Many Forster's Terns and perhaps 8-10 Least Terns are spending a great deal of the day at Ballena Bay lately. Both types are engaged in courtship greeting rituals and the males are bringing in fish to

In a recent post from the moderator reminding us to limit posts to this site to rare birds or those passing through it was suggested that reports on common birds would be more appropriate in Bird Chat

A little (morbid) bird humor that might put you back on track: http://www.pbase.com/vnelson/image/153286400

A Common Loon has been fishing the Airport Channel of the MLK Shoreline for several days now (out of camera range). Yesterday while I was waiting on other birds, it suddenly popped up out off the wate

Yesterday during low tide at the perimeter of Doolittle Pond, MLK Shoreline a group of about ten Snowy Egrets where resting quietly when this one flew in and decided it wanted the shoreline to itself.

As I said a while back, the territory of the last Cooper's that hunted my patio has been taken over by a younger one. Though it swoops in up to three times a day, it too has the same difficulty in eve

At sundown yesterday, I was happy to see six Buffleheads flying into Doolittle Pond form San Leandro Bay to spend the night. SLB is filling up with migrants. Many pairs of Mallards and Teales are flyi

The mudflats surrounding Doolittle Pond (MLK Shoreline) were very exposed by a low tide late in the afternoon yesterday. It brought in the "usual suspects" including about five Black-crowned Night Her

Thought some might enjoy seeing the effort and skill this Chickadee put into eating one sunflower seed (on my patio). http://www.flickr.com/photos/vnelson/10234058053/

I birded Oakland Middle Harbor during the late morning today. Mostly I sat on the beach watching the Elegant Terns wait out the tide. In the group were also Godwits, Long-billed Curlews, Black-bellied

Of course it's just one possibility, but the absence of my regular Cooper's at the patio this summer might be that it was raising young. This morning I got up to look out from the kitchen onto the pat

The Cooper's Hawk that hunts my patio birds has returned after an absence of several months. It announced its arrival about a week ago when it swooped in and out of my kitchen through the open patio d

Yesterday on the dike at Doolittle Pond, my "old friend" the Spotted Sandpiper has arrived for the winter. I'm guessing it's the same bird I have seen for many years. I only managed an distant photo o

In my internet wanderings, I found an amazing field guide for tidal plant identification prepared by Dr. Peter Baye and buried among the numerous reports of the invasive spartina project. It is a beau

For those who have never seen Nuttall's White-Crowned Sparrows there is an easily viewed resident population of them at Oakland Middle Harbor. They must be hardy birds to endure the weather and slim-p

For those who have never seen a Nuttall's there is a resident flock that is easily viewed at Oakland Middle Harbor. They must be a hardy species to endure the year-round weather conditions and what se

I visited Coyote on Wednesday about 4PM to trek out to what I call Pelican Pond (it's actually called D.U.S.T. Marsh). As I approached the area I saw many (30?) American White Pelicans flying out from

I was out at Oakland Middle Harbor yesterday looking at the Semi-Palmated Plovers on the sandy shore near the observation tower, when a Western Gull took a disliking toward me. It made about ten swoop

I went back to the Martin Luther King Shoreline in Oakland yesterday and watched a pair of Forster's Tern parents fishing the Airport Channel along with a juvenile. Previously I thought they were guar

Yesterday I went to the dike at Doolittle Pond, MLK Shoreline, Oakland. As I walked out onto the dike a group of five or so adult Forster's Terns began swooping down on me each screeching loudly and m