On April 15, I spent an enjoyable couple of hours watching and photographing Lewis’s Woodpeckers at the stakeout spot at the intersection of Las Pilitas Road and West Pozo Road. While thus engaged, I

Yesterday (Saturday, April 16), along with the intermittent drizzle, cool temperatures, and wind gusts, we experienced a surge of bird activity at our feeders, mostly dominated by a non-stop processio

As of yesterday (Friday, 3/18) both Hooded and Bullock’s Orioles were back in our neighborhood (Bullock’s actually first seen by Bill Rucci on 3/15), and, as of this morning, both males of both specie

Our FOS Pacific-slope Flycatcher was calling along Graves Creek on our property this afternoon, in the same spot where a pair has nested the past two years. This strikes me as a moderately early arriv

Just to add to Tom Edell’s post regarding the sapsuckers along the Bob Jones Trail: In addition to the plumage distinctions between the hybrid and the Red-naped Sapsucker that Tom mentioned, one of th

Just recorded our first of season Pine Siskin in the backyard, then looked out the front and there were 9 on the feeders at once, so they’ve apparently returned en masse! In other yard news, so far, w

I spent most of the morning keeping tabs on our backyard, hoping for migrants coming in to our pond/fountain to drink or bathe. First up was a Warbling Vireo, which I’ve seen coming to bathe in the fo

I hiked the length of the Morro Bay Sandspit (9 miles roundtrip) again yesterday (Wednesday, August 25). Nothing rare to report, but I did photograph a nice juvenile Baird’s Sandpiper (my FOS) hanging

One correction to my just posted shorebird counts from the Morro Bay sandspit: On 8/14, I recorded 347 Black-bellied Plovers (NOT 247). I should emphasize that all of these counts represent 1-way (uni

I hiked the Morro Bay Sandspit yesterday (8/14) from the beach access at Sandspit Road parking lot (Montaña de Oro SP) north, all the way to the jetty, mainly intent on checking out changes in shorebi

In re-reading my post from last night about yesterday’s morning flight of migrants on West Cuesta Ridge, I see that I managed to leave one of the most common species off the list entirely! Bill and I

This morning (Wednesday, 4/28), Bill Rucci and I went up to West Cuesta Ridge, in part, to look for Mountain Quail in places where I had excellent luck in finding them last year in April and May, but

After what has been a very strange, seemingly delayed Spring migration, at least in Atascadero, I’ve noted a marked uptick in migrants over the past 3 days. Hummingbird numbers and diversity are still

I spent Saturday birding Carrizo Plains, almost entirely along Elkhorn Road. My primary objective was looking for Le Conte’s Thrashers, which had been curiously MIA on virtually all of my January–mid-

More news of first arrivals (for our property) this spring in Atascadero. Yesterday (3/29) produced a singing Warbling Vireo and the first female Bullock’s Oriole (a couple of different males have bee

A check of the traditional site at the intersection of Hwy 41 and San Gabriel Road (Atascadero) this afternoon turned up a single male Purple Martin and 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow, each represent

This afternoon (3/24), around 2:00 p.m., I was astonished to see a male Calliope Hummingbird at one of our feeders. Almost as soon as I saw the bird, it was driven off by one of the resident male Anna

As of this morning, we now have our FOS male Hooded Oriole visiting our feeders, and already skirmishing with our male Bullock’s Oriole, which arrived on Friday. Saw a Violet-green Swallow flying over

Late this afternoon (Friday, March 19) a male Bullock’s Oriole (FOS) visited our feeders multiple times — a welcome dash of color on an otherwise gloomy day. A Lincoln’s Sparrow has been visiting our

I spent today (Thursday, 2/25) birding Carrizo Plains (mostly along Soda Lake Road) and nearby Elkhorn Road. Most noteworthy were some early migrants: 1 Cassin’s Kingbird photographed along Soda Lake