I caught my local "King of The Hill" patio male Anna's Hummingbird using an alternate tactic to get nectar from an Abutilon flower. Because the flower is too deep, he pokes in from the outside above t

This is a short clip of a fledgling Chestnut-backed Chickadee apparently getting some pointers on the art of the bath from its parent. http://www.flickr.com/photos/vnelson/7445327266 Taken on my patio

With little migration occurring right now it may seem to be an hiatus for birdwatching, but for our resident birds it is a frenetic period. There are fledglings now out of the nest and parents frantic

Although there seem to be fewer nests in the Monterey Pine than in the past, many of those that are there have three or four chicks. The Great and Snowy Egrets are at various stages of development fro

At least one of the fairly new nest boxes along the fence at the picnic grounds at Garin Regional Park is being used by Tree Swallows. I don't recall seeing them in the past. I thought the boxes had b

Yesterday, Tuesday, I birded the Redwood Regional Park from the south entrance. It was mid to late afternoon and extraordinarily birdy. The valley was filled with bird songs including the ethereal son

Along the Airport Channel waters of the MLK Shoreline in Oakland today, I enjoyed watching a female Least Tern resting on a concrete rock while being fed many small fish by her (potential) mate as he

Yesterday in the Airport Channel area of Martin Luther King Shoreline, I witnessed at least five occasions of Forster's Tern pairs engaged in courtship feeding: the male offers a small fish to the fem

Not a Mew, but a Ring-billed Gull was the perpetrator.

Yesterday, while watching several Brown Pelicans successfully diving for food, a Mew Gull apparently witnessed their success. It picked one out and began a long chase diving as one sometimes sees them

On a weekend visit to Garretson Point on the MLK Shoreline, a friend pointed out this pair of American Avocets mating in the shallow waters of the vernal pond. http://www.pbase.com/vnelson/image/14259

The Snowy and Great Egrets are beginning their annual nesting in the Monterey Pine along the lagoon on Bay Farm Island. About six nests are active as of now. The number of nests normally reaches above

Caspian Terns are coming back to the Bay in increasing numbers. Their gull-like size and penetrating squawks make them a noticeable and welcome new addition to the shoreline. In the last week they hav

On a 3/28 visit to Garretson Point on the MLK Shoreline, no Teals of any species where present either in the vernal pond or nearby channel but many other species were present- Coots, Dowitchers, Malla

Thanks for Amy Dawson's report last Saturday of the abundance of shorebirds and waterfowl in Damon Slough and the nearby (person-made) vernal pond. The birds were still present today. My main interest

The Common Goldeneyes that Allen Hirsch's reported and photographed displaying at Laney College are still there as of yesterday. They feed and raft but also break into fascinating courtship displays a

Pelicans often roost on the old pilings near the fishing pier on Doolittle Drive just south of Swan Way in Oakland. I think it is a potentially dangerous choice as it is so visible from the road and p

I recall that the egret rookery that suddenly appeared on another lagoon on Bay Farm Island in Alameda years ago coincided with the disappearance of the rookery at Lake Merritt. The hybrid Merganser/G

The historical photo was by Martin Meyers, not Mark Meyers.

I also looked for historical photos of the hybrid bird on the internet and found a "pose" similar to another photo I had taken. The comparison photo I used was taken by Mark Meyers at Lake Merritt in