Look! A bird!

[apl68]

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting out in back in the shade and noticed that the feathered tribe were having quite a good day in our neighborhood.  I heard many different birds singing.  The bluebirds that nest nearby were showing themselves in my yard.  And that eagle/osprey/red-tailed hawk was circling high overhead. 

[apl68]

This morning around dawn I heard one of our ducks at the city park quacking its head off, over and over again.  Usually the ducks leave all the vocalizing to the park's geese.  It made me wonder whether the duck was in some kind of distress.

[FishProf]

This morning around dawn I heard one of our ducks at the city park quacking its head off, over and over again.  Usually the ducks leave all the vocalizing to the park's geese.  It made me wonder whether the duck was in some kind of distress.

probably just Anas-hole

[I'll show myself out]

[apl68]

Clouds mask the dawn light
An unseen heron croaking
Near the rainy trail

[Langue_doc]

We've had a lot of rain and flooding, so the ponds where the herons and egrets hang out are overflowing. The juvenile little blue heron has been missing since I saw him last Wednesday--the entire area was flooded on Friday. I didn't see him on Sunday or yesterday, but saw a juvenile great blue heron walking along the edge of one of the ponds, sticking his nose into the water with each step, bringing up a small squirming fish or tadpole in its beak, and then swallowing it before taking another step and repeating the performance. I watched him walk around almost half the pond's circumference before I had to leave.

[apl68]

I thought I heard geese before dawn this morning.  I wouldn't have thought it would be cool enough yet for them to get this far south.  They've rarely passed near us at all in recent years.

[apl68]

I heard more geese early yesterday evening--and saw them fly over!  I guess fall is finally coming.

[fleabite]

I think I saw a juvenile great blue heron while out bicycling at the end of the day yesterday! It flew away just as I stopped my bike to get a closer look, but there was only a bit of white on the head and the bill wasn't yellow.

I've only seen a great blue heron once before, in a different location. I worked my way slowly around the pond to get close to it, but the minute I did, a fisherman cast a line and scared it away.  :(

[FishProf]

Three pileated woodpeckers are zooming around the deck while I work on this cool fall morning.  I've never seen them in any kind of group before.

The downy woodpeckers seem confused/concerned.

[Langue_doc]

Three pileated woodpeckers are zooming around the deck while I work on this cool fall morning.

They're quite raucous, aren't they? I saw a group of three last year in a bird preserve. They were initially on a couple of trees near one of the paths and then saw them later on another tree quite far from the first location.

On the bird walk today--listed as a hawk watch, on a platform around 80 steps high--we saw several ospreys, a juvenile bald eagle, a kestrel, a merlin, a few warblers, and later, while walking along the ocean, some black-bellied plovers--my first sighting of these birds. While on the platform looking at the ocean, we saw a large school of dolphins, very close to the shore. Later on in the walk, we ran into a bird expert who recorded around 100 ospreys just this morning. This is migration time for ospreys, so the ones that were on their journey were flying quite high as opposed to the ones who were wintering here that were flying quite low. For those of you who are interested in wind directions, the wind was from the west which wasn't too conducive to migration, as opposed to winds from the northwest when one tends to see large numbers of birds migrating.

[apl68]

I didn't know that ospreys migrated en masse like that.

[Langue_doc]

I didn't know that ospreys migrated en masse like that.

This wasn't a flock, but just individuals or small groups taking advantage of the wind to fly south.

The great blue heron (either the juvenile from last week all grown up or a different one) was walking around the same pond--he would take a step forward, then look down, then stick his bill into the water, come up with a small squirming whitish fish, swallow it, take another step forward, and repeat the process until he was more than halfway around the pond. I stood still so was able to see him walk past me just three feet away. The fish were too small for a meal--he would have had to eat more than a hundred of them because of their size. Perhaps a snack? Like us munching on nuts? Later on during the walk I heard a flock of birds angrily squawking, so looked up to see a Cooper's hawk circling above them, and a red-tailed hawk above them all.

[fleabite]

First-time sighting of a bay-breasted warbler! It must have been near the beginning of its migration journey to Central America. It was so tiny for a bird that makes such a long trip—the size of a little chickadee–with bright white wing bars and a small red spot on the top of the head. I didn't see any other red on it, probably because this is not breeding season. It was almost dark when I spotted it, and I would love to try and find it again tomorrow, but unfortunately I will be out of town for a few days. It will probably have continued its migration by the time I return.

[apl68]

I got closer than usual to a big blue heron at the city park this morning.  They seem to be less inclined to bolt whenever a human passes nearby than they used to be. 

I also heard a hoot owl a few times at the park this morning.  Minutes later, I heard day birds begin to sing.  The night shift was giving way to the day shift.

[Langue_doc]

Saw a great blue heron on another pond yesterday. I don't think he was the same one that was walking around the edge of a nearby pond last week, nonchalantly dipping his beak into the water and coming up with a squirming fish which he proceeded to swallow quite methodically. This one was standing still, occasionally stretching all out in full yoga pose and then retreating. I think he had a nest in there among the vegetation in the pond because he settled down with only his head showing.

In other news, our neighborhood watch northern mockingbird is still patrolling our street, as he landed on a neighbor's tree as soon as he saw me come out the front door, and stayed there, noisily making his presence known until I drove off.