Natural History Wanderings

We invited four friends over for pancakes and birding to do the Great Backyard Bird Count in the North Berkeley flatlands.  It was overcast and cold and the birds were slow to appear except for the Crows and a pair of California Towhees.   We had put out bird seed the last three days to see if that might boost our numbers but all it did was increase the local squirrel presence.  See recipe for Cardamom-Scented Oatmeal Pancakes With Apricots and Almonds which were a great success. The birds did eventually show up especially as the sun came out and the day got warmer. Three of us had just finished the birding by ear class and did find it helpful, especially for Bewick’s Wren and Oak Titmouse. We had 17 species including an unidentified hawk that was probably a Red-Tail and an unidentified gull that all we could see were black wing tips.  If you are interested in participating the Great Backyard Bird Count continues through tomorrow. To see the bird list click read more.

Birding Checklist for  Berkeley, Alameda County, CA 94702
February 19,2012
Number of Species: 17

Cooper’s Hawk – 1
Buteo sp. – 1
Glaucous-winged Gull – 1
gull sp. – 1
Mourning Dove – 4
Anna’s Hummingbird – 2
Western Scrub-Jay – 1
American Crow – 9
Chestnut-backed Chickadee – 2
Oak Titmouse – 1
Bushtit – 5
Bewick’s Wren – 1
Townsend’s Warbler – 1
California Towhee – 2
Dark-eyed Junco – 1
House Finch – 2
House Sparrow – 4