More bird sightings in the vast park-like expanse--last Sunday was relatively quiet, other than a few tufted titmice, white-breasted nuthatches, the usual blue jays, a couple of northern mockingbirds, a few black-capped chickadees, and a couple of red-tailed hawks flying overhead. On the small island in the middle of the man-made lake, skulking among the tall dried grasses was a great blue heron, standing still for the longest time. I saw him in the same spot as I was going up several paths, and also when I was coming down on yet another path. He was also there, in the same spot yesterday morning and also today.
Yesterday was a very active birdy morning, as I could hear all kinds of chirps and cheeps as soon as I opened the car door. The first was a red-bellied woodpecker, looking for food just above my head. In addition to the heron above, and the usual birds, I came upon what looked like a juvenile red-tailed hawk sitting on a branch by the feeder that had birds flying in and out of it. The hawk kept swiveling its head in every which way whenever a bird alighted on the feeder, took off, or was just flying past it, reminiscent of a baby moving its head to look at objects above its crib. The hawk then flew down and got its talons tangled in a twig which he managed to shake off. He then took off, with his foot tangled in yet another twig. Later in the walk, I heard a couple of crows cawing loudly--they were chasing a red-tailed hawk away from what might have been their nest. Today, in addition to the heron and the assorted birds, I saw a peregrine falcon land on one of the topmost branches of a pine tree, then hop up the branches to the very top from where he surveyed his domain. After sitting there for more than a couple of minutes, he took off and landed on a branch of another tree. There were also the usual woodpeckers on the tree trunks and birds of prey flying overhead.
