Annette's Birding Diary

Thursday, August 13, 2009

San Francisco area July 2009

On family vacation. Not too much birding time, but I took advantage of as many opportunities as possible.

Lifers this week:

Black Phoebe
Brandt's Cormorant
Brewer's Blackbird
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Common Murre
Heerman's Gull
Either Rufous Hummingbird or Allen's Hummingbird (female)
Western Gull
Wilson's Warbler
Winter Wren

Black Phoebe

Brandt's Cormorant

Brewer's Blackbird

Brown Creeper

Brown Pelican

Caspian Tern

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Common Murre

Common Raven

Double-crested Cormorant

Hairy Woodpecker

Red-tailed Hawk

Heerman's Gull

Hummer (Allen's or Rufous female)

Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco

Red-winged Blackbird

Rock Pigeon

Willet

Stellar's Jay

Western Grebe and Brown Pelican

Western Gull, with breakfast

Wilson's Warbler

UNKNOWN - Golden Gate Park

Song Sparrow or Fox Sparrow?

UNKNOWN - Golden Gate Park
Song Sparrow or Fox Sparrow?

Winter Wren- Muir Woods

On a short trip to Columbia I had an hour or so to walk around each day. One day I went to Rock Bridge SP and was treated to a lifer, Common Yellowthroat. Another day I took a short walk to see Little Dixie Lake CA. I got treated to a pair of Cedar Waxwings.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

05-16-09 - Stunned Tennessee Warbler

On a lovely Saturday afternoon with moderate temperatures and a bright blue sunny sky I had set my thoughts to reading a book on the patio. I prepared the tea, got my book and stepped out. It wasn't to be. Just inches off the patio and only steps from the door I saw a bird in the grass. It didn't move. I thought maybe it was dead after smashing into the patio door. I walked around towards the bird feeders and then circled back to the house. The bird did look my way a couple of times so I knew it wasn't dead.

This is a picture of the bird as I first saw it.

This has never happened in my yard before. I was a little panicked. I called the bird store and spoke to Ruth. She gave me tips on what to do. First I picked up the bird and sat in the sun for awhile. Then I made a shoebox and placed the bird in, also in the sun, to keep it warm. Ruth suggested offering a bush after an hour. The bird did make it slowly to a branch of my shrubby magnolia.

This is the bird in the shoebox

After an hour the bird was still in the same spot and I was worried. I called Ruth again to ask more questions. She suggested offering water or mealworm if I had it. I tried those things. The bird didn't seem interested but did seem a little more peppy than before. I held it again and it was definately more active then. It actually seemed to prefer being held by me than being in the bush. After about 10 minutes in my hands, the bird jumped and flew. It looked fine as it left.

Me holding the bird.

Side Note. If you click on this last picture to make larger, you can see the Rose-breasted Grosbeak eating from a dish at the feeder. First ever Grosbeak to our yard was this weekend. So two new yard birds in two days!

Friday, May 15, 2009

05-14-09 Martha Lafite

This might be my favorite bird hike of the season so far! Probably the Blackburnian was my favorite warbler. I forgot I even got a picture of it until I got home. Others saw a Canada Warbler, but I did not unfortunately. It was a great morning with nice temperatures, sunny. The nature center had live-cam setup going in the Bluebird nest and the Phoebe nest. After the hike I stopped in to see this live feed. So neat to see the little ones on the nest.

Lifers today:
Blackburnian Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Yellow-throated Vireo

American Redstart