Natural History Journal

Another winter storm, another head cold, and another week's packed schedule means... more time spent window birding!  It's been a weird winter for me bird-wise, with rain and subsequent floods preventing access to a couple of my favorite local birding spots, and a bevy of other obligations to keep me from venturing afield very often.  But, the birds in the yard have been particularly good this winter, as Oak Titmice , Lincoln's Sparrows , Bushtits and Purple Finches have been more common and numerous than in past years.   In other parts of the country, particularly the Northeast, the Winter Finch Forecast  is a big deal for birders, who eagerly await annual predictions regarding a handful of nomadic species whose movements depend on the success of cone and berry crops.  (Will this year be a good year for redpolls?  What about crossbills?  Or Pine Grosbeaks?  Check the Winter Finch Forecast to find out!) Here in Central California, we can onl...

When less-than-favorable weather conditions and the general routine tasks of daily life prevent me from getting out into the field as often as I would like, the birds that hang around our garden are an absolute delight: a literal God-send, in my opinion!  To be able to glance out the window and see the beautiful abundance of life on display in an array of winged creatures is a wonderful blessing.   In addition to the Oak Titmice that have been hanging around outside the windows lately, here are a few more of my feathered friends, whose presence never fails to cheer and entertain. Anna's Hummingbird Several Anna's Hummingbirds can be counted on to liven up the garden with their feisty presence year-round.  They visit hummingbird feeders, strategically placed outside the windows, as well as swaths of flowering plants offering enticing nectar-rich blooms these little gems can't resist!  Here, this male Anna's Hummingbird perches on a cluster of dogwood buds... his...

The gray, stormy days of January have been livened up lately by the continued presence of a pair of Oak Titmice that have been hanging out around our yard and frequenting our birdfeeders.  I wrote about these feisty little mites of the oak woodlands a few years ago , but only recently have they shown up in our neighborhood. While some describe them as plain or drab, I think Oak Titmice are endearing - and full of lively energy!  This pair is routinely seen nabbing sunflower seeds from our feeders before flying off to perch in a tree or shrub where they hold the seed between their feet and hammer it open with their stout bills.  I suspect these two little birds were drawn to our neighborhood by an abundance of mistletoe in a nearby ash tree - and enticed to stay by the steady supply of sunflower seeds in our feeders!  In any case, they are a delight to watch and a welcome addition to the usual sparrows, finches and doves that call our yard home. Hopefully they stick a...

These Orange-crowned Warblers are quickly becoming some of my favorite backyard birds.  In addition to splashing in the birdbath , they have also taken to visiting our hummingbird feeders, perching on the edge and sipping nectar like oversized yellow hummingbirds.  (No wonder the nectar is disappearing so fast!) Though largely insectivorous, Orange-crowned Warblers will also supplement their diet in winter by feeding on nectar from flowers, and, when the opportunity presents itself, hummingbird feeders!   Our feeders hang just outside the windows, so I've been able to snap a few photos.  These birds are such fun to watch!

Picture this:  In a garden of native plants, along the edge of a streamside grove of oaks and cottonwoods, tanagers and grosbeaks fly from branch to branch, flashes of brilliant color against a tapestry of muted greens and browns.  Woodpeckers and nuthatches hitch up the trunks of oaks, gleaning insects from crevices, while doves, quail and juncos pick up seeds from the ground.  A jay calls raucously, and another answers.  Finches and titmice visit swaying seed feeders, and flycatchers perch on conspicuous branches, sallying out to nab passing insects.  A hawk rides the thermals above, while a screech-owl peers sleepily from a cavity in an old cottonwood.  A dazzling array of bejeweled hummingbirds buzz from flowers to nectar feeders to flowers and back again.    From the trees along the creek echoes the peculiarly unique bark-like call of an Elegant Trogon. This, of course, is not my backyard! This, however, is my backyard!  (American Gold...

This month, in my series of 12 Monthly Tips to Up Your Birding Game, my original plan was to talk about how we can improve our skills as birders by learning to bird by ear.  But with orders to "stay at home" firmly in place, I've had a change of plans.  Because, if we can't get out to see the birds, surely the next best thing is to bring the birds to us! Even in normal times (to which I'm sure we will return before long), making our yards attractive to birds and other wildlife ought to be a high priority for any nature-enthusiast or environmentally-conscious homeowner. My entire town, and by default my yard, is sorely lacking in "good" bird habitat.  We have no wetlands, woodlands, grasslands, riparian areas or other natural birdy areas within walking/biking/quick driving distance.  But here in the Central Valley, we live in the path of the Pacific Flyway, an ancient migratory pathway, on land that was once a mosaic of grassland, wetland and oak sava...

A new year - a new decade, even - is upon us!  Perhaps a New Year's resolution of yours is to be more active outdoors this year, to walk more, to travel, or to learn something new.  If so, birding might be just the thing for you!  (If you have no idea what birding is or why it's so great check out my list of  the many joys and benefits of birding .) Whether you are brand new to birding or a seasoned pro, we can always learn new things and improve our skills.  This year, I have a few birding goals in mind, along with plans I'd like to implement in order to improve.  (Seabirds, for example, are a group of birds I plan to work on!)  So, each month throughout 2020, as I learn and develop my birding, I will offer a tip for how you too can become a better birder, naturalist, and citizen scientist.  January in Central California tends to be foggy and cold, with stretches of dreary and dismal gray days punctuated by spells of bright sunshine and bi...

"I'm so glad we live in a world where there are Octobers." L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gable s Like Anne Shirley, I adore the season of autumn and the month of October, but, it must be said, I loathe Halloween.  America's fastest growing consumer holiday, I could probably write for days about why I despise it so much... but suffice it to say much of my reasoning is bound up in that one word, "consumer." This year, Americans are expected to spend  over $8 billion  on Halloween paraphernalia.  That is a disgusting amount of [largely plastic] costumes, masks, decorations, candy wrappers and other stuff which will, mostly, end up in the garbage. But since I do enjoy colorful fall foliage, old-timey barn dances, pumpkins and apples, harvest celebrations and that piece of classic literature, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ( read it here ), the season still holds its charms.  (It would hold more of its charms if Halloween hadn't become  an ecologi...

"There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.  Like winds and sunset, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them." Aldo Leopold, 1949 Last week, on September 19, 2019, the journal Science published the results of a groundbreaking study, the first of its kind to document, with certainty, that North American birds are in big trouble. Young male House Finch Observant folks who have been around a while have been saying it for some time: "There just aren't as many birds around now as there were back in my day."  Indeed, numbers of birds have dropped dramatically over the past 50 years, and now we have the data to prove it.  It's not just a hunch, not just a feeling, not just the tendency to look at the past through lenses tinted with nostalgia for the "good ol' days."  Grandpa is right: there are fewer birds today than there were "in his day." Birds really are in dec...