Birding in my yard has not been very fruitfull over the 15 years I've
lived on Dudley Court in Piedmont, but last Saturday I saw a flash of
orange as I arrived home from birding Sonal Regional Park that I
assumed it would be a Bullock's Oriole but what popped up was a male
Hooded Oriole. That was a week ago, and then yesterday I had a
very quick look through our translucent blinds at a female oriole in
our favorite grevillea schrub right outside our picture window. I had
a quicker looker on Friday in poor light that probably was the same
bird. So I'm going to keep a close watch to see if the Hooded Orioles
come back.

By the way, our grevillea is a very popular gathering place for some
of our resident birds. Javier the Anna's Hummingbird and his mate
spend a good portion of the day buzzing around and warding off other
hummers, the Bushtit gang stops by a least 25 times a day, and we had
a Townsend's Warbler visiting all winter. At the right time of the
day, the reflection on the window allows me to sit just inches from
where the birds are feeding or perching.

Derek Heins