On a bird walk in El Cerrito Hillside Natural Area yesterday I saw a pair of swifts swirl around each other and fall through the air. Twice. I assume this was a courtship fall. Try as I might, I could

This morning close to the summit of Mt. Diablo I fulfilled a long time dream of mine by stumbling upon a fantastic show of diurnal migration!—entirely by accident. I’ve spent years now scouring topogr

Mountain biking Brionnes today, I saw a Lawrence’s goldfinch pair south of the highpoint of the Old Brionnes trail about 75 yards south on the crest trail. I saw them several times on the fence - they

Not being home much the last three weeks, it was nice to be back in my stomping grounds yesterday and today. The park was really quiet Friday, I have no idea.why. It was a little better today, but mos

Great diversity moving, flycatchers, vireos, warblers, tanagers and grosbeaks - and the accipiters that follow them. No big waves but a steady stream this morning. Moving warblers are females, males u

Hello, I was very surprised to find at least 20 Western Tanagers in the Ken Mercer park. They were in groups of 2 to 8 in different areas, mostly going from eucalyptus trees to pine trees. Here is my

I am continually amazed by how good observers birds are. The yard suet feeder went empty. Before filling it I looked around . No birds in sight or calling. I filled it, stepped back 10 feet and starte

Sorry for the late post. On 5/10 AM on my way to the summit, I ran into a flock of 63 Swainson's Thrushes and 9 West Tanagers in the parking lot. I could not find any other birds in the flock. See eBi

The weather has been tough for weekend birders like myself with every weekend day but one this spring a cold front has moved in and dispersed migrants that have moved, and no active migration on a big

For the last several days we have had several Western Tanagers (certainly 6, perhaps 12) of all ages at the north end of Homestead Rd. Today Walt D. and I watched the Eucalyptus for several minutes, d

A Golden-crowned Sparrow continues to hang around in my backyard. Every time I think it will have left for migration it shows up in the morning and again in the late afternoon/early evening. It was he

I’m in the sun below and east of Vollmer. Multiple tanagers, hemit and Townsends warblers moving through. I thinks its foggy west of Vollmer so they are moving through my neighborhood in the sun - for

This spring, Phil Georgakakos, Alex Henry, and I wanted to explore some of the more remote parts of Alameda county. So last weekend we spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (April 29-May 1) backpacking t

Hello everyone, Yesterday, I observed an interesting behavior happen between two Red-shouldered Hawks, in Pleasanton. One had just caught a rat and settled on a branch to eat it when a second hawk cam

I saw a Rufous-Crowned Sparrow by the upper Big Springs Trail (right below the Seaview Trail) in Tilden today. According to the eBird bar charts, May and June seem like the primary months for seeing (

I know this topic was briefly discussed last year, and one or more of the discussions have been closed. But a recent article in Bay Nature (May 5, 2022) nicely describes the controversy and latest pos

Fun spring birds, breeding behavior, and a couple surprises at Hilltop Lake Park. A Hooded Oriole or 2, 4 Western Tanagers, 4 swallow species (CLSW, NRWSW, TRSW, VIGRSW), Great-tailed Grackle, Caspian

The last few weeks I decided to focus on trying to observe morning flights at the Highland Ridge gate saddle location I mentioned last time as it's relatively easy to access and seemed to have good po

This past Saturday (apologies for the late post) there was an OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER singing from the top of the cypress grove north of the recycling center (37.92014, -122.30034) from at least 11:00

Last month a male Great-tailed Grackle started singing, if that is what it is called, in the park. I told a number of others that it would tire soon and go back to Martinez. We have had them in years