This is clearly a flamingo. Notice the long snaking neck, head posture, and bill shape, which is just visible in one of the photos. Also, look at where the legs originate on the underbody: there's no

This is for Thursday, Dec. 6. Sorry for the late report; I've been working on a gull ID and didn't want to post until I got expert advice on the gull. First off, the male BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER w

Goose diversity was disappointing at Trashmore today. I was hoping for white geese after the storm, but all I found were lots of CANADA and CACKLING GEESE (the Cacklers included "minima" and "leucopar

No good gulls and nothing else really unusual at Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline today, with overall bird numbers much lower than on previous visits. While scanning the gull flock in the morning I had a

After an unsuccessful search for the Harris's Sparrow at Grant Ave, I headed out to San Lorenzo Creek mouth and found a lone small yellowlegs with a very short bill foraging a few hundred feet east of

The channel on the north side of Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline had far fewer gulls than last time, including only the common species. However, a drab male TUFTED DUCK was in with the few other ducks o

I had limited time at the Lake today, but just long enough to notice that numbers of ducks, gulls, warblers, and about everything else were very high. The place was going off. Goldeneyes were visible

Hundreds of gulls were loafing and bathing in the tidal channel on the north side of Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline today around noon. Best bird was a classic adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL: long-winge

This morning I first visited Mt. Trashmore, which was hopping with various open field songbirds. The mat of cut grass that was present earlier this fall has mostly disintegrated with the recent rains.

As usual for me, I found plenty of birds not quite rare enough for anybody to want to hear about them, but just rare enough for me to want to report them. There was an 'ORESTERA' ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLE

The number of sparrows at Oyster Bay right now is staggering. It's by far the most sparrows I've ever seen at once in the Bay Area. I had a 7-sparrow-species day yesterday, with SAVANNAH, LINCOLN'S, S

I don't think there will be longspurs on Mt. Trashmore this fall. I went there today, and found that the hill had been recently mowed; apparently there's been a change in the mowing schedule. Because

I saw yet another WHITE-THROATED SPARROW today, my second in three days! This one was an immature, but a fairly bright immature, along the fenceline behind Fairyland at Lake Merritt. He was flitting a

There's been one at my ground feeder today. I was watching the crowd at the feeding station, when a streaky sparrow that did not compute landed right in front of me. It turned out to be the streakiest

The best bird at Crown Beach today was a pure-looking female 'YELLOW-SHAFTED' FLICKER in the row of sycamores across the lawn from Crab Cove. She sat obligingly right at the tops of the trees, showing

This afternoon at Lake Merritt there was lots of bird activity. Everybody seems to like the new cloudy/cool/wet weather regime. As soon as I got off the bus I saw a beautiful young male BLACK-THROATED

Yesterday at Crown Beach, California oak moths were flying in numbers around the defoliated oaks in the lawn area, and many birds were feeding on the moths. A calling CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER was near t

During the 15 minutes between lecture and lab this morning at Laney College, I raced down to the poplars by the estuary and saw a PALM WARBLER with a large flock of YELLOW WARBLERS, in the poplar grov

I've never heard of anyone birding at Albany Hill before, but it was great today, probably the most migrants I've ever seen at once in the Bay Area. There were birds foraging throughout the riparian c

I had limited time this afternoon at Crown Beach, but it was extremely birdy and needs more attention from someone with more time. The best bird was an adult COMMON TERN on the Ballena Bay Breakwater