the top or bottom. Those articles were written more than three years ago.

Last spring, I had a flashback about Bandit, which I posted in this journal. Sorry, you have to read down fairly far to get to the meat of it:

Pieces of the puzzle

[ahira.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for sharing these - just the pick-me-up I need right now!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

It is amazing, and almost all of them breed in this territory a few minutes from where I live: I'm just not sure about the cormorants and martins.

About 20 of the 35 species fly south every fall, though a couple of them might stick around in a mild winter. We get a few that show up here for the winter and fly to the Far North for the summer, but not nearly as many species.

Many of our songbirds (particularly warblers, which aren't well represented in this list) migrate from South America. These ones are just arriving now. Other migrants arrived weeks ago.

[kwangjse.livejournal.com]

Yesterday's Monterey County Herald had an article stating that even though we counted the same number of birds this year as last year (248) we lost our title of "Birdiest County" to San Diego County. They counted 250 birds this year. :(

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Those are fantastic numbers. I have only seen about 240 species in my life.

[kwangjse.livejournal.com]

I went back to Elkhorn Slough yesterday and got some pictures of nesting egrets. I'm way behind on posts I've wanted to do but I'll be posting some of these pictures in the next few days.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Good, I look forward to seeing them.