Perching Birds

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Grackles & Apples …

January 17, 2012 Birds

… and grackles foraging across Nevada, exploiting urban food scraps. One of my favorite things about visiting southern climates is the summer night chatter of grackles … the cavatina that becomes the dissonant ensemble of grackle song when huge groups of the birds roost on urban plazas. These were winter-time grackles — Great-tailed Grackles roaming [...]

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No Frozen Hummingbirds, Please

January 6, 2012 Birds

In the winter of 2011, my hummingbird nectar froze into a giant lifesaver of an ice cube. I’m a Californian which means I’m used to nectar that ferments into birdie moonshine after a few days in the sun. But last year we migrated north to Seattle … at the same time Anna’s Hummingbirds decide not [...]

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Cleaning House

June 10, 2011 Animal Behavior

Much-maligned but still loved by me, a European Starling makes the drop: grubs for breakfast, in the door; baby droppings out the door. The parent carries the nestlings’ waste out through the portal, drops it in the shrubs nearby, then forages again in the grass for the babies’ next meal of insects. Because Starlings, en [...]

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Watch for Towhees, Flying Low

January 17, 2011 Birds

Spotted Towhees were the elusive ground foragers I never saw enough of in the Bay Area. I’d catch a glimpse as they scuttled under the scrub. Or, occasionally, snapped a photo of one heralding the morning light in the thickets of Tilden Park. My best Spotted Towhee sighting was the trusting bird who let me [...]

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A Bird Called Hummingway

January 14, 2011 Birds

He was christened Mr. Hummingway by a dear friend who likes birds but is ambivalent about interaction with birds. She had formative experiences that made her view birds as flapping missiles who get tangled in your hair, dive bomb you, or suddenly ditch into the open window of your moving car on a freeway. Those [...]

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I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart

October 5, 2010 Perching Birds

A Starling’s tribute to Duke Ellington . . . jockeying for best song position, and losing it to a crow. Shot with my Olympus E-520 and Zuiko 70-300mm. The photo was taken as the sun receded behind clouds, just above the horizon, so it was later-afternoon warm and filtered.

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One More Reason [for Me] to Love Starlings . . .

August 15, 2010 Non-Native Species

. . . because they have artistic sensibilities: Related posts: The Lady Fairer How Starlings Colonized the United States

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Floating Fast Like a Hummingbird

July 31, 2010 Perching Birds

Hummingbirds occur only in the New World. There are occasional reports of hummingbirds in Europe but they’re thought to be escaped from captivity. Fossilized skeletons of ancient hummingbirds were, however, found in Germany.

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A Room With a View

July 5, 2010 Baby Animals

Ever since I saw my first Screech Owl hunkered down in the saddle of an oak, I’ve given extra scrutiny to tree hollows in the woodlands, looking for a bird face peeking out. Our friend in darn-near-the-middle-of-nowhere California found such a face — in a cavity nest in her backyard — a yard that literally [...]

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Sex and the Single Cowbird

June 2, 2010 Animal Behavior

It’s an unlikely title, I realize, for a girl born and raised during the Second Wave of feminism . . . in the hashish-a-plenty streets of Amsterdam . . . with an insomniac artist for a mom who developed algae foods for astronauts and read her babies chemistry homework as bedtime stories. Helen Gurley Brown [...]

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The Lady Fairer

May 14, 2010 Non-Native Species

Have you seen her all in gold Like a queen in days of old? She shoots colors all around, Like a sunset going down, Have you seen the lady fairer? I know

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Thumbnail image for The Swallows [400 Miles North] of Capistrano

The Swallows [400 Miles North] of Capistrano

May 10, 2010 Animal Behavior

Quick note: With all of these photos, I kept my distance with an effective 600mm zoom. I’m careful not to disturb birds during nesting season. And, it’s also against the law to disturb wild bird nests or eggs. These are the famous Swallows of San Juan Capistrano. Well, not these birds in particular. This species, [...]

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Nest Bound

April 25, 2010 Perching Birds

This Robin was building a nest, low in a trellis at a public park. I kept my distance while shooting this image, but kept wishing she would reconsider the positioning of the nest.

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Spotted Towhee in Berkeley

Of Towhees, Tripods and Trust

April 18, 2010 Bay Area Faves

I’m extra cautious out there as a photographing fool. I feel I owe the animals my respect when they allow me into their inner sanctum to photograph them …

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Brewer's Blackbird Male

Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Day …

April 17, 2010 Perching Birds

I planted myself in the middle of a field for this shot, watching a male and female Brewer’s blackbird forage around me — for insects, seeds, fruit …
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The Penultimate Waxwing

April 3, 2010 Bay Area Faves

Every Cedar Waxwing is the penultimate waxwing. Even though I think each image I snap in March or April will be the last of the season, invariably, another flock of waxwings descends for a photo op.

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Songbird the Impaler

January 12, 2010 Perching Birds

Imagine you’re a songbird . . . but nature has mandated you dine like a raptor. What are you to do with those gentle little feet that should be talons? You develop a workaround. That’s what this little bird has done. I saw him in my periphery and noted the bright white breast and the [...]

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Return of the Waxwings

November 19, 2009 Perching Birds

It starts with a whistle, but a whistle so faint it’s a whisper across the leaves. And then the sound of raindrops, but it’s not rain. It’s the patter of falling berries, pyracantha and holly, dropping into the blanket of debris below the trees.

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The Goldfinch and Thistle (A Pub With No Pints)

August 22, 2009 Flora

The Bay Area has a thistle problem, but goldfinches weren’t complaining on our hike yesterday. As stated in this sign, there are earnest efforts to limit the spread of wild artichoke thistle which tends to push out native plants and grasslands. Invasive thistles are aggressive, using up water resources and messing with habitat for wildlife [...]

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The Waxwings Are Back

December 10, 2008 Perching Birds

Honestly, I don’t know how long they’ve been back. A serious birder or “twitcher” ** would be your source on that. I’m into the natural symbiosis of me and bird — not so much active pursuit. ** That link, by the way, takes you to an interesting NYT article on delineations between the serious and [...]

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