White-tailed Kite

Lots of calling, hovering, fluttering these days with a pair of white-tailed kites in the pine by the office…

White-breasted Nuthatch

Barn Owl

We biked out to the Yolo Grasslands Park on Saturday to look for a long-eared owl that’s been reported out there. We didn’t find it, but this barn owl was sleeping in the eucalyptus the long-eared had been using. Since I mostly see barn owls around Davis in nest boxes (or flying low over the field looking for rodents), seeing one perching in a tree was a treat.

Friday Walk

I met the Friday lunchtime birding gang and we went to the eastern side of the Arboretum this time, hoping to find the white-throated sparrow. No luck, but we did see at least four orange-crowned warblers and a green heron that flew up and down and perched in a eucalyptus…

Great Blue Heron

I got back last night from my dentist appointment and saw a great blue heron land in the field, stalk around, and then stab something with its pointy beak. Gobble.

Northern Flicker

The wind has veered, and we’re going to be getting a few days at least with no rain. The barometer is rising. The birds come in clusters. This flicker is back to examining the phone pole…

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Rain crept in during our campus bird count today, and this female sharpie was sheltering from it in a conifer.

Bird list from South Campus, East of Old Davis Road::
Greater White-fronted Goose
Mallard
Bufflehead (1, in the wastewater treatment pond)
Double-crested Cormorant
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer
California Gull
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Great-horned Owl
Anna’s Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Nuttall’s Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Black Phoebe
Say’s Phoebe
Yellow-billed Magpie
American Crow
Western Scrub-jay
Bushtit
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
Amercan Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-rumped Warbler
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer’s Blackbirfd
Purple Finch
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Snowy Egret in the Mud

Great Egrets, Rodenting

More rain, rain, rain and wind. Five great egrets were stalking the flooded field just beyond the kitchen window, eating things. It’s a bad day to be a pocket gopher….

Robins on a Wet Day