March 12, 2021 at Arrowhead Marsh I photographed a Merlin for the first time. Also saw a Ridgeway’s Rail, a funny marked House Finch and a Marsh Wren. Photos at https://flic.kr/p/2kKkmbN Claude Lyneis

I am reasonably sure that the same Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (young male) first reported at Lake Anza in January continues there as of today. It looks almost exactly identical, except that from the fro

This afternoon during a drive on Deer Valley Rd. south of Chadbourne Rd., Nancy and I spotted a FOS Western Kingbird on a fence along the road. We were able to stop and watch it long enough to see it

Rosita called my attention to the Anna's Hummingbird taking nest material in our patio this afternoon. She later sent me a photo of a Bushtit doing the same. Earlier in the week the Lesser Goldfinches

Hi all, Sorry to be nitpicky, but here goes. There have been a lot of reports of Band-tailed Pigeons in Eastern Alameda county recently. Please keep in mind that Band-tailed Pigeons are NOT common in

An Oak titmouse pair have been building a nest in the yard box and must be nearing completion as they were gathering the dog hair today that I had hung up for them. They started building on Feb 17. La

I made a late bike ride to Heather Farm and went pretty straight to the pond near the private Seven Hills School. There were about ten Rough-winged Swallows flying over that pond--pretty hard to tell

This morning an Orange-crowned Warbler took a bath in our bird bath. It soaked its feathers pretty well and even got the top of its head wet, which allowed the orangish feathers of its crown to be exp

I photographed a White-throated Sparrow on Rifle Range Trail in Wildcat Canyon Park Monday afternoon and have had a hard time identifying which morph it is. To my eye, the sparrow has features of both

Today Nancy and I spent the better part of the day hiking and birding at BDMRP. Finding a pair of Rufous-crowned Sparrows along the entry road was the highlight of the day. However, there were some ot

A few uncommon to me sightings at Arrowhead Marsh (MLK Regional Shoreline, Oakland) yesterday, at low tide in the afternoon: -easily 125-150 dowitchers, assuming short-billed because of the setting. A

There was a significant gull feeding event from the tip of the bulb to Meeker Slough this evening. Gulls everywhere, landing on the water foraging and taking off, circulating, making noise. By the tim

After Zoom church this morning, Rosita and I drove to Richmond on the off chance we might find the continuing Black Scoters. We stopped at the viewing platform on Canal Blvd and it actually worked. Th

This morning at the north end of Briones Reservoir an Orange-crowned Warbler sang and 4 Violet-green Swallows foraged overhead. And 4 River Otters frolicked in the reservoir; literally that, with a go

About 20 Purple Finches have joined dozens more House Finches at my Sunflower seed feeders in Lafayette. Maury Stern

It was a glorious day, despite the crispness of the morning. Great birds today and some new faces walking, including Jim{?} and Julie from Danville. Their son at school at Purdue told them to visit He

This morning a male Rufous Hummingbird visited my feeder. The back was completely orange, not a fleck of green to be seen. No Allen’s in my yard yet. Also, a Chestnut-backed Chickadee started nest bui

It was worth it to make two visits this morning, though the first was before 6 AM. I walked over with a scope to see the conjunction of Mercury and Jupiter. Couldn't see them, very few stars and worri

This afternoon there were some interesting birds at Arrowhead. I saw a Belted Kingfisher hovering and diving into the marsh area. A presumed Red-tailed Hawk landed in the field, in a tree and flew aro

In this checklist https://ebird.org/checklist/S82749997 I included two photos of a sparrow I have called Lincoln's sparrow. It could be mistaken for a swamp sparrow given that Sibley says the two as i