Blog Archives

Elegant Mousecatcher

11/29/2014

While strolling around the Doran Beach Bird Walk path, I saw this Great Blue Heron poised over the ice plant - until it struck quickly and pulled out a small mouse!

Great Blue Heron with a mouse

Great Blue Heron, moving away with its mouse

Lark Sparrow, Helen Putnam Regional Park, Petaluma

Black Phoebe, at Hole in the Head, Bodega

Eared Grebe, near Dillon Beach

Female Kestrel on telephone cable, Bodega Harbor

I think this is a juvenile Cooper's Hawk, also on the phone cable, Bodega Harbor

Great Egret, near Dillon Beach

Mature Cooper's hawk in the tall poplar tree on the Cherry Ridge property

Small flock of Canadian Geese at a pond in one of the Windsor parks

Male Malard, preening, at the Windsor pond

Great Feet!!!

Female mallard duck, at a pond in Windsor

Another Black Phoebe, at the pond in Windsor

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All manner of waterfowl

11/26/2014

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The Ellis Creek Water Recycling Facility in Petaluma has created a wetlands environment as part of its water treatment...this includes a series of small ponds, where birds are encouraged.

Mute swan at the city of Petaluma's Ellis Creek Facility

A pair of Gadwalls

Male Gadwall

Female Common Goldeneye

A red-shouldered hawk flew over

Some black-necked stilts flew from one pond to the next

Male Bufflehead

Female Bufflehead

A pair of Canvasback couples, male and female

Canvasback ducks

Goldfinch worked winter's dried grasses over for seeds

Song sparrows perched in the reeds

A few canadian geese were in the ponds

Lots of coots

And also mallards

A flock of White Pelicans passed overhead

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Pelican Ballet at Bodega Harbor

11/22/2014

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The Brown Pelicans were diving for fish, over and over again, on a beautiful, clear afternoon following two days of rainy weather....

Brown Pelican rising from the water to start a dive

Brown Pelican in flight, getting ready to dive, Bodega Harbor

This is a ten-pointer - webbed toes pointed, wings tucked, beak at ninety degrees

Entering the water

After the dive

This pelican had a Heermann's gull as its constant companion

Also in the harbor today, a group of surf scooters

This I believe is a Pacific Loon

Snowy egret, along the shore, Bodega Bay Harbor

Down from the egret, a Great Blue Heron

Sparrow on the shore rocks

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Hooded Mergansers (a kind of duck)

11/18/2014

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OK, these might be the trippiest birds I have seen yet...I think they are not very common, either...seen in the pond at Shiloh Regional Park, Windsor.

Male Hooded Merganser, Shiloh Ranch Regional Park

Male Hooded Merganser with two females

Female Hooded Merganser

Small flock of hooded mergansers

Male Hooded Merganser

Turtle sunning itself on a partially cloudy day, same pond

Elsewhere on the property...golden-crowned sparrows join in the berry feast (below):

Golden-crowned sparrow with mashed berry

Little Anna's hummer glimmering like a jewel, back yard

Bushtit, back yard

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Sanderlings? At Bodega Harbor

11/15/2014

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Large flock of small shorebirds descended on the shore along Bodega Bay Harbor

Sanderlings, Bodega Bay Harbor

They were a mix of light and dark plumage - light plumage non-breeding adults

Darker sanderlings are breeding adults

A little ways off was a large group of Marbled Godwits, with the occasional Willet (gray bird in front) among them - Bodega Bay Harbor

Yellow-rumped warbler at Hole in the Head, Bodega

Yellow-rumped warblers still very much in evidence around Bodega Head

Fierce looking Anna's hummingbird at Hole in the Head, Bodega

Female Buffleheads (a sea bird) in the harbor

Female Bufflehead, Bodega Harbor

Male and female Buffleheads

Male Bufflehead, Bodega Harbor

Female Kestrel along the road, Bodega Harvor

Female Kestrel along the road circling the harbor, hovering at one point
over the field in search of prey.

Female Kestrel, trying to do some hunting along the road

Back home, a California Towhee seen in a neighbor's yard

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Black-necked stilts in flight at the Laguna pond

11/13/2014

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The small flock of black-necked stilts took a lap around the pond at my approach with the camera...

Black-necked stilt in flight, the Laguna pond

Cedar waxwing in the vineyards adjacent to the park

Cedar waxwings were present in the parks many oak trees

Lesser goldfinch among the grass seeds, the Laguna

Kinglet in the park

Say's Phoebe on fence pole, back yard

Meanwhile, in the back yard - a Say's Phoebe

Say's Phoebe - flew to the cable line in the back yard

Female Downy woodpecker, in oak tree near front porch

Pygmy nuthatch, among a small group that dropped by near dusk for a visit to the suet feeders

Male Western Bluebird, on cable line overlooking back orchard

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Kestrel with a bug!

11/10/2014

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Kestrels also eat bugs - found this out today, after getting this photo - insects are a regular part of their diet, and they can catch them in the air!

The male Kestrel on the property, with a large bug

The robins have descended on one of the berry bushes in the back yard, they can strip these large shrubs clean of berries - once they start - within a few days!

American Robin with a berry, back yard

Across the road, this male Nuttall's woodpecker

Male Nuttall's woodpecker

Nothern Flicker in front yard - very active in the mornings, but difficult to get close to.

Below: The property's red-breasted sapsucker, a kind of woodpecker - in back yard. Usually only see them in the Fall and winter, drilling and getting sap from the Acacia trees. This one here surprised me and landed on the berry bush trunk, while I was getting photos of the robins.

Red-breasted sapsucker

Young Acorn woodpecker, front yard

Acorn woodpecker on favorite utility pole near the house

Acorn woodpecker trying to figure out if it wants to be photographed or not...

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Some back yard birds

11/8/2014

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Oak titmouse, chattering, back yard trees

Pine siskin, near the thistle feeders

Dark-eyed junco

Scout quail, protecting safety of a larger flock, back orchard near the back yard

Anna's hummer, keeping a watch over one of the feeders

Brown Creeper, in large oak tree

Anna's hummer grooming, back yard

Hermit Thrush, a glimpse through the backyard trees

Hermit thrush - in pursuit of berries

Golden-crowned sparrow

A group of flying buffleheads passed quickly

A walk today along the Russian River.

Large group of coots with a couple of Canadian Geese as escorts

American coots on the Russian River, feeding

A canoe and a sailboat startled the cormorants, and they took off flying

Hutton's Vireo in the shrubbery

Hutton's Vireo

Red-tailed hawk circled lazily overhead, but with an alert eye

A group of bushtits chattered through some shrubs

Chestnut-backed chickadees busily examined tree branches for bugs and seeds

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Black- necked Stilt(s) at the Laguna

11/6/2014

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My first ever look at these shorebirds, like a Japanese ink drawing...

Black-necked Stilts at the Laguna pond

Black-necked Stilts feeding at a pond in the Laguna de Santa Rosa watershed

Say's Phoebe on a sprinkler head, at the Laguna

Yellow-rumped warblers at the Laguna

Cedar waxwings throughout the park

Cedar waxwings and yellow-rumped warblers still common throughout the park (above); when I pointed my camera at this red-tailed hawk, he or she became rather vocal, and then lept into the air from its perch (below):