Alerted by Sri Char who saw and photo'd two juvenile Sabine's on the Forebay earlier today, I went out late this afternoon and managed to find one. Until today, last seen in 2016 in Contra Costa accor

Sri Char and I birded Clifton Court this morning. Highlights included a flock of 25 Cattle Egrets and 12 (plus or minus) Yellow Warblers all in the same live oak by the water along with a Black-Throat

I bicycled the levee roads of Clifton Court Forebay today, and discovered that low water has created an expansive shallows/mudflat habitat at the southeast corner (near the intake gates that let water

This morning I recorded 42 species on a walk around the property. Only one sparrow, surprisingly a Lincoln's. It was a 5-warbler species morning, and several of them spent some time picking aphids off

This morning there are seemingly hundreds of Pine Siskins in the newly-leafed oaks around my house. The noise they are making is quite impressive. Also, red-tailed hawks are nesting on our property th

Seeing the note from Jim Chiropolos - I also biked around the Forebay today, a great afternoon (checklist here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S78969997 , decent photos of a great horned owl and a northe

Cycling out there yesterday with the grandkids I thought I saw one of these in a small marsh at the SE corner, approximately 37.830627, -121.555815, so went back there today with my camera and got it

Saturday was Mt. Diablo Audubon's 65th annual Christmas Bird Count. Like the east-county count a few days earlier, it was done according to present health regulations with only individual birders or f

Mt. Diablo Audubon held it's 20th East County CBC yesterday 12/16, using protocol that only individuals or members of the same household walked their routes. Despite a skeleton crew, we tallied 149 sp

This afternoon I found a female western tanager at the same location as last winter, over the creek bed adjacent to the tennis courts. Female, possibly same bird. Also a house wren, a good bird for he

Again this year we are fortunate to have ash-throated flycatchers nesting in our yard. They are actively feeding young in the nest right now - seems a little late - wonder if it's their 2nd go-round w

There was a good variety of birds at the suet this morning, so I spent some time photographing the comings and goings. Ebird checklist here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S70390216 Who's the boss? Usual

The flock of 5 visited our sunflower seed feeder again this afternoon. They have been in the area since at least March 18. Also heard the first Lazuli Bunting of the spring this afternoon. A few days

Hope you all are not getting jaded by my posts, but this one is noteworthy to say the least. We were in the hot tub about 6:30 tonight when a bird popped up briefly about 20 feet away into an elderber

I hear and sometimes see the crossbill flock (down to 5) overhead almost every day since they first showed up on March 18. Today they came down to the feeders again for some ID photos. Also the first

I staked out a hotlips salvia in our yard hoping for a rufous hummingbird to come by - a couple did, briefly, but then a calliope hummingbird made a few lengthy visits, offering a chance for some dece

After 2-3 years of nesting elsewhere, a red-shouldered hawk is once again sitting on a nest near the top of a big valley oak over our patio. I guess I can once again look forward to sweeping up snake

After several days of only hearing them overhead, this morning 4 red crossbills dropped down again to our feeders. They sound like type 2. Otherwise the usual birds, except for 2 white-crowned sparrow

Nature has been kind to send interesting birds my way during this time. In addition to the crossbills, seen 3 different times today, there was a chipping sparrow at the top of the hill on my property

They have been coming to the suet and sunflower seed feeders today. I was able to get some better photos. Ebird checklist here https://ebird.org/checklist/S65984706 includes another photo of the oddly