Natural History Wanderings

Living in Northern California I am fortunate to live near a number of great birding locations – California’s Central Valley Birding Refuges, Point Reyes National Seashore, Sierra Valley and San Francisco Bay. Although I thoroughly enjoy all of these, I equally enjoy backyard birding. I live in the Berkeley flatlands in a residential part of a city of just over 110,000 about a mile and half from San Francisco Bay. By having a bird-friendly garden, well-established trees in our yard as well as our neighbors, and putting bird seed out in the winter, it is an environment that is very attractive to a number of local birds. Although none of the birds are rare, I find it rewarding to watch local birds. It creates an opportunity to learn more about birds by watching feeding, nesting and social behaviors.

Newly fledged Oak Titmouse Chick from Spring 2013 by Sandy Steinman

Daily birds include California Towhee (who are permanent residents), Oak Titmouse (who nest in our bird box), Chestnut-backed Chickadees (who have nested in the bird box in the past), White-crowned Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, House Sparrow, Bewick’s Wren, American Crow and Anna’s Hummingbird. Frequent visitors also include Scrub Jay, American Robin, Lesser Goldfinch, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Bushtit, Mourning Dove, Red-breasted Nuthatches and House Finch. Occasional visitors include Common Raven, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Townsend’s Warbler, Cedar Waxwing, Song Sparrow, and Black Phoebe. Two highlights this past year were our first local sightings of a Black-throated Gray Warbler in the back yard and a group of White Pelicans flying overhead in a “V” formation.

The house list is now at 45 species. To see the total list go to: http://ebird.org/ebird/MyEBird?cmd=lifeList&time=life&locID=L125021,

Every February we take part in The Great Backyard Bird Count  when we bribe our friends with a pancake breakfast to join in counting  and watching the birds in our neighborhood.